The 125th Anniversary of Esperanto
In honour of the 125th anniversary of the language, students in Stoke-on-Trent have started a campaign to promote Esperanto as the second language of choice.
Esperanto is a language which was devised in 1887 by Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. It is considered to be an easy language to learn, as the grammar has no irregular verbs, and people in almost every country have learned to communicate using it. An estimated 2 million people speak the language worldwide, with almost 1000 of those in the UK.
But why are students in Stoke-on-Trent so interested in Esperanto? Well, the headquarters of the language association is based in the village of Barlaston, just outside Stoke-on-Trent. The offices are based on the campus of Wedgwood Memorial College, which has been teaching courses in Esperanto since 1960. The library there holds over 13,000 books in the language.
Stoke-on-Trent has a road named after the founder of the language, Zamenhof Grove, and there is also an Esperanto pub, The Green Star. It’s even host to the 4 day Esperanto Summer Festival.
More information can be found here.
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