62 The 'Universal Language' of Esperanto Is Thriving on the Internet

Esperanto is a language invented 130 years ago with the goal of uniting the world under a simplified common tongue and creating everlasting peace. Spoiler alert: That never happened. But the Internet is rekindling the passion of the global Esperanto community, and millions of people are speaking and learning it through the power of language courses like Duolingo and online communities. Alli and Jen talk with Stela Besenyei-Merger, one of only 350 native Esperanto speakers in the world, and Chuck Smith, who is credited for bringing Esperanto onto the mainstream web and developing a Wikipedia in the language. What does it mean to speak Esperanto in 2018, and how is the "DNA" of this language bridging communication gaps in the 21st century?

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