Prompt Cast
The Rise and Resistance of Esperanto as a Universal Language
TLDR In the 1880s, Polish ophthalmologist Ludwig Leyser-Zamenhof created Esperanto, a constructed language based on Indo-European languages. Despite facing resistance from governments and the perception of being associated with the Jewish diaspora, Esperanto has seen modest growth and has a significant community in Iran, but has not gained widespread popularity due to the prevalence of English.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
In the 1880s, a Polish ophthalmologist attempted to create a universal language called Esperanto, but faced violent resistance and it did not achieve the intended global adoption.
02:01
Ludwig Leyser-Zamenhof created a language from scratch to solve the problem of a universal language.
03:54
Esperanto is a constructed language that is based on various Indo-European languages and uses a small vocabulary of root words that can be transformed into different parts of speech by adding specific suffixes.
05:31
Esperanto is an invented language that has a regular system of pronunciation, grammar, no gender nouns, and simplified verbs, and it was published in 1887 under the name Doctoro Esperanto, which means hope.
07:12
Esperanto faced resistance from governments, including the Tsarist censors in Russia, and Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who saw it as the international language of the Jewish diaspora.
08:47
Despite facing resistance and crackdowns from various governments, including Russia, Portugal, and Spain, Esperanto has still seen modest growth and has a significant community in Iran, with estimates of worldwide speakers ranging from 30,000 to 180,000.
10:24
Despite its simplicity and ease of learning, Esperanto has not gained widespread popularity because most people learn languages out of necessity, and English already fulfills many of the same criteria as Esperanto.
