Esperanto, an Asian Language?: Growth-promoting and Growth-limiting Factors in an Evolving Interlingual Ecosystem

Esperanto has a long history in Asia, a fact often neglected in discussions of its cultural and social significance. That history includes the dimensions of politics, identity, and education, which together situate the language within a complex network of interpersonal and interlingual relationships. If one wishes to forecast the future evolution of such a system, one needs to understand the structural factors that limit Esperanto’s growth, along with the factors that propel its spread. Such an analysis sheds light not only on Esperanto’s characteristics as a language, but also on the broader linguistic ecosystem within which it constitutes a minor but noteworthy index of systemic change. A few weeks after the Nitobe Symposium in Tokyo, the Japanese and Korean Esperanto movements will celebrate a noteworthy anniversary. Every year for the past quarter-century, the so-called Komuna Seminario has brought together young people from Japan, South Korea, and more recently China, to explore their similarities and differences. The numbers involved are not large – a few dozen at a time. But the fact that this tradition has endured for a full generation, over a period that has seen radical political, cultural, and economic changes in the region, offers a glimpse into the niche that Esperanto occupies in Asian society. Note, first, that these events are not the initiative of some well-meaning branch of government, educational institution, or international NGO. Nor are they obviously part of some broader political process or movement. They take place, first and 1