Esperanto is an artificial language created in 1887. It was first created by the linguist Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, with the aim to allow people of all countries to communicate freely and create a universal language to contribute to global harmony. Matching with its purpose, Esperanto is known for its easy grammatical structure that anyone could comprehend. According to The First Steps of Esperanto, the Esperanto textbook for beginners, the basic grammatical structure of Esperanto can be learned within a day. As it takes its basic structure from Latin, its expressions are familiar to English speakers, undoubtedly a great number of today’s learners.

 

It is also known for the unique principle of “One nationality Two Languages,” literally meaning that everyone, regardless of nationality, will speak their native language with people from the same same nationality, and use Esperanto to communicate with different nationalities. Leaving the space for a person’s native language implies the intention of Esperanto speakers to preserve individual cultures and respect other nationalities—one of the features that implies Esperanto’s neutrality. Esperanto therefore connotes that the user pursues peace, which guarantees serene and active communication.

 

Recognized as the most popular artificial language, Esperanto is spoken by approximately two million people worldwide. The Universala Esperanto-Asocio (The Global Esperanto Association, UEA) has associations in 62 member countries and individual members in 120 countries all over the world. The wide usage of Esperanto provides opportunities to interact with foreigners without having to learn every single foreign language. In other words, knowing Esperanto is the gateway to understanding millions of people, which is an ideal picture of the society that today’s globalized world pursues.

 

Some unfamiliar with Esperanto might think that it is a relatively new language in Korea. The history of Esperanto in Korea, however, dates back to the early 20th century. From the earlier records of Emperor Gojong learning basic Esperanto, Esperanto in Korea has a lengthy history. The introduction of Esperanto to the Korean public began in earnest by the poet Kim Ok. He not only wrote poetry in Esperanto, but also commenced the first open lecture of Esperanto and founded the Choson Esperanto Association, now known as the Korea Esperanto Association (KEA). Despite oppression from the Japanese, Korean Esperantists worked actively—even during the independence movement—in hopes that the spread of Esperanto would promote interaction with foreigners and foster a spirit of peace.

 

The sublime efforts of the early Esperantists bore fruit. Learners of Esperanto still active today, the 102th Universal Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) will be held in Seoul, Korea in 2017. There are also a number of active organizations, mainly the Korea Esperanto Association (Korea Esperanto Asocio, KEA), located in Seoul, which has subsidiary associations in 16 regions in Korea. Seoul Esperanto Culture Center (Seula Esperanto-Kulturcentro, SEK) hosts diverse courses for Esperanto and supports translation activities and international cultural exchanges.

 

From October 3 to 4, KEA hosted the 47th Korea Congress of Esperanto (Korea Kongreso de Esperanto, KKE), which was held in the Hankuk Univesity of Foreign Studies (HUFS) graduate school building. This year’s theme being “How to prepare for the upcoming 102th session of UK in Korea,” KKE gathered over 150 participants, including foreigners from China, Hungary, Japan, Vietnam and other various countries.

 

Kang Hon Gu, in charge of the organizations and also the vice president of KEA, said that “Anyone can participate in KKE’s open lessons of Esperanto for beginners, meetings where preparations for UK are discussed. They may also enjoy some extracurricular activities like singing and dancing, and have a chance to socialize with other participants.” For now, KEA is planning on using the Trans-Siberian Railway for European participants to visit Korea, via North Korea. “This and other projects of the upcoming UK,” explained Kang, “will concentrate on delivering the message of peaceful unification between North and South Korea.”

 

A number of opportunities were available for those who want to learn Esperanto in Korea. “Individuals can visit the websites of KEA and SEK which have information archives, and engage in the monthly regular courses of Esperanto, open for anyone explained kang.” There is also an organization for young learners. Park Kang, the 50th president of the Korea Esperanto Youth Association (Korea Esperanto-Junularo, KEJ), explained that there are a number of projects going on to further the learning of Esperanto among young Koreans, from teenagers to businessmen in their thirties. “Our main activity centers on organizing Esperanto learning sessions, and on making opportunities for Korean students learn Esperanto,” said Park.

 

Apart from the individual scale of activities, some universities were also participating in learning Esperanto. At Kyunghee University (KHU) and Hankuk Univesity of Foreign Studies (HUFS), there are already liberal arts courses on Esperanto. This being a method with perhaps the most direct effect on stimulating Esperanto usages among young college students, Kang said “Lee Young Gu, president of KEA, continues to contact university presidents in order to expand the number of courses offered.” He admitted however, that this is a tough job. “Most are hesitant, because of the existing bias that English is the only foreign language valuable enough to learn.” This bias persists because some think that Esperanto is relatively “not helpful” for realistic goals such as employment.

 

Indeed, Esperanto still has a long way to go toward wider usage. Despite the active participation of Esperanto learners, Esperanto is still relatively unknown in Korea. “Publicity is the only answer,” said Kang. With the relatively low number of active members in associations, it is a sad reality that there is lacking of manpower compared to the required effort for the wider usage of Esperanto. “So we try to communicate with Esperantists via Facebook, Skype and other types of Social Network Services (SNS) for wider publicity,” added Kang for the solution.

 

This year in September, the 100th World Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso de Esperanto) was hosted in Lille, France. For Esperanto, 2015 therefore is a memorable year, marking the centennial steps Esperanto took in the field of languages. The growing presence of Esperanto seems to encourage people to escape from discriminations, and to become more open-minded toward accepting different ideas from a variety of different people. Some may claim that this is needless to be addressed, but the stereotype that only “designated languages” are useful to learn provides further evidence of the surging bias. To step out and begin practicing unbiased communication, learning Esperanto would be a great place to start.