Esperanto 101: Simple Answers to Basic Questions

Esperanto is an artificial language. It was invented by a Polish oculist, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof (1859-1917). His first publication about Esperanto appeared in 1887 under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto", which means "Doctor Hopeful".

2) What is an artificial language?

An artificial language is not created spontaneously by and within a cultural community, but is devised, constructed, planned to facilitate and promote international communication. Most artificial languages, especially those designed in the last century, are based on the vocabulary and sentence structure of natural languages. Esperanto, for instance, draws its vocabulary mostly from West European languages, while its phonology, syntax, and spelling demonstrate a strong Slavonic influence.

3) How many artificial languages are there?

Several hundreds, but Esperanto is the best known and most widely used.

4) Does Esperanto have official status as an international language?

No. Esperanto does not have official status in any country of the world today.

5) Has Esperanto been devised to replace natural languages?

No. Esperanto is intended as an auxiliary language, a simple additional language for all people whose communication is hindered by the foreign-language barrier.

6) What is Esperanto like?

Its most prominent characteristic is simplicity. Esperanto has only five vowel sounds. Spelling and pronunciation are 100% phonetic. Each letter represents one sound only and any sound is always represented by the same letter. Esperanto uses a slightly modified version of the Latin alphabet. The word order is basically Subject-Verb-Object. The whole "grammar" of Esperanto can be summed up in just sixteen rules.

7) Only sixteen grammatical rules? For example?

For example, Rule #1 states that there is only one article in Esperanto, the definite (think "the") article "la". In Rule #2 we learn that all nouns end in -o and for plural nouns we just add -j. According to rule #3, all adjectives end in -a. And so on and so forth.

8) Is this for real?

Absolutely!

Now, the true strength of Esperanto lies in its extraordinarily extensive use of affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that are attached to word roots to produce a vast vocabulary. Here is a sampler:

To the adjective granda (= big) we attach the prefix mal- (=opposite) and we get malgranda (= small)

To the root kred- (= to believe) we add the suffix -ebl (= possibility) and the ending -a (for adjectives) and we get the adjective kredebla (= believable)

To the root lern- (= to learn) we add the suffix -ej (= place) and the ending -o (for nouns) and we get the noun lernejo (= school).

9) Where can I learn more about Esperanto? For more information and links to a wealth of learning resources, visit the websites of the World Esperanto Association (Universala Esperanto Asocio, UEA) at http://www.uea.org/info/angla.html and the Esperanto League for North America (ELNA) at http://www.esperanto-usa.org/