Ch 11 · Lesson 7Esperanto · Chapter 11 · Lesson 7 · Grammar primer
Esperanto hodiaŭ: in person
How many speakers there are (nobody knows), the UEA and TEJO, and the congresses and weekend oj where the language is spoken out loud.
The short version
o: a meeting that comes about
o.
Why?Hide
is to meet someone; add -iĝ- and -o and a o is a meeting that comes about, the weekend gathering where most speakers first use the language out loud. You (register), pay the kotizo (fee) and turn up.
The numbers
Nobody has counted Esperanto speakers: you cannot run a census on a language with no territory. Published estimates run from about 60,000 to two million, a spread wide enough to be an admission rather than a measurement.
A small group, usually put in the low thousands, grew up with the language at home:
.- She is a native speaker.
What the headcount misses is how connected the speakers are: the next Esperantist is usually a message away.
The associations
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| UEA | world association, 1908, Rotterdam; runs the UK |
| TEJO | the youth organisation; runs the IJK |
| national bodies | e.g. - Britio, -USA |
| free stays with hosts, run by TEJO |
The UEA was founded in 1908 by Hector Hodler, Théophile Rousseau and others. It has consultative relations with UNESCO, has lost members for decades, and still does what nothing else does: it runs the and gives the language an address when institutions want one. TEJO is the youth wing; its (IJK) is where the young speakers are.
is the most concrete thing the language offers: a fellow speaker's spare room, free, on the understanding that you speak Esperanto while you are there.
Congresses and meetings
The has met most summers since 1905, with gaps during the two world wars and an online year in the pandemic. It moves every year: recent hosts include Montreal, Turin and Arusha in Tanzania. Below it come the IJK, over the New Year, national congresses and many weekend meetings.
| Word | Pieces | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| -- | a meeting, a meet-up |
| -- | to register |
kotizo | root | the fee |
| -i | to speak your own language |
o.- I registered for the meeting.
There is even kabei, to leave the movement abruptly, from , the pen name of Kazimierz Bein, a celebrated prose stylist who walked away in 1911. A language with a verb for quitting it has a sense of humour about itself. The congress article has the full week.
What Duolingo leaves out
The Duolingo course launched in 2015 and brought in a wave of beginners. A tap-the-tile course tends to leave four gaps:
| The gap | Where to close it |
|---|---|
-n beyond the object | the accusative: |
| correlatives | the correlative table |
| affixes in use | word building |
| output | write and speak: the groups above |
Tapping the right tile is not writing a sentence, and the gap between the two is where most people quietly stop.
Going further: La reto: the words and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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