TRILL every “r.”

Throw an “o” on the end of each noun.

Memorize 16 basic grammar rules, and soon you’ll be “parolanta Esperanton kvazau profesiulo,” or speaking Esperanto like a professional.

Never heard of Esperanto? Or maybe it sounds only faintly familiar.

That would come as sad news to its founder, Polish ophthalmologist Dr. L.L. Zamenhof. He introduced his international language in 1887 with the hope that it would become everybody’s second tongue.

Esperanto may have fallen short of Zamenhof’s goal, but it has attracted a dedicated following for more than 100 years. And with some high-tech help, its ranks appear to be growing. Thanks to the Web, long-time speakers now can easily keep in touch, and more newcomers are learning about the language with the unusual past and uncertain future.

“We are — thank the gods — getting young people in,” says William R. Harmon of the League of East Bay Esperantists. “I credit the Internet for that.”

Esperantists, as the language’s speakers are known, live all around the world. They don’t share a common ethnicity, cuisine or religion. In fact, they often share little more than an address on planet Earth — and the ability to converse in a language that when spoken sounds like a cross between a Slavic and a Romance tongue.

Approximately 2 million people around the world speak Esperanto, roughly the same number who speak languages such as Icelandic and Hebrew. In the Bay Area, an active group of about 50 Esperanto speakers gets together for monthly meetings, a weekly conversation class and annual events, such as the “Zamenhof Luncheon” celebrating the language’s founder. Nationwide, there may be as many 20,000 Esperantists.

“It’s a little hard to know,” Harmon says. “It’s like how many people know how to knit. Not all Esperantists are joiners.”

Those who are quickly discover its pleasures.

“It’s a wonderful tool for traveling and for meeting people,” says Harmon, who often chats with his wife in Esperanto at home. “When you use it, you’re using a neutral language. You’re not forcing people to speak in English.

“It’s a way of meeting in the middle,” he says.

Nearly every longtime Esperantist tells of traveling the globe and visiting fellow speakers. A handy annual reference book, “Jarlibro,” simplifies the process of meeting other Esperantists. The guidebook lists contact information for most countries.

Countries with particularly active Esperanto populations include Brazil, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Vietnam and most European nations, says Joel Brozovsky, who runs the office of the Esperanto League for North America. From the ELNA office in Emeryville, Brozovsky manages the

organization’s online book store, which sells some 1,500 titles by authors from Shakespeare to Tolkien, all translated into Esperanto.

In his early 30s, Brozovsky, now 52, spent three years traveling, often relying on his knowledge of Esperanto to communicate with locals in Europe and Eastern Asia.

“The whole trip lasted 37 months,” says Brozovsky, a former model maker for Boeing. “In that time, I spent one night as a regular paying hotel guest. I stayed in 150 homes of Esperanto speakers and volunteered at Esperanto offices, which provided a place to stay.”

He then made his way to Japan, where he lived for 13 years working as editor of an Esperanto magazine.

Before he globe-trotted as an Esperantist, Brozovsky says he thought of the world as populated by strangers.

“In fact, the world is populated by friends or potential friends,” he says. “This is something I learned not theoretically. But through practice that is what I found.

“If more people could have this kind of experiential shift in their attitude, it would be a much more difficult thing to wage war,” Brozovsky says. “This is why I’m still here working to spread Esperanto. It’s something that’s valuable for humanity as a whole and for every individual that accepts it and gets involved.”

Ed Williger of Oakland first embraced the idealism and practicality of Esperanto in 1980, but he admits he didn’t study diligently in the beginning. Today, not only is he fluent, he leads a conversational Esperanto class on the Stanford University campus each Tuesday night.

At a recent class meeting, a sign on the door welcomes students ranging in age from 20 to 63 with the message: “La Internacia Lingvo (The International Language)/Enter/(The Whole World)/ here!”

Zamenhof first introduced the world to his new language in a book titled “Lingvo internacia.” He published the work under the pseudonym, Doktoro Esperanto, or “Doctor Hopeful,” which inspired the language’s name.

In class, Williger stands before a white board covered in scribbled examples of Esperanto words: Litovo, neder, Koreujo, pollando and Bus.

This evening’s lesson focuses on translating the text of a brochure about the 90th Universal Esperanto Congress scheduled for July in Vilnius, Lithuania. Each year, excluding the world war years, Esperantists have held an international conference.

“En la lando funkcias tri kompanioj de portebla telefona kunligo, kiuj certigas eblecon komuniki kun la tuta mondo,” reads Stanford linguistics student Tommy Grano, 20.

With occasional discussion with Williger about how to interpret a word, Grano translates the passage as: “In the country, three cell phone companies are in operation which guarantees communication with the whole world.”

Grano started studying Esperanto when he was in the eighth grade.

“I just wanted to learn every language there was,” he says. “I heard (Esperanto) was a really easy language.”

The lack of irregular grammar rules, Grano says, has made it a snap to learn relative to other languages he’s studied, such as Spanish and Chinese.

His classmate Agnes Mazur, 23, studies Spanish and French at San Jose State University. Esperanto lured her in after she took a few lessons online at www.lernu.net.

After practicing Esperanto for four months, she agrees it’s accessible to the newcomer. She admits she gets quizzical looks from some people who find out that she’s learning an unconventional language.

“It’s worthwhile,” Mazur says. “Most people’s reaction is, ‘Why are you studying that?’ They think it’s not very useful.”

Mazur and other Esperantists clearly disagree.

Student Bob Russell, 61, of San Leandro, says he attended a three-week Esperanto training program in Vermont where his grasp of the language helped him join a group conversation with people from Denmark, China and the Dominican Republic.

Sure, it would be great if

everyone adopted Esperanto as a second language, Russell says, but in the meantime he’s in it for kicks.

“I’m having fun,” he says. “That’s why I’m studying it. I’ve met a variety of interesting people who aren’t afraid to be smart. I’m having a good time.”

And if the world never catches on to the beauty of Esperanto, that’s just fine with those dedicated to the language.

“It’s not intended to be a secret, but it kind of is,” ELNA’s Brozovsky says. “People find it hard to believe it’s that good. To my point of view, it’s better.”

You can e-mail Monique Beeler at mbeeler@angnewspapers.com or call (925) 416-4860.