Esperanto

Esperanto
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Language autonym	Esperanto
Created by staff?	false
Courses teaching Esperanto	• • • •
Phase 1 Esperanto courses	•
Status	Available
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Learnable courses	• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language invented by Polish ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof and published in 1887.

The Esperanto course from English contains 61 skills, and more than 240 lessons.

Input methods

Main article: Guide to keyboard layouts and input methods

Windows

• Tajpi

• Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard layout This allows you to use the ^ with consonants and more. It shows up in the list of keyboards to switch to as EN (Canada).

Mac OS X

• Wikipedia:Esperanto orthography#Mac OS X
• Download a keyboard layout here (instructions on the page)

Linux

• Wikipedia:Esperanto orthography#Linux

Android

• An Esperanto keyboard is available with Google Keyboard.

See also

• How to type Esperanto Characters (New Zealand Esperanto Association)

External resources

List of resources (courses, dictionaries, translators, language games, vocabulary trainers, grammar, pronunciation examples, conversational partners/natives, teachers...)

General/multiple resources

• lernu! - Website with dictionary, courses, forums, and more.

• Universala Esperanto-Asocio
• National Esperanto Organizations

Dictionaries

• Vikia Vortaro - "Meta" dictionary with Reta Vortaro, Wikipedia, Majstro, Komputeko, Lernu-vortaro and own wiki dictionary
• Reta Vortaro
• Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto
• La Simpla Vortaro
• Wiktionary

Courses

• "Brazila" kurso (for download; with mentors)
• Video courses:
  • Mazi en Gondolando
  • Pasporto al la tuta mondo (subtitles for 16 languages)
  • Ana Pana (subtitles for ~ 10 languages)
• Free Esperanto Course
• Esperanto courses on Memrise

Grammar references

• Wikipedia:Esperanto grammar
• Wikiversity:Rules of Esperanto grammar
• The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar (also available as a PDF)
• A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed. Available on Project Gutenberg in HTML, EPUB, Kindle, and plain-text formats.
• Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko by Bertilo Wennergren. Esperanto grammar book, in Esperanto. (Also available as a PDF and a paper version.)

Content in Esperanto

Text

• Esperanto bookshelf at Project Gutenberg
• Vikilibroj - WikiBooks in Esperanto
• Vikifontaro - WikiSource in Esperanto
• Esperanto Wikipedia
• Originala Literaturo Esperanta
• Literaturo, en la reto, en Esperanto
• Magazines put out by the Universala Esperanto-Asocio.
• Payaam-e Sabz Andishan magazine archive Esperanto-Farsi
• Sublearning - Movie subtitle flash card quiz in Esperanto and many other languages

Audio/music

• Vinilkosmo - Esperanto music shop with some free tracks and samples.
• Muzaiko - Streaming music and talk.

Video

• Esperantotv.net - Streaming and on-demand videos in Esperanto.

FAQ

Is Esperanto easier to learn than other languages?

Yes, usually you only need about a third of the time needed for other languages. Three main reasons: International vocabulary, easy grammar without exceptions, and the word construction system reduces the vocabulary to be learned.

Can I reach a high level of language competence in Esperanto?

Yes. Because Esperanto is quicker to learn, you can reach a higher understandability in Esperanto in a given time.

Is Esperanto spreading?

It seems so. In Hungary, a census was done about language knowledge; the number of Esperanto speaking people doubled between 1990 and 2001 and again between 2001 and 2011. Now there are about a thousand families with Esperanto as their mother tongue or family language across the world.

Are there native Esperanto speakers?

Yes, probably at least one thousand nowadays. In the sixties there were only about one hundred. See the video Esperanto: Like a native (6 min.; subtitles for 25 languages).

Does Esperanto only make sense when it is officially recognized as the main international language?

You can use Esperanto in many ways already today - so no need to wait. Esperanto will probably never reach the goal of being the most used international language if it is not used. The more Esperanto is learned and used, the more it is attractive to be introduced e.g. into the school system.

Has Esperanto gotten any official recognition?

• The Chinese government publishes news in Esperanto on every working day, China Radio International broadcasts in Esperanto and they publish El Popola Ĉinio on the web.

• In Hungary Esperanto is recognized as a living language (viva lingvo) and in many universites one may use an Esperanto diploma to prove language competence when finishing studies. (Students need to prove language competence in one or two foreign language).

• Many internet sites offer services in Esperanto including Google Translate (and the Google search), Facebook (choose your language at "General Account Settings"), Mozilla Firefox, Linux, Wikipedia...

Could Esperanto help save endangered languages?

Esperanto needs only a third of the time to reach the same level as in other languages. So there is more time left to learn other languages. To learn other languages quite well, you are forced to go to specific countries. For Esperanto you just go to any country. So you are in contact with other languages. In fact many Esperanto speakers learn more languages after Esperanto. When you are a native speaker of an endangered language, you are now often forced to reach a good level in the main language of your country and in English. With Esperanto as a general international language you would have to spend less time for these two languages. You would have more time for working with your native language and you would be able to stay with it and to pass it on to the next generation.

Will learning Esperanto help me learn other languages?

Wikipedia has an article discussing this topic: Propaedeutic value of Esperanto.