Esperanto I

Language barriers have always restricted international communication. This was a huge problem in the 19^th century as globalisation began to occur and the public began to travel more frequently. Therefore Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof designed a language in the 1880s.

As quoted by Zamenhof himself:

"The place where I was born and spent my childhood gave direction to all my future struggles. In Bialystok the inhabitants were divided into four distinct elements: Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews; each of these spoke their own language and looked on all the others as enemies.”

(Zamenhof, 1895)

Therefore, he aimed that the language would be learned as a second language to allow people to communicate freely and to unite communities. Originally, he called this ‘La Internacia Lingvo’ (The international language) but users decided that ‘Esperanto (the one that hopes) was a more suitable title. However this language had many problems. For example, Zamenhof was targeted by Hitler as he was Jewish and therefore Nazi Germany wanted to eradicate the language.

Although, Esperanto was never officially proclaimed as a secondary language in any country, it had many plans in the 20^th century. For example, it was though that Neutral Moresnet would be the first official Esperanto state and Qian Xuantong, a Chinese linguist, proclaimed that Esperanto should be spoken instead of Chinese.

But Esperanto does have a place in modern society. Around 1,000 children are brought up with Esperanto by their parents, around 20,000 speak Esperanto as a second language and it is thought that over 10,000,000 people have studied that language at some time. Because of this popularity, magazines, books and songs are written in Esperanto and there is even a radio station broadcasted in the language! Also, in February 2013, a petition was created to make Esperanto one of the official languages of the European Union!  

Therefore I think to a certain extent, Zamenhof achieved his goals. He managed to construct a language which is now used all over the world. Esperanto is a common language for many people, giving them the opportunity to communicate to each other and break down the language barrier.

Tomorrow, I’m going to investigate the language itself – how was it formed? What is the language like? Is there a future for Esperanto?

Flag of Esperanto