How Come Esperanto Never Took Off?!
Part-Time Genius
iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 October 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Want to know which billionaire speaks Esperanto fluently? Or what country almost adopted Esperanto as its national language? Or why Hitler and Stalin were both afraid of Dr. Esperanto (actually Doktoro Esperanto)? Join Will and Mango as they dive into the incredible world of constructed languages and also discover why William Shatner isn't just the greatest Esperanto actor of all time... but also probably the worst.
This episode originally aired on May 2, 2024.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:05.1 | Michael Lewis here. |
| 0:06.8 | My bestselling book, The Big Short, tells the story of the buildup and burst of the U.S. |
| 0:12.1 | housing market back in 2008. |
| 0:14.8 | A decade ago, the Big Short was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. |
| 0:18.7 | Now I'm bringing it to you for the first time as an audiobook narrated by yours truly. |
| 0:24.1 | The Big Short Story, what it means to bet against the market, |
| 0:27.5 | and who really pays for an unchecked financial system, |
| 0:30.6 | is as relevant today as it's ever been. |
| 0:33.2 | Get the Big Short now at Pushkin.fm. |
| 0:35.5 | slash audiobooks, or wherever audiobooks are sold. |
| 0:43.5 | You're listening to Part-Time Genius, the production of kaleidoscope and IHeartRadio. |
| 0:52.3 | Guess what, Mango? What's that, Will? |
| 0:54.7 | I just wanted to say, Keom-Vibenkas. |
| 0:58.2 | What are you saying? |
| 1:00.1 | You don't know? |
| 1:01.1 | I'm speaking 19th century constructed language, Esperanto, and I asked, how much do you bench in Esperanto? |
| 1:08.4 | Oh, man, I don't speak Esperanto. |
| 1:13.6 | Hotio est dom Domanga. Was that Esperanto? |
| 1:15.6 | I mean, I'm pretty sure I bushered it, but what I tried to say was, oh, that's a shame in Esperanto. |
| 1:21.6 | And all of our Esperanto speakers listening are like, no, you didn't say that. |
| 1:26.6 | But either way, I tried. |
... |
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