Decades ago, Esperanto enthusiasts predicted it would become the world's universal language.

It was logical, contained recognizable remnants of other major languages and was relatively easy to learn. Backers envisioned a world united in speech. Businesses and governments would save fortunes in translation costs.

Even then, though, many considered the notion of world language far out; a pursuit for dreamers, the eccentric and people who also wanted to convert to the metric system.

While Esperanto never caught on the way backers hoped, a group in San Diego County remains committed to Esperanto, a language constructed and first published in 1887.

If Esperanto were to become a global second language, the business savings easily would be in the millions of dollars, said Martha Cardenas, a language teacher in San Diego who is fluent in Esperanto and runs the Esperanto Studies Resource Center in San Diego.

Cardenas also helps organize an intense, three-week course in Esperanto every summer at UC San Diego. Between 30-40 students attend the course, which has been offered for 40 years, she said.

Translation costs are approaching $1 billion a year among the 20 European Union nations, according to an article published by Web Globalization News on TranslationDirectory.com.

Worldwide, about 2 million people read and speak Esperanto, according to EsperantoUSA, the national organization devoted to the language. Speakers say the global Esperanto is helpful in business and social ways.

Years ago at an international shipping conference, Matson Navigation Co. needed to find rates at unregulated ports. Bill Harmon of Oakland, a retired Matson executive, contacted Esperanto friends in England and the Netherlands, who gave him the information.

His bosses were dazzled, he recalls.

Esperanto speakers have created a worldwide network of users who converse, read books and handle business in the language. Universala Esperanto Asocio, the global organization for the language, claims chapters in 127 nations. Some 10,000 works of literature have been written in Esperanto.

Ludvik Zamenjhof would be proud.

The Polish eye doctor created Esperanto and published the first book on the language, an amalgam of several languages but completely phonetic and lacking any silent letters, words with multiple meanings, irregular verbs or other inconsistencies that make learning other languages difficult.

Moreover, Esperanto is a more precise language than English, which can be ambiguous, said Cardenas.

Speakers of European languages will find similar words in Esperanto, and the spoken language sounds a little like Italian or classical Greek, Esperanto speakers say.

"It's a charming language with fascinating literature," said Greg Wasson of Escondido, a retired technical writer and former director of what is now is called EsperantoUSA.

Wasson says he "has doubts" Esperanto will become a universal language. However, he has no doubts use of the language can save money. Wasson recalls that when he worked at Hewlett-Packard, the company would translate its technical manuals into 32 languages, at considerable expense.

Wasson said he stumbled into Esperanto when he was working a library between high school and college and came across a book called "Teach Yourself Esperanto."

He did.

"It seemed like a fascinating idea to have a language not connected to any particular country or political bloc," he said.

That's also a liability, said Mark Ballam, managing director of the Center for International Business Education and Research at San Diego State University.

A language devoid of any cultural heritage also might lack the effectiveness of a native language, he said.

Ballam added that he had never heard of Esperanto until a reporter inquired.

And therein lies the challenge for the language ---- finding mainstream acceptance.

Clues on Esperanto's global future are likely to emerge in June at the Esperanto international convention, appropriately planned for a revolutionary, counter-thinking place ---- Cuba.

Although Esperanto may never live up to the expectations of its founder and speakers today worldwide, it nevertheless appears to carry some social advantages.

When former Matson executive Bill Harmon was in the Navy during World War II, he would write ahead to Esperanto speakers in ports where his ship was due to dock. His shipmates noticed that several Esperanto-speaking, pretty girls often were waiting for the Esperanto-speaking American sailor to disembark.

Harmon's shipmates started learning the language.

Call staff writer Jeff Rowe at 760-740-5417.

CORRECTION:

A story Oct. 25 about Esperanto gave the wrong school for a summer program in the language The course is offered at UC San Diego. Visit www.esperanto.org/nask. We apologize.