T. Popova, I. Glagolevsky (Odessa, Ukraine)
The Esperanto language: effective means of
international communication
I. Introduction
Nowadays Internet and mobile connection have
irreversibly taken place of radio, newspapers and television. The youth have
received access to any scientific forums, chats, videoconferences and
communication through e-mail.
Thus there is a question arising: what language should
be used to get this information from the World Wide Web?
The most common answer is ‘English’.
But why somebody else’s mother’s tongue should become
the second language for a person from different nationality? Why has English
become international, as it is commonly stated? It’s grammar and pronunciation
especially are not easy things to learn.
For example, the word ‘Shakespeare’ contains 11
letters and only 7 sounds are pronounced.
Famous English writer Bernard Shaw wrote that he had
spent one third of his time for creativity for writing silent letters.
II. Task setting
Owing to the Internet, the world science, developed by
young researchers, enlarged the limits of scientific idea exchange abnormally.
But the effective development of modern civilization is stopped by
multilingualism.
The world consists of 330 countries, where more than
4000 languages and dialects are spoken.
Since the 17th century scientists have
suggested more than 900 projects of international languages.
There are three main requirements of introducing an
international language (IL) into international practice.
1. Neutrality
2. Easy studying
3. Exactness
But no language suggested has received such
application on the planet as Esperanto, which enables expression of the most
delicate human feelings.
As to its abundance in the Internet, Esperanto is at
the second place after English. One may get convinced about the fact on having
visited lernu.net
Why is this artificial language, causing no national
allergy, so popular?
In the end of the 19th century L. Zamenhof,
an ophthalmologist from Warsaw, suggested a humanitarian idea: each person
living on the planet shall know their mother’s tongue and make it perfect, but
in international relations Esperanto shall be used.
The basic aim, set by the author, is actual even now:
“to give people a simple and neutral
device for international communication”.
Advantages of Esperanto are 16 grammar rules without
any exclusion.
1. The alphabet has only 28 letters. Only six letters are different from
those of classical Latin alphabet: Ĉ,
Ĝ, Ĵ, Ĥ, Ŝ, Ŭ. Pronunciation of any letter
doesn’t depend on position occupied in a word.
2. Only one sound correspond to every letter. This
means that what you hear is what you utter and is what you write.
3. 40% of word roots are international.
4. The stress is always at the penultimate syllable.
5. Esperanto has no irregular verbs, different
conjugations and doubled consonants.
6. There are only two cases: nominative and
accusative. All the rest of them are substituted with prepositions.
7. All nouns end in –o.
8. All adjectives end in –a.
9. All adverbs derived from adjectives end in –e.
10. All verb infinitives end in –i.
11. Verb tenses present, past and future differ with
endings: –as, –is, –os.
12. Verbs in subjunctive mood end in –us.
13. Imperative
verbs end in –u
14. Plural nouns, possessive pronouns, adjectives end
in –j.
15. Word building is really rich: one root is enough
to create new words with predictable meaning with the help of prefixes and
suffixes. This makes it easy to enlarge vocabulary and international word
reserves.
16. The same could be made with prepositions and
inflexions.
From the above said it is possible to conclude
correctly that the language constructed like that is much simpler to learn than
national languages.
III. Results
The learning of historical and modern materials on
introducing Esperanto into world practice has proved that:
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Esperanto enjoys the
support of affluent international organizations. UNO, which joins more than 200
countries, UNESCO, which has influence on 85 different states, EU, which
includes 28 states are among these organizations.
-
Three times UNESCO has
adopted resolutions on Esperanto, where in was stated that tasks and purposes
of Esperanto are those set by UNESCO.
-
International
Scientific Academy in San-Marino uses Esperanto as one of its working
languages.
-
The most respectable
organizations among Esperantists are: Universal Esperanto Association (UEA),
the headquarters of which is in
Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Non-national Association of Esperantists (SAT),
carried from Paris, France.
-
UEA and SAT have
information bodies, which are monthly magazines “Esperanto” and “Sennaciulo”.
-
Every year UEA and SAT
organize congresses of Esperanto in different points of the planet.
Table 1 includes the list of congresses by UEA held
since 1905 and interrupted only during the World Wars. The last International
Congress of Esperanto (by UEA) was held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The 100th
Congress is planned to be held in France in 2015.
71 congresses were held by SAT, the first SAT Congress
in Ukraine was held in 1998 in Odessa.
Table 1
International congresses of Esperantists held by UEA
(1905–2015)
# of congress |
Year |
City or town |
Country |
Number of participants |
100 |
2015 |
Lille |
France |
|
99 |
2014 |
Buenos Aires |
Argentina |
|
98 |
2013 |
Reykjavík |
Iceland |
1034 |
97 |
2012 |
Hanoi |
Vietnam |
866 |
96 |
2011 |
Kopenhagen |
Denmark |
1458 |
95 |
2010 |
Havana |
Cuba |
1002 |
94 |
2009 |
Białystok |
Poland |
1860 |
93 |
2008 |
Rotterdam |
The Netherlands |
1845 |
92 |
2007 |
Yokohama |
Japan |
1901 |
91 |
2006 |
Florence |
Italy |
2209 |
90 |
2005 |
Vilnius |
Lithuania |
2235 |
89 |
2004 |
Beijing |
China |
2031 |
88 |
2003 |
Gothenburg |
Sweden |
1791 |
87 |
2002 |
Fortaleza |
Brazil |
1484 |
86 |
2001 |
Zagreb |
Croatia |
1691 |
85 |
2000 |
Tel Aviv
|
Israel |
1212 |
84 |
1999 |
Berlin |
Germany |
2712 |
83 |
1998 |
Montpellier |
France |
3133 |
82 |
1997 |
Adelaide |
Australia |
1224 |
81 |
1996 |
Prague |
Czech Republic |
2972 |
80 |
1995 |
Tampere |
Finland |
2443 |
79 |
1994 |
Seoul |
Republic of Korea |
1776 |
78 |
1993 |
Valencia |
Spain |
1863 |
77 |
1992 |
Vienna |
Austria |
3033 |
76 |
1991 |
Bergen |
Norway |
2400 |
75 |
1990 |
Havana |
Cuba |
1617 |
74 |
1989 |
Brighton |
Great Britain |
2280 |
73 |
1988 |
Rotterdam |
The Netherlands |
2321 |
72 |
1987 |
Warsaw |
Poland |
5946 |
71 |
1986 |
Beijing |
China |
2482 |
70 |
1985 |
Augsburg |
Germany |
2311 |
69 |
1984 |
Vancouver |
Canada |
802 |
68 |
1983 |
Budapest |
Hungary |
4834 |
67 |
1982 |
Antwerp |
Belgium |
1899 |
66 |
1981 |
Brasilia |
Brazil |
1749 |
65 |
1980 |
Stockholm |
Sweden |
1807 |
64 |
1979 |
Lucerne |
Switzerland |
1630 |
63 |
1978 |
Varna |
Bulgary |
4414 |
62 |
1977 |
Reykjavík |
Icel |
1199 |
61 |
1976 |
Athens |
Greece |
1266 |
60 |
1975 |
Kopenhagen |
Denmark |
1227 |
59 |
1974 |
Hamburg |
Germny |
1651 |
58 |
1973 |
Belgrade |
Serbia |
1638 |
57 |
1972 |
Portland |
The USA |
923 |
56 |
1971 |
London |
Great Britain |
2071 |
55 |
1970 |
Vienna |
Austria |
1987 |
54 |
1969 |
Helsinki |
Finland |
1857 |
53 |
1968 |
Madrid |
Spain |
1769 |
52 |
1967 |
Rotterdam |
The Netherlands |
1265 |
51 |
1966 |
Budapest |
Hungary |
3975 |
50 |
1965 |
Tokyo |
Japan |
1710 |
49 |
1964 |
The Hague |
The Netherlands |
2512 |
48 |
1963 |
Sofia |
Bulgaria |
3472 |
47 |
1962 |
Copenhagen |
Denmark |
1550 |
46 |
1961 |
Harrogate |
Great Britain |
1646 |
45 |
1960 |
Brussels |
Belgium |
1930 |
44 |
1959 |
Warsaw |
Poland |
3256 |
43 |
1958 |
Mainz |
Germany |
2021 |
42 |
1957 |
Marseille |
France |
1468 |
41 |
1956 |
Copenhagen |
Denmark |
2200 |
40 |
1955 |
Bologna |
Italy |
1687 |
39 |
1954 |
Haarlem |
The Netherlands |
2353 |
38 |
1953 |
Zagreb |
Croatia |
1760 |
37 |
1952 |
Oslo |
Norway |
1614 |
36 |
1951 |
Munich |
Germany |
2040 |
35 |
1950 |
Paris |
France |
2325 |
34 |
1949 |
Bournemouth |
Great Britain |
1534 |
33 |
1948 |
Malmö |
Sweden |
1761 |
32 |
1947 |
Bern |
Switzerland |
1370 |
World War II |
|
|||
31 |
1939 |
Bern |
Switzerland |
765 |
30 |
1938 |
London |
Great Britain |
1602 |
29 |
1937 |
Warsaw |
Poland |
1120 |
28 |
1936 |
Vienna |
Austria |
854 |
27 |
1935 |
Rome |
Italy |
1442 |
26 |
1934 |
Stockholm |
Sweden |
2042 |
25 |
1933 |
Cologne |
Germany |
950 |
24 |
1932 |
Paris |
France |
1650 |
23 |
1931 |
Cracow |
Poland |
900 |
22 |
1930 |
Oxford |
Great Britain |
1211 |
21 |
1929 |
Budapest |
Hungary |
1200 |
20 |
1928 |
Antwerp |
Belgium |
1494 |
19 |
1927 |
Gdańsk |
Poland
|
905 |
18 |
1926 |
Edinburgh |
Great Britain |
960 |
17 |
1925 |
Geneva |
Switzerland |
953 |
16 |
1924 |
Vienna |
Austria |
3400 |
15 |
1923 |
Nuremberg |
Germany |
4963 |
14 |
1922 |
Helsinki |
Finland |
850 |
13 |
1921 |
Prague |
Czech Republic |
2561 |
12 |
1920 |
The Hague |
The Netherlands |
408 |
World War I |
|
|||
11 |
1915 |
San Francisco
|
The USA |
163 |
10 |
1914 |
Paris |
France |
Canceled due to World War I |
9 |
1913 |
Bern |
Switzerland |
1203 |
8 |
1912 |
Cracow |
Poland |
1000 |
7 |
1911 |
Antwerp |
Belgium |
1800 |
6 |
1910 |
Washington |
The USA |
357 |
5 |
1909 |
Barcelona |
Spain |
1500 |
4 |
1908 |
Dresden |
Germany |
1500 |
3 |
1907 |
Cambridge |
Great Britain |
1317 |
2 |
1906 |
Geneva |
Switzerland |
1200 |
1 |
1905 |
Boulogne-sur-Mer |
France |
688 |
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More than once Esperanto
has been used as a working language (along with several national languages) at
different international conferences and symposia, with Ukraine involved as
well.
-
Every year hundreds of
original and translated books are published in Esperanto. Publishers dealing
with the language exist in Russia, Czech Republic, Italy, the USA, Belgium, the
Netherlands and other countries.
-
Some publications are
spread in electronic form. A lot of magazines and newspapers issued earlier can
be downloaded from a special website.
-
Internet provides
television and radio broadcast in Esperanto. There are lots of websites in Esperanto available.
Major problems, which Esperanto has to face, are
peculiar for communities that do not receive financial support from state
bodies. The money possessed by Esperanto organizations are mostly donations,
interest from deposits and income from some business ventures. This financial
grounding cannot enable large add campaign to inform the society about
Esperanto and its opportunities. Meanwhile introducing Esperanto into world
practice may bring huge economic profit.
IV. Conclusions
1. The Esperanto language, created by L. Zamenhof 127
years ago, is successfully used for communication between different countries
and nationalities.
2. This universal, neutral, auxiliary and melodic
language does not cause national allergy, as it is convenient communicative
device and it gives no privilege to parties of communication.
3. There is no powerful economy, army and navy hidden
behind the language. These conditions are necessary for it to become used by
the world.
4. The way out of current situation, called
multilingualism, may become the acceptance of unified auxiliary language of
communication Esperanto.
The first thousand of Esperantists, who reacted the idea included 51
residents from Odessa, Ukraine. Thus the city is the so-called lullaby of
Esperanto, where it developed and grew stronger. This is why there is a
monument of the language creator in Odessa at house # 3, Deribasovskaya, St.
The monument is the only one in Ukraine and the whole space left after the
Soviet Union collapse. The monument is created by sculptor Nikolay Blazhkov.