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Written by Miranda González
Many who have learned English as a second language find it daunting (or at least annoying) due to the never-ending list of exceptions to grammar and pronunciation rules. You want to use a verb in the simple past tense? Simply add -ed to the ending of verb: walked, cleaned, played, jumped, etc. But that rule quickly starts looking pretty useless once you consider irregular past tense verbs: sang, brought, read, put, threw, saw — the list goes on and on. But what if there were a language with NO exceptions to language rules? Wouldn’t that language be a lot easier to learn? And does such a thing even exist?
It does, and it’s called Esperanto.
Where did Esperanto come from?
In the 1870s, an ophthalmologist (Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof) living in what is now Poland and what was then Russia saw a clash of language and culture between Russians, Poles, Jews, and Germans. He wanted to create a language that would allow people from any culture or political affiliation to communicate in a neutral setting. He spent more than a decade perfecting the language, testing it out through poetry and prose that he composed.
In 1887, Zamenhof published a book of Esperanto grammar and the constructed language caught on, spreading rather quickly to Russia, China, and many Western and Eastern European countries. Modern-day proponents of Esperanto champion the language as a universal second language that is much easier to learn than the current lingua franca, English.
What is the structure of the language like?
Here’s where learning Esperanto gets pretty appealing. All singular nouns end in -o, and all adjectives preceding a singular noun end in -a.That’s right, I said ALL. No exceptions. Plural nouns end in -oj, and adjectives preceding those nouns end in -aj. There are also markers to indicate whether these words are the object of the sentence. Esperanto has only six verb inflections with no irregular verbs. Idioms and slang are nearly non-existent, as this would be counterproductive to the goal of promoting global understanding.
Here’s a really short sample:
La knabo piedfrapis la pilkon. = The boy kicked the ball.
So… do people actually speak it?
Conservative estimates put the number of Esperanto speakers at 1 million, while the most generous figures are closer to 2 million. There are even native Esperanto speakers, usually resulting from being born to parents with two different native languages; thus Esperanto serves as the common language for the family. Most speakers of Esperanto live in Europe or Asia.
In 1905, the first World Congress of Esperanto was held. The location of the Congress rotates throughout the world; for example, in 2014, it took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in 2015, it will be held in Lille, France. There are also a number of thriving niche communities, both in person and online, where Esperantists learn the language in the hopes of achieving world peace, or, simply for fun. Though Esperanto is nowhere near achieving the same status as English as a second language, it is the most studied constructed language.
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