Education, culture, youth and sport
#TheFutureIsYours Education, culture, youth and sport in Europe
Over 130 years ago, in 1887, the basics of the international language Esperanto were published in Warsaw. Today, Esperanto is spoken by people in over 120 countries - including all countries of the EU.
Millions of people have learnt Esperanto, hundreds of thousands speak it regularly. There are songs in Esperanto, about ten thousand books, some thousand native speakers and even people who speak Esperanto as their main language.
Poland and Croatia have recognised Esperanto as a cultural asset, Austria's National Library maintains an Esperanto collection, in Hungary you can choose Esperanto for foreign language certificates at many universities.
Because of its ingenious structure, Esperanto can be learnt in about a quarter of the time it takes to learn most other European languages, including English. This makes it possible to get started quickly and reach a high level of proficiency.
With Esperanto there is more equality in international communication. The Esperanto language community has created a European public sphere, in which citizens of all EU countries participate.
The Esperanto community and the possibilities of Esperanto are not well known, and there is a certain amount of prejudice against the language.
We suggest that, if possible, all pupils in the EU should receive at least one lesson about Esperanto during their school years.
This proposal aims to put into practice the recommendation of Unesco Resolution 23C/11.11
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf000006
