Today is Esperanto Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about Esperanto.
Esperanto is a constructed language created by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof. He was born in 1859 in Bialystok, a multi-ethnic city that is in present-day Poland. Growing up there, he witnessed many arguments between people who spoke different languages. This gave him the idea of creating an entirely new language that was simple to learn, to bring people together. He eventually gave up his career as an eye doctor to concentrate on Esperanto, and became known as Doktoro Esperanto (Dr. Esperanto).
At first, he thought about reviving Latin as a universal language, but concluded that it was too complicated.
It was initially known as “International Language” but the early speakers began referring to it as Esperanto in 1889. “Esperanto” translates to “one who hopes.”
Today is Esperanto Day because it was on this date in 1887 that Zamenhof published the first book of Esperanto grammar.
Esperanto uses root words from the romance languages. It has one definitive article and no indefinite articles. Nouns have no gender, and verbs are all regular with only one form per tense. The Esperanto alphabet has 28 letters and is based on the Latin alphabet. It doesn’t include Q, w, X and Y, and adds ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ.
The World Esperanto Association has a membership of 120 countries, but no country has adopted it as an official language. A small territory called Neutral Moresnet, between what is today Belgium and Germany, proposed to adopt it, but the first world war got in the way. Esperantujo ("Esperanto-land") is the name given to the collection of places where it is spoken.
Esperanto has a Flag. It features a green five-pointed star against a white canton, upon a field of green. It was proposed to Zamenhof by Richard Geoghegan, author of the first Esperanto textbook for English speakers, in 1887.
There are about 2 million speakers worldwide with about a thousand who were taught it from birth by their parents. It’s most popular in Europe, Asia and South America but there are speakers on other continents, too. In Africa, Togo has the most speakers.
Esperanto was added to Google Translate as its 64th language on February 22, 2012. Duolingo has an Esperanto course, and over 1 million people have started it. Esperanto Wikipedia (Vikipedio) is the 36th-largest Wikipedia by number of articles (359,000)
William Auld is a writer whose literary work in Esperanto has received three nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1999, 2004, and 2006.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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