One of my favourite things about this blog is coming across some truly epic names. Gideon Algernon Mantell, Queen Ulrika Elenora of Sweden and Katsushika Hokusai are the only ones you'll see listed, but trust me when I say that in my research I come across a lot more. But they're only vaguely connected to my topic at hand, so I have no reason to mention them. Today's topic comes to us courtesy of another epic name from history: Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. If that's not an epic name, I'm not sure any name would qualify.
So what did this man of such an epic name do that I've heard of him, and am now sharing his name with you? He made a language. Not an easy task, but he's hardly the only one. J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a fairly epic name itself) laid out the basis for two Elvish languages to the point that they're both now usable. Marc Okrand is almost single-handedly responsible for the Klingon language, and only words he invented are considered officially part of the language. Yes, Star Trek nerds take their fake languages very seriously.
The language that our Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof invented is Esperanto. You may have heard of it, but probably not. And unless you're an incredible information junkie like myself, you've probably never heard it, even if you've heard of it. Don't worry, I'll give you a chance to listen to it further down. But stay with me for a bit. Esperanto is, despite being almost entirely unknown, the most widely spoken artificial language ever created. Klingon may be more widely known of, but Esperanto has something Klingon doesn't: People with it as a first language. Not many, mind you, only about a thousand, but that's a hell of a lot more than any of the other artificial languages out there. And around 1million people can understand the language better than I can understand French, despite eight years of French classes and a French-Canadian grandfather.
It's a language that was designed to be universal, and there have been attempts to have it implemented as the official language of the United Nations (which have been ignored), and there's currently a bill in Brazil that would make Esperanto one of the optional languages taught in public schools (it's languishing in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies). One of the strongest selling points for Esperanto in this regard is that it's remarkably easy to learn. While some people claim that you can learn it in days, they're largely regarded as crackpots or linguistic savants. Still, it's estimated that you can become passably skilled in Esperanto in about 1/4 the time it would take to learn another language similar to one you know already (English-German), and less than 1/20 the time it would take to learn a language with a different root than one you know (English-Japanese) because it has none of the eccentricities of a natural language.
Once you learn a pattern in Esperanto, it's very safe to assume that it's always true. In English in particular, a generalized pattern isn't always useful. Consider all the exceptions to 'i before e except after c'. Esperanto doesn't have giants lists of exceptions to simple rules, which makes it much, much, much easier to learn.
Alright, enough trying to sell you on the merits of Esperanto. Let's get to the listening! I present you the sixth part of the YouTube posting of the 1965 film, Incubus (subtitled).
Did you recognize that handsome young soldier? You're right! It's none other than William Alan Shatner (a remarkably un-epic name for such an epic man)! See how this all came back around to Star Trek? What is it with Shatner and made-up languages?
Incubus is, for the record, a pretty entertaining little movie, and might possibly be worth watching from the start if you're into b-movie horror and don't mind subtitles. Also, for the record, the film is largely ridiculed within the Esperanto community because of the terrible pronunciation. They say Shatner speaks Esperanto with a French accent.
There's only one other Esperanto film, and it's called Angoroj, which means "Agonies". It was even more poorly received than Incubus, and the director tried to destroy all the copies of it. He nearly succeeded, only three copies escaped his wrath. Strangely enough, Incubus was nearly lost to the ages as well. At one point it was thought that every copy had either been lost, destroyed or used to the point that they had worn out completely. It was only when the original master copy burned in a fire that people started looking for other copies. To date, only one early copy has been found, and every release of it since (including the one on YouTube) is a copy of that one.
William Shatner: Intimately connected to the two best known artificial languages on the planet.
Sources:
Esperanto.net
World Esperanto Association
Canadian Esperanto Association
FailureMag.com article on artificial languages
Wikipedia articles on Esperanto, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, Incubus, Angoroj and William Shatner
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