Jouko Lindstedt (born in 1955) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

and a professor at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...

. Lindstedt is a member of the

Academy of Esperanto The Akademio de Esperanto (AdE; en, Academy of Esperanto, link=yes) is an independent body of Esperanto speakers who steward the evolution of said language by keeping it consistent with the ''Fundamento de Esperanto'' in accordance with the Decla ...

and was nominated as the

Esperantist of the Year The Esperantist of the Year (''Esperantisto de la Jaro'') is an honorary designation bestowed each year by the editors of the Esperanto-language monthly '' La Ondo de Esperanto'' (English: ''The Wave of Esperanto''). The award recipient is select ...

in 2000 (with

Hans Bakker Hans T. Bakker (born 1948) is a cultural historian and Indologist, who has served as the Professor of the History of Hinduism and Jan Gonda Chair at the University of Groningen. He currently works in the British Museum as a researcher in project ...

and

Mauro La Torre Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer ...

) by The Wave of Esperanto.

The number of Esperanto speakers

In 1996 Jouko Lindstedt estimated the number of speakers of

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communic ...

, saying: * 1 000 have Esperanto as a

native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...

. * 10 000 speak it fluently, as if natively. * 100 000 can use Esperanto for effective communication. * 1 000 000 know the elements of it. Lindstedt explains that these are very imprecise figures; they mean, for example, that ''"if it is estimated the number of native Esperanto speakers only in hundreds, it may be too little, but there is not many thousands of them."'' According to feedback from Lindstedt,

Edmund Grimley Evans Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings an ...

has modified the scheme by adding * 10 000 000 have at some time studied Esperanto a little ^{/sup>.

References

1955 births
Living people
Finnish Esperantists
Linguists from Finland
Academic staff of the University of Helsinki

{{finland-linguist-stub}