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Linguistics in daily life. Draw attention to the worldwide language problem and the promotion of Esperanto as the global interlanguage for the global village. Encourage learning Esperanto as a second lanaguage for everyone, to be a tool for international understanding among millions of its speakers in hundreds of countries. Free instruction offered online or off.

Blog Url: http://tc.yourhub.com/~Esperanto

BRIDGING THE BORDERS

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Contributed by: Richard Shrout on 6/23/2007

IN OTHER WORDS
BY THE MICCO MORPHEME ADDICT

BRIDGING THE BORDERS

Modern transportation and technological communication systems have shrunk the world, and Americans are more aware than ever before of customs and lifestyles of people around the world. But one barrier remains --- the language barrier.

There is a cliche that "wherever you go in the world, everybody speaks English." Well, it depends where in the world you go. English is popular in most countries today, but spoken primarily by a part of the social and academic elite and by some (not all by any means!) workers in the tourist industry.

Anyone who has visited a foreign country and struggled with the language barrier understands this. Americans are discovering what the rest of the world has long known: there is a real need for an international language.

Esperanto is that international language. Many international meetings are held in Esperanto. Books and magazines are published by the thousands to meet the demands of an international public. Some of the largest international firms put on special advertising campagins in Esperanto. Hotels, restaurants and tourst resorts in some countries compete for the patronage on the Esperanto-speaking traveler.

Esperanto's aim is not to replace the world's existing languages, but to serve as an easily learned and politically and socially neutral second language equally accessible to everyone in the world. Esperanto's impressive success as the language of international communication is due to three basic advantages. It is easy to learn. It is politically and socially neutral. And it has many practical uses.

EASIER TO LEARN. It can be learned in a fraction of the time needed to learn any ethnic language. SPELLING is easy: each letter corresponds to exactly one sound. PRONUNCIATION is easy: there are no strange combinations of letters to create new sounds, and the accent is always on the next-to-last vowel. GRAMMAR is easy: there a few rules, no exceptions (That last means, for example, that there are NO irregular verbs to learn.) VOCABULARY is easy: Because of its grammar-coding system and system of creating new words by combining basic words with prefixes, suffixes and each other, a very small learned vocabulary provides the speaker with a much larger usable vocabulary.

Esperanto's rational construction makes it especially popular with busy people who cannot afford to spend years learning a foreign languge, which in any case would be useful in only a small part of the world.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL NEUTRALITY. Many people, particularly in the West, believe English is similarly neutral because it is widely spoken throughout the world. However, that is more a reflection of the global military, economic and political clout of the United States, rather than a genuine international desire to use English, a language most people cannot learn to a desirable level of comptence.

Esperanto is not the property of any nation, national group, political party, or social class. It belongs to everyone --- the more so because everyone can learn to use it competently. Its popularity in smaller nations and non-European countries such as Japan and China is largely due to this neutrality.

The result is a spirit of friendship and fellowship among Esperanto speakers which is quite impressive to those who see it in actual use.

There are personal and practical advantages to Esperanto, which I'll deal with in future entries.

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Inquiries about Esperanto may be addressed directly to Richard Shrout at seraphim@gate.net
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