By Sam Dean, the Verge
Like its vastly more successful digital cousins — C++, HTML, Python — Esperanto is an artificial language, designed to have perfectly regular grammar, with none of the messy exceptions of natural tongues. But it is supremely easy to learn, like a puzzle piece formed to fit into the human brain. The internet, though, has been a mixed blessing for Esperanto. While providing a place for Esperantists to convene without the hassle of traveling to conventions or local club meetings, some Esperantists believe those meatspace meet ups were what held the community together. The Esperanto Society of New York has 214 members on Facebook, but only eight of them showed up for the meeting. The shift to the web, meanwhile, has been haphazard, consisting mostly of message boards, listservs, and scattered blogs. A website called Lernu! — Esperanto for the imperative “learn!” — is the center of the Esperanto internet, with online classes and an active forum.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/29/8672371/learn-esperanto-language-duolingo-app-origin-history
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