Should every Esperantist speak Esperanto with the same accent? Or is a diversity of accents beautiful or desirable? I know that nowadays every Esperanto-speaker speaks it with his own accent. I.e. mostly use the accent of his mother tongue. But once again, if the main aim of Esperanto is union, and for everyone to speak the same language, then it makes sense that accent should be no exception.

This is unlikely to happen in the near future, but if one day Esperanto is established as the lingua franca of the whole world and its teaching becomes more thorough, enough attempts could be made at designing an accent that is the same the world over. I know that Esperanto is not meant to replace national languages, but to be the world's second language for everyone, the international language, so to speak. In that case, it would be quite difficult for people to get rid of the accent of their mother tongue. But the question remains: is it something that should be aimed at, considering Esperanto's ideals of unity and similarity worldwide?

If the answer is yes, I think there is still work to do. The phonetics of the language should be described in much more detail, so that everyone would speak it in exactly the same way, with the same accent. So far, we only have a general idea, which might be good enough for comprehension, but which is not good enough to determine what the accent should sound like.

So, once again, tell me what your views on the subject are. I am curious to know what you think about it and to see how the language will evolve.

Two nights ago I was listening to Esperanto Radio (on a rather useful little phone app). The differences in pronunciation between the various stations on there are noticeable.
On the Polish one almost everyone used a fricative German-style 'r'. On the Radio Havana they trill the 'r' and also (in my opinion) speak Esperanto in the most euphonious way. The Esperanto Radio from Australia is actually easier to follow because they are slower, but the accent is awful and sometimes sounds a bit 'off'. There is also quite a bit of umm-ing an ah-ing on the latter.

I don't know that the pronunciation needs more description, the early texts describe it pretty clearly and since it is 'one letter, one sound' it makes it a lot easier. Apart from the minor glitches, the voice on Duolingo seems close enough to a good model to me.

It is neither necessary, nor needed that everyone speaks with the same accent. It is sufficient to be consistent in your own accent, and not pronounce the same letter in wildly different ways. That nobody can guess your mother language is only something nice to have.

Hi Duko,

For comprehension, the current description of Esperanto phonetics seems to be enough, that's true. But don't you think that one of the ideals of Esperanto is its unity? Learners are often reminded that it only makes sense to use a lingua franca if everydody speaks it exactly the same way. With this affirmation, they usually refer to grammar and vocabulary. So I have this question, if accent should be also a part in the language in which there should be unity, and that means, everybody speaking the language with the same accent.

So your first two sentences seem to suggest that you are against all Esperantists speaking the language with the same accent, or at least, you say that it is not necessary. That leads me to think you would prefer that no attemps were made at designing an Esperanto accent. However, your last sentence says that it is nice that nobody can guess your native language. I think this would require that everybody spoke with the same accent and then, that would be contradictory with your first two sentences. If, for example, you don't want to show your German accent, you should speak with an "Esperanto accent", right? But that accent is still not defined, and I do not know if it will one day. Hence, the question. Do you think a more specific accent will be defined one day? Is this desirable?

MarcDiaz:Should every Esperantist speak Esperanto with the same accent?

Is there any authority which is capable to control this? In general I dislike every efforts of propagating some one-body-metaphor (Volkskörper), including one unique accent. (Wikipedia)

MarcDiaz:Or is a diversity of accents beautiful or desirable?

Every Esperantist should decide on its own. It seems to be same situation like with dialects. If I feel proud of it, then I will use it. If I feel I only run in trouble with my dialect, then I will try to speak without dialect.

Not against it, its just not needed. Germans dont speak German or even EN with the same accent and in most cases it doesnt matter at all. Same goes for almost all languages.
You can hide or inhibit your native accent in different ways not just one. Take for example Russian speakers pronouncing the word bovino: acording to Russian pron. rules the forst O will be an A and the second one a Schwa.To `hide` the Russian accent they only have to pronounce both O letters the same way, more or less as an O. No need for them to sound the same.
Uhm if youre looking for a model search the youtube for Ivo Lapena, I think most people will agree that he spoke a clear EO free of national influences.

MarcDiaz:If, for example, you don't want to show your German accent, you should speak with an "Esperanto accent", right? But that accent is still not defined, and I do not know if it will one day.

Italian (or Romanian) accent seems to be that ones what could be seen like some "typical" wide-spread Esperanto accent.