LU NEWSLETTER News of the Language Problem and Esperanto as a Solution Jul-Aug 1988 Making News This Issue The Esperanto Book Is Here! Actually, it's entitled Esperanto: Learn- ing and Using the International Lan- guage. Take a first look at this long- awaited publication with the editor of the ELNA Newsletter, Don Harlow, who offers a comparison between this book and the Connor book popular years ago. You won't want to skip this "review." See Page 2 Central Office on the Move! Mark Stephens, Director of the CO., outlines his ongoing plans for the restruc- turing and streamlining of the operation of the Central Office. And now he has new full-time help—Robert Smales, ELNA's new Vice-Director. See Page 5 Looking Back at SFSU '88 Duncan Charters, ELNA's Vice-Presi- dent and frequent instructor at the Sum- mer classes, relates his impressions of the "SFSU experience" and comments on the '88 classes and the plans for the fu- ture. If you'veeverparticipatedin SFSU, you won't want to miss this. See Pages 6-7 In This Issue More Fractured English 5 UEA's Annual Report 7 Letters from our readers And Much, Much More to Delight and Inform You! Rumanaj Rememoroj Esperanto en Rumanio De Ionel Onet [Ni prezentu al vi samideanon lonel Onet. Ionel nasldĝis en Rumanio kaj devenas de la who Cluj-Napoca en Transilvanio; an- taunelonge li translokiĝis al Usono kaj nun logos enHayward, Kalifornio. Li lernis Espe- anton en Rumanio kaj intencas esti aktiva en la usona movado. Jen mallongapriskribo lia pri la Esperanto-movado en lia hejmlando. Ci tiu estas launuaelserio dafojaj artikoloj pri Esperanto en aliaj landoj.] Esperanto-eldonaĵojn kiuj atingas ilin, per- fektigi sian lingvonivelon kaj plani aliajn renkontiĝojn. Parolante pri 3000 personoj, mi aludas nur al tiuj, kiuj kuraĝis deklari sin esperantistoj. Sed, tutcerte, la rumana esperantistaro estas pli grandnombra kaj povus esti eĉ pli granda, se en tiu lando eblus aĉeti lemolibrojn, vor- tarojn, librojn en/pri Esperanto, aboni Espe- ranto-periodaĵojn. Sed la rumanaj eldonejoj obstine rifuzas aperigi Esperanto-librojn, dum larumana poŝto peras nur ses Esperanto- periodajojn el kelkaj socialismaj landoj (Bul- g ar a Esperantisto, Scienca Mondo, Paco—bulgara eldono, der Rumanio estas malgranda lando en Orienta Eŭropo. ĉiaj najbaroj estas jam mondfamaj en Esperantujo: Hungario, Jugoslavio, Bul- gario kaj eĉ Sovetunio. (vidu la maponsuban).SedprilaEspe-/^^\^^rr^;:i:\ esPerantist, Pola Esperan- ranto-movado en Rumanio, /.:::::::::::::::::::::::: :\ tisto. El Popola Ctnio). Kaj oni tre malmulte parolas/ / \ \ \ \ \ \ \ i hujn kaj aliajn Esperanto- skribas. Rial? /:::::;::::::::::::::;::::::: \ eldonajojn la ru- Bmfo,.......*>7-rC : i\ manaj esperanustoj legas senspire kaj •TlwfyGam '. Car en Rumanio— socialisma lando kun totalisma registaro— Esperanto estas malap- ogata, oficiale, afero. Espe- ranto estas konata tie, jam de pasinta jarcento. Ekde la unuaj jaroj de sia ekzisto, Esperanto havis en Rumanio parolantojn kaj apogantojn. Dum sia pli ol naŭdekjara historio, la Esperanto-movado en Rumanio trapasis malfacilajn periodojn. Sed ŝajne, ĉi jardeko—de la Centjariĝo de Espe- ranto—estas laplej malfacila. Kial, eĉlaBona Dio verŝajne ne scias. La verajn kaflzojn konas nur la altaj oficialuloj. Sed, spite tiujn malfacilaĵojn, la rumana esperantistaro ne malesperas kaj, pli-malpli kale, daŭras sian agadon. Laŭ neoficialaj statistikoj, en Rumanio ekzistas ĉirkaŭ 3000 esperantistoj (la enloĝantaro de tiu lando nombras 23 mil- ionojn da loĝantoj). Tiuj optimismaj uloj renkontiĝas en restoracioj, (kafo)trinkejoj, kabanoj, aŭ ĉe pli kuraĝaj personoj, por pridiskuti siajn aferojn, tralegi lamalmultajn ĝojas kvazah infanoj Bix**r**t:;;;;; ;j P*0 ĉiuj esperantajoj kiuj atingas ilin. Kaj tio okazas pli malpli ofte, dank' al bonvolo de alilandaj esper- antistoj kiuj sendas/kunportas esperantajojn al Rumanio. Sed bednifrinde ill estas etkvantaj kaj ne povas atingi ĉiujn Espe- ranto-centrojn en Rumanio, kies suprajo estas pli ol 237,500 kvadratkilometra. Kun malkompletaj lernolibroj kaj malno- vaj revuoj subbrake, la rumanaj esperantistoj vagadas de ejo al ejo por lemi kaj lemigi la plej facile lemeblan lingvon por ĝui ĝiajn avantaĝojn. Optirnismaj, ridetantaj, kun ver- daj steletoj stubruste, Ŭi atendas pli bonajn tempojn por si kaj por sia lando kaj, kial ne? helpon de bonkoraj alilandaj samideanoj. Pli ol aliaj, ili meritas tion. Ne forgesu, ke ankaŭ en la lando de Nas- tase, Comaneci, Enescu, Brancusi, Andreo ĉe, ekzistas esperantistoj. Jul-Aug 1988 The ELNA Newsletter 1 EDITORIAL Eight and a half years ago, on New Year'sDay, 1980, when I was a relatively new Director of the ELNA Central Of- fice, I participated in a meeting at the home of Bill andLucy Harmon to discuss the possibility of publishing a new source book aboutEsperanto for individuals and libraries. Over the succeeding eight years, the project developed; David Richardson, former President of ELNA and sometime editor of the North Ameri- can Esperanto Review, was asked to undertake preparation of a manuscript, and many members of ELNA contrib- uted funds to make actual publication of the manuscript possible. Yesterday I got a chance to see the results of all that hard work and selfless donation: several thou- sandcopies of David Richardson's Espe- ranto: Learning and Using the Inter- national Language arrived at the Cen- tral Office. This is not intended to be a book re- view; I hope to have one of those for the next issue of the Newsletter. In any case, in the twenty-two hours I've had the book I haven't had time to give it more than a very cursory examination. But I would like to make some preliminary remarks. Richardson's book (henceforth "The Richardson Book") will inevitably be compared with its predecessor and inspiration, Esperanto: The World In- terlanguage by Connor, Connor, Solzbacher & Kao (henceforth "The Connor Book"). Two questions arise: does The Richardson Book succeed in filling the shoes left vacant by The Con- nor Book? and does Richardson succeed in avoiding the major pitfalls into which the earlier quartet of authors fell? The answer to the first question, in my opin- ion, is mainly Yes; to the second ques- tion, a definite Yes. The Connor Book aimed at being six books in one; it contained informational, didactic, literary and directory sections, as well as Esperanto-English and Eng- lish-Esperanto vocabularies. For a 250- page small-format book, this was just too much. Richardson, with half again as many pages in a larger format, eschews both the directory and English-Esperanto sections; he gives us 64 pages of informa- tional material, a textbook, a reader, and an Esperanto-English vocabulary. The last three sections, however, are rather tightly integrated: the reader is intended as a follow-on to the textbook section, and is well glossed and annotated; the vocabulary contains only those words necessary to enable an individual to read the material in Esperanto in The Richardson Book. Where The Connor Book placed heavy emphasis on a con- versational/dialogue approach to learn- ing the language, Richardson uses dia- logues as supplementary material to a more traditional grammar-and-drill-ori- ented approach; while this may not be in line with modem approaches to lan- guage-learning, I personally suspect that it will be more fruitful to the average American self-student of Esperanto, since he is more likely to want to learn the language for reading and writing rather than speaking, at least at first. So by and large The Richardson Book is a more than worthy successor to The Connor Book. The major problem with The Connor Book was its 35-page "Guidebook for the Practical Esperantist." Given that the book appears to have been reprinted only at ten-year intervals, the material in this section was simply too topical; it con- sisted chiefly of names of organizations and their addresses, information that UEA keeps up to date only through the publication of its annual Jarlibro. Richardson completely avoids this by restricting his discussion of Esperanto special interest groups to chapter 4 of his informational section, and not giving addresses; presumably the reader will know that he can obtain current informa- tion from ELNA or UEA. Technically, the book is well-com- posed, well-printed, well-bound. The print is easy to read, the binding is good and solid, and the layout is elegant. Richardson's choice of pictures, particu- larly in the informational section, is gen- erally good (the 1977 "Doonesbury" strip on pp. 4-5 is a classic); of the group photographs, however, the only really appropriate one is the one on p. 46. What about criticisms? My major one is that, according to my earlier under- standing, this was supposed to be a source book for information about Espe- ranto. Indeed, Richardson devotes twice as much space to information as The Connor Book did; nonetheless, that is only one sixth of the total size of the book; the rest is basically instructional, turning the work, to some extent, into "just another textbook." A good textbook may well be something that we need; but it's not what I was expecting. The informational section is, of course, far more up to date than even the latest edition of The Connor Book. The first chapter, "The Trouble With Language," makes heavy use of Sen. Paul Simon's The Tongue-Tied American. The sec- ond chapter, "Solving the Language Problem," includes much material (pp. 15-17) that would be more at home in the first chapter. The third chapter, "The Search for a Common Tongue," is largely a history of the Esperanto movement; interested students will look in vain for other language projects (Solresol and Volapuk share a page; Ido receives a bare mention; such well-known relatively recent non-starters as stillborn Loglan, dead Occidental and Basic English, and moribund Interlingua are not even men- tioned). ELNA, it seems to me, is se- verely short-changed in the body of the text; itis barely mentioned, in spite of the fact that it was ELNA that made publica- tion of this work possible. I should mention, on the credit side, that Richardson brings out a number of points that are not often enough stressed or even noticed. On p. 67, for instance, he points out that words should be accented on the penultimate vowel—none of this nonsense about syllables. On p. 9 he points out that the percentage of the world's population speaking English is actually decreasing, a fact he quotes from Sen. Simon (though anyone familiar with Dr. Sidney Culbert's statistics over the years could easily reach the same conclu- sion). Use of "World Esperanto Associa- tion" for UEA is a great improvement over the traditional, and hardly accurate, mistranslation of the name. And the two paragraphs at the bottom of p. 60 should be required reading for anybody strug- gling to hold his breath until lafina venk'. If you're a new or budding Esperantist, get it for yourself, In any case, get your local library a copy. The Richardson Book is here. 2 The ELNA Newsletter Jul-Aug 1988 WkWk to In the Media Lcs Kerr has a long article in the Bellevue, WA Journal-American (March 27,1988) about his experiences at a conference on Esperanto in science and technology in Leipzig and his new friendship with a Russian Esperantist from Kiev. "I hope someday to visit Zhenya in Kiev," Kerr says. "Thanks to Esperanto, I know that I'll have many friends waiting for me there, as well as in any cities I may visit along the way." The article is interesting, well-written, and upbeat in tone, (sent by Arlyn Kerr) Ihsan M. Zulfikary gives a brief overview of Esperanto's history, its literature, and its philatelic importance in his article "Celebrating 100 Years: Esperanto" in the magazine Topical Time (May-June). Zulfikary lists nine countries that issued commemorative postage stamps in the Esperanto Jubilee Year of 1988. Esperanto appeared yet again on the TV game show "Jeopardy" (June4,1988) as an answer to a question to be guessed by the contestants. The answer proposed (and correctly questioned by one of the contestants) was: "Incubus, a 1965 film featuring William Shatner, featured dia- logue written in this universal language." (from the Bulletin of the Esperanto Soci- ety of Washington, DC) The Montreal, Quebec Gazette (June 13, 1988) picked up a Reuters article from Utrecht on the use of Esperanto by the Dutch company BSO for its Distributed Language Translation computer transla- tion scheme. The article questions the sufficiency of Esperanto's technical vocabulary and its freedom from the ambiguities that plague human lan- guages, but admits that "Zamenhof s hope of creating a language for people to communicate with each other around the world may still come true, in a way he never imagined." "ESPERANTO: Universal language seeks to bring people together" is the title of an article by Sarah E. Bearup-Neal in the Flint, MI, newspaper Omni (June 19, 1988). This large, upbeat article dis- cusses Esperanto based on an interview with Flint Esperantist John O'Dell, member of the Society of Esperanto Language Friends and long-time Esper- antist. "[Esperanto] is the language I will be using consistently [during an upcom- ing trip to Bulgaria]," says O'Dell in the article. "I have absolutely no knowledge of Slavic languages. Butabout 25 percent of the [Bulgarians] speak Esperanto. I have friends [with whom] I've been cor- responding for over a period of a year, and none of them speak English, but all are fluent Esperantists." Barbara Funkhauser, editorial page edi- tor of the El Paso, TX, Times (July 3, 1988), quotes at length from Z. Anthony Kruszewski, director of the Cross-Cul- tural Southwest Ethnic Study Center of the University of Texas, in her article "Esperanto began in Poland as language for everyone." Dr. Kruszewski, the grandson of the famous Esperantist poet and translator Antoni Grabowski (for whom he was named), participated in a ceremony unveiling a placque honoring his grandfather in Warsaw recently. The placque recognizes Grabowski as "the founder of Esperanto poetry." Also pres- ent were the president of the Polish par- liament, the president of the World Espe- ranto Association, and "Esperanto offi- cials and enthusiasts from throughout Europe." A front-page article in the Boise, Idaho Statesman (July 26,1988), "Hatmaker- turned-linguist to teach Esperanto at BSU," by Renee Villeneuve, describes at length David Barron's involvement with the Esperanto movement and gives some background on the language. In die ar- ticle, Barron suggests the use of Espe- ranto for a future joint US-Soviet manned Mars expedition, (submitted by Martin Leonard) In The Nation (July 30-August6), Frank W. Lewis's Crossword Puzzle on p. 111 presents ESPERANTO as the solution for "Not a national language, displayed by poets near madness." "Poets near" is an anagram of "Esperanto," and "poets near madness" may be said to "rant." (pointed out by William Patterson) An excellent 15-page article by ELNA Executive Board member Dr. Ronald Glossop, "Language Policy and a Just World Order," in the magazine Alterna- tives (July, 1988), pushes Esperanto as a necessary component ofanymodelofa just and democratic world order. The article is well-researched and footnoted, and anyone who wishes to work with such non-Esperantist internationalist organizations as UNA-USA should try to get a copy and become familiar with the reasoning, (from Ron Glossop and Bob Irwin) Bill Welsh, W6DDB, has an excellent three-page article on the use of Esperanto for amateur radio contacts in his regular column in CQ (August, 1988). Among other things, Mr. Welsh goes into detail about times and frequencies for Espe- ranto code nets and voice nets, and gives a number of contact addresses and call signs for members of the Internacia Ligo de Esperantistaj Radio-Amatoroj in the United States. "We believe Esperanto provides a unique way to significantly enhance understanding between peoples of the world via amateur radio," says Mr. Welsh, (from John Massey) Don Harlow mentions Esperanto in a letter on bilingualism and multilingual- ism published in the Oakland, California, Tribune (August 21). Edward Epstein, in his column 'World Insider" in the San Francisco, California, Chronicle (August 24), tells us that be- tween 16 and 20 million people today speak Esperanto, up from 8 million in 1973. (noticed by Mark Stephens) Jul-Aug 1988 The ELNA Newsletter 3 fflL IBEPOBT the United States CALIFORNIA During the first half of the month of July,anumberofdifferentactivitieswere associated with the regular Esperanto summer courses at San Francisco State University, which were attended by al- most sixty students from the United States and several other countries. On My 3 a party was held at the home of Bill and Cathy Schulze, with food, music and folk dancing. On July 9 the Berkeley Esperanto League sponsored a hike at Point Reyes National Seashore. The high point of that day, however, was an eve- ning reception on campus at Verducci Hall for the famous science-fiction au- thor and Honorary President of the Irish Esperanto Association Mr. Fiarry Harri- son. On July 10 a second party was held at the home of UEA Chief Delegate Bill Harmon and ELNA Commissioner for Travel and Tourism Lucy Harmon. Am interest group on Esperanto litera- ture now meets weekly in the ELNA offices in Emeryville. Recent activities have included: a discussion of Harry Harrison's original short story "Ni venos, d-ro Zamenhof, ni venos"; criticism and polishing translations of three modern Hebrew poems by group member Daniella Thompson; a discussion of the current argument between linguistic neologists and conservatives; and a group translation of Ray Bradbury's "Night Meeting." At a meeting on the 20th of July, the Foreign Language Subcommittee of the State Committee on Education refused to recommend Esperanto for teaching in California schools, but affirmed that the teaching of Esperanto as a credit subject is permitted, (sent by Steve Church) During the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride parade on June 26 in San Francisco the recently formed Gay Esperantist as- sociation marked before a crowd of over 300,000people displaying abannerread- ing "Gejaj Esperantistoj." Over 600 flyers and bookmarks were handed out along the parade route, and several times people from the crowd enthusiastically greeted the contingent in Esperanto, (sent by "Bagoas") DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA As in California (see above), DC also has its own Esperanto literary discussion group, under the guidance of Ralph Domain. Recent meetings have included discussions of: Czech author Karel Capek's short story "Tkonoklasmo"; the original poetry of the Russian Esperantist author Yevgenij Mikhalski; and South American author Jorge Luis Borges's short story "La Sudo." (reported by Ralph Dumain inLaBultenoot the Espe- ranto Society of Washington, D.C.) Forty members and friends of the Es- peranto Society of Washington were given a special treat on August 12: an evening presentation by the Carinthian Male Octet "Suha". Suha is known to be the most accomplished Slovenian chorus of Carinthia. The concert featured songs in Latin, Esperanto and Slavic, and re- gional folk songs. They were accompa- nied during their tour by some of their teachers, and led by Katherine Zablatnik of Gallizien, Carinthia. (provided by Ralph Dumain) ILLINOIS At its regular monthly meeting of 26 June, the Esperanto Society of Chicago heard Dr. Gertrude Novak, local delegate of UEA, describe life and activities in the neighborhood of Nome, Alaska, as part of a slide presentation. Jane Farrugia in her turn described her own country, Malta, both as a center of historical im- portance in the time of the Crusades and as a modern goal of numerous tourists attracted by Malta's natural beauty. She also described Esperanto activity in Malta. (From Salutonl, the newsletter of the Chicago Society) MICHIGAN The Midwest Esperanto Conference, held in Portage on the weekend of 25 June, attracted nine people for the pre- liminary classes which took place during the week preceding the conference, and twenty participants in the conference it- self. Attendees came from as far away as California and the Carolinas. In a discus- sion of the needs of the Esperanto move- ment, proposals were: cartoonists, speak- ers, publicists, teachers, a mail database, demographic surveys, free-lance writers, and computer adventure games in Espe- ranto, (sent by Sherry Wells) The Esperanto Society of Michigan has elected Wes Arnold, John Starling, John O'Dell and Webb Scrivnor to its board of directors. Les Share, who has served as president for three years, has resigned to involve himself in other as- pects of promoting Esperanto; vice- president Mary Napolitan has temporar- ily assumed the office of President, (from La Semanto, newsletter of the ESM) On July 16-17, members of the kala- mazua Progresantaro participated in an international festival at the downtown mall. John Bassett, John Starling, and Marcel Schwenter set up a display of Esperanto books, postcards, fact sheets, and letters from Esperanto pen pals in other countries. Despite a heat wave, the festival was well attended and they talked in depth to more than a hundred people about Esperanto and distributed several hundred fliers, (sent by M.A. Schwenter) ELSEWHERE Mr. Lawrence A. Walker, the U.S. Consul in Shenyang, China (see report in our March-April issue), accompanied by his assistant Mr. Ying Ching-u, paid a visit to the Liaoning Esperanto Associa- tion. Wang Zhen-hu, assistant to the General Secretary of the Association, warmly received the guests and made them acquainted with the Esperanto movement in Liaoning Province and China. The guests also watched the Esperanto television film on "Simplified Tai-chi-chuan Exercise." Mr. Walker had learned Esperanto when he was 16. In February, after reading a report about the Esperanto movemenL in Liaoning, he got the idea of visiting the Esperanto Association. The guests and the host expressed the wish to work together to promote understanding and friendship between Esperantists in China and the United States, (reported in the August issue of El Popola Ĉinio) 4 The ELNA Newsletter Jul-Aug 1988 From the Central Office Structuring for Growth During 1988 membership in ELNA has increased by more than 36% over the previous year. Obviously this is a good thing for Esperanto in general and ELNA in particular. But the addition of new members means not only increased reve- nue for ELNA, but also an increased workload for an already overworked Central Office. With its eye on the future, the Board of Directors recently voted to approve the employment of an additional full-time staff member. This position has been filled by Robert Smales of Bermuda, who replaces Reginald Jaderstrom. In addition to the extra help and in- creased volunteer aid, we are actively planning strategies to even out some of the botdenecks we experience through- out the year. For example, a special peri- odical subscription campaign is beging planned for October. By planning in advance we will be able to process the yearly subscriptions faster and more accurately, thus preventing interruption of service. In addition, an "Abono- sezono" is under consideration. This would provide a time period within which subscriptions would receive of- fice-time priority. Sometime after the periodical cam- paign, the yearly membership drive will be initiated. Last year's "reminder" of membership dues was so successful that we will expand and refine the reach of this drive by combining the ELNA and UEA membership forms. This should cut the processing time considerably. Streamlining and restructuring of of- fice procedures is underway and will continue during the coming year. We have already made many time-saving changes in the way we handle orders and correspondence, and plan to avail our- selves of the wealth of professional ex- pertise among ELNA members to further increase our productivity. This will be aided by the creation of a "National Tal- ent Bank" to be initiated in late 1988 or early 1989. The main goal of these changes is the restructuring of ELNA's CO. in order to keep pace with the growth of our move- ment in the United States and to aid that growth by means of better, more accu- rate, more responsive service to the Espe- ranto-speaking community. We welcome and invite the sugges- tions of our members. We have incorpo- rated many suggestions during the previ- ous year and plan to implement more as time and circumstances permit. During this time of change we especially encour- age you to supply feedback on what we are doing and how it affects you. —Mark Stephens FRACTURED INGLfSH Sign in a Florence dress shop: Dresses for Street Walkers Signinfrontofadoctor'sofficeinRome: Specialist in Women and Other Diseases Notice on the door of every room in Italian hotel: Fire! It is what can doing we hope. No fear. Not ourselves. Say quietly to all people coming up down every- where a prayer. Always is a clerk. He is assured of safety by expert men who are in the bar for tele- phone for the fighters of the fire come out. Found in tourist brochure from Poland: As for the tripe served you at the Hotel Monopol, you will be singing its praises to your grandchildren as you lie on your deathbed. Likewise, the following delectibles were listed on a menu in a Vienna restaurant: Fried milk Children sandwiches Boiled sheep Finally, US Ham Buggers are available at a certain restaurant in Warsaw, babble gum is here purchasing in Osaka, and you'll be happy to know you can get your morning extract of fowl peached or sunside up at a hotel in France. PULL-TIME VICE-DIRECTOR! ELNA is pleased to announce the ap- pointment of Robert Smales to thepo- sition of Vice-Director, ELNA Cen- tral Office. Smales brings experience in bookkeeping, accounting, com- puter operations and general office skills that will be invaluable. Smales, 38, was born in Bermuda. His father being a U.S. citizen places Smales in the enviable position of being a dual citizen. His main hobby, aside from Esperanto, is sailing. Smales taught himself Esperanto three years ago, attended SFSU courses in 1987 and 1988, and experienced the "true Espe- ranto-land" at Chaux-de-Fonds, Swit- zerland for a week in 1986. Jul-Aug 1988 The ELNA Newsletter 5 SFSU ESPERANTO COURSES, '88 by Duncan Charters Each year at San Francisco State is at once the same and different Back in 1970, when I joined William Auld as an assistant for the very first course pro- gram, I was greatly enriched both by hearing and appreciating his fine, natural command of the language and learning about Esperanto literature from an expert in a way that would not have been pos- sible anywhere else. From a teacher's perspective, it was exciting to see the progress of beginning and intermediate students in just three weeks. And then there were the long conversations with the instructor and fellow students (not always just about Esperanto!) which it is hard to find time for in the context of other Esperanto gatherings. These are some of the basic elements which have not changed with the years, and I trust will always be a part of the course experience at "State," as the local students refer to their University. Then what changes? The teaching personnel, so that returning students can always count on fresh, new approaches. It has been gratifying to me to see the pool of potential instructors increase as strong students are trained in the program and later go on to become effective teachers. Methods and approaches change, too, as instructors have incorporated both origi- nal ideas and adaptations to Esperanto of progressive steps in language teaching from around the world. Course structure and out-of-class activities change too, moving back and forth from the highly structured to the freer and more sponta- neously improvised. And most interest- ing for many of us, the students change. Each year brings a different mix of ages, interests, and experience, from language students and those newly curious about Esperanto to those with many years or even decades of working with the lan- guage. Add to this mix a few students from other countries and cultures, and getting everything coordinated and eve- rybody working together can seem quite challenging the first week! When 50 people of diverse ages and backgrounds make the investment of time and money needed to come to San Francisco, individual and group expecta- tions naturally run very high. No, we can'tbring you from zero to total fluency in three weeks! Yet almost everyone agrees that what is accomplished in the three weeks is very worthwhile. Those of us who teach feel very rewarded by the appreciation expressed by the students both during and at the close of the course program. Some are especially grateful for the solid foundation on which they will be able to continue their own individ- ual study through the year. Others are excited (with their instructors!) because they make the breakthrough and begin to have meaningful conversations in the language. Still others appreciate getting a better perspective on the Esperanto movement as a whole, with a clearer understanding of the validity of Esperanto's claims and significance as a means for international communication. Serious work, certainly, but a lot of fun too! While the above remarks are general in nature, they are all prompted by what we observed in the 1988 program. This year I coordinated the program and team- taught with colleagues Dr. Edmund (Kajmo) Brent from Canada and Dr. Amri Wandei from Israel. As has been the case over the past few years, we offered four 3-credit courses ranging from beginners to advanced, and I also offered, with some assistance from my colleagues, a 1-credit course in Methods of Teaching Esperanto. Students at all levels had permission to audit (sit in on) a course at another level, and we encour- aged this so that everyone could have maximum exposure to the language and to the three instructors. The University has two new computer labs, so through Amri's work we were able to expand on what he had done the last time we taught together, and students had the opportu- nity to become familiar with CAI (com- puter-assisted instruction) in Esperanto, as well as with computerized testing (a little traumatic for some, especially if it was their first acquaintance with the computer!). The groups were fairly well balanced in size, large enough for group work and small enough for individual attention (and performance!). The two elementary language groups (beginners and near- beginners) worked on their language skills with various materials, as selected by each instructor. The work included pronunciation, grammar, reading and discussion skills, small-group work, conversation, simulated situations using Esperanto, and other communicative activities. The intermediates did some similar language-development activities, Continued on next page International Teaching Team (from left): Duncan Charters (USA), Kajmo Brent (Canada), Amri Wandei (Israel). Photo by Doris Vallon-Wheeler. 6 The ELNA Newsletter Jul-Aug 1988 SFSU from previous page and did some excellent work together in considering the importance of reading literature in general as well as the specific value of reading Esperanto literature. At this level and the previous one, students had the opportunity to write essays which were corrected and then copied so that all students could benefit from the content and corrections of each other's work. The principal innovation this year was Kajmo Brent's workshop for the advanced stu- dents on topics in the scientific study of the Esperanto language and its speech community. Students were challenged to learn how to learn together in a structured way, and to come to group and individual conclusions, without depending on the teacher as the found of all wisdom and answers! The students showed during their final evening presentation die confi- dence they had gained in reasoning through these questions for themselves under their instructor's direction. We have been especially fortunate to have the full cooperation of the Univer- sity administration, which of course has been essential to the continuity of the program. Among a number of others, Dean of Humanities Nancy McDerrnid and Humanities Summer Session Direc- tor Griff Richards never failed to provide what was needed to support our activi- ties. We have had another good year. Yet owing to the complexity of the program and the changing personnel from year to year, it has become clear that an organ- izational handbook would be most help- ful for each year's coordinator and in- structors. Since I plan to prepare a draft over the next few months, I would be most appreciative of hearing from former instructors and students of anything that should be covered in the handbook. With our new "alumni association," the Espe- ranto-Diplomitoj de San-Francisko, we are in a good position to build on the work so well begun and cared for by Cathy Schulze, on to and beyond the 20th year! ESTRARA RAPORTO PRI LA JUBILEA JARO En la junia numero de la revuo Espe- ranto aperis 16-paĝa jarraporto pri la sukcesoj kaj malsukcesoj, atingoj kaj atendoj, de UEA en 1987j. Jen kelkaj punktoj, kiuj eble interesos ankaŭ al nemembroj. 1) Fine de la jaro UEA havis 44 aliĝintajn landajn asociojn, 5 aliĝintajn kaj 31 kunlaborantajn fakajn asociojn. 2) Inter volontuloj ĉe la CO. en 1987 laboris tri usonanoj: Roger Blaine, Curt Ford, kaj Roy McCoy. 3) UEA vendis la Grafikan Centron en Antverpeno al la Flandra Esperanto- Ligo. 4) UEA membroj nombris 43 642 en 1987, el kiuj 7 291 estis individuaj membroj. 5) La nombro de delegitoj kreskis ĝis 2 450; sed la nombro de delegitecoj malkreskisĝis3 319. 6) En 1987 aperis ĉe UEA la verkoj Vetero kaj Klimato de laMondo; Salu- ton! (reeldono); Studoj pri la inter- nacia lingvo (kunlabore kun AIMAV); kaj Socilingvistikaj aspektoj de la In- ternacia Lingvo. 7) La negativa saldo ĉe UEA malkre- skis ĝis 14 985 gld. (proks. $7 500) en 1987. Oni planas iomete plialtigi koti- zojn en 1989 por kovri tiun saldon. 8) Pliboniĝis la enhavo de la revuo Esperanto, kaj plifruiĝis ĝia monata apero. 9) Diccon Masterman de Italio transprenis la redaktoran postenon por Esperanto-Dokumentoj de Humphrey Tonkin. 10) En la Jubilea UK en Varsovio par- toprenis 5 946 aliĝintoj el 73 landoj. 11) La pozitiva artikolo en U.S. News & World Report aperis ankaŭ en itala, korea kaj rusa tradukoj. 12) La oficejon de UEA en Novjorko gvidas d-roj Humphrey Tonkin kaj Julius Janson kaj s-inoj Rochelle Grossman, Elizabeth Manson kaj Sharon Bourke. 13) Inter antologioj aperontaj en 1988 devos esti kaj aŭstralia kaj dua angla. 14) Entute 1044 personoj partoprenis la jarkongreson de TEJO—same kiel en Varsovio, rekorda nombro. ESPERANTO \_/ TRAVEL '8 8 4-28 October 1988: A bus load of Polish Esperantists will be visiting the U.S. They will arrive via LOT Polish Airlines in Montreal, and will spend two days in Can- ada before going on to visit Boston, New York, Niagara Falls, Detroit and Ham- tramck (the largest population of Polish people outside of Warsaw), Chicago, Co- lumbus (Ohio), Washington DC, Wil- liamsburg, Norfolk, Wilrnington, Char- leston, Savannah, along the Otter Bank to St. Augustine, Florida. Then they'll visit Orlando with Disneyworld and Epcot Center, Tampa and Ft Myers, and through the Everglades to Miami and along the Florida keys all the way to Key West! They will fly home via Montreal to Warsaw. They will be accompanied by Charles Galvin, the San Francisco Esperantist who traveled with them last year. They were so happy with last year's trip that 300 of them have applied for visas this year! But only a lucky few will be able to come. We are trying to arrange visits with as many Esper- antists as possible along the way. The bus is equipped with a speaker sys- tem, 2 TV monitors, a VCR, and individual headsets. When the scenery outside is not compelling enough, the Esperanto tapes, music, and lessons should keep everyone happy! If you would like to join them in their sleeper-bus as they travel and camp across the southeastern part of the U.S., we can arrange to "internaciigi" the group. Seriously, October is a great month for traveling through Florida! 74-a U.K. Brighton, Anglujo 29 julio-5 aŭgusto 1989. Aliĝiloj kaj Unuaj Bultenoj haveblas de Esperanto-Vojaĝservo. If you're interested in something special for a post-UK ekskirso, let us know right away! 75-a U.K. Havana, Cuba 14-21 July, 1990! Mark calendar! Esperanto Travel Service 578 Grand Avenue Oakland, CA 94610 (415) 836-1710 Jul-Aug 1988 The ELNA Newsletter 7 LETTER [Aaron Reed proponas Ideon por pli- vastiga la partoprenadon de la iisona (kaj alia) esperantistaro en la eldona agado.] Fellow Esperantists, I wish to ask you... ĉu vi ŝatas esperantigi ion, kio plaĉas al vi? ĉu vi ŝaias poemojn, rakontojn, aŭ artikolojn en Esperanto verki? ĉu vi ŝatas korespondi en la internacia lingvo? Sejes al unu aŭ ĉiu, do mi proponas, ke ni provu ion novan, almenaŭ laŭ mia scio, novan al esperantistoj. Jam de longe ĉi tiu "novaĵo" ekzistas en la mondo de ŝatan- toj de komiksoj (bildstrioj) kaj scienc- fikcio. ĉitioestasnomita angle "A.P.A." aŭ Amateur Press Association. En Espe- ranto, taŭga traduko de la angla estas, laŭ mia opinio, "A.E.R.-0" afj Amatora Eldono-Rondo. Kio ĝi estas? AER-o estas rondeto da 10 ĝis 40 anoj, kiuj kunproduktas por si mem sian pro- pran gazeton, dlstribuatan sole al ĉiu ano. En AER-o, ĉiu ano produktas mini- muman nombron da paĝoj (ordinare unu paĝon en ĉiu dua monato) por ĉiu nu- mero, kaj antau la limdato sendas fotokopiojn de ĉiu produktita paĝo al cef- postisto. La ĉef-poŝtisto ordigas la paĝojn senditajn de ĉiu ano, kaj najlkrampas ilin, produktante tiel gazeton. Fine, la ĉef-poŝtisto, kiu ankaŭ estas la rekdaktisto kaj ricevanto de pagenda poŝt-mono, sendas la kom- pletigitajn gazetojn al ĉiu ano de la AER-o. Tio estas la teknika aspekto de tia gezeto-produktado. Kvankam... kion oni povas fari en ĝi? La tri ĉu-frazojn (ĉe la komenco de tiu ĉi letero) relegu. AER-ojn ofte uzas seriozaj ŝatantoj de scienc-fikcio kaj komiksoj por plibonigi siajn kapablojn en skribado, ilustrado, k.a. Mi opinias, ke AER-oj, estrataj de spertaj esperantistoj, estos loko tre bona por tiuj, kiuj serioze deziras plibonigi sian sperton kun la internacia lingvo. Fakte, ĉiuj (de spertuloj al lernantoj) povas profitegi per partoprenado en AER-o. Tutkore mi rekomendas, kc la anoj plej spertaj, Muj havas sufiĉan tempon, kreu kaj estru AER-ojn. ĉu vi konsentas, ke ĉi tio estas bona ideo? Aaron Reed [Se vi sentas intereson pri la propono, la adreso de s-ro Reed estas: 23 Mystic St., Brockton, MA 02402-2825. Mi mem rekomendus reteni la nomon APA, Ama- tora Pres-Asocio, tar temas pri presado, in ne?] [El Germanio skribas d-ro Jonathan Pool,] Bernard Golden, skribante en la jan- uar-februara numero "And what woman can resist the temptation to thumb through a fashion magazine?", diskrim- iniskontraŭ aliaj homgrupoj. Mipostulas egalan trakton. Do bonvolu korekri lian artikolon per la jenaj kromaj frazoj: "Every man is an avid fan of war, boxing, and porno magazines. Blacks, as we all know, can always be found with a crumpled recent issue of a jazz, rock, or revolutionary magazine in their back pockets. Then there are the Southerners; have you ever seen one without an evan- gelical Christian magazine on his or her coffee table? And recently mere's been lots of talk about the type called the 'Jewish American Princess'; well, you'll reach at least 99% of them if you can sneak an article into IheNew YorkReview of Books," Sen tiu kromteksto, mi timas, ke la artikolo de Golden danĝere minacas la neŭtralecon de la Newsletter kaj do de ELNA. Jonathan Pool ["And what member of that minority group 'Esperantists' have you ever seen without his own copy of the ELNA News- letter?" Serioze: miafilino, legante vian leteron, sugesiis, ke mi memorigu vin kaj la ceterajn legantojn, ke opinioj aperan- taj super la subskribo de iu difinita per- sona ] a estas la opinioj de tiupersono, kaj ne nepre de ELNA. Tio rilatas ankaŭ al redaktoraj opinioj. Pri la deklaro de d-ro Golden: mi havas unu-du filinojn, kiuj neniam indikis apartan intereson pri modgazetoj.] [Dr. Marianne Lee writes from the University of Southern California,] [In response] to Thomas Goodman's letter in the Jan.-Feb. Newsletter. I am in agreement with the need to strengthen and support the Central Office and the dedicated volunteers in the Bay Area. I have attended the SFSU [summer courses] several times—14 years ago and again this year and last. We have just formed an Alumni Association, per sug- gestion of John Matthews, to support and assist the wonderful courses here. The work to plan, develop and especially the contacts with the University has been done for over 20 years by Cathy Schulze, Duncan Charters, David Jordan and oth- ers. [About the establishment of an SFSU Alumni Association, see the announce- ments section of this Newsletter.] [Wes Arnold informs us from Michi- gan] As of July 1988 over 200 letters have been received from about 40 countries [for a correspondence exhibit]. In Octo- ber 1987 the magazine Esperanto pub- lished just once [my] announcement. Over 25 replies were received. A similar ad was placed once only in the magazine El Popola Ĉinio which resulted in over 100 replies.,.. Since Esperanto is now in over 100 countries my goal is to have contacts with people in all of them. I plan to make an exhibit of letters and photo- graph it so that it may be used as a promotion for Esperanto, Anyone inter- ested in this may contact me. The resulting letters were very friendly and often contained picture post cards or gifts. The age range was from 12-66. Occupations appear like a cross section of society from young students to engi- neers and doctors. Sexes were about two males to each female.... All in all it has been a wonderful experience to make new friends around the world. They may come in handy when my students want to write to someone in another country. And when I travel to some of these countries it will be nice to have a friend to show me around who speaks the local language. [Soliciting letters for exhibits (leter- vesperoj) is an old custom in Esperan- tujo. The only disadvantage to the proc- ess is that you have to answer all those received. Still, the public reaction is often worth the effort... andyou can make a lot of new friends.] 8 The ELNA Newsletter Jul-Aug 1988 Esperanto kaj Literaturo Auld, William: La Fenomeno Espe- ranto. Rotterdam: UEA, 1988. 120p. Prezo Ĉe ELNA: $9.95. Kodo: FEN003. William Auld, one of the most prolific of current Esperanto poets and transla- tors, was commissioned by the Univer- sala Esperanto-Asocio to write this brief but content-rich book. It is one among the wealth of Esperanto centennial publica- tions, done with the intentions of present- ing "an overview of the International Language and the ideas behind it." The eight chapter headings are as fol- lows (in translation): (1) The Problem; (2) The Solution: In Theory; (3) The Solution: Practice; (4) The Language Esperanto; (5) A Very Concise History of the Esperanto Movement; (6) "ALimited and Artificial Language"; (7) How to Make Use of It; (8) Cultural Questions. In three appendixes are a Concise Grammar of Esperanto, aTableofCorrelatives.and Zamenhof's Address to the First Espe- ranto Congress. (The chapter headings, purely by coincidence, correspond in several instances to those in an English- language book being prepared by News- letter editor Don Harlow.) Fenomeno discusses the language problem and possible solutions as well as describing Esperanto itself. Much of what is presented we have previously learned at least partly in early stages of our esperantistado. Reading this book is a good refresher—whether as a review of specific facts forgotten or not learned, or as a way of getting new perspectives on certain points. The language problem at the United Nations is brought up to date in Chapter 2. As part of Chapter 4 Auld goes through the 16 fundamental rules, commenting on each. He gives possible reasons why some were included. The longest discus- sion is on the famous (infamous?) rule 15, which allows for the introduction of "foreign" words. Auld's attitude here is basically conservative: he defends the need to accept internationally known scientific and technical words, suggest- ing also that basic roots should be intro- duced and that derivatives be formed according to the rules of the language (for example, using redaktisto rather than re- daktoro). He deplores the introduction of anglicisms such as slriptizo, nokaŭli, handikapita, suggesting as alternatives incitnudiĝo, senkonsciigi, malavantaĝa. But he sees probable value in buldozo. In other parts of Chapter 4 he deals with ease in acquiring skills in the lan- guage, high-level flexibility, pronuncia- tion, and stability. On the topic of pro- nunciation, he puts forth the obvious fact that uniform pronunciation does not exist in any language. While differences in Esperanto exist due to varied linguistic backgrounds, he points out that "because the. aim of Esperanto is international communication, its speakers consciously strrive to standardize their usage" (em- phases in the original). He also points out the simplicity in the five-vowel system, which "permits relatively wide diver- gence without loss of clear sense." Auld begins Chapter 6 by taking to task LA. Richards' assertion that Esperanto literature is "limited and artificial." He acknowledges that there are quantitative limits during its brief history, while pointing out that there exist between six and ten thousand works—enough to occupy one person for his entire life— and about 220 titles added yearly— which one can hardly study during one year's time. On the question of "artifi- cial" literature, Auld points out that "all literature in the entire world is artificial (artefarita) by definition, because litera- ture, like music, painting, ballet, is an art created artfully (kreita arte) by artists." He goes on to give examples of Esperanto's value as a translation lan- guage (which most people can conceive of) and as a language for original writing (which many find difficult to realize). He also points out that the fact that Esperanto publishers are found in many countries is also an advantage, in that translations from "small" literatures are easily avail- able to Esperantists everywhere. In Chapter 7 Auld goes through the wide variety of ways Esperanto can be used throughout the world—tailored to one's own interests. He reasserts the rapid learnability and useability of Espe- ranto in comparison with other lan- guages. But he adds that one should not suppose that Esperantists are against the study of other languages. He points out that the study of Esperanto often inspires interest in still other languages—as many of us can attest from our own experiences or those of others we have met. At the beginning of Chapter 8 Auld points out that the opponents of Espe- ranto have constantly needed to change their arguments, "because little by little their theoretical predictions have been shown to be false. The language has not broken up into dialects; it has not become rigit; literature has been created in it; it is capable of translating the most diverse texts ..." The most common assertion now is that Esperanto lacks culture. Auld immediately acknowledges that Esperanto lacks a national culture, its role of course being to transcend national cultures. He then points out that cultures are often not nationally based—such as those associated with religions or with Black heritage. He goes on to say that culture groups generally identify them- selves by differences, while among Esperantists the similarities among all people are emphasized. And quoting a speech by Zamenhof, he points out that there is no contradiction between the two kinds of culture: one can be at the same time a member of a country and amember of humanity. He ends by pointing out that, even if one has no interest in Espe- ranto culture per se, the language offers access to a wide range of other cultures. The question may be asked: Could this book just as well have been written in English, as an introduction or overview to Esperanto? Not entirely. Auld's lan- guage examples require some knowledge of Esperanto beyond a beginning level. But with modifications some sections could as a whole or in part be presented in English or another ethnic language. By my assessment, at least a few months' study of Esperanto would be required for a person to read and fully comprehend the material in this book. The style is relatively straightforward, and no great technical knowledge about language or literature is required. It can be a worthwhile supplementary book in an Esperanto course beyond the most basic level. —Reginald Jaderstrom Jul-Aug 1988 The ELNA Newsletter 9 m@MC©