Esperanto is the living language of a growing international community of people who support the idea that any person from any part of the World should be able to talk to any other person without being forced to use a difficult non-neutral national language such as English, French, German or Chinese.

Esperanto provides this possibility since it is neutral and much easier to learn than national languages.

Its grammatical rules are much simpler and more regular than any of the languages we might learn at school. Most Esperanto learners reach a level of fluency in around a fifth of the time they would take to reach the same level in a national language.

Esperanto does not replace national languages. It is intended as a second language for all.

Esperantists are not against learning other languages. In fact many Esperantists, through using Esperanto, find a culture which attracts them and end up learning that language too.

Esperanto is not without its detractors but a fairminded appraisal of the language is given in Wikipedia.

Copyright 2008 Scottish Esperanto Association