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Loading... Esperanto Learning and Using the International Languageby David Richardson
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Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language is one of the most popular and widely used texts to introduce English speakers to Esperanto. This introductory textbook begins with a brief English-language overview of Esperanto's history and the international Esperanto community. A series of ten lessons with dialogues and exercises follows, concentrating on practical communication and vocabulary. The highlight of the book is a graded reader, which includes history, letters, stories, and poetry (both translated and from original Esperanto literature) that gradually introduce more advanced usage and additional vocabulary. The book concludes with an abridged Esperanto-to-English dictionary. This 4th edition of Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language contains only minor changes from previous editions, updating images and vocabulary, and makes this book available to a new generation of Esperanto learners. Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language is published by Esperanto-USA, an educational non-profit that provides Esperanto services in the United States and Canada. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)499.99282421Language Other Languages Austronesian languages and Languages, Artificial and minor languages Artificial languages EsperantoLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The book is divided into three parts, plus the usual vocabulary lists and tables that appear in the back. The first part is the weakest, a justification for the language and a full biography of its development. The information is interesting, but only tangentially applicable to the language itself. Presumably if you are at the point of buying an Esperanto textbook, you are already fully on board with the reasons to learn it.
The second part is a ten-lesson course in the language. As a student of other languages, ten lessons seems ludicrously short, but given the engineered simplicity of Esperanto, this is just right. Grammatical concepts and word-building particles are introduced gradually, complete with exercises and dialogues and all the rest. The emphasis here is on grammar, not vocabulary, so students who are used to a more gradual, functional approach to language learning might be a little put off. For me, it worked, but then again, I tend to like grammar.
The final part of the book is by far the most useful, a graduated reader of texts which builds from the vocabulary used in the initial lessons, glossing new words and generally building up skill through primary texts. By the time this part of the book is complete, the student should have a decent grasp of the language.
Although there are some issues, the book does everything it sets out to do. I would recommend it for anyone planning to learn Esperanto. ( )