Saluton, Brno! World Esperanto Congress for 2025 meets in Brno
The 110th World Esperanto Congress is taking place from July 26th to August 2nd in the Moravian capital of Brno. This celebration of the international auxiliary language offers a diverse programme of activities for over a thousand attendees. To learn about the congress and the historical connections between Esperanto and the Czech lands, Danny Bate spoke to Marek Blahuš, a computer scientist at Masaryk University, polyglot and devoted Esperantist.
How large is the Esperanto-speaking community in Czechia?
“It is very difficult to judge how large the Esperanto community is, also in the world, because it's like asking how many people play chess or collect stamps.
“There are many people who started learning Esperanto at some point. We know that on Duolingo, the English-Esperanto course has been started by more than two million people. Obviously, not all of them are Esperanto speakers today, but I ran across some of them who just started three months ago, learned everything on their own and then just started speaking.
“In Czechia, we know about five hundred people who are registered as members of the association, but we are sure that there are several thousand who speak the language or spoke it at different times.
“Here at the Esperanto Congress, we have about 130 people from the Czech Republic, making it one of the most represented countries here in the Congress.”
The World Esperanto Congress has been going on now for over a hundred years and the last time that it was in Czechia was in 1996. So, for the Esperanto community here in this country, how big of a deal is it that this year it's happening in Brno?
“The Esperanto World Congress is one of the longest still active congresses in the world. We have the 110th year, because at the time of the war it was cancelled. We also had two online congresses during the pandemic.
“Now it's returned after 29 years, so most of the people have changed. We only have one or two people in the team who were there in Prague in 1996. The first congress was at the start of Czechoslovakia, in 1921, also in Prague. It was always supported by people from the government, like President Masaryk and President Havel. This time we have support from the Minister of Culture.
“It is important that it is taking place in Brno because Brno has a strong place in the history of Esperanto. The first Esperanto club was founded in Brno in 1901, and also then the present Czech Esperanto Association was re-established in 1969, when they finally allowed them to make an association in Brno again. So Brno is an important place, and also it is a good opportunity to present Moravian culture and Moravian history.”
And what exactly happens at a World Esperanto Congress?
“For historical reasons it's still called a congress, and we do treat some organisational and strategical topics. But it's mostly a festival today.
“It's an opportunity for Esperanto speakers from the whole world (we have 63 countries represented, more than 1,000 people) to meet together. This language is often used in writing nowadays, also on the internet, so you can speak virtually, but it's always great to meet people live, speak to them, and make new friendships. I happen to meet people who I have known for many years, but I get to meet them again at the conventions. When I travel, I can look them up and possibly visit them, but I cannot meet the whole world unless I'm here at the congress.
“We have talks, we have presentations, we have workshops, we make trips to see the countryside, we learn about the local language. We've had a presentation by local opera singers and theatres in Czech, and in Esperanto then as well, which our people present. There are concerts every evening.
“There is an Esperanto culture in this language, which is translated or original. We also have people writing books and selling them in Esperanto as original literature, or translations of works of art from other languages through Esperanto, making them available to speakers of all other languages.”
So if people are in Brno at the moment, they should keep their ears open! There could be people in cafes and pubs in Brno right now speaking Esperanto together.
“You can recognise us by a badge saying Esperanto, and feel free to address those people, they are friendly. They want to tell you about their country or their language.”
Information about the congress in Czech (and Esperanto!) can be found here: https://www.esperanto.cz/cs/akce/svetovy-kongres-esperanta-v-brne-2025-1499.html
