Many argue that a language barrier creates a greater divide than a physical border.
Among these believers was L.L. Zamenhof, a Jew from Bialystok, Poland, which at the time was part of Russia. His fascination with language led him to learn seven foreign languages and aged 10, he even wrote a five-act classical tragedy in Russian. During his childhood, he was surrounded by a combination of languages and isolated communities.
In his mémoires, he explained:
“I was taught that all people were brothers, while outside in the street at every step I felt there were no people, only Russians, Germans, Poles, Jews and so on. This was always a great torment to my infant mind... so I often said to myself that when I grew up I would certainly destroy this evil.”
He believed that national languages provoked segregation and for this reason, he came up with an idea that involved “bringing together in brotherhood all of humanity.”
In 1887, Zamenhof launched Esperanto, as a neutral language, under the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto (Dr. Hopeful.) He dreamed of a world in which everyone spoke two languages, their native tongue and Esperanto. This way, native languages would be protected but Esperanto would become universal language used in commerce, science, politics and international relations to facilitate communication between countries. He described the language as being “so easy as to make its acquisition mere play to the learner.”
Esperanto would allow all citizens to communicate regardless of their nationality. He hoped that this would promote mutual cultural understanding and tolerance.
In 1889, Zamenhof began publishing ‘The Esperantisto’, a periodical in which he published translations, to unite Esperanto speakers. However, in 1895, it was banned in Russia and it only surface again after an intervention by Leo Tolstoy.
In the meantime, the language continued to spread and, in 1905, the first Universal Congress of Esperanto took place in France. Zamenhof used the occasion to present his new language to those who had attended. Following this, Esperanto shot across Europe and was almost adopted as the official language of the League of Nations. However, sadly, the proposal was rejected by only one country, France, who argued that it would decrease the importance of one’s national language.
Unfortunately, Esperanto began to lose power as anti-semitism began to grow in Europe. Later, Hitler went on to accuse Esperanto as being part of the Jewish conspiracy in his book, Mein Kampf. After a Nazi report published in 1940 condemned the language, Esperanto speakers were sent to concentration camps where many died. Esperantists were also killed in Stalin’s purges.
Despite the Nazis efforts to crush Esperanto, prisoners used to teach each other the language in the concentration camps. It continued to spread following WW2.
Now, approximately 2 million people speak Esperanto and some films have even been made in the language such as ‘The Great Dictator’ released in 1940.
So, why did it fail? There are a plethora of reasons why Esperanto never really took off. One could argue that it was the language’s affiliation with Judaism. Perhaps, also, it was due to Hitler and Stalin’s response to the language. Maybe, the final nail in its coffin was when France choose reject it as the United Nations’ language. As time moved on, America’s dominance in trade and politics after WW2 certainly pushed the English language into a position of global dominance as a language.
I cannot help but wonder whether, if Esperanto was first launched today, whether it would have succeeded in the same way that Bitcoin is attempting to become a global currency or Python a global coding language. Perhaps, if it was launched today it might not have failed. I greatly admire Zamenhof’s attempt to promote peace and tolerance in the world and I lament that he could not have seen a greater success come from his idea.
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