Esperanto

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international language. The name derives from D-ro Esperanto (Dr. Hopeful), the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof first published the language in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and flexible language as a universal second language to foster international understanding.

The Esperanto speaker community

Geography and demography

Esperanto speakers are more numerous in Europe and East Asia than in the Americas, Africa and Oceania, and more numerous in urban than in rural areas (Sikosek 2003). Esperanto is particularly prevalent in the northern and eastern countries of Europe; in China, Korea, Japan, and Iran within Asia; in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico in the Americas; and in Togo and Madagascar in Africa.

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An estimate of the number of Esperanto speakers was made by Sidney S. Culbert, a retired psychology professor of the University of Washington and a longtime Esperantist, who tracked down and tested all Esperanto speakers in sample areas of dozens of countries over a period of twenty years. Culbert concluded that between one and two million people speak Esperanto at Foreign Service Level 3, "professionally proficient" (able to communicate moderately complex ideas without hesitation, and to follow speeches, radio broadcasts, etc.) (Wolff 1996). Culbert's estimate was not made for Esperanto alone, but formed part of his listing of estimates for all languages of over 1 million speakers, published annually in the World Almanac and Book of Facts. Since Culbert never published in detail about his sampling methodology, or intermediate results for particular countries and regions, it is difficult to gauge the accuracy of his results. In the Almanac, his estimates for numbers of language speakers were rounded to the nearest million, thus the number for Esperanto speakers is shown as 2 million. This latter figure appears in Ethnologue. Assuming that this figure is accurate, that means that about 0.03% of the world's population speaks the language. This falls short of Zamenhof's goal of a universal language, but it represents a level of popularity unmatched by any other constructed language. Ethnologue also states that there are 200 to 2000 native Esperanto speakers.

Related Topics:
Sidney S. Culbert - University of Washington - Foreign Service Level 3 - Wolff 1996 - World Almanac and Book of Facts - Ethnologue - Universal language - Native Esperanto speakers

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Marcus Sikosek has challenged this figure of 1.6 million as exaggerated. Sikosek estimated that even if Esperanto speakers were evenly distributed, assuming one million Esperanto speakers worldwide would lead one to expect about 180 in the city of Cologne. Sikosek finds only 30 fluent speakers in that city, and similarly smaller than expected figures in several other places thought to have a larger-than-average concentration of Esperanto speakers. He also notes that there are a total of about 20,000 members of the various Esperanto organizations (other estimates are higher). Though there are undoubtedly many Esperanto speakers who are not members of any Esperanto organization, he thinks it unlikely that there are fifty times more speakers than organization members (Sikosek 2003). Others think such a ratio between members of the organized Esperanto movement and speakers of the language is not unlikely. In the absence of Dr. Culbert's detailed sampling data, or any other census data, it is impossible to state the number of speakers with certainty.

Related Topics:
Cologne - Sikosek 2003

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Culture

:For a more detailed treatment of these topics, see the subarticles: Esperanto culture, Esperanto literature, and Esperanto music.

Related Topics:
Esperanto culture - Esperanto literature - Esperanto music

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Esperanto is often used to access an international culture, including a large corpus of original as well as translated literature. There are over a hundred regularly published magazines in Esperanto. Many speakers use the language for free travel throughout the world using the Pasporta Servo, or for international pen pals. Penpals are even possible for elementary school students, something that is far more difficult when using an ethnic language like English. To some extent there are also shared traditions in the Esperanto community, like Zamenhof Day.

Related Topics:
Culture - Literature - Magazines in Esperanto - Pasporta Servo - Pen pal - Elementary school - Tradition - Zamenhof Day

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It is frequently criticised that "Esperanto has no culture". However, Esperanto is intentionally culturally neutral: It was intended to be a facilitator between cultures, not the carrier of any one culture. (See Esperanto as an international language.)

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Two films were produced with dialogue entirely in Esperanto. The films were Angoroj in 1964 and Incubus starring William Shatner in 1965.

Related Topics:
Angoroj - Incubus - William Shatner

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The anime RahXephon makes use of Esperanto for the acronym of TERRA, which stands for "Tereno Empireo Rapidmova Reakcii Armeo." This can be translated as "Earth Empire Rapid Response Army," though pedants might note that a better Esperanto rendition of this name would be "Rapid-Reaga Armeo de la Tera Imperio".

Related Topics:
Anime - RahXephon - Acronym

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American composer Lou Harrison, who incorporated styles and instruments from many world cultures in his music, used Esperanto titles and/or texts in several of his works.

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Goals of the Esperanto movement

Zamenhof's intention was to create an easy-to-learn language to foster international understanding. It was to serve as an international auxiliary language, that is, as a universal second tongue, not to replace ethnic languages. This goal was widely shared among Esperanto speakers in the early decades of the movement. Later, Esperanto speakers began to see the language and the culture that had grown up around it as ends in themselves, even if Esperanto is never adopted by the United Nations or other international organizations.

Related Topics:
International auxiliary language - United Nations

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Those Esperanto speakers who want to see Esperanto adopted officially or on a large scale worldwide are commonly called finvenkistoj, from fina venko, meaning "final victory". Those who focus on the intrinsic value of the language are commonly called ra?mistoj, from Rauma, Finland, where a declaration on the near-term unlikelihood of the "fina venko" and the value of Esperanto culture was made at the International Youth Congress in 1980. These categories are, however, not mutually exclusive.

Related Topics:
Rauma - Finland - 1980

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The Prague Manifesto (1996) presents the views of the mainstream of the esperanto movement and of its main organisation, the World Esperanto Association (UEA).

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