e: ^r4^p INFORMATION CENTER ESPERANTO LEAGUE for NORTH AMERICA Vol.III-1 NEWSLETTER February 1967 NOTED LINGUIST TELLS PROPONENTS OP NEW-LANGUAGE SCHEMES "THERE ALREADY EXISTS A FULLY FUNCTIONING LANGUAGE" Dr. Mario A. Pel, professor of Pomance Philology at Columbia University, who presided at a meeting of the Geolinguist Society of New York when Dr. Ivo Lapenna, president of the Universala Esperanto \socio, spoke on "Esperanto as a World Language," told the group of linguists: "In my opinion, the language problem in the world today Is a burning one. No national language can provide a satisfactory sol- ution for it; only an International language would fill that need." Almost weekly, he said, he received information and leaflets about some new projects of an international language. The compilers asked for his opinion In order to later utilize his name for their propaganda but to all he gave the same reply: "There already exists a fully functioning language and so all further endeavors are only a waste of time and money." In Professor Pel's new book, "How to Learn Languages and What Languages to Learn (Harper, Row, N.Y., 1966), he devotes a section to constructed languages and then says in part (pp. 221-22): "On the practical side, the most extensively used constructed language is Esperantos which is in all senses of the world a spoken and written language. . . and has a large number of books, both original and In translation, and of regularly published periodicals. It also enjoys some measure of official recognition,which varies from country to country0 Some nations even put regular Esperanto on their national radio, " It is perhaps more wi dely studied abroad than in America but even here it ha3 made its appearance in several public high schools and colleges,, It is, of course, taught In special private schools and plenty of grammars, dictionaries, readers, and even recordings are available. "its 3ound scheme is simple, its system of writing has absol- xonixxig petgaa, auu una irequem; aijLemma or having too much copy for eight pages and, not enough for ten or twelve. I The editorial staff has reluctantly decided to adopt the pre- sent form of newsletter with its greater flexibility and ease of production for the sake of more frequent publication. "Zamenhof Sur la Gielo" Homo kaj Kosmo is a brightly written popular science quarter- ly of~~% pagesT Jugoslavia. In edited at the astronomy observatory at Zagreb, -v.0^-^w.,^v.# -..the third issue of* I9bb there is an illustrated article entitled "Zamenhof Sur la aielo"which tells of the dis- covery by a Finnish astronomer in 1936 and 1938 of two planet- oids which he subsequently named "Esperanto" and "Zamenhof."' The author, a woman astronomer in Poland, describes how at her urging the observatory at Jena photographed "Zamenhof" during the brief time it was visible last year. Esperantists interested in science may subscribe to Homo kaj Kosmo for H.^Oja year through the U.E.A. office in Rotterdam (Niewe Binnenweg 17&). If you wish to read this article, specify that your subscription should start with No. 3, 1966. COMING EVENTS Pacific Northwest Esperanto Conference, Walla Walla, Wadi.jJune 16-18 California Esperanto Conference, Santa Sarbara. April 14-16 U.E.A. Congress, Tel Aviv, Israel, August 2-9, Air Travel to Tel Aviv for the U.E.A. Esperanto Congress,August 2-9 As the Newsletter goes to press, rates for plane travel to Tel Aviv have hot yet been set by the airlines. If we cannot In- clude a rate schedule with this issue, watch for it in April. A print of the Oomoto Festival film is obtainable from Francis Heimutn, «01 LaJolla Rancho Road, La Jolla, Calif., 9203? -3- ESPERANTO, NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST FALL AND WINTER, 1966-67 Outstanding developments in Esperanto instruction include: (1) a 3-hour credit course in teacher training offered by the University of California Extension Division at San Mateo; and (2) the increasing number of high school adult centers offering evening courses. If the class work in your community is not included here, please send a report of It to the Esperanto Information Center. ALASKA: Our newest state had an Esperanto class, taught by Walter G-nagy, at the Juneau-Douglas Community College during the fall semester. He has arranged for an elementary class and an advanced class starting in February. ARKANSAS: Dorothy Holland teaches a conversational course to a group of retirees in Fayettevilie. She also con- ducts a correspondence course In Braille for the Hadley School for the Blind--this in addition to administering examinations for qualifying applicants as Esperanto teachers under the U.S. Society of Esperanto Instructors. CALIFORNIA: The University of California extension division a'fc 5an Mateo offers a 3-unit credit course, "Teach- ing Esperanto In the Elementary Schools: Methods, Materials and Techniques," taught by Philip Vandor, principal of the Highlands school. This is an educational "first" for which the local group has worked long and diligently. At the Mission Bay high school in San Diego, Charles Lambert Mann conducted a beginners and an intermediate class last semes- ter. For the winter term, classes will also be held at the Alice Birney school, with Francis Helmuth assisting In the Los Angeles area, Ernest Green of Govina had three classes, including one intermediate, conducted on school premises. He also taught a class at an Inglewood school, which closed its fall session with a Christmas party. In Pasadena a study group meets every Friday morning. In North Hollywood, Mrs. Marie Saunders had a class for beginners which met at her home. Beginning and intermediate classes are offered this semester at San Francisco - Galileo adult school (instructors Doris Vailon and Cathy Schultze); Daly City - Westmoor adult school (Schultze); Berkeley - adult school (Patricia Shell); Alameda - adult school (Lucille Harmon, William Harmon); Redwood City - Sequoia adult PENNSYLVANIA.i The Lehigh Valley Esperanto Club reports a course I for Allentown students and teachers at the WiMam Allen high school, taught by Joseph Conroy. Dr. Rodney Ring had a class at Muhlenberg College0 Club members sew the Fiat Auto- mobile Company film with Esperanto sound track at their October meeting. When Dr, Ivo Lapenna, president of U.E.A. was in this country to present the Esperanto petition to the United Nations, Dr. Ring arranged for him to address the student body of Muhlen- berg College on October 100 At Harrisburg, William P. Simpson will conduct a class at the public library beginning March 2 which will meet twice a week for 12 weeks. The Central Catholic high school in Pittsburgh has had an Esperanto class this year and last. WASHINGTON: The autumn curriculum of the Walla Walla Vocational- Technical evening school included an introductory course in Esperanto, taught oy Albert Estling. OTHER AREAS: Classes on which E.I.C. has no direct information j are reported by Dorothy Holland, secretary of the U. «S. Society of Fsperanto Teachers, at Austin, Texas, Hyatt Se- ville, Maryland, Montour Falls, New York, and Brookfield, 111. nois, The Brutish %.B.C. Broadcasts in the International Language The B.B.C., which probably uses even more languages than the36 used by our own Voice of America, decided last November to experiment with Esperanto on a regular monthly program in its East European service (21.15 GMT on the last Thursday of the month in the 25-to-l|.9 meter bands). While the international language has speakers in some 90 countries, it probably is best known in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and neighboring lands, Hence the decision to start With broadcasts to Eastern Europe,, The radio stations which make most use of Esperanto in daily broad- casts are in Budapest and Warsaw. Radio Peking has six programs per week beamed at the Far East, Southeast Asia and Europe. -5- * it * Everybody Speaks English - And Howj * * # *■ Operating instructions for a transistor tape recorder of «■ «■ foreign make include these sentences: # * "Microphone can be stowage in compartment which placed ■» it next of batteries compartment while not in use .... When * ■» removed the head cover it can be seen capstan with sleeve, *- zt turning capstan to left sleeve can take off, then insert -jj it into capstan holder pin placed middle of headcover holder * * pins you can attain LOW SPEED, and to change HIGH SPEED « it be opposite way of above procedure ... 8 If you want to * a stop, by pushing it slightly forward depress the button a -:;- come up then stop." * -::- ■» -"- Newsletter is indebted to Ralph Wagner of Fords, N.J., *- it for these clear-as-mud directions. # it it it ititiiititiiitiiititititiritititik#iHtitttiHh^^ it Murray Team on Trial Bun in Pacific Northwest while plans are shaping up for their cross-country illustrated lecture trip, Gonn and Mary Murray made a 2-week trek to the Oregon- Washington area. With Mary describing their year of travel on a round-the~world-with-E3peranto tour and ^onn showing pictures takren on route, they addressed luncheon meetings of Kiwanis clubs in three cities; a Rotary and a Lions' club, audiences in a Quaker and a Meth- odist church; ifth, 5th and bth grade pupils in an elementary school and three high school classes: two home gatherings and two public meetings; and the Esperanto societies of Portland,, Oregon and Walla Walla, Wash., with a total attendance of 9$0» The Hurrays spent the Christmas holidays with their daughter In Portland and then were off for the San Francisco Bay area In California for meetings on January 7, 8 and 9„ If you want your community included In the Murray cross-country tour In the mar future, write at once to ELNA's President, Frank Helmuth (801 La Jolla Ranch Road, La Jolla, Calif. 92037); he has become lecture tour trip manager for this project. p E R A N T 0 uainqrnia, can see Hie vertically in four-foot a new [office building, ELNA'4 president, and h|L three-story building of Camino del Rio, contain space divided into sixty is spot-lighted at night word ".Esperanto" spelled out -high letters down the 3id© of Erected by Francis Helmuth, s associate Paul Stein, the buff stucco, situated at 3k--35 s 28,000 square feet of office units. The building's name Zamenhof Birthday Celebrations The 107th anniversary of the birth of Dr. L. L. Zamenhof was observed in several cities in December, In Los Angeles there was a banquet with readings from Dr. Zamenhofs works and a showing of a color film of the Oomoto International Festival by Yoshima Umeda, president of the Japanese Youth Congress. The film was also Shown in San Diego and on the following evening there was a potluck supper at the home of Francis and Bonnie Helmuth„ At a Zameiihof dinner in Govina, Calif., the San Gabriel Valley society jheld its installation of officers. In Portland, Ore,, the prizes-winning lyrics for Esperanto songs were sung at the anniversary celebration. The New York society had as a speaker Father Sigmund of Pas- saic, N. J, The polish-born priest talked on "The Neutral-Human- ist Ethics of Dr. Zamenhof." Promotion by Boschen At the Plttsfield, Mass0 Teachers Convention, there was a dis- play of Esperanto materials in an exhibit shared jointly with the United Nations Association and the United World Federalists, ar- ranged by Allan C. Boschen. The Unltarian-Universalist Society of plttsfield has proposed for the May, 19&7 meetings of the church's, district associations a resolution setting forth the advantages of Esperanto as a world language and recommending the 3tudy of It by church groups. Mr, Boschen is in demand as a speaker and carries on a lively letters- to-the-editor campaign. He orders (and pays for'.) 50 copies of each issue of the E.I.C. newsletter. -7- Advocates of Let- ! em-learm-English, Take Heed The sensitiveness of the Frenchwwith regard to the use of their language at the United Nations indicates how difficult it would be to secure universal approval of any single national language as an international tongue, The French delegate, speak- ing in the General Assembly on September 28, said in part: "We French cannot fall to give very serious consideration to everything related to the use of the French language in this great international forum. We consider that, in the light of the original decisions taken on this subject concerning our working languages,and in the light of the increased number of French- speaking nations, the situation that has developed is in no way satisfactory," In the sessions following, one after another of the dele- gates from the seven French-speaking African nations got up to voice similar sentiments. The French complained also that in the appointment of staff members, French workers were required to know English also but English-speaking workers were not required to know Frenchc They were not at all soothed by an explanation that documentation in English was requested by most Member Governments, and that many candidates for staff positions came from non-English and non- French speaking countries and could not be expected to have more than one of the two U.N. working languages at their command» Misgivings were also expressed that this discussion would occasion demands from other countries who felt themselves inadequately represented on the Secretariat staff. The number of nationali- ties on the staff is now 112- : 19 6 7 PJJJjjf ARE D U El ELNA depends on the dues and contributions of its members for funds to carry on its educational work and to keep its mem- bers informed of happenings in the field, of Esperanto, Journals. California members please follow up, _l_ V-* U. i-* * The Lehigli Valley (Pa.) Club ran two successful events as re- ported in the Bethlemen Globe-Times (Nov. 19 and Dec, 3). At the Student Union of Muhlenberg College, Professor Raymond Bye described his world tripjand in Bethlehem the government film on New Zealand with Esperanto j soundtrack was shown. . Fraktiko ^Dec. issue) gave a good notice to the Essay contest of the Lions Club International vtiich is being pushed in the United .States by John iKalienta, 85 Kimball St., Staten Island, N. Y.l03lij.. He hopes to sei up an Esperantist meeting at the Lions International Convention in 19^7 at Chicago. At Expo 67 , the World's Pair at Montreal, tha Scout Esperan- to League will(have a booth in the Scout Pavilion. Members of the Montreal Esperanto Club will help the Scout League man the booth. The Exposition has advertised in various Esperanto Journals. See ILumo, the Canadian Esperanto Journal (8£ Sparks St., Ottawa, Oijvt.) for details. Mrs. Yukibo frsobe of Tokio plans to travel through the U.S. beginning in Juhe. If your group would like this very competent Esperantist as a speaker, contact Mrs. William Schulze, ij.10 Darrell Road, Hillsborough, California 9^010. ^SMŬfo INFORMATION CENTER fc^th ESPERANTO LEAGUE ro« NORTH AMERICA ^^0-' 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 #n9 #67