💾 Archived View for spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › fun › espero.txt captured on 2023-06-14 at 16:36:24.
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* I thought it died out in the 50s.
* Great idea--too bad it never caught on.
* I remember reading about it somewhere.
* Wasn't your granddad into that?
* I sort of wish it was still around.
<*> IT IS!! <*>
READ ON--AND SATISFY YOUR CURIOSITY ABOUT
ESPERANTO
WHAT IS ESPERANTO?
Esperanto is a language developed to make it easier for people of dif-
ferent cultures to communicate. Its author, Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917),
published his "Lingvo Internacia" [International Language] in 1887 under the
pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto" [one who hopes]. What's so special about it? What
makes it any more international than French, English or Japanese?
Esperanto is specifically intended for international/intercultural
use, so those who use it meet each other on an equal footing, since neither
is using his native language. With national languages, the average person
isn't able to express herself as well as the native speaker or the gifted ling-
uist. Thanks to its simple, logical, regular design, anyone can learn
Esperanto fairly rapidly.
AN EMERGING GLOBAL CULTURE
Because Esperanto has been promoted for over a century as a language
for international understanding and communication, those who learn it tend to
be people who "think globally"--and global thinking has never been more impor-
tant than in this Electronic Age when the "Global Village" is beginning to
live up to its name. A sense of community has begun to emerge as the media
flash audio/visual images from the other side of the planet right into our
living rooms. And we find that people on the other side of the planet have
many of the same hopes and fears and wants that we do--even if their basic
culture is very different. Indeed, a global culture has begun to coalesce on
a level distinct from the national or regional ones.
A UNIVERSAL NETWORK
The growing Esperanto movement, comprised of local, national, and
global segments, is one manifestation of this universal sense of community.
Universala Esperanto-Asocio (UEA) is the global association, based in
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. UEA has a consulting relationship with UNESCO in
regard to language problems and planning, and administers a network of 2,300
delegates who provide services to UEA members and information to the public
in 70 countries. National and regional associations, as well as groups based
on common interests from art to vegetarianism, provide services and contacts
to Esperantists. There are also hundreds of international meetings each year
which use Esperanto as a working language. The annual Universala Kongreso de
Esperanto (or "UK") attracts an average of 1750 people from between 40-50 coun-
tries--the 1986 UK in Beijing was the largest international meeting in China's
recorded history.
Thousands of people use Esperanto-speaking travel services every year
to visit old friends and make new ones in foreign countries. There are a num-
ber of reciprocal hosting programs where Esperantists receive travelers in
their homes. Thousands more get to know each other through correspondence.
WORDS AND MUSIC
The personal contacts people make through this network are only one
part of the picture. Periodicals from the educational to the esoteric reach
a worldwide audience--a fact recognized by advertisers such as Mitsui & Co.
and Siemens AG. UEA's book service catalogue boasts thousands of titles, and
on average, a new title is published in Esperanto every day. Esperanto litera-
ture includes not only original works and translations of well-known classics,
but also important translations of works originally written in languages (e.g.
Lithuanian or Swahili) which would not afford them an audience outside their
own culture. In Esperanto translation, everyone can enjoy easy access.
Esperanto is also used in broadcasting and in the performing arts.
Shortwave radio stations from Berne to Beijing, as well as local AM and FM sta-
tions in Europe and South America, broadcast several thousand hours of
Esperanto programming annually. Stage productions of "La Eta Princo" [The
Little Prince] and "Kato Sur Varma Lado-tegmento" [Cat On A Hot Tin Roof] were
enthusiastically received at the 1989 UK in Brighton, England. And the popular
Czechoslovakian rock group TEAM'--whose 1988 debut album went gold overnight,
placing them at the top of the Eastern European charts--performs selections
in Esperanto at concerts, and has released an Esperanto album (with another
in production). Many other talented artists perform and record in Esperanto.
A LIVING LANGUAGE
Esperanto is a living language, used for everything people use any
other language for. But it's much easier to learn than a national language.
Even people who can't remember a word of a language they studied for years in
high school or college need only months to become fluent in Esperanto. It is
also more useful than national languages if your goal in learning a language
is to get to know people from different places, since virtually everyone who
speaks Esperanto has learned it for this reason.
For more information on Esperanto in the United States, the address
of your local group, and the first lesson in a free postal course, write or
call the Esperanto League for North America:
ELNA
Post Office Box 1129
El Cerrito CA 94530
(415) 653-0998
For information about the Esperanto movement in Canada, write to:
Kanada Esperanto-Asocio
C.P. 126
Succursale Beaubien
Montreal, Quebec H2G 3C8
ESPERANTO--LA INTERNACIA LINGVO
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