m umimm NEWS OF THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM AND ESPERANTO AS A SOLUTION Published by the Esperanto League for North America. March-April 1974. Editor: Charles R. L. Power. Editorial Committee: Robert Bailey, Margaret Hagler, Dorothy Holland, Jonathan Pool. Includes section in Esperanto, Bulteno, sent to ELNA members only. International Friendship Week Celebrations This year, the Central Office has received a record number of proclamations of International Friendship Week, an an- nual celebration of human brotherhood launched by the World Esperanto Associa- tion in 1969. Two governors, a sheriff and nine mayors have contributed, as follows: from California, Mayor Peter J. Coniglio of Monterey, Mayor Robert A. Quinn of Pacific Grove, Mayor Joseph L. Alioto of the City and County of San Francisco, and Mayor Floyd E. Welch of San Mateo; from Massachusetts, Governor Francis W. Sargent, Sheriff John D. Courtney, Jr., of Berkshire County,. Mayor Kevin H. White of Boston, and Mayor Evan S. Dobelle of Pittsfield; from Oregon, Mayor Neil Goldschmidt of Portland; from the State of Washington, Governor Daniel J. Evans, Mayor David H. Rodgers of Spokane, and Mayor Arlo A. James of Walla Walla. As usual, Walla Walla trailed only alphabetically; its handling of the occa- sion could serve as a model for us all. We quote in full a short newspaper article describing activities there: "Local Esperantists celebrated Inter- national Friendship Week, the last full week in February, with a potluck supper Wednesday at the Garden Center. "Effiong Akpan, a native Nigerian, spoke about conditions in his homeland. The Whitman College student said that Nigeria has 14 tribes, each of which speaks a completely different language. He credited the present peace in his Mayor Nell Goldschmldt (center) of Portland hands over proclaMtlon of International Friendship Week to Laurln P. Lewie (right) while manners of the Ee.peronto Club of Portland State University look on. :; country to the establishment of 12 states which are based on language groups. "Akpan became interested in Esperanto at a class during the recent Whitman in- terim, he said. "Friendship poems written by Espe- rantists in other lands were read by Sara Ann Estling and Dan Wood. Dr. Quentin Schwenke read proclamations from Gov. Daniel J. Evans and Walla Walla Mayor Arlo James in regard to International Friend- ship Week. "Schwenke announced that the American Association of Teachers of Esperanto had notified Vincent Broman that he had passed his advanced examination 'with distinc- tion'. Broman, a Whitman student, learned Esperanto by self-study." If your mayor, sheriff, governor or other official has made a proclamation of International Friendship Week, please send a xerox to the Central Office. If you are not keeping the original, please send it to the Archivist of ELNA (see p. E-8 of the Esperanto section). Casualties of Babel On 20 February 1974, R. Kent Jones addressed the students of Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, Illinois, on Espe- ranto. He gave examples of the world language problem which bear repeating: The story of the "Pink Death" in Iraq is reported in the November 1973 Reader's Digest. Wheat intended for seed purposes was treated with a pink insecticide, and each bag carried a warning message. Never- theless the hungry people ate the poisoned wheat, with the result that 6000 died and 100,000 were crippled. Why? The warnings were written in Spanish, a language almost unknown in Iraq. According to the Wall Street Journal (25 January 1974), a major international project is being slowed by translation delays. Design engineering work is being performed at the Swindell-Dressier Company for a giant truck factory to be built in Russia. After two years of daily contact, eleven interpreters are still needed for explanations to the Russian workers. During a symphony in Chicago, the German conductor collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital, but treatment was delayed for an hour until an interpreter could be found. He could have died in the mean- time. An oil tanker crashed into a bridge and caught fire in Louisiana. Firemen raced to the scene, but could learn no- thing about whether people were trapped below deck. Why? Because the Korean crew couldn't understant English, and the fire- men couldn't understand Korean. In 1967 an important diplomatic mes- sage from Ho Chi Minn was received by the State Department in Washington. There the translation was bungled by thinking that the French verb "demander" was an arrogant demand, instead of an ordinary question. The request was angrily re- jected, and the war went on to kill and injure people by the thousands. The multiplicity of languages at the United Nations is a major source of frus- tration and cost. In fact, at $23 million per year, it almost uses up the total contribution of the #2 contributor, the Soviet Union '['$26 million/year). The Chinese and Arabs insist that their lan- guages be given equal status with English and French. Full-scale language riots occurred in India in the late 1940's, when decisions were needed about the language policy and usage of the new government. People were killed and injured because each minority wanted its language to be dominant. India now has fourteen official languages, and remains so divided that ordinary commerce as we know it scarcely exists inside the country. Unrest is growing in the U. S., due to minorities who are dissatisfied with the unequal language situation. There is no statute law, only custom, which makes English dominant at this time. The large Spanish-speaking minority in the U. S. (2.4 million students) has been seeking bilingual education for the last several years. The Chinese in San Francisco recently gained a decision by the U. S. Supreme Court that every child must be taught in the language he can understand. Since there are more than forty sizeable minorities in the U. S., just try to imagine the difficulties this will add to school administration! Mr. Jones concluded his listing of language breakdowns with the words, "The list continues, but I will stop with noting the problems of education for children of migrant European laborers (mentioned in Fortune magazine), and ac- commodation of a torrent of visitors to the linguistically unprepared U. S. during the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations. The conclusion from these language-based prob- lems is, I think, inescapable: Unless one approves of occasional catastrophes and continual costs and social friction, he is logically compelled to help end lan- guage confusion." Translation into French The West's most widely circulated French-language newspaper, Le Californien (biweekly), has published a serialization of J. L. Mahe's story "Gemeligo", which originally appeared in Monda Kulturo, autumn 1964. The translation, "Jumelage", appeared in the issues 31 December 19 73 through 12 February 1974. The story is a bit of black humor concerning an attempt by the directors of -H.Vv.o . .TTVn... -£- -£- <-"\ I Tl.r,\T...T.£vv"r . —iv-\f-i.....4^.1-ri.»- :lde r,a+* Bridge to prevent their respective trusts from being used to commit suicide. This eventually becomes a bitter rivalry to see which monument can accumulate the most victims. Review International Business Dictionary in nine lanquages/Internacia komerca-ekonomika vortaro en nau lingvoj. Planned, compiled and edited by F. Munniksma, under the auspices of Insti- tute por Esperanto en Komerco kaj Industrio (EKI). Kluwer. Deventer (Netherlands), 1974. xvi + 535p., hardbound. ISBN 90 267 0394 5. $27.50 ($25.00 to ELNA members) postpaid, from ELNA Book Service, P. O. Box 508, Burlingame, CA 94010. No matter how experienced an Esperantist might be, or for that matter any speaker of a second language, there are always problems in specialist vocabulary, where a group of words often has a meaning greater than the sum of its parts. One specialty in which virtually anyone could use some expertise is business. Could you, dear reader, give me the Esperanto equivalents of the terms bank overdraft, cover note, to fall due, estate in intestacy, nom- inal rate, share option, trust deed? Well, you need no longer find yourself at a loss for words in discussing such matters. This dictionary delivers translations into Espe- ranto, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Swedish for almost three thousand English terms. We of the English-speaking community are particularly lucky, because, although it was compiled through Esperanto, the dictionary is alphabetized by the English translations. The definition of each term appears in English and Esperanto. Complete indexes, referenced by the number of each article, are provided in Esperanto and the seven languages for which only translations (without definitions) are provided. Altogether, the volume is an ex- cellent buy for any businessman with contacts abroad. Those interested in an extensive lexico- graphical analysis are referred to the review in Esperanto, May 1974, by Dr. John C. Wells. His remarks are quite accurate as far as they go, but he understandably neglects one possible source of discontent this side of the Atlan- tic, i. e., the fact that the English here is for the most part of the British variety, although a few specifically American variants are included. Don't translate social security by sociala sekureco before reading the defi- nition, which makes it clear that the notion in question is what we call welfare. You want the term under social insurance, to wit, sociala asekuro. Of course, everyone will find a few terms missing. Among those conspicuously absent to this reviewer are per capita, laissez-faire and infant industries. There is no question, though, that this is the most inclusive dic- tionary of its kind available for Esperanto. Altogether, heartily recommended! Esperanto for the Blind Correspondence courses on three levels (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) are available without charge to blind people through the Hadley School for the Blind. Anyone in the world who is legally blind and can read Grade 2 English braille can en- roll in Esperanto 1 and Esperanto 2; Esperanto 3, which is conducted entirely in the inter- national language, is open to anyone who can write a braille letter in acceptable Esperanto. The student need provide only braille paper and writing equipment. Braille text- books, exercises, dictionaries, supplementary reading, and pronunciation tapes are provided by the Hadley School. Each pupil works at his or her own speed, but is expected to send in at least one lesson a month. Application forms may be requested from the Hadley School for the Blind, 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093. Additional in- formation can be furnished in braille or print by the instructor, Mrs. Dorothy Holland, 5140 San Lorenzo Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. ELNA, P. 0. Box 508, Burlingame, CA 94010 Please enroll me in the Esperanto League for North America. I enclose $10 annual dues. O New membership Q Renewal I am enclosing a tax-deductible contri- bution to ELNA in the amount of $______. NAME ADDRESS_ CITY STATE ZIP The Esperanto League for North America is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the use of Esperanto, the inter- national language, and thereby advancing friendly relations among all the peoples of the world. Members receive a bimonthly Newsletter and an annual anthology of original Esperanto works. New members get bonus international Esperanto news- paper Heroldo ($10 value, 18/year). All donations are tax-deductible. Information on bequests and gifts of stock or bonds will be provided upon request. 4 William Auld, returning to SFSU for fifth consecutive year (see p. 1). NEW GENERAL CATALOGUE TO APPEAR Regular customers of ELNA's book service should be overjoyed that they will soon be able to throw out the several dozen supple- ments to the old twenty-page booklist which appeared several years ago. At last a full catalogue of all literature will be available with up-to-date prices, covering both original and translated works, from novels, poetry and short stories to essays, scientific treatises and handbooks. This catalogue, which will include descriptions of most items, will be sent without charge to all members. It will be available to the general public for $1.00. ELNA's book service is among the finest in the world today, and is certainly the most comprehensive in this hemisphere. It can stay that way only if the membership utilizes it. Not only do book orders support the ESPERANTO LEAGUE FOR NORTH AMERICA P. O. Box 508 Burlingame, CA 94010 Usono/USA League financially, but they mean that the Esperantists in this country are raising their consciousness of the cultural value of the language itself, and thus becoming better equipped to advance and defend it. So keep your book service busyI LATIN CLASS WINS WITH ESPERANTO The Olympian Council, Latin club of Cir- cleville High School, Ohio, won the prize for Most Outstanding and Original Foreign Language Performance at the Foreign Language Festival of Otterbein College on 27 April. However, they put on not a Latin, but an Esperanto playlet: "Tri ursoj" (Three Bears), from the juvenile play collection Bonvolu esti mia amiko by Ella Gibson (75