TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Esperanto links people with no common language

At least 130 students took part in a language course in a language they never hear of but which has existed for a long time, Esperanto, at Widyatama University in Bandung, West Java

The Jakarta Post
Sun, December 20, 2009

Share This Article

Change Size

Esperanto links people with no common language

A

t least 130 students took part in a language course in a language they never hear of but which has existed for a long time, Esperanto, at Widyatama University in Bandung, West Java.

One of the course participants, Faishal Abdul Aziz Mukhlis, said that he was curious to know what Esperanto was as he never heard of it before.

"I was curious to know what it was about. Then I found out that it was similar to Spanish, at least in its pronunciation I think. At first, I thought it would be hard, but it was quite easy actually," the student of visual communication design at Widyatama said.

He said that during the class, he not only learned about the language but also its brief history and the advantages of using Esperanto.

"The teacher said that mastering Esperanto will be very helpful in business, especially if you deal with export-import content as well as for traveling," he said, adding that he would try to study the language more after he finished his thesis.

Esperanto was developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s by Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof as an artificial international auxiliary language.

The word Esperanto means one who hopes. Although no countries have adopted Esperanto as a main language, it has been widely used in world travel, correspondence, cultural exchanges and conventions.

The Esperantist who introduced Esperanto at Widyatama University, Heidi Goes, said that countries that used Esperanto in some of their official communications included China, France, Poland, and the Netherlands.

"In some places, the tourist departments produce advertisement brochures in Esperanto, and in some countries the broadcasting system runs radio broadcasts or postmodern podcasts in the language," she said.

Goes said that apart from national bodies, international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) had recognized the importance of Esperanto as a link language for the world.

"At the sheer practical level, a trip through Japan or Spain or Poland is much easier to manage in Esperanto than in English, which is not spoken by the passers-by, shopkeepers and ticket counter staff you need to deal with in those countries.

"You can get Esperantists to escort you on the crucial shopping trips or to draw you foolproof maps," she said.

Goes traveled to several cities in Indonesia to introduce Esperanto. Around 400 people attended the courses she gave.

"Some found it funny, because, as with many Javanese words, the nouns end in O. They were also surprised to hear that there have been many Esperantists in Indonesia for more than 100 years," she said.

As of today, between 100,000 and two million people are speaking fluent Esperanto.

- Novia D. Rulistia

To learn about Esperanto, you can contact:

Bobby Mulyadi (der_furst 03@yahoo.com) and Ilia Sumilfia (mymail_130204@yahoo.com) for people living in Jakarta

Heidi Goes (heidi.goes@gmail.com) for people in other towns, especially Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bogor, Semarang and Bandung.

Also those who want to learn via the internet can visit http://en.lernu.net/

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.