Esperanto Language Blog

Esperanto strikes me as an inherently literary language. I find that I learn the most about it by reading. Of course, I am a student of literature, so forgive me if this clouds my judgment! In any case, since your local library probably lacks solid Esperanto reads, you might need to drop a few dolaroj in order to procure yourself a book. Once again, the Internet comes to our aid!

I’ve had the most luck with Amazon.com in my online shopping experiences. Since they purvey goods from all over the world, the website is a good repository for Esperanto books, especially since you can buy them used. I recommend searching for “Esperanto books” in the little search bar at the top. However, if you’re feeling less adventurous, two conscientious users have assembled lists of worthwhile books. One is by someone named akompano. While I haven’t heard of him or her, that person has heard of Halldor Laxness, so I’m a fan! The other list is compiled by the talented Tim Westover, author of the short story collection Marvirinstrato. The man knows his stuff.

Bonan sxancon, and happy reading!

In hopes of procuring some good Halloween reading for the lot of you, I went on a search for an Esperanto copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula online. I wasn’t successful…Perhaps a translation of the classic Victorian horror is order? However, I did stumble across a curious Esperanto document that nobody would have expected to appear on Project Gutenberg – U.S. President Barack Obama’s inaugural address!

I remember witnessing the speech on television, and admiring its message and presentation. From what I can tell, the Esperanto translation has tried to preserve the mood of the speech. It also reads like a transcript, and so it indicates via stage directions where there were breaks for audience applause. Give it a read – if only to know that people are still actively translating into Esperanto for the present day!

Perhaps this might bother some of the blog’s readers who hail from the United States, but I’m a diehard New England Patriots fan when it comes to American football. Today my favorite team played against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but for some reason, the game took place in Wembley Stadium – in London, England! I was surprised to see them there, but it was easy to see the merits of playing a game overseas. It’s almost as though the sports team, when in another country, acts as an ambassador. In that regard, sports seem to me like one of those instances where politics can be set aside, and people can join together for some good-natured competition. (Think of how almost every country in the world enjoys soccer, for example.)

Since sports have the ability to break down political and cultural barriers, I thought today that Esperanto could be right at home with them. There are already bilingual announcers for games in which the competitors (and thus their home audiences) speak different languages. However, this might exclude viewers from countries not directly involved with the game at hand, because they do not speak the language announced. Esperanto, if used for sportscasting, could help assuage this problem.

Of course, there’s something to be said of the symbolism of using Esperanto for sportscasting. Esperanto is supposed to help unite the world; sports have come about as close to doing so as anything seen thus far. Combining the two would speak volumes, no?