The Secret International Language: Esperanto Explained - TLDR News

Esperanto is a language that was created in the 1800s with the ambition to become a global language a forge world peace. So in this video we track the rise, fall and rise again of this language and explain the current status of this weird but amazing language.

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[jptrrs]

It's hard for people who had no previous contact with Esperanto to grasp just how easy it is. Consider this:
- There are only 16 rules.
- Word order doesn't matter.
- There's only one possible sound for any particular letter.
- A word's class is marked by its ending, and all words follow the same standard: all nouns end in O, adjectives in A, verbs in S, adverbs in E and so on. That means when you find an unfamiliar word, you know what it is doing there even if you don't immediately grasp the full meaning.
- No word gender, no irregular verbs, no cases, no useless variants of any kind.
- All words are stressed at the same syllable: the second to last (like es-per-AN-to). Paired with the one-sound-per-letter rule, this makes it impossible to mispronounce anything.
Put it all together and you have a language anyone can learn in a matter of weeks instead of months. For people already familiar with another western languages it would be even faster!

[Shalor]

I'm a little ruffled that the French would actively block other languages from taking their place in international dealings, given that when the were worried about too many people learning French and threatened its status as the tongue of the elite, the French Academy deliberately made it more difficult by inventing more grammar rules. I'm not kidding, this actually happened!

[Sirus]

There's a sci-fi book series set in a world where Esperanto is the universal language. I think the author (Harry Harrison) was a fan. The series is "stainless steel rat", in case anyone is interested.

[kocicijazycky]

My school's website is in Czech, German, Russian, French and Esperanto, and there is also an Esperanto musem in my town

[jentenevelsteen]

my entire family is involved and my dad is fluent in the language and actively helped create the course in duo-lingo for it. I recommend everyone to at least try it once.

[blufferfish]

I’ve been learning this language for a few months now, I know it will almost never turn out to be useful but its very easy and fun to learn, as well as that it will hopefully help as a gateway into other languages!

[Daleymop]

Saluton!
It's wonderful to see Esperanto's fascinating history covered in by such a great YouTube channel. Esperanto's ideals and structure are often the topic of videos, but its rich and crazy history is often overlooked. Thanks guys!

Estas mirinde vidi la interesan historion de Esperanto diskutite de tiel mojosa kanalo. La idealoj kaj strukturo de Esperanto estas ofte diskutitaj, sed la interesa kaj freneza historio neniam aperas. Dankon!

[TimwiTerby]

When you described the ease of learning the language, I wish you had included mention of research in this area, which indicates it's about 4 times faster to learn than any natural language, and that natural languages become about twice as easy to learn after you know Esperanto.

[lvoldum]

An important note: Zamenhof didn't want Esperanto to substitute national languages. He just wanted to create a means for international communication, so that in any conversation no one had the upper hand by using their native language - an even playing field.

Grava noto: Zamenhof ne volis ke Esperanto anstataŭigu naciajn lingvojn. Li nur volis krei rimedon por internacia komuniko, por ke en ia ajn konversacio neniu havu avantaĝon uzi sian denaskan lingvon - ebena ludkampo.

[IslandlifeIoW]

I studied it back in the late 1980’s. It really helped learning Romance languages afterwards.

[jonathanvilario]

Knowing how difficult English is, it would be amazing if this was widespreadly used

[jorenbosmans]

I love Zamenhof's motivation and I still believe not including basic levels of Esperanto in all EU education is a missed opportunity. It would take a few generations before People start to adopt it as the easiest second language, but I believe in it being possible.

[stefang]

The Esperanto Community from today feels more like a global subculture than the movement it once was. It has quite a vivid scene of YouTubers, music, books, festivals and local clubs in every bigger city of the world. It is a nice nerdy parallel world that you can dive in, and I enjoy it a lot.

[joshuaswart]

"Ni devas lerni Esperanto" Even TLDR forgets the accusative. XD

[jonizulo]

I speak Esperanto myself and I am fairly happy with this video. It should be noted though that not every Esperantist wants Esperanto to become a world language. Some people, called "raŭmistoj" want to strengthen Esperanto culture and see themselves as a language diaspora with a culture worth preserving. The Esperanto community has its own slangs, literature, music and even internet memes. There are even native Esperanto speakers who learn it from thier parents. I have not regretted learning this language, because it's fun and I enjoy talking with other Esperantists and I even make content in Esperanto.

Dankon kaj ĝis la revido! :)

[tijnmoer]

I just picked up learning Esperanto again a week ago and now this video releases! Thanks for bringing attention to this wonderful language!!

[KalisIgnus]

not sure if someone else feels the same way, but i find that images over a text don't really make a very good way to visualize information, such as in 2:00, 2:29 or 9:00, just to give some examples. but overall great videos (:

[mossbanksy]

Dankon pro ĉi tiu filmeto! Mi pensas ke vi sufiĉe bone prezentis la historio de la lingvo ka sia kulturo. Laŭ mia sperto iĝas pli kaj pli esperantistoj ĉiujare. La koronvirusa pandemio havis interesan efekto ĉar ĉiu esperanta evento okazis virtuale, do iu ajn povis partopreni. Pro tio, de la komenco de la pandemio mi faris multe da amikoj tutmonde per Esperanto. Mi partoprenis kongresojn en Argentino kaj Irano, kaj kurson en Slovakio: ĉiuj per la interreto. Esperanto vere estas bonega rimedo por ekkoni homojn el la tuta mondo.

[carsonpiano]

I speak Esperanto and I would love if TLDR news did another video on the language. It's a wonderful language that has let me easily communicate with people internationally. It has also made understanding and learning European languages a lot easier. Lernu Esperanton!

[presenttomato]

It's great that attention has been paid to this wonderful language! I learnt a bit of it for fun, Thanks TLDR!