Keeping Esperanto alive: A Q&A with Mass. guardian of 'world language'

Remember those nights you spent memorizing irregular French verbs into the wee hours of the morning wondering why no one ever thought of a simpler language?

Actually, someone did.

In 1887, a Polish doctor, Ludwig L. Zamenhof, created the Esperanto language based on simple grammatical rules with very few exceptions. Zamenhof hoped because the language was easier to pick up than most others and because it was not aligned with any specific country, it could be used as a politically neutral second language to foster simpler communications between foreign nations.

Today, the language is still alive, and by some estimates is spoken by about 2 million people worldwide.

In Acton, members of the local chapter of the Esperanto Society of New England meets about once a week at Acton New London Style Pizza on Route 111 to bone up on their Esperanto and chat with other speakers. Both newcomers and fluent speakers are welcome. At its peak, the group had about 50 members, but it now only has a few active members.

David Wolff, a 52-year-old software engineer, started the local Acton chapter about 10 years ago.

Wolff, his 7-year-old Black Lab Tucker at his feet, spoke to The Beacon recently about the value of the language, its simple format and the local Esperanto speaking community.

Q: Does Tucker know any commands in Esperanto?

A: Yes [laughing]. He knows "sit," and "come," but actually he's watching the hand signals as well.

Q: Can you start by telling me a little bit about the Esperanto society and the local chapter?

A: Esperanto has groups at local, national and international levels. The local group the Esperanto Society of New England is not very active at the moment. Like any group you need at least a couple of active people to make it work. Three of our most active people have moved out of the area in the past few years. I was one of the most active people but I also ended up as president of the national organization [the Esperanto League for North America] for six years, so I'm kind of burnt out for any more activity support for a while. We do have meetings in Cambridge, Northampton or Amherst, and we have a weekly meeting here in Acton at New London Style Pizza on Route 111. We get - depending on who's busy - two, three, four people. Some people come, some people go. It's a chance to get together to practice, to learn a little, and just to chat.

Q: And what happens at the meetings?