Why

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1) To alert the public to the importance of
language learning and diversify the range of
languages learned in order to increase
pluralingualism and intercultural understanding
Why?
2) To promote the rich linguistic and cultural
diversity of Europe
3) To encourage lifelong language learning in and
out of school
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How do you create a language?
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How do you create a language?
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How do you create a language?
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But why learn an artificial language?
Firstly, because tests show that youll learn
other languages faster if you start with
Esperanto first
Secondly, because natural languages all have
features that make learning a little harder,
because the student has to cope with exceptions
and things that make no sense to them
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But why learn an artificial language?
For example Gender English is the only language
that I know that doesnt assign gender to nouns.
For example, all the Latin languages split their
words into masculine and feminine. German has a
neuter category too. The Scandinavian languages
have common and neuter. Often, this is
completely arbitrary, so hard to learn and
memorise. For instance, the word for girl in
German isnt feminine! And how are you supposed
to guess whether the French consider a table to
be a boy or girl?!
Like English, Esperanto doesnt do this. The
word for the is always la. It never changes
in the plural. This means the student has time
to actually learn the language, instead of
stressing about whether a word is masculine or
not.
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But why learn an artificial language?
Some words are hard to pronounce, which makes
learning harder, and stunts confidence. For
example, French very rarely pronounces letters at
the end of words. Aller, allez, allais, allait,
allaient all are pronounced the same, something
like English, allay. In other instances, words
are pronounced differently but spelt the same.
I read the newspaper
and then throw it in the bin.
this morning and then threw it in the bin.
Esperanto has a phonetic alphabet. There are 28
letters, each correponding to one unique sound.
It is totally phonetic.
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But why learn an artificial language?
Numbers can be very hard. It is difficult to
remain confident or follow a conversation when
youre busy working out what number was
mentioned. In French, 97 is four-twenties-ten-se
ven.
Esperantos numbers pose no problem. You only
need to learn the figures from 1 to 10, plus the
special words such as hundred, thousand,
zero, and so on. 11 is ten-one. 21 is
two-ten-one. 43 is
four-ten-three.
Because all of the main European languages came
from the same source, they all have very similar
numbers for 1 to 10. Esperanto, of course, takes
the common option, so once you have the Esperanto
numbers, youve practically absorbed the others
too.
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But why learn an artificial language?
A hard part of learning foreign languages
involves fiddling with verbs. For example, an
Italian would say vado for I go, but
andiamo for we go. Similarly, the French use
tu peux for you can, but ils peuvent for
they can. Then you have to multiply these
changes for the different tenses, such as future
and past, of which there are three(!) That is a
lot of different endings to learn ?
Esperanto is totally regular. Every present
tense for every verb ends in as, no matter who
the person is. Mi trinkas I drink. Vi
trinkas you drink. The past tense ends in
is, so if you want to say I/he/they drank/have
drunk/were drinking/used to drink you just use
is Mi/li/ili trinkis. The future uses os.
Mi trinkos I will drink. No exceptions!
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But why learn an artificial language?
When you learn a foreign language, it takes a lot
of time. Sometimes, the learner runs into walls,
and becomes very dispirited. This can slow their
progress, hurt their confidence, and put them off
languages for good.
Its hard to come a cropper using Esperanto,
because it is perfectly regular. The student
learns that they can use languages. They learn
things that would take months or years in another
language very swiftly. Plus, because Esperanto
is taken from the common word stock of the
European languages, the student actually learns
the vocabulary that would be needed for further
languages!
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Nouns
An o is a flag saying
Hi! I am a noun!
pirato
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Nouns can be hard to describe.
What do you think a noun is?
Friend
Amiko
Table
Tablo
Kato
Cat
Ideo
Idea
Nacieco
Nationality
Amikeco
Friendship
Vivo
Life
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Why is it important to recognise nouns?
In most European languages, the noun decides
which word is used for the and a, which words
are used to describe it, and so on
French Le gateau délicieux La tarte délicieuse
In German, EVERY noun has a capital letter at the
start
German Ich trinke einen großen Tee und eines
großes Bier.
Probably most importantly Textbooks and exams
use the word noun all the time. If you dont
know how to spot the noun, youll struggle to
follow the instructions and answer the questions.
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All these words end in the same letter. Which
letter?
blu
a
verd
a
rug
a
griz
a
flav
a
blank
a
nigr
a
brun
a
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Adjectives
An a is a flag saying
Hi! I am an adjective!
bela pirato
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An adjective describes a noun.
Beautiful/handsome
Bela
leono
Fast
biciklo
Rapida
Big
Granda
knabo
Blue
Blua
birdo
Interesa
knabino
Interesting
Eta / Malgranda
frato
Small
viro
Alta
Tall
Malnova / Maljuna
amiko
Old
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Why is it important to recognise adjectives?
In most European languages, you have to use
special forms of the adjective depending on the
gender of the noun. If you erase one particular
noun and put in another, you have to remember to
change the adjective too!
French Le gateau délicieux La tarte délicieuse
In German, the adjective takes a different form
depending on its position in the sentence.
German Ich trinke eines großes Bier. Das Bier
ist groß.
Again, very important Textbooks and exams use
the word adjective all the time. If you dont
know how to spot it, youll struggle to follow
the instructions and answer the questions.
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Plurals
A j is a flag saying
Hi! I am more than one! I am plural!
belaj papagoj
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Raising language awareness

• Spot the adjective!

blanka blua verda
blanc vert bleu blanco verdant
blau blu blank
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Nouns and adjectives!
La kato estas blanka. Le chat est blanc.

• La granda blanka urso estas sur la tablo.
• Le grand ours blanc est sur la table.

• La brunaj leonoj dormas.
• Les léons bruns dorment.