The rules of Esperanto are not clouded by a huge number of exceptions and special cases as in national languages, so it is much easier to learn; and since the linguistic patterns in Esperanto are not made up out of thin air, but extracted from the main European languages, later when studying English, you will feel that it goes much easier. Tested by experience! But then again – judge for yourself.
Starting with this issue, the pages of 'Zagranitsa' will regularly publish a course on the international language Esperanto. The author of the course is Andriy Ananyin, a Russian Esperantist, musician, organizer of many meetings and festivals. From scratch in the shortest possible time you will be able to learn to understand Esperanto and perhaps even speak it. This issue will have the first – introductory lesson. And, starting from the next issues, you will be looking forward to the following – interesting and useful lessons. So – let's begin.
Saluton! SALUTON! Saluton! Do you understand? It means: hello! Repeat, please. Saluton. Saluton! The letter 'л' in Esperanto is soft, but slightly harder than Russian 'ль'. The stress, as in all Esperanto words, falls on the penultimate syllable: salUton. Remember this word – your first word in Esperanto! It should be pronounced softly, very friendly, with a smile of sincere joy on your face. Yes, yes, exactly that! Wonderful! You are talented! O-o-o! What a smile!!! Please, once more. I say to you: 'Saluton!', and you to me – with your magnificent smile – also 'saluton!'.
Everything else is very simple. Mi – do you understand? And if I say 'mi' and poke myself in the chest? Clearer? Mi estas Andrej. Understand? I repeat: mi estas Andrej. I am Andrey. Or literally: I am Andrey. Now please introduce yourself. Wave your hand at me and say: 'Mi estas ...' Very good! Tre bone! Repeat, please, you can chant, or even to some tune: 'Mi estas ...' And be sure to smile your most wonderful smile!
Vi. Vi. Pointing with finger: mi, vi. Yes, this means 'you' (formal) and 'you' (informal). Esperanto is a polite language, everyone is always addressed as 'vi'. There is a separate word for 'thou', but practically nowhere except dictionaries can it be found. And now let's learn to read. This is easy if you remember that in Esperanto everything is read as it is written and one letter corresponds to only one sound. I remind you again that the stress is always on the penultimate syllable! The letter 'e' in any position is read as 'e' (like in 'met').
First rule: all nouns in Esperanto end in 'o': domo, albatroso, profesoro, studento, telefono, homo (person), libro (book), frukto, traktoro, amiko (friend), divano, lampo, gazeto, urbo (city), portreto, biblioteko, kanto (song), kontinento, muzeo (museum), ananaso, Afriko, Azio, Ameriko, konkurso, kurso, premio, ponto (bridge), popolo (people), muziko.
Second rule: all adjectives in Esperanto end in 'a': interesa (interesting), eleganta, simpatia, bona (good), naiva, nova, serioza, bela (beautiful), internacia (international), klara (clear), fidela (faithful), modesta (modest), amika (friendly), juna (read 'yuna' – young).
Have you read? Now read a few more words. Try to read these phrases as free verse. Read with expression! Elegantly!
Bela domo, bona homo, rusa turisto, simpatia krokodilo, internacia kongreso, literatura muzeo, romano de Turgenjev, eleganta profesoro, popola muziko, amika Afriko, afrika amiko, konkursa premio, Serioza studento, nova libro, motoro de traktoro. Despite the fact that there is rhyme here and there, there is no overall meaning, although the meaning of individual phrases is, of course, clear to you. Did you notice that some roots appeared with different endings?
And now follows a 'terribly difficult' task: a) translate the 'poem' in writing (without rhymes); b) check if you remember exactly all the word translations given above; c) without looking at the original, translate everything back into Esperanto in writing; d) check the results; e) Give yourself an 'A'.
And a very simple task – change the form of words in the phrases of the 'poem' following the example: bela domo – doma belo; amika Afriko – afrika amiko. You don't have to translate. After all, everything is clear anyway, right?
Now you are experienced enough to start communicating in Esperanto on your own. Imagine a situation: you are an eleganta profesoro and you have arrived at an Internacia kongreso, where you are going to give a lekcio about a romano de Turgenjev (or about a tractor engine – motoro de traktoro). A serioza studento approaches you and politely says: – Saluton! Vi estas interesa homo! To which you, no less politely, reply: Saluton! Vi estas .......... homo! (fill in your answer, see correct answer below). Another situation: you have started corresponding with a Brazilian Esperantist by email or ICQ. She introduces herself: – Saluton! Mi estas Ramona. Mi estas juna, bela, simpatia, naiva kaj eleganta. (kaj – 'and' – read 'kai') You reply: – Saluton! Mi estas ... (fill in your answer, correct answer).
Correct answer: serioza, nova, bela, juna, modesta, fidela, naiva, simpatia, rusa, inteligenta, abstrakta, populara (underline the needed, cross out the unnecessary). That's enough for today (or rather, for this week). However, as a follow-up, let's learn to write.
ESPERANTO ALPHABET:
A a, B b (called 'bo', read as 'b'), C c ('tso', read as 'ts'), C c ('cho', 'ch' – actually there should be one letter 'c' – a hat is above the letter), D d ('do', 'd'), E e ('e'), F f (f), G g (g), G g ('g', 'dzh'), H h (Ukrainian g, a sound between 'g' and 'h'), H h ('h'), I i ('i'), J j ('y'), J j ('j', 'zh'), K k ('k'), L l ('l'), M m ('m'), N n ('n'), O o ('o' – always 'o'! Never pronounced as 'a' – a common mistake among Russian speakers), P p ('p'), R r ('r'), S s ('s'), S s ('sh'), T t ('t'), U u ('u'), U u ('short u', pronounced as a sound between 'u' and 'v'), V v ('v'), Z z ('z').
Task: take the nearest book or newspaper and rewrite two or three paragraphs from it using the Esperanto alphabet. Replace 'Ы' with 'i', 'щ' with 'sc', 'я' with 'ja', 'ю' with 'ju', 'е' with 'je', and add softness to consonants with 'j' ('nj' is 'нь'). For example, I got this:
«Fjestival jazikov. Imjenno takoj fjestival prosel u nas v gorodje. Eto bilo ocenj intjerjesnoje i dajusceje mnogo informacii lubitjeljam znanij po etoj tjemje. Ivanovskij oblastnoj klub espjerantistov i Associacija molodjojnih obscin priglasili na fjestival ljudej, kotorije nje tolko izucajut mnogije jaziki mira, no i javljajutsja ih nositjeljami».
Gis revido! (Dzhes revido! Goodbye!)