Probably, at least once everyone has heard about Esperanto - a universal language designed to become global. And although in the world so far most people speak Chinese, this invention of the Polish doctor has its own history and prospects. Where did Esperanto come from, what kind of innovation in linguistics is it, who uses it - read on and we will answer all these questions.
Hope for mutual understanding
Probably, since the time of the construction of the Tower of Babel, mankind has been experiencing difficulties associated with a misunderstanding of the speech of other peoples.
Esperanto was developed to facilitate communication between people from different countries and cultures. It was first published in 1887 by Dr. Ludwik Lazar Zamenhof (1859-1917). He used the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto, which means "one who hopes." So the name of his brainchild appeared, which he carefully developed over the years. The international language of Esperanto should be used as neutral when speaking between people who do not know each other's language.
He even has his own flag. It looks like this:
Esperanto is an artificial language that is much easier to learn than ordinary national languages that developed naturally. Its design is streamlined and understandable.
Vocabulary
It will not be an exaggeration to say about Esperanto that it is a hodgepodge of major European languages. Dr. Zamenhof took quite real words for his creation as a basis. About 75% of the vocabulary comes from Latin and Romance languages (especially French), 20% comes from Germanic languages (German and English), and the rest of the phrases are taken from Slavic languages (Russian and Polish) and Greek (mainly scientific terms). Commonly used words are widely used. Therefore, a person who speaks Russian, even without preparation, will be able to read about 40% of the text in Esperanto.
The language is inherent in phonetic writing, that is, each word is pronounced exactly as it is written. There are no unpronounceable letters or exceptions, which greatly facilitates its study and use.
How many people speak Esperanto?
This is a very common question, but nobody really knows the exact answer. The only way to reliably determine the number of people who speak Esperanto is to conduct a worldwide census, which, of course, is almost impossible.
Nevertheless, Professor Sidney Coulbert of the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) did the most comprehensive study on the use of this language. He conducted interviews with Esperanto speakers in dozens of countries around the world. Based on this study, Professor Coolbert concluded that about two million people use it. This puts it on a par with languages such as Lithuanian and Hebrew.
Sometimes the number of speakers in Esperanto is exaggerated or, conversely, minimized, the numbers range from 100,000 to 8 million people.
Popularity in Russia
Esperanto has many ardent fans. Do you know that in Russia there is Esperanto street? Kazan became the first city of the then Russian Empire to open a club dedicated to the study and dissemination of this language. It was founded by several intellectual activists who enthusiastically accepted the idea of Dr. Zamenhof and began to promote it. Then professors and students of Kazan University opened their own small club in 1906, which could not last long in the turbulent years of the beginning of the twentieth century. But after the Civil War, the movement resumed, even a newspaper appeared about Esperanto. The language became more and more popular because it corresponded to the concept of the Communist Party, calling for the unification of different peoples in the name of the World Revolution. Therefore, in 1930, the street on which the Esperanto Club was located received a new name - Esperanto. However, in 1947 it was again renamed in honor of a politician. At the same time, involvement in the study of this language became dangerous, and since then its popularity has fallen significantly. But the Esperantists did not give up, and in 1988 the street got its former name.
In total, in Russia there are about 1000 native speakers. On the one hand, this is not enough, but on the other hand, considering that only enthusiasts in clubs learn the language, this is not such a small figure.
Letters
The alphabet is based on Latin. It contains 28 letters. Since each of them corresponds to the sound, there are 28 of them too, namely: 21 consonants, 5 vowels and 2 half-vowels.
In Esperanto, letters that are familiar to us from the Latin alphabet sometimes go in two and are written with a "house" (inverted checkmark above). So Dr. Zamenhof introduced the new sounds that were needed for his language.
Grammar and sentence construction
Here, too, the main principle of Esperanto is professed - simplicity and comprehensibility. There are no clans in the language, and the word order in the sentence is arbitrary. There are only two cases, three tenses and three moods of verbs. There is an extensive system of prefixes and suffixes, with which you can create many new words from one root.
The flexible word order in the sentence allows representatives of different language families to use the structures with which they are most familiar, but at the same time speak perfectly understandable and grammatically correct Esperanto.
Practical use
New knowledge will never hurt, but here is what specific benefits you can get from studying Esperanto:
- It is an ideal second language that can be learned quickly and easily.
- The ability to correspond with dozens of people from other countries.
- It can be used to see the world. There are lists of Esperantists who are ready to host other native speakers in their own home or apartment for free.
- International understanding. Esperanto helps break down language barriers between countries.
- The opportunity to meet people from other countries at congresses, or when Esperanto foreigners come to visit you. It is also a good way to meet interesting compatriots.
- International equality. When using the national language, someone alone must make an effort to learn a speech unfamiliar to himself, while someone only uses knowledge from birth. Esperanto is a step towards each other, because both interlocutors worked to study it and make communication possible.
- Translation of masterpieces of literature. Many works have been translated into Esperanto, some of which may not be available in the native language of the Esperanto.
disadvantages
For more than 100 years, the most common artificial language has both fans and critics. They say about Esperanto that this is just another funny relic of the Victorian era, the same as phrenology or spiritualism. For all the time of its existence, it never became a world language. Moreover, humanity is not particularly enthusiastic about this idea.
Critics also say about Esperanto that this is not at all simple, but difficult to learn. There are many unspoken rules in his grammar, and writing letters is difficult on a modern keyboard. Representatives from different countries are constantly trying to make their amendments to improve it. This leads to controversy and differences in training materials. Also called into question is his harmony.
But fans of this language claim that 100 years is too few for the whole world to speak the same language, and given the current number of native speakers, Esperanto has its own future.