LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Esperanto
built 266 days ago
Esperanto (eo and epo in ISO 639) is the most widely spoken of the constructed languages. The name derives from the pseudonym (Dr. Esperanto) under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first work on the subject, and literally means "one who hopes". Zamenhof, a Jewish oculist from Bialystok, Poland, published the Unua Libro (first book) of the language in 1887 after working on it for about ten years (see Esperanto history). His intention was to create an easy-to-learn language, to serve as an international auxiliary language, a second language for everyone in the world, rather than to replace all existing languages in the world. Some Esperanto speakers still want this, but most just want to meet foreigners and learn about other countries and cultures. Today, thousands of people use it regularly to communicate with people all over the world.
Source:
Esperanto is the most widely spoken of the constructed languages. A Polack, L. L. Zamenhof, created the foundation of the language in 1887 after ten years of work. His intention was to create an easy-to-learn language, to serve as an international auxiliary language, a second language for everyone in the world (not to replace all existing languages in the world). Some Esperanto speakers still want this, but most just want to meet foreigners and learn about other countries and cultures. Today, thousands of people use it regularly to communicate with people all over the world. According to a survey by Professor Sidney S. Culbert of the University of Washington, 1.6 million people speak Esperanto proficiently.
Source:
Esperanto has a centenary culture, nourished by the ceaseless exchanges between esperanto speakers. At the annual congress of Esperanto, a few thousands of participants gather every year in a different country. The "Pasporta Servo" guide contains a thousand of addresses of esperanto speakers of more than 90 countries, ready to lodge travellers on trip. More than 50 000 books in Esperanto have been published to date.
Source:
Esperanto has 5 vowels and 23 consonants, of which two are semivowels. Tone is not used to distinguish meaning of words. Stress is always on the penultimate vowel, unless a final vowel o is elided (which in practice occurs mostly in poetry). For example, familio (family) is
Source:
During its 116 years of existence, the Esperanto movement has developed its own culture. Proof of this lies in its original literature in prose and poetry, and Esperanto translations of the Bible and the works of Shakespeare or Tolkien. These... are not on the CD-rom. “They are too difficult for beginners. There are easier stories such as “The Little Prince”, a play, some poetry and even humourous stories. And there’s music, too: five short songs in MP3-format, all originally written in Esperanto,” says Van Herpe.
Source:
Today the loosely interconnected community of Esperanto-speakers has upwards of a million members. There are tens of thousands of books in Esperanto (chiefly original literature) and several hundred mostly small periodicals that appear regularly, of which many are circulated worldwide. Hardly a day passes without international meetings such as those of specialised organisations, conferences, youth get-togethers, seminars, group holidays and regional meetings taking place throughout the world. Also, several radio stations broadcast programs in Esperanto, some even on a daily basis. Esperanto sometimes becomes the "family language" for couples of different origins, and their children speak it as a native language (along with the language of their country of residence and in some cases another language). Esperanto develops and adapts to the changing needs of its speech community just as any other living language does – both through lexical borrowing and the coining of terms from existing linguistic resources – without losing its relative simplicity.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Esperanto