Esperanto is a language you have probably never heard of. But if you are trying to learn a foreign language – any foreign language – Esperanto can help you do that faster and easier. So, let’s check it out!
In this post I’ll go over:
- What is Esperanto?
- Why learn Esperanto?
- How to learn Esperanto
WHAT IS ESPERANTO?
Esperanto is a constructed language. You might ask, “Aren’t all languages constructed?” Nope. Most languages evolve and develop over thousands of years. That’s why natural languages have so many irregularities. A constructed language is one where the creator sits down and purposefully makes up the vocabulary and grammar rules. What’s nice about constructed languages is that they can be very simple and logical if the creator makes it that way.
Esperanto was created in 1887 by a Jewish opthamologist named LL Zamenhof. He was born in Bialystok, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time and is now part of Poland, but spent most of his life in Warsaw, where he is now buried.
Zamenhof dreamed of a world without war and he believed in the power of language to bring people together and find common ground. He wanted to create a language that was fast and easy to learn so people could use it as an “international auxiliary” language. So, he created Esperanto, which means “One who hopes”.
WHY LEARN ESPERANTO?
1. It’s Easy!
Zamenhof designed Esperanto to be incredibly easy to learn and use. If you are wanting to learn a second language, why not start with one that’s easy? Esperanto has no irregular verbs, every letter is pronounced only one way, there’s no silent letters, and no word genders. There are only 16 grammar rules and it always follows all it’s own rules, which significantly cuts down the amount of memorizing you have to do. Even vocabulary is easy because words are constructed using roots, prefixes, and suffixes, so instead of memorizing every word, you just learn how to construct them.
An enquiry made in 1951 revealed that 89% of Esperanto roots were recognizably related to words in English and would be immediately understood by an educated adult. The researchers also found that Esperanto is about six times easier to learn than French or German, mostly because it has no irregularities. That is important because memorizing irregularities is what takes up most of your time when learning a language.
The nice thing about learning an easy language is that it boosts your confidence in your language-learning ability. It also teaches you how to learn languages. You will figure out your own language-learning style and what works for you, so you know how to approach learning other languages.
2. It helps you learn other languages
This was the kicker for me. I really want to be a polyglot (speaker of many languages) and I saw a lot of polyglots recommending people to learn Esperanto first. Why? Because the first foreign language you learn is always the hardest. Every language you learn after that first non-native one is easier and easier. So if you start with one that’s easy, it gets you over that “first foreign language” hurdle and makes it easier to learn the other languages you are interested in.
Several studies were done in the mid-20th century about the effect of Esperanto on tertiary language acquisition (learning a third language). These studies showed that learning Esperanto as a second language made tertiary language acquisition faster and easier. For example, a group of students studied Esperanto for a year and then French for a year, while another group of students studied French for two years. In the end, the students who studied Esperanto first were significantly better at French than the students who had studied only French, even though the second group had studied French for twice as long.
I have been studying Hebrew since 2019 and when I heard about Esperanto I paused my Hebrew studies for a month to focus on Esperanto. After that month, I came back to Hebrew and it seemed so much easier than it had before. I found that I remembered grammar rules better and the language as a whole just seemed to make more sense.
3. Make friends!
Esperanto is used all over the world and people who speak it and study it are known as “Esperantists”. Zamenhof’s dream was that Esperanto would foster a global community of people who use it as an auxiliary language to connect with each other. I believe he succeeded in that regard. Esperantists are a welcoming, helpful bunch and they really have built a global community. There’s an annual conference where Esperantists get together and speak Esperanto and they even have their own type of couchsurfing network, where you can stay with Esperantists in 90 countries around the world (more on that below).
HOW TO LEARN ESPERANTO
There are TONS of free resources for learning Esperanto. Here are the ones I’ve found most helpful:
Lernu!
The word “lernu” means “learn” in the imperative form. Lernu! is a free, online course that teaches you everything you need to know about Esperanto. It goes over grammar, pronunciation, and word construction by taking the student through a story of a guy who time travels. There’s tons of audio, so you can get used to hearing it (always the hardest part of a language for me), which also helps your pronunciation. It also has a built-in dictionary for English-Esperanto translation.
Another thing that I like about Lernu! is that it’s available in several languages. So, you might go through the course in your first language, but then you can go through it again in another language you are trying to learn. That way, you are learning Esperanto and the other language at the same time.
Duolingo
I have a lot of complaints about the Duolingo system of language learning and I absolutely do not think it is “the best way to learn a language” (their words). But, I do find it useful as a supplementary tool, especially for literacy. I am a very literary language learner – I MUST know how words are written because, for me, that gives meaning to sounds. Duolingo is great because it involves a lot of reading and writing combined with audio, which I feel makes me more literate in my target language.
Keep in mind that Duolingo is a company and it’s goal is to make money. So, they make it pretty annoying to use the free version of the app in hopes you’ll pay for “Plus”. I did a free trial of Plus and it was a much more pleasant experience but I refuse to pay for a language-learning app when there are so many free resources available. So, I just use the free version for a few minutes each day.
It’s also important to know that not all Duolingo courses are the same. Some have activities and features that others don’t. For example, French has the Stories feature and, if you have an iPhone, additional audio lessons, whereas Esperanto has neither. The Duolingo Esperanto course is pretty basic but so is Esperanto, so it’s a good start.
Vikipedio
Vikipedio is “Wikipedia” in Esperanto. Wikipedia is great for language learning because it comes in so many languages. I use it to improve my reading comprehension skills. I just pick a topic I am interested in, check if there’s a Wikipedia page about it in Esperanto, and start reading. It’s especially helpful if you read about a topic you already know something about, because you’ll have a better sense of what it’s saying and you can also learn some special terminology relating to that topic.
Wikipedia pages in different languages are not identical translations of each other – they have different information. The Vikipedio page for a certain topic could have more or less information than the English Wikipedia page for the same topic. So, I like to choose a topic and then read the Wikipedia pages about it in all the languages I’m learning, so I can practice reading and also learn as much as I can about the topic.
Google Translate
Google added Esperanto to it’s list of translatable languages in 2012. I usually have Google Translate open in another tab while I read Vikipedio so I can quickly copy/paste new words and phrases from what I’m reading. It seems to have some glitches, for example, sometimes it won’t translate single words, but it’s good for phrases. The Lernu! dictionary is better for single words.
Universala Kongreso
This is one I haven’t done yet but really want to. Every year since 1905, except during the two world wars and the 2020/2021 pandemic, Esperantists from around the world have gathered together for Universala Kongreso – the “World Esperanto Congress”. It’s an Esperanto-based conference where you get to speak Esperanto all the time and meet new people from all around the world. They have keynote speakers, activities, and you can buy books and other materials. It’s held in a different city each year and in 2022 it’s going to be in Montreal, Canada and in 2023 it’ll be in Turin, Italy. See you there?
Pasporta Servo
This is another one I haven’t tried yet but am considering. Pasporta Servo – “Passport Service” – is basically Couchsurfing for Esperantists. You can stay with Esperantists in 90 countries all over the world, saving on accommodation costs while getting a local’s introduction to the place and a chance to practice your Esperanto. Seems like a win-win-win to me.
Blogs
I have found blogs to be incredible sources of information on everything I’m interested in and there are tons of blogs by Esperantists and about Esperanto. There are too many to list here but basically, whatever you are looking for, it exists. There are blogs written in Esperanto, about Esperanto, and about learning Esperanto. A good starting point would be this one by Benny the Irish Polyglot. From there, he’ll direct you to a ton of resources for learning Esperanto and many other languages.
That’s all I’ve got for today! I hope this post was interesting and informative and I wish you well on all your language-learning journeys.
Ĝis la revido!! See you later!
