Time limit: 3 minutes Esperanto Esperanto is an artificial language designed to serve internationally as an auxiliary
means of communication among speakers of different languages. Esperanto, the
creation of Ludwig Zamenhof, a Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist, was first presented in
1887. An international movement to promote its use has continued to flourish and has
members in more than 80 countries.
Esperanto is used internationally across language boundaries by about one million
people, particularly in specialized fields. It is used in personal contacts, on radio
broadcasts, and in a number of publications as well as in translations of both modern
works and classics. Its popularity has spread from Europe – both East and West – to
such countries a s Brazil and Japan. It is in China, however, that Esperanto has had its
greatest impact. It is taught in universities and used in many translations (often in
scientific or technological works). El Popola Cinio, a monthly magazine in Esperanto
from the people’s Republic of China, is read worldwide. Radio Beijing’s Esperanto
program is the most popular program in Esperanto in the world.
Esperanto’s vocabulary is drawn primarily from Latin, the Romance languages, English
and German. Spelling is completely regular. A simple and consistent set of endings
indicates grammatical functions of words. Thus, for example, every noun ends in -o,
every adjective in -a, and the initiative of every verb in -i.
Questions: 1. Who created Esperanto? …
2. When was Esperanto created? …
3. How many people use Esperanto? …
4. Name TWO countries where Esperanto is used. …
5. In which country is Esperanto taught at universities? …
6. Does Esperanto vocabulary come from eastern or western languages? …
7. What kinds of words end in -a in Esperanto? …