Do All Journalists Speak Esperanto Now?
You might think so, seeing just how much media attention Esperanto has been getting this end of July 2009.
The most detailed coverage comes from Germany’s number-one public TV station ARD, which aired this report on the Esperanto World Youth Congress, with both the reporter and the news host speaking very good Esperanto.
Also very unexpected is this BBC news article about Esperanto with a special focus on its role in reconciliation between Jews and Arabs.
Then, Deutsche Welle published two favourable articles on Esperanto within a single week: Esperantists keep the dream alive, prompted by the Esperanto World Congress now taking place in Poland, and The future of Esperanto looks bright according to our readers, a collection of sent-in testimonials.
Also prompted by the Esperanto World Congress, the British Times Online titled Conference proves that Esperanto can be the language of love. Of course since the conference is taking place in Poland, Polskie Radio also reports on it and the European Jewish Press also reports. Even Chinese Xinhua news agency tried to report about the congress, but mixed up the articles.
EDIT: Another reader informed me that the Taipei Times also had a bilingual article related to the Esperanto World Congress at the beginning of July. Read it here.
EDIT: It seems I missed a lot of nice articles because they were in the countries’ national languages, reaching more readers this way. A brief listing, for those who can read these languages:
Chinese: The missing Xinhua article, in Chinese
French: Radio France Internationale, Libération, several regional papers also wrote about this
Korean: Korean TV station YTN
Lithuanian: Bernardinai
Polish: Lots, search Gazeta.pl for Esperanto for a start.
Portugese: Veja, Acoriano Oriental
Turkish: Salom
UPDATE: The Austrian newspaper Der Standard just published an by the Kuwait Times, by China Daily and by Dawn.com. What’s amazing is that these articles are not copycats, they each seem to have done their own research and their own interviews.
Finally, for reasons still unknown to me, one of the top stories in the Birmingham Mail is about two Esperanto speakers, one from Birmingham, getting married
next year. Would they have been written about if they had been brought together by a shared love of beer?
Esperanto speakers, mark the time. Could it be that journalists are the first to know that Esperanto is hot?
Non-Esperanto speakers, are you curious to see what Esperanto is like now? Try this free lecture, this site with lots of answers or free comprehensive online courses.
Detlef Karthaus said,
July 31, 2009 @ 17:55
We can probably expect more articles, since journalists are such copycats.
meneame.net said,
July 31, 2009 @ 18:06
¿Es que ahora todos los periodistas hablan esperanto?…
En los últimos 7 días, se han podido contar 9 largos reportajes, en su mayor parte bastante positivos, por parte de medios de comunicación británicos y alemanes de gran prestigio, como la BBC,la televisión pública alemana, la Deutsche Welle, The Times …
Paul fron Belgiom /aus Belgien said,
July 31, 2009 @ 18:37
Well, as I see 2 sentences in German, I wonder wether I should write in Englisosr ob ich deutsch benitzen soll. I thinlk Esperanto is a very goos idea: Menschen, die nicht dieselbe Spreache können, könne eine selne neutrale Sprache benutzen, ohne dass ein einziger aus ihnen seine eigene Muttersprache auferzingt.
Cordelia said,
July 31, 2009 @ 20:32
Great article, Judith. I hope your cautious prediction at the end turns out to be true. Thanks for the great links too.
Benny the Irish polyglot said,
July 31, 2009 @ 21:01
I’ve noticed these articles too! I’m friends with that couple, it’s funny to see the story
If you want to see another version of the first report (about the World Youth Congress), then have a look at my video report (I’m not journalist, but you may be interested in another perspective). It’s in Esperanto with subtitles.
Of course, it’s important to note that this summer is important for Esperanto speakers because of the 150th anniversary of Zamenhof’s birth. That may be causing the extra passion, so I hope the media attention won’t die out after this summer!
You’re getting a lot of diggs for this article! Hope you make it to the front page
algispijus said,
August 1, 2009 @ 11:42
Estimata Judith, dankon por la interesa kaj praktika artikolo, kiun mi kun via permeso utiligos por la sukcesa diskonigo de Esperanto. Respekte via Algis (Litovio)
Leo De Cooman said,
August 1, 2009 @ 14:08
In old archives we found copy of a document dated 1923 june 3, signed by French Minister of public education Léon Bérard, forbidding schools make classroom space or any other public material available to teach Esperanto, even announcing Esperanto lessons elsewhere was banned. Maybe now, 86 years later, finally a new wind is blowing …
Twitted by esperanto said,
August 6, 2009 @ 10:30
[...] This post was Twitted by esperanto [...]
Hauxkins said,
August 6, 2009 @ 12:35
Ciam, la kreantoj de bonaj ideoj devas longatempe mortigxi, antaux ili estigxos sukcesa.
Stefo said,
August 6, 2009 @ 20:34
Gratulojn pro la blogero! Mi nur nun komprenis, ke estis vi, Judith. Amike, Stefo (ekse el Berlino)
Johano said,
August 12, 2009 @ 07:43
Some more links:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4528662,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-08/05/content_8525005.htm
Adamo said,
August 19, 2009 @ 23:51
La BBC-artikolo estis verkita de BCC-reĝisorino, rusdevena esperantistino, kiu loĝis en Jerusalemo dum kelkaj monatoj pro sia laboro kaj profitis la okazon por verki tiun artikolon.
Sławik said,
August 23, 2009 @ 19:09
Thank you for those wonderful links. Especially the German TV clip is a masterpiece!
Wrex said,
December 4, 2009 @ 08:51
Never thought of learning Esperanto before as I always considered it to be a language that nobody spoke. Obviously I was wrong and may well have to reconsider my hasty first impression. Thanks for the article.
Kiwi said,
December 10, 2009 @ 22:34
I am going to learn it now