<^r^9    INFORMATION CENTER
«.. /;i. ESPERANTO LEAGUE for NORTH AMERICA
Vol.II-3         NEWSLETTER                      June,  1966
SWEDEN ASKS UNESCO TO
INVESTIGATE LANGUAGE COSTS
A detailed study of the time spent on foreign language study
in nine European Countries* By Dr. E. Malmgren of Stockholm
was used to document the proposal to UNESCO by the Swedish and
Finnish delegates and by the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) that
UNESCO set up an inquiry into the costs of lingual diversity
and the economies which an international auxiliary language
would provide.
Dr. Malmgren's statement to the Swedish UNESCO Commission
has been sent by EIC to each of the 85 members of the U.S. Nat-
ional Commission of UNESCO so that they may be informed when
the proposal is considered by UNESCO in November.
Other Countries Support
Uruguay, Jugoslavia and Haiti are among the supporting na-
tions and the Japanese and Greek UNESCO commissions are favor-
able to it.
It is anticipated that the state departments of Great Britain
and the United States will be the strongest opponents of even
an inquiry because they insist that English solves the problem.
Some of the national commissions5 fearful that those two coun-
tries may reduce their subsidies» hesitate to offend them.Their
representatives belong to the Stuttering English Club.
If you disagree with this point of view, write to your Rep-
resentative and Senator and to your local newspaper.  If you
need details on the difficulties—psychological, political and
linguistic—which rule out English, write to EIC.
*• In Sweden, for example, school children devote 1,0!Z0 lessons
plus homework to the study of English and then are unable to
read or speak it proficiently. (Compare this with the 200-400
hours of Espera.xnto which can produce real fluency.) Similiar
figures on foreign language study are offered for Denmark, Nor-
way, Finland, Holland, Britain, France, W. Germany and Russia.
.....■..........
LAST CALL FOR U.N. PETITIONS!
July 1 is the last date for sending in signed petitions ask-
ing that the United Nations persuade its member states to <a- en-
courage the use of Esperanto.
The president of the Universala Esperant-Asocio, Dr. Ivo La-
penna, is coming to the United States in October to head the
delegation that will present the petitions. The goal is one mil-
lion individual signatures. By May 11, the central office at
Rotterdam reported 775,688 signers from 67 countries plus sig-
natures of executives of 2,745 organizations with 61 million
members.
Send your signed petitions now,  either to PaulStein,  Box
10001, San Diego 10, Calif., or to Mrs. Margot Gerson, Esperanto
Information Center, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York 10001, N.Y.
-o»
An offer in a library journal of free copies of "Plena Vor-
taro" brought requests for the dictionary from 41 public and
college libraries. The books were made available by an anony-
mous donor who had previously given copies to 30 libraries in
Queens County, N.Y.
The new, fully annotated book catalog of UEA was also sent
to the libraries requesting "Plena Vortaro," and at the Harvard
University library this quickly evoked orders for 40 books.
Show the catalog to your local  librarian and to people who
still think that Esperanto has no literature. Obtainable from
EIC at 50 cents a copy.
-o-
United Nations staff members formed an elementary class with
Them.  Kohn as teacher,  just too late to be included in the last
News Letter report.
-o-
ks  a consequence of an article on Esperanto in  Interchange,
a Unitarian paper,and assiduous buttonholing of conference del-
egates by Allan C. Boshen.the Connecticut Valley district meet-
ing of the Unitarian Church adopted a resolution approving Esp-
eranto as an auxiliary international language. (Write Mr. Bosh-
en at 103 Stratford Ave., Pittsfield, Mass., 01201, for copies
of the resolution and supporting documents. )
The Berkshire Esperanto Society which Boshen heads has just
sent in its latest accumulation of U.N. petitions with—how many
signatures do you think?—643'.
-2-
Before departing for Formosa in mid-June, Prof. David Jor-
dan spoke on "Kio Estas Arkeologio"  for the Chicago Esperant-
ist group. The Chicago News Letter reports enthusiastically
about the Grattapaglia meeting with movie show. Mrs. Elfrieda
Walters arranged for a 7-person delegation which had a 30-min-
ute interview with Congressman Roman Pucinski. Next day Mrs.
Walters took the Grattapaglias to the Hadley School of the Blind
to meet Esperantists Byron Eguiguren and Donald Hathaway.
********************************
*              EVERYBODY TALKS ENGLISH — AND HOW I                      *
*    I am told, on authority that I believe, that when Dorothy*
*  and Harold Macmillan were lunching in Paris with Charles *
*  and Madame de Gaulle, Dorothy Macmillan, after expressing *
*  admiration for the achievements of de Gaulle, asked Madame*
*  de Gaulle, "What are you looking forward to now? Madame de *
*  Gaulle in a clear and penetrating voice replied, "A penis."*
*  A certain frisson went round the table, De Gaulle broke *
*  the embarrassed silence by saying, "My dear,  I think the *
*  English don't pronounce the word quite like that. It's not *
*  'a penis' but "appiness'."—The New Statesman, London. *
%                                                                                                                                                              *
********************************
More than 150 children, 7 to 14 years old, are enroled in an
Esperanto summer school program in San Mateo, Calif. They will
have one-hour class periods five days a week for five weeks.
Four schools are involved, with Doris Vallon and Betsy Branden-
berg each teaching two classes-a-day at two schools.
-o-
Enigmas, Anyone?
A lively paper for the tri-City area of Washington, edited by
William Shanks of Richland, includes lesson assignments ("Write
a letter to the Bulteno using the grammar learned in Lesson 8")j
enigmas with the solution and names of those who sent in cor-
rect replies in the next issuej and a translation contest with
the admonition, "Serou simplecon kaj pitoreskecon."
One enigma is prefaced by these directions: Each of the
following Esperanto definitions describes an Esperanto word of
3 syllables of 2 letters each. The second syllable of each word
is the same as the first syllable of the following word. The
second syllable of the last word is the same as the first syl-
lable of the first word." Sample definitions: ^IO.-Natura flu-
anta, iom forte, akvaro enversiĝanta en alian au maron.  11.-
-3-
iiaiii»»^^
Malutila substanco kiu mortigas iun kiu trinkas au mangas gin."
Answers:  rivero, veneno.
A familiar Esperanto taboo raises its head in a note from
the typist appended to one bulletin: "Estas la lasta okazo ke
ni miksu du lingvojn en la sama frazol"
-o-O-o-
THE GRATTAPAGLIAS WERE GREAT'.
Speeches, interviews, appearances at Chambers of Commerce,
television and radio programs, showings of Fiat films with Esp-
eranto text, school visits, a report to Congressman R. Pucinski
on a bill before the Italian parliament giving Esperanto equal
status with other languages in high school - tTSese activities
marked the way of Guiseppe and Ursula Grattapaglia of Turin, It-
aly, from April 7 to April 25 as they touched down at New York,
Washington, Albuquerque, Gallup, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, San Diego and Chicago.
In New York, UEA vice president, E'.L.M. Wensing of Holland,
joined the Grattapaglias for a memorable public meeting at Free-
dom House. An interview with the visitors by Michael Duerr,
editor of Business Abpoad on "Business and Esperanto" was taped.
The Grattapaglias asked EIC to thank everybody who gave them
such a wonderful time and will write up their impressions in the
Italian L'Esperanto. Their letter ends: "Se vi decidos realigi
la pro.iekton pri Universala &ongresso en Novjorko, sciu, ke ni
sendube Seestos kun nombra grupo de italojl" Mr. Grattapaglia is
a production engineer for the Fiat Automobile Company in Turin
and managing editor of L'Esperanto.
-o-
Medicare was explained in Esperanto at Inglewood, Calif., by
Hiram Reed, Social Security claims representative. A picture
in the Social Security News shows the display cards being exam-
ined by veteran colleagues, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Parrish; and
the caption notes that the couple met in Denmark while he was
touring and lecturing for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Parrish is chief UEA delegate of the UEA from the United States.
-o-
City streets and squares named after Zamenhof, the founder
of Esperanto, now number 291. France and Brazil lead with 48
and 36 respectively. Poland and Bulgaria are tied with 34 each.
,	LAST CALL FOR U.S. PETITIONS	DEADLINE	JULY 1  :
_4-
HARRISBURG POTS ESPERANTO OH DISPLAY
--0--
Harrisburg, Pa. has four Esperanto exhibits in June—a win-
dow display featuring the U.N. petition at 202 N. 2nd Street; a
large display, the ELNA traveling Esperanto exibit^with addi-
tional books, magazines, travel folders, etc., in the show win-
dows of a building at the corner of Market and 4th, two prin-
cipal business streets; an exhibit of textbooks at "blue state
library; and a continuing exhibit at the public library.
In May, 200 pieces of Esperanto literature were given out
to school children and their teachers who came to their state
capital to see the government buildings.
The go-getter with the self-starter behind all this is Wil-
liam P. Simpson, who also has had an evening adult class in Esp-
eranto at the public library since March 1.
-o-
Donald Munro,   secretary of the Lehigh Valley,  Pa., Esperanto
Club,  taught an elementary class    at the  Bethelehem YMCA during
the winter.    At Muhlenberg College  in Allentown,  Dr.  Rodney Ring
had a class for adults during the  spring term.
The Lehigh club's letterhead carries this motto: "All na-
tions to  speakiwo  languages—their  native tongue and Esperanto/
-e-
One advertisement in Interim, organ of the highbrow society
MENSA, inserted by Prof. Ralph Lewin, oceanographer of La Jolla,
Calif., brought EIC over 100 requests for "Basic Facts"  (Doc.
RDC/7), a convincing and comprehensive brochure produced by the
research and documentary division of UEA. Some requests came
from England, Australia, Iran, Costa Rice and northern Ireland.
Dr. Lewin wrote that effective  leaflet,  "The High Cost of
Simultaneous Translation."  His father, who lives in England,
heads the Esperanto Veterans.
-o-o-O-o-o-
Bringing Him Back to Life
Our 1'ace is very *edt Gilbert Nickel is not only alive but
giving yet one more public talk, at Bethelehem, Pa. In good hu-
mor he wrote that his wife, after reading the obit in the March
News *Letter, now knows what a wonderful guy she married. The er-
ror arose from a confusion of similiar n^mes.
•o-
In Honolulu. 50 children are attending an Esperanto course
at Kamahameha High School, taught by Jim McClendon.
Calling all those interested in sports and the 1966 Olympic
Games in Mexico! See Heroldo #1415 for a letter signed by pro-
minent Hungarian athletes asking that Esperanto be made one of
the working languages for the Games. Call this to the attention
of your sport group or favorite sports columnist.
-o-
The Nature Friends, an international tourist organization,
with clubs and hostels in ten countries, has issued a handsome-
ly illustrated magazine to celebrate its 70th anniversary. The
text and the captions on the scenic pictures are in five lan-
guages, including Esperanto, and the use of the international
language is encouraged among members. The U.S. address is: c/o
Robert A. Wyler, 516 Ellington Ave., San Franoisco, Calif.
• FREE: An analysis of New York's transportation crisis of   *
» January - "Urbega Krizo: La subvoja striko en Novjorko"— re-   '
•' print from Sennaciulo, available from EIC for stamped, self   •
• addressed envelope (4x9-l/2").                                                            •
Ralph Wagner of Metuchen, N.\J., has a good class of students
at the John £dams high school, formed after a large student
group heard Mark Starr's talk.
-O-O-O-
MURRAYS VISIT TURKEY, GREECE, ITALY
The Murrays, Mary and Conn, have reached Vienna via Turkey,
Greece and Italy on their trip around the world which began last
July.  In Istanbul they met Johnathan Pool, an ELNA Executive
Board member, who has been in Turkey for two years as a Peace
Corps teacher.  He has compiled an 82-page Turkish-Esperanto
textbook with a 2000-word vocabulary section and mimeographed
650 copies of it—this in his spare time.
At the American School for Girls in Izmir, Urs. Murray met
teachers and  several English classes and found so much enthusi-
asm for Esperanto that she sent them 30 copies of the Pool man-
ual as a practical follow-up.  The leading Istanbul newspaper,
Hurriyet, oarried an interview with the Murrays.
In their three weeks in Greece they made many Esperanto con-
tacts, attended a Greek wedding, spoke at a meeting with a Dutch
Esperantist, J. Fisher, and learned that in Athens there are 200
paid-up members and five classes for beginners. Salonika also
-6-
Bias a group, and the Greek Esperantists hope some day to have the
IIEA Congress in Greece.
The last work of the scholarly Dr. Anakreono Stamiadis was
a 1964 Greek-Esperanto textbook with parallel renditions of the
two languages. His daughter, Roksana Manusu, presented an auto-
graphed copy for the EIC library.
In Rome, which has a weekly Esperanto broadcast,  a columnist
for the Daily American compiled a very lucid exposition of the
international language from the Hurrays' material, ending thus:
"Since it's so simple, we should listen in, learn to speak
with universality and become hopeful." Mrs. Murray talked with
36 young people just beginning their study of Esperanto.
-o-o-o-
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ELNA CONGRESS
July 21-24
University of Maryland Adult Education Center, College Park, Md.
Thursday: Afternoon, evening—Registration, reception, dinner.
Friday: Morning—"Esperanto, Past, Present and Future."  Key-
noterssDr. Don Graham Stewart,Institute of Languages,
Georgetown University; John Lewine, president Jslew York
Esperanto Society. Afternoon—ELM business sessions.
Evening—Dr. Mario Pei, professor of Romance Philology,
Columbia University,
Saturday: Morning—Panel Discussion,"An Inter-Disciplinary Look
at Esperanto." Moderator: Dr. James Lieberman. Panel-
ists: Dr. Walter Jacobs, Dept. of Government and Pol-
itics, U. of Maryland; Dr. Oliver Caldwell, Bureau of
Educational Research , U. of Maryland; Dr. Mario Pei.
Afternoon—ELNA business sessions; sight seeing.
Evening--free.
Sunday. Morning--Conference progress report. Designing Action
Programs for Esperanto. Conference Finale: Francis E.
Helmuth, ELNA president. Noon adjournment.
If you want to attend the Congress, make haste to mail the
registration form in the ELNA Revuo which you recently received.
LAST CALL FOR U.N. PETITIONS!                                DEADLINE IS JULY 1.
pa^saxibaj uin^e^ - IT8111 ssb^o p^TOI
V3IM3WV H1HON **■ aflDV31 OiNVM3dS3 (|^
Copies of "The Record and the Vision" have been sent by EIC
to .200 ELNA officers and activists beoau.se it summarizes the
ideas and plans presented to President Johnson at the White
House Conference in November -which marked the climax of Inter-
national Cooperation Year. ELNA is officially listed in the re-
port as a participant (next to The English Speaking Union in
the index) and as one of the agencies supplying proposals. Cop-
ies are available from EIC at $1.00 postpaid. You will find
many suggestions for activities in local U.N. associations.
President Lapenna of the UEA has sent to Director General U
Thant a report on the international contribution of Esperantist-
ists to I.C.Y. With its limited resources the Esperanto move-
ment promotes international cooperation every year and does
more effective work than many organiiations that issue plush
reports and have impressive v.i.p. letterheads.
***
If you move, report your change of address to EIC. Third
class mail wfll not be forwarded} every News Letter returned
and reforwarded costs EIC 8 cents return and 4 cents to re-
vend.