Esperanto Explained 

After watching this, I really want to learn Esperanto now

Imagine watching Esperanto dubbed anime.

You can’t fail if you haven’t given up yet! Vivu esperanto!

Zamenhof sounds like a man too pure for this world.

It's hard to say Esperanto "failed". Two million people speak it a hundred years after the creator died. If two million people are just READING your work a century after your death you're either Jesus, Buddah, Muhammad or Shakespeare. If a century from now two million people are SPEAKING and THINKING in a language you made up in your spare time after your 9-5 gig, that's pretty damn successful in my book. Sure Zamenhof didn't achieve his ultimate goal, but his ultimate goal was essentially world peace. That's a pretty high mark to aim for. He made several big strides in that direction and should be applauded and celebrated for what he has achieved, even if it wasn't quite the utopia he had hoped it would develop into.

“no!!!!!!! you can’t just make a language that only has 16 grammar rules!!!!!!” “haha esperanto iri brrr”

Congratulations. Being a professor of Esperanto at the University level, I confess I was skeptical when my 15-year old daughter told me that you presented Esperanto adequately. Well, you convinced me: in 11 min and 12 sec, quite a result. I will show it here and there whenever opportune. Gratulojn!

To be fair, Esperanto hasn't really failed; it still could succeed more in the future, especially with the internet helping it spread.

2:44 I really REALLY want someone to make a website where you can make Esperanto words like this. The exact table on screen is there and you can scroll down the root words to find one you want to try then you just click anything in the different columns to make a word (the English translation being below or next to the word you’re making so you know it’s an actual word). it’d be really fun and would help people make notes and learn the language.

This could've been something epic. Everybody would be able to speak with each other. Too bad only our scientific measuring units and time zone system are international.

Before I was "meh" about learning Esperanto, but this video has truly inspired me with the history of the language and backstory of the creator. Thank you! Duolingo, Jen mi venas! (Google...lol!)

i wasn't expecting for the backstory of this language to be so beautiful

I watched this video earlier this year and decided to learn Esperanto. I can now speak Esperanto more proficiently with a few months of study, than Italian, which I took in highschool for 4 years. Dankon multe, Human Interests.

I used to think that Esperanto was spoken in a country named Esperia or something

great, another channel to watch :D

Who are you? This is the best Esperanto presentation, wonderfully professional, includes an accurate historical framework. Excellent sample clips in popular culture. I'd only add points on the hospitality I've received in a hundred cities before and after the creation of Pasporta Servo, a booklet-list (available on-line) of a over a thousand Esperanto speakers that will host you in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Thousands more will guide through the streets of their cities.

I like the fact that Esperanto is used in several works of fiction. Like my personal favorite, Saga, by Brian K. Vaughn. Using it in things like media, fiction, art, and other mediums is how Esperanto stays alive and how more people find out about it and get interested in learning it.

When you said "I currently have zero subscribers" I was like WTF????? What a professional quality video. Mi feliĉas, ke tio ŝanĝis, kaj nun vi havas pli da abonantoj u.u

In Warsaw there's a street called Esperanto. It had always buffled me, 'cause it's a strange way to name a street.

This was the video that really convinced me to learn Esperanto. Also it's been a great resource to further educate and convince people; it's worded better than I ever could.

I think Esperanto should be a Universal Language

Wow I never knew how dedicated the man was to humanity. From his writings I truly feel he genuinely cared for all people regardless of who they are or where they come from. It's beautiful.

I think everyone in the EU should know Esperanto. In my opinion Zamenhof is a genius. I think he should get recognition for his work. Esperanto is beautiful. The grammar is simple. Irregular verbs do not exist. I spend years learning irregular verb forms and there is none here. In Esperanto, everything is mathematically precise. I start by learning Esperanto. Hello everyone!

What makes you think that Zamenhof would be disappointed at the present state of Esperanto? When I look at my German-Esperanto dictionary with over 1600 pages and over 160,000 lexical items, it shows that the language has developed considerably from the 800 roots that Zamenhof published. And when you have a Universala Kongreso in China and Korea, it''s a long way from Boulogne sur mer, the location of the first international congress. That is progress!

Great presentation. Bonega prezento.

For those who don’t know , Esperanto is not meant to replace english. It is an international language , but it’s meant to serve a different function in society.

It failed because the verb "to do" is fartas.

Esperanto needs a resurgance, so I guess it's time to learn it myself. Thank you for this video.

Esperanto became my favourite language in 1952 when I discovered it in a Scout badges book. A beautiful language which in-depth studying reveals intriguing aspects of construction. Easy to speak and readily understandable,with a universal vocabulary based mostly on European languages, with Latin roots, common to most languages.

Your description, from @2:30 to @3:43, is the clearest and most helpful I've ever come across for Esperanto. Big thumbs up.

*whisperes in horror* "The French"

Problem of Esperanto is how Eurocentric it is. As a Trilingual Asian, I wouldn't call it "easy to learn" by any native East Asian language speakers

Started Esperanto club in my community... gonna show this video at first meeting

Certainly, to spread Esperanto more widely it requires more resources (human and money, in first steps). And this idea must have more purposes, than just simplify communication. For example, the person (or group) who wants increase Esperanto usage all around the world could use Esperanto in poor Africans villages, providing this language through basic education subjects. And, of course, it requires a lot of money and efforts.

I started studying Esperanto on Duolingo last week just for kicks, but I never expected it to be so much fun. I decided to look up the story behind it today and had no idea it was this interesting. Thank you for such a well explained video. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to type this in Esperanto :D

This is an amazing video Human Interest, the best out there on this topic. Thank you for sharing light into the beautiful backstory of the language and it's creator. We created our company back in 2018 on the foundations of Esperanto, not necessary the language itself but its ultimate goal of unifying people

I'm just starting to learn Esperanto on Duolingo. This video makes me want to learn it even more. I had no idea about the history of the language until now.

It's not about dropping all barriers, like national and political. It's just dropping barriers to communication.

I didn't know about Esperanto and now I feel like I should learn it ^^ thank you so much for this video!!

That was an amazing video. This is some serious promotional material for Esperanto. I would think it's in the interest of Esperantists to spread this video as much as possible. Seems to really understand what Esperanto is and it's motives/message.

This guy should've won a peace prize for idealism and his attempts to bring everyone together through language

Great stuff. Loved the sigh at the beginning.

lowkey ashamed that my country vetoed espéranto as the league of nations' language

0:05 mi komprenis nenion hahaha la akcentado multe tro fortas. Bona video, krome.

I don't mean "School should teach Esperanto", but people should put the existence of it with the great person Zamenhof into textbooks as history. I see Esperanto as part of significant works as in art or literature. Actually, Esperanto is fascinating. No grammatical genders in nouns (which change articles or verbs), quite the regular grammar compared to English, and few cases with no exceptions. Being easy to learn is a big thing. Some of the disappointing things are the necessity of the definite article, and that the language is not taught in many other languages and introduced in many schools so it hasn't been so popular like English.

This is, I think, the single best video on Esperanto. It's meticulous, entertaining, and carries its message well.

This language needs to be at every college as a humanitarian credit. Go through the philosophy first, learn the roots, learn the rules, practice in class. It would be a really rewarding semester long class.

Well done! Excellent explanation. Esperanto is a 22nd Century idea which appeared in the 19th Century - several centuries ahead of its time.

Still many people know that Esperanto exist. But there are many obstacles to make it an international and commonly known language. 1. There is no international pressure to learn Esperanto. Instead, English is usually chosen because it is the most common, albeit in terms of pronunciation and spelling... (you know what). 2. Zamenhof's mistake was adding diacritical marks. He could simplify it to the 26 letters of the Latin-European alphabet. 3. The smaller and more vulnerable a nation is to extinction, the greater the fear of imposing a new language. The larger the nation, the less interest in linguistic curiosities. Zamenhof did not foresee this either. 4. This idea was greatly damaged by the domination of the USSR, which promoted this language in some ways. That's why it came to be associated with communism and leftism. 5. This whole idea is very eurocentric and based on European languages. Only the simplicity of grammar encourages people from other continents and language groups to learn this language. Therefore, in Asia or Africa, the proposal to introduce this particular language may be received with reluctance. But... 1. I learned Esperanto myself and it took me two weeks to be able to communicate with another person. 2. The entire learning of a language comes down to knowing the words, because you can master grammar in three days. 3. If we ever decide to speak one language, Esperanto has the best chance.

i didn’t know all the background behind esperanto, i actually found it by searching up the world’s most simple languages and saw a little bit of this info and then decided i would like to try to learn it one day. that was a few months ago and i just started today and looked up this video. so heartbreaking how his life ended and how his work was demonized. 💔 but anything is possible with the internet, the more we spread the idea of esperanto - the more his dream can be achieved. i’m an american english speaker and i personally don’t feel comfortable how a lot of english speakers try to force other people to stop using their own languages and learn english. i love the idea of esperanto as an international language so nobody feels forced to “give up” their own language since english is considered the world language. i’m gonna start with esperanto then hopefully move onto spanish one day.

I studied Latin in school for basically the same reason why some schools teach Esperanto as a building block. I think it was successful, but now I know a dead language and not one spoken by 2mil other speakers. I would personally have picked Esperanto instead of Latin to learn if I could have had a choice.

A good man with a beautiful dream.

Considering that #Esperanto was spoken by only 1 person at one point, it's hard to say that it failed in general. It didn't become what was originally hoped for: a second language for "all" (who need one), but it's not going away anytime soon. #EsperantoVivas #MarkEsperanto

I'm a Spanish teacher and I plan to make sure that every student I teach and every colleague I have will see this video!

Mi lernas Esperanton!

I found out about this language when I was researching for wanting to make my own and now im fascinated.

I wanted to learn Esperanto

Of course Zamenhof didn't achieve his goal yet because that goal is very very very big. For example, how many year took to Spanish being so different from Latin? 10 years? I am sure not. If we want to make Esperanto the lingua franca of the world, we have to keep learning and spreading it. Instead of saying "I am not going to learn it because nobody talks it" you should say "I am going to learn Esperanto to make the numbers of speakers much bigger". Be optimistic and patient, this is not over yet.

Esperanto is a fascinating language. A common tongue has no real influence on peace between folk. However a common second language for all cultures and countries would be great idea.

Question: How is Esperanto doing today, in the sense of growth? In other words, is its use throughout the world expanding today?

Kvankam mi konsideras min iomete cinika, la historio de Espiranto tuŝas min. Ni bezonas pli da visionarioj en la 21a jarcento. Although I consider myself somewhat jaded, the story of Espiranto touches me. We need more visionaries in the 21st century.

Such a great video, very engaging and to the point. Got here from the other video, which I found on reddit. Had no idea how noble and profound the creation of Esperanto actually was.

Pretty sure recorders are meant to ensure the majority kids will be done with learning music forever.

Ne. La fakto, ke la lingvo daŭre kreskiĝas, signifas ke esperanto ne malsukcesis.

Mi komencanto, and so far I love studying Esperanto.

Thank you for presenting a well thought out as well as ,well researched info on this matter. You have helped in my education.

Dankon pro tiu ĉi informiva video ! :-)

The last time the whole globe was speaking one language the tower of Babel was destroyed. Still, Esperanto is nice idea and fun to learn. The time to acquire it seems amazingly short and if studied at small age it could be very beneficial later for more languages. Zamenhof was a good man with autopic and dangerous idea to bear in mind for the nationalists of Europe. Esperanto will prevail.

Wow! Great first video I guess, good luck with the channel!

Damn, I love your videos! They are so informative and create so many "eureka-effects" :)

Oh my goodness. FRANCE was the one who vetoed Esperanto? History could've been so different...

i´m a student of speranto and es el mejor video que he visto explicandolo :0 VIVU EL ESPERANTO WUUH !!!

cant wait to learn esperanto on duolingo

Thank you esparanto for calling us georgians kartelians I was translated georgia in all languages and I come across esparanto and now I am here love from Georgia 🇬🇪 🇬🇪 🇬🇪 სიყვარული საქართველოდან ესპარატოს დიდება

THANKS FRANCE

I was delighted to find your video lecture. Congratulations. Excellent use of pictures, videos, diagrams. I plan to use your work very soon, because in general you get through Esperanto's history very clearly. You anticipate things a bit where you mention the League of Nations, oddly you omit the present tense -as in your list of endings and 3000 is probably more roots than one needs to get off the ground. As you are concentrating on Esperanto as a 'political' movement, you are of course correct to say that Esperanto has (for the present) 'failed'. Latin and French also 'failed' in that way and who is to say that even English may not be saved from that fate. However Esperanto has certainly not failed to develop into a living language and culture - perhaps your reference to a 32nd position does point to this. RU-vid and the net can at last reveal how some of what is going on. Can you repair the error 404 on stock footage at 9:48 (the French horn) or is this maybe my version of Windows 10? One last historical note. Zamenhof tried to float off his turbulent offspring more than once. He deliberately only put 900+ roots into his first publication, telling readers how to create more for themselves from international roots. He was a life-long tobacco / tabako addict but omitted to include it as a root. He had to return to root making with his Universal Vocabulary, but after that avoided creating new 'official' words. He had hoped the 'Fundamento' of 1905 would release him from any leadership role but only finally 'got out' in 1912. He believed from the start that Esperanto had to be a community effort. He was only its initiator. As you make clear, his interests were indeed wider than Esperanto, though his 'humanitivism' is not so easy to grasp. Perhaps he would be pleased (satisfied?) by the development of 'human rights' as a worldwide endeavour.

Hey well done. I hope you keep making more. Liked and subbed of course.

This video convinced me a year ago to start learning Esperanto. I completely believe in its cause and hopefully it will be recognised again by countries. Se vi estas esperantisto, provu la appo Mia Vivo. Estas platformo por esperantistoj kiel fejsbuko.

I'm currently learning Latin and Esperanto looks pretty similar but like in easy mode lol.

Arnold J Rimmer was my incentive to learn Esperanto. So far I don't know any words but it's still probably a good idea.

Quite an idealistic idea. First glaring issue: the alphabet. You _cannot_ create a set of sounds for a language that is equally learn-able for every language. Not every language has a /z/ sound, not every language has a /l/ or /r/ sound. Languages hugely differ between vowels. These are pieces of the language that are learned as _infants_, a period of our life where our brain is fine tuned to these differences in sounds. Once the brain learns the set of sounds for its language, it stops trying to learn new ones. This doesn't even cover the issue of differing syntax between languages. A language that already has Case markers will have a much easier time learning a language that also uses Case markers. Analytic languages will have an easier time learning analytic languages, agglutinative languages will have an easier time learning other agglutinatives. And this barrier is harder for some than others depending on how stark the contrast. So, yes. Esperanto is an easy and simple language to learn...if you speak a Germanic or Romance rooted language.

I had a great-grandmother who knew Esperanto. I also had a great-grandfather who knew the Chinook Jargon.

I’m sold. I will be a student of Esperanto.

I think it's possible to exist within tribes while seeing other tribes as brothers. Just of a different sort

i always had a sort of negative view of esperanto. i didn't like the eurocentrism and thought the language itself wasn't very good. this video has completely changed my mind. i don't think i'll learn esperanto, but it has made me respect it (and zamenhof) a lot more. as a peace-loving zionist jew, this video was quite touching.

Zamenhof was such a remarkable man!

Fantastic video. I'll be keeping an eye on your channel from now on.

I'm from city of this man, Białystok :-)

And I thought esperanto was a type of coffee.

That ending was amazing.

I'm proud to be from Bialystok, the same city as LL Zamenhoff. We have a lot of monuments, plaques, statues etc commemorating Ludwik Zamenhoff. Before the war Białystok was a majority Jewish city under Russian occupation so people spoke Polish, Hebrew, Jidish and Russian which resulted in a lot of misunderstandings and conflict and he seeked to unity this very diverse city.

He was kinda like a real-life Goldstein from 1984

I would gladly give up my native language for a universal one.

11:08 Now you have 12000 and one from me. After only 5 videos. Quality content alert!

Zamenhof: Can't we all just get along? Other Countries: Is that a threat?

Thank you for this, an amazingly well-made and incredibly inspiring video.

Really cool idea, im going to work hard and try my best to learn it and I hope others will two so theres more understanding

Trying to learn this language so I speak a language no one in my school does, and I can say whatever I want.

I love learning Esperanto I learn with apps and the textbook: Complete Esperanto I'm not fluent yet in the language but I had a grasp of very basic conversation I still have a lot to learn

Fascinating. Thanks for this! Will definitely be sharing.