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

Originally designed for international communication,

but now there are also native speakers.

What is life like as a native Esperanto speaker?

Esperanto: Like a Native

Who are you?

Hi, I am Stela.

And I am 27.

I now live in Brussels,

and work for the European Parliament.

I am originally Hungarian-French.

My name is Leo Sakaguchi.

I am a student

in the technical university in Darmstadt.

My father is Japanese, my mother is Polish,

and I was born and raised in Germany.

I am Douglas Oliveira Biscotto.

I am 14.

And... I am Brazilian.

I am Lívia Oliveira Biscotto.

I am his sister.

We are in Rio de Janeiro.

We came for the Brazilian Esperanto Congress.

Hi! I am Gunnar Fischer.

I live in Münster, Germany.

Hi! Mi name is Klára, I am 19.

I am French-Hungarian,

and was born in the Netherlands.

Why did your parents teach you Esperanto?

Because my parents met through Esperanto

and they always spoke Esperanto together

and I heard it from Esperanto friends, etc.

So, I heard the language around me

and learned that way.

My mother is Hungarian, my father French.

They met at an Esperanto meeting,

in an Esperanto congress.

And they thought...

"First Esperanto, and later I will have the time

to learn my other languages too."

We felt more comfortable

with the language, with Esperanto

and it would later be easier for us

when we study other languages.

My father learned Esperanto a few years before I was born

and he decided to raise me bilingually

and he spoke Esperanto, only Esperanto, with me

for the first 12 years of my life.

And we had many international guests

and we often went on vacation in "Esperantoland."

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

They hear that only when we speak directly about Esperanto,

because my main language is French.

So, I think the first reaction is surprise,

because they can't imagine that a person could

know this strange language natively.

A language, which someone invented, how is it possible

that children exist who learned it from birth?

But generally the reaction is positive:

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

The first question often was "What is it?"

They're interested why,

and, of course, they want to hear me say

a few sentences or words in Esperanto.

Because we speak two languages

we only get praise,

and are not badly treated.

At Lufthansa, a German airline company,

in the engineering department,

I had the qualification interview.

The person asked me:

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

how can that be?"

And that person was really impressed

by the fact that I am a native Esperanto speaker,

and I think

because of that, I also had an advantage.

But I met many people,

for which the idea of Esperanto as a native language

was foreign and unacceptable,

and they wanted to argue with me,

that Esperanto cannot be my native language.

How has bilingualism helped you?

You can use it in a store speaking to your parents

saying that you

don't like something, because...

So, when my parents spoke to me in Esperanto,

I never answered in Esperanto, in fact.

So, if I really used Esperanto,

that meant that I wanted to say something,

which I certainly didn't want others to understand.

So, I speak 4 natively

and later I learned 2 in school,

so I already speak 6 languages at my age,

just because I learned many from birth.

So, if you know many languages natively,

you also quickly learn new languages,

and have practical advantages,

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

Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands...

without any problem, because I speak the language.

So, with two native languages

I can learn other languages more easily.

And one time I was invited on TV

because I natively speak Esperanto,

and I was very proud of that.

And it's also easier to make friends,

I have many friends and I think that

one of the reasons is that I can

speak their native language directly.

If I speak Dutch to a Dutchman,

German to a German, it is easier for them

to trust me and become friends with me.

Generally I'm very happy to be a native

and I also am happy to meet and chat

with other natives...

Well, thank you for listening

and until next time!

Esperanto: like a native