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- Newsgroups: soc.culture.esperanto,soc.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Esperanto FAQ (Oftaj demandoj) Part 2/2
- From: Yves Bellefeuille <yan@storm.ca>
- Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
- Reply-To: Yves Bellefeuille <yan@storm.ca>
- Followup-To: soc.culture.esperanto
- Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the
- international language Esperanto. In English.
- Oftaj demandoj pri Esperanto. En la angla.
- X-Last-Updated: 1999-06-23
- Organization: None
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 17 Apr 2004 11:27:59 GMT
- Lines: 936
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-
- Archive-name: esperanto/faq/part2
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-Modified: 1999-06-23
- URL: http://www.esperanto.net/veb/faq.html
-
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for
- soc.culture.esperanto and esperanto-l@netcom.com
- (monthly posting)
-
-
- PART I: THE LANGUAGE ESPERANTO
-
- 1. What is Esperanto?
- 2. How easy is Esperanto to learn?
- 3. Where does Esperanto's vocabulary come from?
- 4. What about Esperanto's grammar and word-order?
- 5. How many people speak Esperanto?
- 6. How can I use Esperanto once I've learned it?
- 7. Where do I find classes, textbooks, etc.?
- 8. How come Esperanto doesn't have <favourite word or feature>?
- 9. What are some common objections to Esperanto? How do speakers of
- Esperanto respond to them?
- 10. Are there any famous Esperanto speakers?
- 11. What about other "artificial" languages like Loglan, Ido, etc.?
- 12. What are PAG, PIV, PMEG, PV, TEJO and UEA?
- 13. How do you say "I love you" in Esperanto?
-
- PART II: ESPERANTO, COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET
-
- 14. How can I type and display Esperanto's accented characters?
- 15. How can I represent these characters in E-mail or on Usenet?
- 16. What Esperanto material is available on the Internet?
- 17. What Esperanto material is available on other (non-Internet)
- on-line services?
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- PART II: ESPERANTO, COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET
-
-
- 14. HOW CAN I TYPE AND DISPLAY ESPERANTO'S ACCENTED CHARACTERS?
-
- Esperanto has six letters with accents: c, g, h, j, and s can have a
- circumflex accent (^), and u can have a breve accent (similar to the
- lower half of a small circle).
-
- All modern operating systems, word processing programs, etc., can handle
- these characters. Usually all that is required is to type some
- combination of keys to represent them. However, "dumb" terminals
- generally cannot overstrike accents with arbitrary characters, and so
- cannot display Esperanto's accented characters, or any other language
- with accents.
-
-
- Macintosh:
-
- (Thanks to Arnold Victor and Dmitri Horowitz for preparing the following
- information.)
-
- Fonts with Esperanto's accented characters are available for use under
- Mac OS. Due to the lack of a generally accepted standard encoding,
- several encodings are currently in use; however, ISO 8859-3 (also called
- "Latin-3") is becoming more and more common. Apple has proposed a
- different standard encoding called "MacEsperanto".
-
- To type Esperanto's accented characters conveniently, use an Esperanto
- keyboard layout. Each encoding corresponds to a particular keyboard
- layout; thus, if you are using a Latin-3 font, you must also use the
- Latin-3 keyboard layout.
-
- Fonts are installed as follows:
-
- - Quit all applications first.
-
- - Put the Esperanto font files in the Fonts folder in the System Folder.
- (Or drag-drop the font file on the System Folder icon and it will
- automatically be placed in the right folder.)
-
- Keyboard layouts are installed as follows:
-
- - Quit all applications first.
-
- - Put the keyboard layout file in the System suitcase in the System
- Folder. (Or drag-drop the keyboard layout file on the System Folder
- icon; when the dialog appears, confirm that you want the file placed in
- the right folder.)
-
- To use Esperanto fonts in an application, do the following:
-
- - Use the Keyboard control panel (under Control Panels in the Apple
- menu) to select the appropriate keyboard layout. Esperanto keyboard
- layouts are usually symbolized by a green star or by the Esperanto flag
- (a green flag with a star in the upper left corner).
-
- - Choose an Esperanto font with the same encoding as the keyboard layout
- in the application.
-
- With most keyboard layouts, including Latin-3, the accented characters
- are typed by pressing the Option key together with the letter to be
- accented. For example, Option and lowercase c will type the accented
- letter c^, Option and uppercase C will type the accented letter C^, and
- so on. With some keyboard layouts, the accented character u^ is placed
- under Option-w.
-
- You can check the location of the accented characters as follows:
-
- - Make sure the appropriate keyboard layout is selected.
-
- - Open the Key Caps desk accessory in the Apple menu.
-
- - Select an Esperanto font with the same encoding as the keyboard layout
- from the Key Caps menu.
-
- - Check the keyboard layout displayed with the Option key, with the
- Shift key, and with both the Option and Shift keys pressed.
-
- A keyboard menu will let you switch between keyboard layouts more
- conveniently. It appears on the menu bar to the left of the application
- menu, which is itself on the outer right. It can be recognized by the
- small flag which shows the selected keyboard layout.
-
- With Mac OS version 8, a keyboard menu appears automatically when more
- than one keyboard is selected in the Keyboard control panel (under
- Control Panels in the Apple menu).
-
- If you are using Mac OS version 7.x, you must install a system extension
- to have the keyboard menu. A shareware extension called "Outboard
- Keyboard" (5 USD) can be downloaded as part of the package Carpetbag
- from
- http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/carp.html
-
- Install it as follows:
-
- - Put the extension in the Extensions folder in the System Folder. (Or
- drag-drop the keyboard layout file on the System Folder icon; when the
- dialog appears, confirm that you want the file placed in the right
- folder.)
-
- - Restart the computer.
-
- Esperanto fonts with matching keyboard layouts can be downloaded from
- http://www.esperanto.be/FontE.hqx
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/fonts.dir/
- http://www.indigo.ie/egt/earra_bog/apple/
- http://www.indigo.ie/egt/emono/em8859.html
-
- The following resources are useful when using Esperanto in Internet
- applications:
-
- - Plug-in tables for the popular mailing program Eudora which allow you
- to send and receive messages in MacEsperanto, Latin-3, and Code Page
- 853. Bitmap fonts and a keyboard layout are included. See
- ftp://mirror.apple.com/mirrors/info-mac/comm/
- inet/mail/edr/eudora-esperanto.hqx
-
- - A detailed description of how to convert Unicode TrueType fonts from
- MS-Windows to MacEsperanto. The fonts are freely available from
- Microsoft. See
- ftp://mirror.apple.com/mirrors/info-mac/info/
- convert-esperanto-fonts-14.hqx
-
-
- DOS:
-
- WordPerfect 5.1 natively supports Esperanto's accented characters.
-
- To display the Esperanto characters, select the 512-character screen
- from the Setup menu: do Shift-F1, 2, 1, 5.
-
- To type an accented character, type Ctrl-V and the code (including the
- comma) as listed in the file CARACTER.DOC:
-
-
- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
- Letter: C c G g H h
-
- Code: 1,100 1,101 1,122 1,123 1,126 1,127
-
-
- ^ ^ ^ ^ - -
- Letter: J j S s U u
-
- Code: 1,140 1,141 1,180 1,181 1,188 1,189
-
-
- You can also type Ctrl-V followed by the character and the accent mark;
- for example, Ctrl-V, C, ^, gives C-circumflex. However, there is no
- breve on the keyboard, so u-breve cannot be done this way.
-
- Lowercase circumflexed j looks lousy in most fonts, so many users prefer
- to use a regular j and overstrike a circumflex accent: Shift-F8, 4, 5,
- 1, j, ^ (you may have to press the ^ key twice for the symbol to
- appear), Return, Return, Return.
-
- Your editor finds it convenient to use a macro called Alt-c to type
- c-circumflex, Alt-g to type g-circumflex, and so on. The letters can
- then be converted to upper case if desired by using Block (Alt-F4, or
- F12) and then Switch (Shift-F3, 1).
-
- If you wish to type and see the accented characters with a program that
- does not natively support them, for example, a text editor, then you can
- use the freeware programs VGA-ESP and Klavint.
-
- VGA-ESP makes the 12 accented characters available on the monitor. The
- only requirement is to have an EGA, VGA or Super VGA video card -- any
- computer bought after 1985 should be fine.
-
- Klavint provides an easy way to type these characters in applications
- that don't support them natively. Once Klavint is installed, you can
- type the accented characters by using the semi-colon key. For example,
- ;c will give the letter c^ and ;g will give the letter g^. Other options
- are also available, as explained in the documentation.
-
- VGA-ESP and Klavint are available at
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/software.dir/iloj.zip
- Source code in assembler is provided; the programs are copyrighted but
- free.
-
-
- Windows 3.1 and Windows 95:
-
- Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 are very similar in this respect, so we'll
- deal with them at the same time, indicating any differences.
-
- Many fonts with the necessary accented characters are available at
- http://www.esperanto.be/tiparoj.html
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/fonts.dir/
- To view True Type fonts without having to install them, use the
- freeware program Trowser, available at
- ftp://ftp.ntu.edu.au/pub/fonttools/trows101.zip
-
- Esperanto fonts are also included with the commercial program
- WordPerfect for Windows.
-
- To install new fonts under Windows 3.1, go to the group Main, open
- Control Panel, then open Fonts. Choose "Add", indicate the font's
- location, and choose OK.
-
- Under Windows 95, go to the Control Panel and open Fonts. In the File
- menu, choose "Install New Fonts", indicate the font's location, and
- choose OK.
-
- Another option is to use the freeware program Supersigno, which
- automatically adds the necessary characters to your existing fonts. This
- program is available at
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/software.dir/ss41zip.exe
-
- To type the accented characters, use the "Character Map" program,
- located in the Accessories group. Choose your font, then click on the
- character. You can either use Double-Click, Copy and Paste to copy the
- character to your application or, more simply, use the keystroke
- combination indicated in the bottom right corner of the Character Map
- display.
-
- Almost all Esperanto fonts use the Latin-3 coding. Here are the
- keystrokes for these fonts. In all cases, press and hold the Alt key,
- type the code using the numeric keypad (not the numbers on the top row
- of the alphabetic keypad), and release the Alt key.
-
-
- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
- Letter: C c G g H h
-
- Code: 0198 0230 0216 0248 0166 0182
-
-
- ^ ^ ^ ^ - -
- Letter: J j S s U u
-
- Code: 0172 0188 0222 0254 0221 0253
-
-
- Under Windows 3.1, you may find it easier to use the Recorder
- application (in Accessories) to create macros for these keystroke
- combinations. Recorder is no longer included with Windows 95, but you
- can copy it from a Windows 3.1 installation and run it under Windows
- 95. Remember that Recorder must be running to replay a macro.
-
- Here's how to create a macro that will automatically type c-circumflex
- when you press Ctrl-C. (These instructions are adapted from the on-line
- help for Recorder.)
-
- 1. Position the cursor in the application where you want to start
- recording the macro.
-
- 2. Switch to Recorder.
-
- 3. From the Macro menu, choose Record.
-
- 4. In the appropriate boxes, specify a macro name (for example,
- c-accent) and the shortcut key (Ctrl-C). You can also type a
- description, if you want.
-
- 5. To begin recording the macro, choose the Start button.
-
- 6. Type the keystrokes for c-circumflex (Alt-0230). [This only works for
- me if I type the keystroke combination twice. I have no idea
- why. -- Ed.]
-
- 7. To stop recording, click the Recorder icon, or press Ctrl-Break.
-
- 8. Select the Save Macro option and choose the OK button.
-
- 9. From the File menu, choose Save As and save the macro.
-
- Another way to type the accented characters is to use the freeware
- program Keys, available at
- http://iap.ethz.ch/users/szp/keys/
- This program provides a convenient way to remap the keyboard. Yet
- another option is to use the program Supersigno mentioned above, which
- also provides an easier way to type the accented characters.
-
- [To do: Evaluate and add Ek, available at
- http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Download/ek.zip
- for Windows 95/98.]
-
-
- Unix:
-
- (Thanks to Konrad Hinsen for the following information.)
-
- It is sometimes possible to install a font with Esperanto's accented
- characters on a Unix system not using the X Window System, but the
- procedure to do so is different for each Unix system and possibly for
- each terminal type. Look in your documentation, or ask your system
- administrator. In the case of Linux, there is a fairly standardized
- procedure if you are working on an EGA/VGA screen. Check the
- documentation of the command setfont, which is part of most Linux
- distributions.
-
- If you are using a Unix system with X11 (by far the most popular
- windowing system for Unix), you must install a text font with ISO 8859-3
- encoding (also known as "Latin-3"). Several such fonts are listed at
- http://www.esperanto.be/tiparoj.html
- A good font set is
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/fonts.dir/adobe3.tar.gz
- which contains ISO 8859-3 versions of the Adobe fonts Courier, Times,
- Helvetica, and New Century Schoolbook in several sizes. It also contains
- installation instructions.
-
- Once you have installed an appropriate font, you must tell your programs
- to use it. Most X11 programs, e.g. xterm or emacs, accept the option
- "-fn fontname" to specify the font to be used. X11 font names can be
- rather long and complicated; use the program "xfontsel" to select a font
- and obtain its full name. Note that some older Unix programs are not
- "8-bit clean", which means that they do not recognize characters with
- codes over 128 as letters. Such programs cannot be made to work with ISO
- 8859-3 fonts, but neither with the common ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) fonts
- used for Western European languages.
-
- To write in Esperanto, you must also be able to type accented
- characters. Unfortunately, this is a much more difficult problem. The
- X11 input system is, well, rather messy, and details differ between
- versions and vendors. Another problem is that different keyboards are
- used in different countries, and that you probably want to keep all the
- characters on your keyboard accessible. So there are two problems:
- deciding how you want to type the additional characters, and persuading
- X11 to arrange the keyboard correctly.
-
- Basically, the options for typing Esperanto characters are:
-
- 1) Via some unused keys or key combinations. Keys that are
- often unused are the function keys or the shifted numeric keypad
- keys. Assigning the Esperanto characters to such unused keys is
- rather straightforward, and will be explained below.
-
- 2) Via the standard keys plus a modifier. Modifiers are keys such
- as Shift, Control, Meta, or Alt. The Shift combinations are usually
- all taken, and Control, Meta and Alt are used by many programs for
- command entry, so in most cases this option is difficult to realize.
-
- 3) Via the compose key. X11 supports the entry of accented characters
- via a special "compose" key. Unfortunately, many programs don't work
- correctly with the compose key, and most X11 implementations support
- it only for the ISO 8859-1 character set. You may be able to work
- around these obstacles, but no general recommendations can be given.
-
- The first option is implemented as follows:
-
- 1) Create a file called .xmodmaprc in your home directory, containing
- the following lines:
-
- == File .xmodmaprc ====================================================
- ! Define Esperanto accented characters on shifted function keys
-
- ! ccircumflex
- keysym F1 = F1 ae
- ! Ccircumflex
- keysym F2 = F2 AE
- ! gcircumflex
- keysym F3 = F3 oslash
- ! Gcircumflex
- keysym F4 = F4 Ooblique
- ! hcircumflex
- keysym F5 = F5 paragraph
- ! Hcircumflex
- keysym F6 = F6 brokenbar
- ! jcircumflex
- keysym F7 = F7 onequarter
- ! Jcircumflex
- keysym F8 = F8 notsign
- ! scircumflex
- keysym F9 = F9 thorn
- ! Scircumflex
- keysym F10 = F10 THORN
- ! ubreve
- keysym F11 = F11 yacute
- ! Ubreve
- keysym F12 = F12 Yacute
- == End of .xmodmaprc ==================================================
-
- 2) Execute the command
- xmodmap $HOME/.xmodmaprc
- To have this command executed automatically, you must put it into a
- special file, which might be called .xinitrc, .xsession or something
- else; you will have to ask your system administrator for assistance.
-
- The keyboard definition shown above will put the 12 special Esperanto
- characters on the 12 function keys when used together with the Shift
- key.
-
- ***
- *** I'd like to add information on other operating systems,
- *** especially OS/2 and Windows NT. Please contact me if you wish
- *** to help with this.
- ***
-
-
- TeX and LaTeX:
-
- (Thanks to Edmund Grimley-Evans for this information.)
-
- TeX and LaTeX are professional typesetting systems, available as free
- software for most computers. Though they are not always easy to use,
- they are extremely flexible; they are the standard tool for typesetting
- scientific articles and are often used for complex typesetting in the
- humanities.
-
- With TeX or LaTeX any diacritic can be applied to any character, so it
- is no harder to produce c-circumflex (\^c) than e-acute (\'e), say. A
- large number of "style files" exist to facilitate the use of particular
- languages; "esperant.sty" and "espo.sty", available at
- ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex209/contrib/misc/
- and elsewhere, both allow Esperanto's diacritics to be entered as
- "^C ... ^u", and the same convention is used by the Babel package for
- LaTeX2e which supports about 30 language, including Esperanto.
-
- The programs produce "^j" by putting a circumflex onto a dotless j.
- Although TeX's default Computer Modern font has a dotless j (\j), most
- commercial fonts, including those that are built into laser printers, do
- not. There is a work-around, available as "dotlessj.sty", that involves
- blanking out the dot on an ordinary j; see
- http://www.rano.demon.co.uk/dotlessj.html
-
- Note that the Babel package does not include a hyphenation table for
- Esperanto so it is usually best to discourage automatic hyphenation
- (\hyphenpenalty=5000) and specify the hyphenation of particular words
- where required (\hyphenation{Esp-er-anto}).
-
-
- 15. HOW CAN I REPRESENT THESE CHARACTERS IN E-MAIL OR ON USENET?
-
- Accented characters are not included in standard, 7-bit ASCII. Since
- only 7-bit ASCII can be reliably transmitted over the net, this leads to
- problems when trying to use Esperanto in E-mail and Usenet news. These
- problems are not unique to Esperanto; all languages with accents have
- them.
-
- Two approaches are possible: using ASCII to represent the accented
- characters, or using 8-bit codes and sending them somehow over the net.
-
-
- Using Standard ASCII:
-
- There are two major work-arounds to represent Esperanto's accented
- letters using standard 7-bit ASCII: using the letter "h" to represent
- the circumflex, and using the letter "x" to represent all accents.
-
-
- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ -
- Esperanto letter: c g h j s u
-
- "h" method: ch gh hh jh sh u
-
- "x" method: cx gx hx jx sx ux
-
-
- The "h" method is canonical in Esperanto since the "Fundamento de
- Esperanto", which forms the basis of the language, expressly provides
- for it. Note that "u with breve" is represented by "u" alone, not "uh".
-
- The "x" method is a recent coinage and first appeared among computer
- users; it is used only on the Net.
-
- The following arguments are made in favour of the "x" method:
-
- - The "h" method is ambiguous. Is the letter "h" really supposed to be
- there, or is it supposed to represent an accent? The letter "x" doesn't
- exist in Esperanto, so there is no ambiguity: any "x" in an Esperanto
- text must represent an accent. Rebuttal: This kind of confusion never
- happens in practice. "Flughaveno" can only be the Esperanto word for
- "airport", since "flug^aveno" isn't a word.
-
- - The "x" method is more suitable for machine treatment of text
- (sorting, indexing, etc.). In Esperanto, letters with accents are
- different from letters without accents: the alphabet is A, B, C, C^, D,
- etc. Since "x" is very close to the end of the alphabet, sorting
- algorithms will almost always put the accented letters in their proper
- alphabetical order. Rebuttal: These are highly specialized needs.
- People who must make their texts machine-treatable can use whatever
- method suits their requirements, but this is irrelevant for the vast
- majority of Esperanto speakers.
-
- The "x" method was very popular in the early years of the net, but the
- "h" method has clearly been gaining ground recently, as more "ordinary"
- Esperantists (as opposed to professional computer users, etc.) have
- started using the net. Either method may be used with confidence.
-
- The "x" method is perhaps more suitable for beginners, since it removes
- all ambiguity, so that a beginner won't try to look up "flug^aveno" in
- the dictionary.
-
- Other methods are also used, such as typing a circumflex accent (^)
- before or after the accented letter, but these are rarer.
-
- These work-arounds should only be used when one is restricted to 7-bit
- ASCII. It is wrong to use them when the real characters are available.
- All word processing programs can handle the accented letters correctly;
- most typewriters (especially electronic typewriters) can also do so. It
- is also wrong to use these work-arounds when hand-writing.
-
-
- Using 8-bit Codes:
-
- Esperanto is covered by the 8-bit encoding known as Latin-3 (ISO
- 8859-3:1988). Since 8-bit codes usually cannot be reliably transmitted
- over the net, some "data massaging" is necessary.
-
- For E-mail, a standard known as MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail
- Extension) converts 8-bit characters to 7-bit ASCII for transmission,
- and converts the message back to 8 bits upon reception. Many E-mail
- programs can do this conversion automatically; however, users with shell
- accounts (especially students) often cannot see MIME messages properly.
- For this reason, one should ensure that the recipient's system supports
- MIME before sending messages in this format.
-
- The use of MIME in Usenet is neither specifically permitted nor
- expressly prohibited. Most newsreaders can't handle postings in MIME, so
- it is best not to use it in Usenet.
-
- Some users post messages in soc.culture.esperanto and other Usenet
- groups using "raw" Latin-3 codes, without attempting to "protect" them
- with a 7-bit encoding. This has lead to some heated discussions between
- those who say that they can receive the original 8-bit Latin-3 codes,
- and those who say that they often (or always) receive gibberish.
-
- Even if the codes are transmitted properly, they can only be viewed as
- Esperanto characters if a Latin-3 font is used; users whose language
- requires the use of an incompatible 8-bit font (e.g. Russian and
- Japanese) will have problems viewing these characters in any event.
-
- Esperanto's accented characters are covered by the incipient "wide
- character" standard Unicode (ISO 10646-1:1993), so these problems will
- be solved if and when Unicode is widely adopted and implemented. Unicode
- is a widely endorsed 16-bit character code covering all languages,
- including non-alphabetic languages such as Chinese and Japanese.
-
-
- Recommendations:
-
- For everyday use, it is probably best to use either the "h" method or
- the "x" method, both for E-mail and for Usenet news. These methods are
- widely used and recognized, and both work well in practice.
-
- If one is sure that the recipient can handle MIME messages, then this
- format can be used for E-mail.
-
- No satisfactory 8-bit solution exists today for Usenet. Either the "h"
- method or the "x" method should be used for Usenet news.
-
-
- 16. WHAT ESPERANTO MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET?
-
- Usenet:
-
- The main Usenet newsgroup devoted to Esperanto is soc.culture.esperanto.
- It has an estimated readership of several tens of thousands. The group's
- charter specifies that postings may be in Esperanto on any topic, or
- about Esperanto in any language (e.g. informational postings or requests
- for information).
-
- The preferred language of soc.culture.esperanto is Esperanto. Beginners
- are ESPECIALLY ENCOURAGED to post in Esperanto, or maybe bilingually in
- Esperanto alongside their native tongue. The complete text of the
- charter is available at:
-
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/
- soc/soc.culture.esperanto
-
- If you are cross-posting articles to other newsgroups, please do NOT
- post in Esperanto, unless English (or the usual language of that
- newsgroup) is also included, preferably as the primary language. Aside
- from being rude, such postings have tended to create a lot of unwanted
- cross-posted response traffic, usually of an anti-Esperanto inflammatory
- nature. Similarly, while it may sometimes be appropriate to mention
- Esperanto in other newsgroups, continued discussion of Esperanto in
- inappropriate groups like comp.lang.c will generate more heat than
- light, and should be avoided.
-
- For those who cannot read the newsgroup, there is a "news to mail
- gateway" which sends the postings to subscribers by E-mail. All
- correspondence related to the mailing list should be sent to:
-
- esperanto-l-request@netcom.com
-
- Every message sent to the mailing list is forwarded to
- soc.culture.esperanto, and every article from soc.culture.esperanto is
- forwarded to the mailing list. Thus, if you are reading the newsgroup,
- you do not need to be on the mailing list.
-
- To UNsubscribe from the mailing list, again send a message to:
-
- esperanto-l-request@netcom.com
-
- The newsgroup is also gatewayed to the FidoNet echo Esperanto (see below
- under FidoNet).
-
- Incidentally, the link between the newsgroup and the mailing list means
- that mailing list members will sometimes see strange messages having
- nothing to do with Esperanto, caused when some lackwit cross-posts a
- message to all the soc.* newsgroups. These people do not read the
- newsgroup anyway, so replies sent to the mailing list (rather than the
- original sender) will not reach them.
-
- The newsgroup alt.uu.lang.esperanto.misc should deal in principle with
- Esperanto instruction ("UU" stands for "Usenet University"), but it is
- little used in practice. Still, it is an appropriate place for
- beginners' questions, information on learning Esperanto, etc.
-
- The two groups just mentioned -- soc.culture.esperanto and
- alt.uu.lang.esperanto.misc -- have existed for several years. Very
- recently, some new groups have been created in the alt.* hierarchy.
- Because of the rules which apply to that hierarchy, alt.* groups are
- often created without any real need and with no clear purpose.
-
- There is some traffic in alt.talk.esperanto, mostly articles
- cross-posted from soc.culture.esperanto or other groups.
-
- There are also several groups in the newly-created alt.esperanto.*
- hierarchy, but their propagation is poor and they are hardly used,
- except perhaps for alt.esperanto.beginner.
-
- In short, soc.culture.esperanto (and its corresponding mailing list) is
- appropriate for all posts in or about Esperanto. If desired, questions
- about learning Esperanto, help for beginners, and the like may be posted
- instead in alt.uu.lang.esperanto.misc or, perhaps, in
- alt.esperanto.beginner, but they are still entirely appropriate in
- soc.culture.esperanto. It is probably best to ignore the other groups.
-
-
- FTP Archives:
-
- The following FTP archive has a major Esperanto collection:
-
- ftp://ftp.stack.nl/pub/esperanto/:
-
- esperanto-texts.dir: Texts in Esperanto
- fonts.dir: Esperanto fonts for Macintosh, DOS, Unix
- hypercourse.dir: HyperCard course for Macintosh
- introductions.dir: General information about Esperanto
- other-tongues.dir: Comparisons between Esperanto and other
- auxiliary languages
- software.dir: Programs related to Esperanto
- word-lists.dir: Dictionaries and glossaries
-
- An FTP archive is also being prepared at
- ftp://ftp.esperanto.org/
- but was not yet set up at the time of writing.
-
-
- WWW:
-
- There is now A LOT of material about Esperanto on the Web. Here are some
- resources which should help you find what you want.
-
- Mult-lingva inform-centro (Multilingual Information Centre):
-
- http://www.esperanto.net/
-
- Information on Esperanto and links to Esperanto resources in
- 35 languages.
-
-
- Lists of Esperanto associations with WWW pages:
-
- http://www.esperanto.net/veb/land.html
-
- Links to national Esperanto organizations with WWW pages. In
- Esperanto, but each country is represented by its flag, so it
- should be easy enough to find the information you're looking
- for.
-
- http://www.esperanto.net/veb/org.html
-
- Links to international Esperanto organizations with WWW pages.
- In Esperanto.
-
- http://www.uea.org/
-
- Home page of the World Esperanto Association and of the World
- Organization of Young Esperantists. In Esperanto and English.
-
-
- The following pages are entirely in Esperanto:
-
- "Yellow Pages":
-
- http://www.esperanto.net/veb/flavaj-pagxoj.html
-
- List of Esperanto resources on the Web. Maintained by Martin
- Weichert. Much of the information in this section of the FAQ is
- taken from the "Yellow Pages".
-
-
- Virtual Esperanto Library:
-
- http://www.esperanto.net/veb/
-
- Links to information about Esperanto, organizations, culture and
- science, and computers. Maintained by Martin Weichert.
-
-
- See also the usual WWW search services, for example Yahoo at:
-
- http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/
- Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Languages/Constructed_Languages/
- International_Auxiliary_Languages/Esperanto/
-
-
- If you're feeling adventurous, try simply searching for "Esperanto" with
- Alta Vista (700 000 references), Infoseek (25 000 references), or
- Deja News (48 000 references using "Power Search").
-
-
- Mailing Lists:
-
- Usenet newsgroup soc.culture.esperanto is available as a mailing list.
- See under "Usenet", above.
-
- Other mailing lists include:
-
- BJA-LISTO: On planned languages with a social base, or "social
- interlinguistics". To subscribe, send "subscribe bja-listo
- your_name@your_address" to majordomo@helsinki.fi. See also the WWW
- pages at
- http://infoweb.magi.com/~mfettes/bja-angla.html
- http://infoweb.magi.com/~mfettes/bja-listo.html
-
- DENASK-L: Esperanto as a home language or first language. Most active
- subscribers seem to be parents raising their children in Esperanto. Mail
- to Jouko Lindstedt <jouko.lindstedt@helsinki.fi> to subscribe. See also
- the WWW page at
- http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/denask-l.html
-
- ESPER-L: General discussion in Esperanto. To subscribe, send "subscribe
- esper-l" to listserv@vm.ege.edu.tr.
-
- VERDVERD: About ecology. To subscribe, send "subscribe verdverd
- your_name@your_address" to listserv@tichy.ch.uj.edu.pl. Maintainer:
- Andrzej Zwawa <zb@zb.most.org.pl>.
-
-
- Internet Relay Chat (IRC):
-
- Channel #esperanto: Tuesday, 15:00 - 17:00 UTC,
- and Monday, 3:00 - 6:00 UTC
-
- Esperanto instruction: Thursday, 2:00 UTC
-
-
- Other Internet Resources:
-
- Enrique Ellemberg <enrike@aol.com> coordinates an Esperanto penpal
- service. For more information, see
- http://members.aol.com/enrike/eksang.htm
- http://members.aol.com/enrike/ekspeto.htm
- or send mail to Enrique.
-
- Some libraries have on-line listings of their Esperanto holdings. On the
- Internet, try:
-
- Library of Congress, USA (550 titles):
- http://lcweb.loc.gov/catalog/
- telnet locis.loc.gov
- Limited hours during week-ends
-
- University of California, USA (640 titles):
- telnet melvyl.ucop.edu
-
- Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherlands (475 titles):
- http://opc.ubn.kun.nl/cgi-bin/wwwlibmenu
- telnet opc.ubn.kun.nl
- username "opc"
-
- Universitaet des Saarlandes, Germany (535 titles):
- telnet opac.ub.uni-sb.de
-
- Internationale Esperanto-Museum Wien, Austria
- (18 000 titles, of which about 1000 are currently listed in the
- on-line catalogue):
- http://www.bibvb.ac.at/verbund-opac.htm
-
-
- 17. WHAT ESPERANTO MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE ON OTHER (NON-INTERNET)
- ON-LINE SERVICES?
-
- Several Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) provide Esperanto services.
-
- In North America:
-
- USA: Microdot BBS, (812) 944-3907, New Albany, Indiana (near
- Evansville)
- Part of the WWIV network of BBS systems. WWIV systems may
- subscribe to the Esperanto group "La Samideanoj".
-
- USA: Satronics TBBS, (215) 464-3562 (1200-2400 bps 8-N-1),
- (215) 698-1905 (28 800 bps 8-N-1)
- Sysop: Mark F. Miller <Mark.F.Miller@mail.tju.edu>
- Has an Esperanto forum. No telnet or WWW access.
- Satronics TBBS is a non-commercial, community-supported BBS.
-
- In South America:
-
- Brazil: EducNet BBS, +55 61 347 24 83; area no 5 is in Esperanto
- Sysop: Erasmo Gagliardi <gagliard@brnet.com.br>
-
- In Europe:
-
- Netherlands: Esperantlingva Bultenejo Saluton!,
- tel. +31-53-4326886. FidoNet 2:283/323.
- Sysop: Wim Koolhoven <wim@saluton.iaf.nl>
- Devoted entirely to Esperanto.
-
- Italy: AGORA' telematiko, Torre Argentina Societa' di
- Servizi S.p.A.
- tel. 39-6-6892828 (10) 300/1200/2400 MNP5 N81
- 39-6-6832366 (10) 300 > 9600 MNP5 N81 V42 V42bis USRobotics
- 1421 (Easy Way Itapac)
- Itapac NUA 26500016 (32) 1200 N81 S71 DNIC 0222
- Tymnet login: agora (16) 2400 N81 S71
- Internet telnet: agora.stm.it
- Sysop: "Esperanto" Radikala Asocio <E.R.A.@agora.stm.it>
-
-
- FidoNet:
-
- International echo: ESPERANTO (same as Usenet group
- soc.culture.esperanto), Mario Mueller, 2:241/200.9
-
- Dutch echo: ESPERANTO.028, Wim Koolhoven, 2:283/323
-
- Portuguese echo: ESPERANTO_36, Ze Manel, 2:361/1
- (Or Fausto Karvalo, 2:361/1? Still works?)
-
- Common, partly in Russian: ESPERANTO.RUS, Anatoli Gulidov,
- 2:5020/388.1
-
- Courses, for speakers of Russian and Ukrainian: DR.ESPERANTO,
- Va Milushnikov, 2:465/101.2
-
-
- Bitnet:
-
- The mailing list ESPER-L mentioned above is also available in Bitnet.
- Send "subscribe esper-l" to listserv@trearn. (Use this address only if
- mailing from a Bitnet account. If mailing from an Internet account,
- use the address listserv@vm.ege.edu.tr, as mentioned above.)
-
-
- Minitel, France:
-
- 3615 ESPERANTO (1,27 FRF/min):
- General information, contacts, upcoming events
-
- 3614 CNX*#ESPERANT (0,36 FRF/min):
- Discussion group, personal mailboxes
-
- 3614 CNX*#JEFO (0,36 FRF/min):
- Reserved for members of JEFO (French Organization of Young
- Esperantists)
-
- 3614 PING
- Online chat and mailbox service in four languages
- (French, Esperanto, Italian, and English)
-
- 3614 RIBOUREL
- "300 pages about/in Esperanto"
-
-
- Compuserve:
-
- CompuServe Information Service (CIS) has an Esperanto board in its
- Foreign Languages Education Forum. CIS subscribers can type GO FLEFO for
- further information.
-
-
- Prodigy:
-
- There is an Esperanto forum in the section "Foreign Languages".
-
-
- America On Line (AOL):
-
- America Online has about 140 members whose list of interests include
- "Esperanto", but no specific Esperanto forum exists.
-
-
- GEnie:
-
- GEnie has some discussion of Esperanto in the Public Affairs Roundtable
- board, Category 15 -- International Affairs, Topic 29.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- This FAQ was written by Mike Urban <urban@netcom.com>. It was brought up
- to date and is now maintained by Yves Bellefeuille <yan@storm.ca>.
-
- Principal contributors: Ken Caviness <caviness@southern.edu>, Alan Gould
- <agolincs@agolincs.demon.co.uk>, Edmund Grimley-Evans
- <edmundo@rano.demon.co.uk>, Don Harlow <don@donh.vip.best.com>,
- Konrad Hinsen <hinsen@cnrs-orleans.fr>, Dmitri Horowitz
- <horowitz@xs4all.nl>, Arnold Victor <arvimide@mars.superlink.net>,
- Martin Weichert <martinw@cs.chalmers.se>, and David Wolff
- <dwolff@world.std.com>.
-
-