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Esperanto is the most widely spoken contructed language in the world.

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Originally designed for international communication,

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but now there are also native speakers.

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What is life like as a native Esperanto speaker?

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Esperanto: Like a Native

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Who are you?

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Hi, I am Stela.

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And I am 27.

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I now live in Brussels,

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and work for the European Parliament.

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I am originally Hungarian-French.

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My name is Leo Sakaguchi.

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I am a student

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in the technical university in Darmstadt.

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My father is Japanese, my mother is Polish,

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and I was born and raised in Germany.

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I am Douglas Oliveira Biscotto.

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I am 14.

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And... I am Brazilian.

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I am Lívia Oliveira Biscotto.

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I am his sister.

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We are in Rio de Janeiro.

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We came for the Brazilian Esperanto Congress.

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Hi! I am Gunnar Fischer.

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I live in Münster, Germany.

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Hi! Mi name is Klára, I am 19.

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I am French-Hungarian,

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and was born in the Netherlands.

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Why did your parents teach you Esperanto?

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Because my parents met through Esperanto

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and they always spoke Esperanto together

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and I heard it from Esperanto friends, etc.

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So, I heard the language around me

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and learned that way.

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My mother is Hungarian, my father French.

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They met at an Esperanto meeting,

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in an Esperanto congress.

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And they thought...

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"First Esperanto, and later I will have the time

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to learn my other languages too."

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We felt more comfortable

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with the language, with Esperanto

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and it would later be easier for us

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when we study other languages.

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My father learned Esperanto a few years before I was born

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and he decided to raise me bilingually

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and he spoke Esperanto, only Esperanto, with me

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for the first 12 years of my life.

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And we had many international guests

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and we often went on vacation in "Esperantoland."

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How do people react when they learn that you speak Esperanto?

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They hear that only when we speak directly about Esperanto,

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because my main language is French.

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So, I think the first reaction is surprise,

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because they can't imagine that a person could

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know this strange language natively.

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A language, which someone invented, how is it possible

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that children exist who learned it from birth?

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But generally the reaction is positive:

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"Ah, really?" So, they are interested.

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The first question often was "What is it?"

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They're interested why,

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and, of course, they want to hear me say

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a few sentences or words in Esperanto.

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Because we speak two languages

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we only get praise,

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and are not badly treated.

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At Lufthansa, a German airline company,

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in the engineering department,

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I had the qualification interview.

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The person asked me:

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"In your papers, it says that you're a native Esperanto speaker,

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how can that be?"

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And that person was really impressed

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by the fact that I am a native Esperanto speaker,

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and I think

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because of that, I also had an advantage.

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But I met many people,

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for which the idea of Esperanto as a native language

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was foreign and unacceptable,

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and they wanted to argue with me,

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that Esperanto cannot be my native language.

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How has bilingualism helped you?

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You can use it in a store speaking to your parents

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saying that you

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don't like something, because...

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So, when my parents spoke to me in Esperanto,

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I never answered in Esperanto, in fact.

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So, if I really used Esperanto,

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that meant that I wanted to say something,

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which I certainly didn't want others to understand.

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So, I speak 4 natively

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and later I learned 2 in school,

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so I already speak 6 languages at my age,

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just because I learned many from birth.

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So, if you know many languages natively,

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you also quickly learn new languages,

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and have practical advantages,

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for example, I can buy a train ticket in England,

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Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands...

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without any problem, because I speak the language.

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So, with two native languages

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I can learn other languages more easily.

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And one time I was invited on TV

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because I natively speak Esperanto,

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and I was very proud of that.

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And it's also easier to make friends,

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I have many friends and I think that

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one of the reasons is that I can

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speak their native language directly.

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If I speak Dutch to a Dutchman,

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German to a German, it is easier for them

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to trust me and become friends with me.

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Generally I'm very happy to be a native

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and I also am happy to meet and chat

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with other natives...

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Well, thank you for listening

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and until next time!

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Esperanto: like a native