A Weekend of Esperanto (Yes, Esperanto)
JULY 21, 2007 Listen to this Story
- Esperanto
- View the Slideshow
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In the late 1800s, a Polish eye doctor had the idea to revolutionize the world by inventing a universal language. This language was supposed to promote world peace. He called it Esperanto. Although it didn't catch on as planned, it's still alive and well at the North American Summer Esperanto Institute in San Diego. Weekend America's Krissy Clark went to find what all the talk was about.
A Brief Glossary of Esperanto
| Esperanto | English |
| Susuri | rustling (specifically, the "sound of rustling leaves") |
| Munde citizano | World Citizen |
| Mirinda | Wonderful |
| Esperanto | Hope, or One who hopes |
| Princino | Princess |
| Fek | Shit |
| Umo | Watchamacallit, thing-a-ma-jig (The cool thing about this word is that you can add Umo to other words, to modify them. So "Vendredumi" would mean "To Friday around." This was what Esperanto teacher Paul Gubbins finally conceded to as an appropriately Esperanto translation for "TGIF." |
| Gufujo | The owl's nest. It's also used to mean "where the party is." |
| Krokodilo | Crocodile. But it also is the very impolite act of two Esperanto speakers from the same country reverting to their native tongues in the company of other. Esperanto speakers who don't speak that language, therefore shutting down international communication. This reporter caused many krokodilo moments while she was at the Esperanto Institute. |
| Saluton | Hello |
| Yes | Yes |
Special Web Audio
Esperanto teacher Paul Gubbins reads a love poem written by one of his students. It was lying on the coffee table in his dorm room (0:37).
Paul translates the poem, and explains how you can make really cool words in Esperanto (1:18).
Comments
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09/07/2008
The Esperanto word for "Yes" is actually "Jes" but is pronounced like the English.
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