Comparative characteristics
of English and Esperanto
| Aspect | English | Esperanto |
| Alphabet | non-phonetic (46 phonemes, 20 vowels) | phonetic with 28 letters |
| Pronunciation | chaotic, elusive, impossible to standardise | each letter is pronounced and always represents the same sound |
| Stress | indefinable, determined by usage; no standard can be established | always on the penultimate syllable |
| Irregular verbs | 283 | none |
| Conjugation : - root | variable | invariable |
| Identification of the grammatical function | Confused, many grammatical relations are unexpressed | clear and immediate |
| Syntax | rigid, fixed word order | very subtle |
| Word derivation * | limited possibilities : 5% | vast possibilities : 17% |
| Index of agglutination * | 0,3 | 1 |
| Idioms | innumerable | virtually non-existent |
| Homonyms | very numerous | virtually non-existent |
| Polysemy ** | very common (1) | rare |
| Vocabulary necessary to understand an ordinary text *** | for 80% — 90% : 2000 words for 99% : 7000 words (2) | 500 words + 50 grammatical elements 2000 words |
| Time needed to reach a standard equivalent to A-level **** | 1500 hours for a French speaker | 150 hours for a French speaker |
Sources :
* "Lingvistikaj aspektoj de Esperanto", Dr John C. Wells; professor of English language phonetics at University College London.
** Edward Thorndike, a famous American teacher and educationalist.
*** "Fortoj de l'vivo", Vilho Setälä, a Finnish linguist.
**** Dr Helmar Frank, director of the Institute of Cybernetics in Paderborn, Germany.
(1) - 21 120 different meanings for the 850 words of the basic vocabulary.
(2) - Frequency of dictionary consultation : one unknown word in a hundred.
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