Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by Polish ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communication, or "the international language". Zamenhof first described the language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language, which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of the language liked the name Esperanto and soon used it to describe his language. The word esperanto translates into English as "one who hopes".
Esperantujo or Esperantio is the Esperanto community; the community of speakers of the Esperanto language and their culture, as well as the places and institutions where the language is used. The term is used "as if it were a country."
Esperanto culture refers to the shared cultural experience of the Esperantujo, or Esperanto-speaking community. Despite being a constructed language, Esperanto has a history dating back to the late 19th century, and shared cultural social mores have developed among its speakers. Some of these can be traced back to the initial ideas of the language's creator, Ludwig Zamenhof, including the theory that a global second language would foster international communication. Others have developed over time, as the language has allowed different national and linguistic cultures to blend together. Some researched also the ideologies of Esperanto.
Ido is a constructed language derived from Reformed Esperanto, and similarly designed with the goal of being a universal second language for people of diverse backgrounds. To function as an effective international auxiliary language, Ido was specifically designed to be grammatically, orthographically, and lexicographically regular. It is the most successful of the many Esperanto derivatives, called Esperantidoj.
L. L. Zamenhof was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language.
The Esperantic Studies Foundation, abbreviatedESF is a non-profit organisation initiated in 1968 by Jonathan Pool, E. James Lieberman and Humphrey Tonkin, with the aim to further the understanding and practice of linguistic justice in a multicultural world, with a special focus on the study of interlinguistics and the role of Esperanto.
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project ; multiple Wikisources make up the overall project of Wikisource. The project's aim is to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has expanded to become a general-content library. The project officially began on November 24, 2003 under the name Project Sourceberg, a play on the famous Project Gutenberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name.
The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union (EU).
Interlinguistics, as the science of planned languages, has existed for more than a century as a specific branch of linguistics for the study of various aspects of linguistic communication. Interlinguistics is a discipline formalized by Otto Jespersen in 1931 as the science of interlanguages, i.e. contact languages tailored for international communication. In more recent times, the object of study of interlinguistics was put into relation with language planning, the collection of strategies to deliberately influence the structure and function of a living language. In this framework, interlanguages become a subset of planned languages, i.e. extreme cases of language planning.
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Multilingualism is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages is becoming increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.
The Prague Manifesto is a historic document that establishes a set of seven widely shared principles of the Esperanto movement. It was drafted at the 1996 World Esperanto Congress in Prague by officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and those attending the congress. The document emphasizes democratic communication, language rights, preservation of language diversity, and effective language education.
Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project that supports learning communities, their learning materials, and resulting activities. It differs from Wikipedia in that it offers tutorials and other materials for the fostering of learning, rather than an encyclopedia; like Wikipedia, it is available in many languages.
The International League of Esperanto-Speaking Teachers is a non-governmental organization with the goals of teaching respect for humanity, life and nature and seeking to further mutual understanding among peoples. Advocating the spread of Esperanto language and culture, the NGO publishes books and journals, organizes international conferences and administers examinations worldwide to certify the qualifications of Esperanto teachers.
The Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems (CRD) is an international research foundation created to study, document, and educate people about language problems, intercultural communication and international relations throughout the world.
E@I ("Education@Internet") is an international youth non-profit organization that hosts educational projects and meetings to support intercultural learning and the usage of languages and internet technologies.
Tatoeba is a free content, collection of example sentences with translations geared towards foreign language learners. Its name comes from the Japanese phrase "tatoeba" (例えば), meaning "for example". It is written and maintained by a community of volunteers through a model of open collaboration. Individual contributors are known as Tatoebans. It is hosted by Association Tatoeba, a French non-profit organization funded through donations.
Mark Fettes is an Esperantist and university professor of education, and former President of the World Esperanto Association, known by its Esperanto initials as UEA.
The Esperanto League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the national Esperanto association in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which represents Esperanto speakers, Esperanto societies, and friends. Since its establishment in 1910, it helps advancement of Esperanto language learning and usage in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
