Purpose of this disketteIntroduction English |
Version |
Learning Esperanto was a very interesting experience. I only had to read a small book to study it. A few weeks later, it surprised me that while I was attending an Esperanto meeting, I could not only understood what was being said, but could also speak in Esperanto.
I hope that after showing you Esperanto and how it is used, you will also want to learn and use it.
This diskette contains all that is needed to learn Esperanto and begin using it. You will need a computer, but there is NO need to be connected to the internet. A connection to the Internet would allow you to see thousands of pages in Esperanto. Here are the necessary links:
Purpose of this diskette
How to use this diskette
What is in the DisketteHow to use Esperanto
How did Esperanto begin?Learn Esperanto
Classical Use of Esperanto
Delegita Reto
Esperanto Pasporta Servo
Esperanto on the Internet
Read in Esperanto
Read in English
Purpose of this disketteWith our enthusiasm for the pleasures and knowledge that the use of Esperanto has brought us, many times, we the Esperantists, tell everybody about all these marvels, emphasizing the fact that the people listening to us could also obtain all these benefits, if they would only study and practice our language.Sometimes, we find that it can be a little difficult to get everything necessary to study the language. Now, with a computer in almost every house, it occurred to me that it would be more or less easy to fill a diskette with this information.
It wasn't that easy... It took almost a year to get a working prototype. There were some technical problems concerning how to present this information, especially which files to use, and which system to show the six letters that differentiate Esperanto from other European alphabets.
What kind of file to use was important to use the least possible amount of space, so I could get more information on one diskette and also show the Esperanto letters.
After some trial and error, I decided to only use web page files (.htm) and the image files (.gif and .jpg). I also put some emphasis on the font size, since I have seen many pages on the web that use a very small type, making them difficult to read for a long time.
Now the diskette is ready. (There is also a Spanish version with an extra book with pictures)
How did Esperanto begin?Many people would say that Esperanto was created by an Ophthalmologist (Doctor Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof), but Esperanto was born in the mind of a five year young boy. He was born in 1859 in Bialystok, a town at the border between Poland and Russia.In this little town there were four groups, four religions, four languages, four cultures. He thought that there were not people, only Russians, Poles, Germans, and Jews. And there was much hatred.
Little Ludwig's young mind assumed that this hatred existed mainly because they couldn't understand each other, and if they could speak to each other, they would feel much better about each other. This thought was in his mind for long time, until he decided that a common language would help.
Eventually he began to search for a language, but soon he realized that existing languages were very difficult to learn. Why not create a language that could be easy to learn?
Before finishing High School he was already practicing his new language with some of his schoolmates. While studying at the university in Warsaw, he translated many classical books to his language. When he found problems in his language, he would make changes, and then would restart the translations. In July 1887 he published a small book called "International Language" written by Doctor Esperanto. In his language, Esperanto means: "The person who has hope"
Classical Use of EsperantoSince its beginning, Esperanto was used for correspondence between people of different countries. During more than a century, Esperantists have had pen pals in other countries.In many towns around the world, Esperantists met to speak in their language. Many of these groups began to publish their own monthly bulletins, and some magazines. These publications were also distributed to other "Esperanto Clubs", or were sold to other Esperantists.
Many books were translated to Esperanto, many books were also written originally in this language. Books translated to English, require that the translator's native language be English, to render a good translation, good, but losing the author's cultural spirit. Translations into Esperanto, are generally made by native speakers of the language to be translated, given the original flavor to the translation. Many authors from small countries are never known in the English speaking world. Translations to Esperanto can be read by people that could never master English, but took some time to learn Esperanto.
Since 1905 Esperantists meet annually at the "Esperanto World Congress". These congresses are made every year in a different country. The number after the year shows how many Esperantists participated:
1981 1749 Brasilia, Brazil |
There are Esperantist's meetings at different levels. Many countries have national congresses every year, trying to meet each year at a different place. Local associations also meet weekly or monthly. Some times they meet just to welcome traveling Esperantists from other countries. I have been at the national Congress for USA and Canada, in Montreal in July 1998. I also was at the Argentinean Congresses in October 1998 in Presidencia Roque Saenz Peña, Chaco Province, and later, in October 1999 in San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro Province. I also participated in the World Congress in Vienna, Austria, in July 1992.
Delegita RetoTogether with Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA, the World Esperanto Association, the delegates network is one of the oldest institutions within the Esperantist movement."Jarlibro 2000", this year edition of the UEA yearbook, lists 1960 delegates in 99 countries. These delegates are the representatives of "Esperanto" in their countries or towns. They will answer questions about their country or region, and they will help Esperantist travelers. They will also help you contact other Esperantists in the area you are visiting.
Esperanto
Pasporta Servo is an International Hospitality Service. Every year they issue a book with the participants addresses. The 2002 issue lists 1231 hosts in 82 countries.How do you spend your holidays?
If you like to travel and you like:to pay little or nothing for accommodation,
to meet new and interesting people, who will accept you in their homes,
to see the places only the locals know,
to avoid language problems abroad,
to take your time to learn about the country and their people,
then maybe Pasporta Servo is something for you.To join the network as a guest, you only have to buy the address list, which is updated each year. Hosts won't charge you anything, many will even offer you breakfast or a perfect dinner. You can also join as a host, and you will receive the book without any payment.
Esperanto in InternetInternet made possible instant communication throughout the world. The main obstacle now, continues being the language. If we manage to know the Chinese language, we could talk with about 16% of the world's population (supposing that all Chinese speakers were connected to internet) If we could speak Spanish or English, we could add another 8%. Still, we couldn't speak to most of the world's population. To learn anyone of those languages after we already speak our native language, would take many years, and we will still never talk at the same level as natives do.Instead, we can learn Esperanto in much less time, and begin talking to other people that also took some of their time to learn Esperanto.
There are many pages in the internet written in many languages, including Esperanto. There are many methods to learn Esperanto from different languages, and there are also many pages in Esperanto good to practice reading. Some pages include the spoken pronunciation, for those who have sound in their computers. Here there are some addresses:
Links to other Esperanto pages :
To Learn Esperanto (in English)
Some of these courses are not on the diskette now.
Some are direct links to the Internet.
Ten Lesson Esperanto Course (on Diskette)
Ten Lesson Esperanto Course (on the Web)
You may ask for a tutor for the
course from
Marko RAUHAMAA
La Skota Metodo. William Auld (on Diskette)
Richardson Vortaro (on Diskette)
(Esperanto-English)
Richardson Vortaro (on the Web)
Reta Vortaro (on the Web)
All following links are on the web:
Esperanto Viva Dictionary
1100 words
Esperanto-English
Esperanto course by Languages Made Clear
From the Don Harlow page:
(with detailed explanations)
An Introduction to the Esperanto alphabet
(with sound)
The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar
Word-Building with Esperanto Affixes
Correlatives
Claude Piron.
La Gerda Kurso |
(on diskette) | |
B. Kolker.
Vojagxo en Esperanto-lando |
Elsxuto | |
H. Seppik.
La tuta Esperanto
| Elsxuto | |
B. Wennergren. |
Sen kadroj |
To Read in Esperanto (all on diskette)Manifesto de Prago Esperanto Movement Goals
Karlo Libro por komencantoj de Edmond Privat
Gerda Malaperis
Libro por komencantoj de Claude Piron
La Gerda Kurso
Demandoj kaj ekzercoj por cxiu cxapitro.
Kompleta vortaro
Esperanto - Angla por cxiu cxapitro.
Frekvencmorfemaro de
Parolata Esperanto"
La plej oftaj morfemoj de parolata Esperanto
The words more used in Esperanto
To Read in EnglishLanguage Oddities (on diskette)
The Esperanto Book by Don Harlow (on the web)
The Esperanto Society of Chicago
(on the web)
Follow links, specially the following:
"It contains
articles in English
===================
about Esperanto, and its grammar, as well as an
Esperanto-English mini dictionary consisting of
Esperanto's 700 most often used "root words."
We have also included some
articles and word problems in Esperanto"
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How to use this DisketteAll the data on the diskette is in a single folder called "EoDktA" (Esperanto Diskette Angla) Copy this folder to the hard disc in your computer, or to any folder. Just make a note of where you put it. Don't use this folder for anything else. Were you to get a new version of the diskette, just replace the whole folder without losing any extra files.Using the Windows explorer look for the file "Intro1a.htm" within this folder. Click it with the right hand button on your mouse. A menu will appear, click "Create Shortcut". An icon will be created. Move this icon to the desktop, or any other programs group. Make a note where you put it. Clicking on this icon you will be able to reach all the contents of the diskette.
You can always open your browser and from there open the file "EoDktA/Intro1a.htm" to read the files on the diskette.
I hope the readers will enjoy this diskette, and then would send me their comments, criticisms, advice, so I would be able to improve it.
Compiled, edited and |
Visited |
 Esperanto Flago |
