Esperanto Language Blog

US Army Field Manual*

Did you know the US Army once used Esperanto? In training the military, they wanted to more realistically simulate the language situation during combat. So, the “aggressor forces” learned Esperanto. Apparently it was chosen, because of how easy it is to learn. I’m sure Zamenhof (the initiator of Esperanto) would’ve been surprised to hear about the US Army using his “language of peace” (Zamenhof initially made Esperanto, so that everyone could speak to each other and thus be easier to have peaceful relations with everyone. To be fair, during the first Universal Congress of Esperanto in Bologna-sur-Mer, France in 1905, it was unanimously accepted to define an Esperantisto as follows:

Esperantisto estas nomata ĉiu persono, kiu uzas la lingvon Esperanto tute egale, por kiaj celoj li ĝin uzas. Esperantisto sekve estas ne sole tiu persono, kiu revas unuigi per Esperanto la homaron, esperantisto estas ankaǔ tiu persono, kiu uzas Esperanton ekskluzive por celoj praktikaj, esperantisto ankaǔ estas persono, kiu uzas Esperanton por gajni per ĝi monon; esperantisto estas persono, kiu uzas Esperanton nur por amuziĝadi; esperantisto fine estas eĉ tiu persono, kiu uzas Esperanton por celoj plej malnoblaj kaj hommalamaj.

English translation:

An Esperantist is every person who uses the Esperanto language completely irregardless of their reason. An Esperantist is not only someone who dreams of uniting humanity under Esperanto, but also someone who uses Esperanto exclusively for practical purposes, and also someone who uses it to earn money, as well as someone who uses it for their amusement. An Esperantist is even someone who uses Esperanto for the most evil and lowly ways.

Back to the manual itself, I was surprised to read the following in the beginning of the manual:

Esperanto is not an artificial or dead language. It is a living and current media of international oral and written communication. Its basic rules of grammar are such that it will remain a live language because it can assimiate new words that are constantly being developed in existing world languages.

After I received my used copy on Amazon last year, I was most amused by the fact that here in my hands, I’m holding a manual on how to learn Esperanto completely focusing on military vocabulary and dialog. Here’s an epic paragraph from the example dialog:

On this chart is shown the organization of Aggressor military forces including the following echelons: squad, section, platoon, company, battery, battalion, regiment, brigade, division, army, army group, and regional command. In addition, the basic types of Aggressor weapons are listed: pistol, rifle, machine gun, mortar, recoilless rifle, howitzer, rocket, rocket launcher, missile, tank, and armored carrier.

And its translation into Esperanto:

Sur la karto estas montrata la organizaĵon de la Agresaj militfortoj enhavanta la sekvantaj niveloj: areto, sekcio, plotono, roto, baterio, bataliono, regimento, brigado, divizio, armeo, armegrupo, kaj regiona komando. Apud, la bazaj tipoj de Agresaj armiloj estas listiginta: pistolo, riflo, maŝinpafilo, bombkanono, senresalta pafilo, kanono, haŭbizo, raketo, ĵetaĵo, tanko, kaj kirasa portilo.

Somehow I’m very much going to doubt that any of those new words you just learned will be of much use to you, but the manual is pretty incredible. I was most disappointed to discover that 205 of the 233 pages of Esperanto: The Aggressor Language were just an English-Esperanto dictionary (bi-directional), albeit entertaining in how military-centric the vocabulary is, such as alpha rays, iron girder, and canonical scanning!

In looking into this further, I discovered that you can read the entire book online for free. Also, I know that when Sam Green was producing his Esperanto documentary The Universal Language, he ran across a four-minute video that the US army made to summarize its field exercise. Surreal. Watch it below!

*Book cover image under CC license: BY-SA Cindy McKee.

While at the Youth Esperanto Week, I ran into John Bauer, who has worked for an Esperanto organization called E@I (Education@Internet), which is best known for their Esperanto learning website Lernu!. Here is his tale of moving to France and how Esperanto brought him to an internship in Slovakia!

John working at E@I

Mia nomo estas John Bauer kaj mi estas de Usono. My name is John Bauer and I’m from the USA. My history in Esperanto is not very long, but it has proven to be quite interesting. I started learning Esperanto less than a year ago while learning French and preparing applications for French grad school. Once I got into a master’s program in France, I learned that I would have to do an internship abroad (i.e. outside France). The vast majority of French students take this as an opportunity to go to an English-speaking country to improve their English, and the vast majority of French professors push for this, so that students can improve their English… but that was obviously not needed for me. It was during this frantic search that I stumbled across an announcement for an internship in Slovakia for an Esperanto organization unfamiliar to me: E@I.

At the time I didn’t even know where Slovakia was on the map, and the first thing my mom asked me was, “Don’t you mean Czechoslovakia?” I quickly learned where Slovakia is and a bit about its history, because before all I really associated with the region was communism and war. However, I was quick to note that communism is gone and Slovakia gained their independence peacefully without a war. I still didn’t know a word of slovak though and would have to rely on Esperantists to get by or mash through with English.

Can you find Slovakia? (taken from Wikipedia)

Before the internship, I still didn’t have any kind of a decent level in Esperanto, but it seemed like a good way to justify my time spent learning the language. A whirlwind of a few weeks later and I’m getting off the bus in Partizánske speaking Esperanto in the flesh with my new boss and coworker. It was surreal for the first few weeks to use Esperanto in all my day-to-day functions, especially because I had learned most of what I knew by reading random books and Wikipedia articles. So while I could say, “This verb isn’t conjugated correctly,” I had trouble saying, “Pass the spoon, please.” With each day things became easier though, and I quickly got the hang of things. I even got used to speaking Esperanto in public, which had seemed oddly strange to me just a few weeks before.

Life in Slovakia also proved to be an interesting experience. I had come from France and thought that it was still in Europe so it must be somewhat similar. While there are still some European aspects to Slovakia, the culture is very different from Western Europe. I have travelled around a bit in Asia and at times Slovakia feels more like Asia than Europe! As an example that sticks out to me, go to your local Asian grocery store and that is more similar to what a grocery store looks like in Slovakia than your local supermarket.

At the office, I spend most of my time working on translations of websites or learning materials, while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of a tech office. I also do whatever small intern tasks are asked of me with the twist of it all being asked in Esperanto. A big part of my master’s is translation, but I don’t have a lot of practical experience with it, so this has been a great way for me to gain some experience in the field. One particularly large task I had was to expand the English Wikipedia article on E@I, basing it on the Esperanto version. It took some time, but I rather enjoyed getting into it and getting stuck on a certain sentence that just didn’t want to be translated. I enjoy the small details in general, fine-tuning a translation so it doesn’t just convey the information, but is presented in a way that sounds natural to the speakers of the target language.

John at JES

While I enjoy the office and the work I do there, the real fun are the events E@I is either invited to or organizes. I had never been to an Esperanto event before my internship and have now been to three. The first one was KAEST (Conference on the Application of Esperanto in Science and Technology), E@I’s own conference. After a few smaller events in Slovakia, the next big event was the Youth Esperanto Week (JES) in Germany. While JES isn’t run by E@I, we are present there, and I spent a lot of time selling books and t-shirts at our Libroservo (book service), having to play a salesman in Esperanto! JES was great for me too because my girlfriend and I were able to attend thanks to the scholarship, JES al novuloj. The last event I went to for the internship was a smaller one in Slovakia, and while I was unfortunately sick for nearly the whole event I still managed to have fun all while doing my internship.

I really am surprised how much fun it’s been both inside and out of the office. I also never would’ve thought that I’d have a chance to use Esperanto in a workplace, but here I am.

Want to go to a large Esperanto youth gathering in Europe, but can’t afford it? There are various foundations around the world available to help young people attend Esperanto meetings abroad. Today I’d like to highlight a new one which popped up last week called JES al Novuloj. The title is a play on words, because it would literally translate to “YES to newbies.” There is, however, another clear meaning. JES is the abbreviation for the New Year’s meeting called the Junulara E-Semajno (Youth Esperanto Week). This meeting lasts 7 days and is one of the largest Esperanto events for young people, attracting around 250 people from 25 countries every year. This year it takes place near Leipzig, Germany.

impromptu concert at JES

How would you like to spend a few days around New Year in Germany? From my own experience, I can tell you that it’s an exhilarating experience to speak Esperanto with so many international people, so I’m urging you to sign up and give it a try!

If this kind of trip is too expensive for you, see if you meet the fund’s conditions for a scholarship:

• You’ve never before attended a multi-day Esperanto meeting with more than 100 people.
• You’re under 30 years old.
• You can’t afford to attend JES on your own (for example, as a student or unemployed)
• You’re ready to help the organizers during the event or write articles about JES

If you’re accepted, the scholarship will cover your program fee as well as room and board at the event, so that you only have to pay for the travel (check out the caravans for cheap options). If you’re coming from outside Europe, the foundation will pay an additional 100€ to offset travel costs. This way, the JES becomes affordable for anyone.

If this sounds like it’s for you or someone you know, you can read more details on the official page of JES al Novuloj.

If you’d like to learn more about the event itself, feel free to read these posts from JES from years past:

• New Years in Esperanto at JES
• First overseas Esperanto adventure by Nick Woods
• Junulara Esperantista Semajno – a language geek’s impressions
• JES, great Esperanto youth congress
• Lifehacking at JES