eranto S Bn The ELNA| I Newsletter. News of the Language Problem and Esperanto as the solution 1990(7) I Making News This Issue Book-Service Retrospective Central Office Vice-Director Ionel Onet discusses the operation of the Book Ser- vice and looks at some of its top-selling items in this issue's "El la Centra Oficejo." See Page 5 Regional Conferences In recent years, more and more areas in the United States are holding regional Esperanto conferences. This issue we look at reports from the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, Washington DC and the Pacific Northwest See Pages 7-9 Specialized Dictionaries One of Esperanto's more apparent needs is for more dictionaries for specialists in science and technology. In this issue's review section, the editor looks at five such dictionaries for physicists, math- ematicians and computer scientists. See Page 13 In This Issue: Language In the News 6 Esperanto, Science and Technol- ogy 9 Using Esperanto for World Travel in 1991 16 And Much, Much More to Delight and Inform You! Opinion Directions for Esperanto by Grover C. Alfred [ELNA member Grover C. Allred sent me the following long letter in reaction to recent articles by Doug Portmann and Anna Ldwenstein with some suggestions about the development of Esperanto. Since he raises questions that are often in the minds of new—and sometimes even long-time—-Esperantists, I am taking the liberty of publishing his letter as an ar- ticle, adding what I consider an appro- priate title. Some editorial commentsfol- low Mr. Allred's article.] I read the articles by Doug Portmann (ELNA Newsletters #6, 1989 and #7, 1989) and the one by Anna Lowenstein (ELNA Newsletters, 1990) with a great deal of intellectual interest. I look for- ward to the publication of Peter Benson's Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dic- tionary (CEED). But of much more im- mediate significance is the commentary on the CEED by Portmann and the rather spirited rejoinder by Lowenstein. This suggests to me that Esperanto is a living (Continued on page 3) r\- Our goal for 1991 1150 - ; ELNA membership 1 990 1031 - "— 1000 ELN A membership 1989 931 " ELNA membership 1988 778 " ■;■■;: ~_ ELNA membership 1987 572 - :| : — 500 Membership 730 on ~_ January 1 5! :!;!; ; i UilJ. \- 0 EDITORIAL FAILURE NO RESPECT FOR CHRISTIAN- ITY RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (UPI)— Christianity, an artificial religion in- tended to bring people closer together and promote world harmony, is hav- ing problems getting any attention. Four speakers were on hand for a seminar on Christianity at the Pan- Arabic Modern Religions Association's annual convention here—but no one showed up to listen to them. Fahd al-Mani of the University of Medina delivered a spirited defense of Christianity. "Christianity does have an ideol- ogy. It is the wish for harmony on a religious basis," said al-Mani, 61, a professor of Buddhism. The League of Arabian Christians says about one billion people practice Christianity worldwide, including about 500 in Arabia. "There are probably no more than ten or twenty Christians in Medina and Mecca combined," al-Mani said Saturday. "Frankly, I'm disillu- sioned." Christianity is based on Syriac reli- gions, with elements eclectically de- rived from Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Mithraism. Example: Christians eat flesh and drink blood. The religion was invented about two thousand years ago by one Yeshua bar-Yussuf, a Jewish carpen- ter from Nazareth near the Israeli- Jordanian border. Seeing corruption and violence within Judaism, he thought a new religion might be a key to world peace. Actually this article isn't too far out— for a country where more than 300,000 American soldiers had to keep a low pro- file over Christmas in order not to offend their host government. It would never, of course, appear in the American press with- out extensive modification to make it fit the facts. At least, the facts as they are seen from outside the meeting rooms of the Pan-Arabic Modern Religions Associa- tion... Nor is the article totally fictitious. Sub- stitute the word "Esperanto" for "Christi- anity" and make other appropriate emen- dations, and you will have a pretty good reproduction of an Associated Press ar- ticle that has been making the rounds of American newspapers since the annual meeting of the Modern Languages Asso- ciation in Chicago this winter. The author of the article, a lady from the Chicago Tribune, apparently found it amusing—and universally typical—that a presentation on topics having to do with Esperanto at the MLA convention at- tracted no listeners. This is not too un- usual, based on my own limited experi- ence; a similar presentation at an MLA convention in San Francisco several years ago attracted two listeners, both Esperan- tists. Now this may prove something about MLA members, but not necessarily about Esperanto; if I remember correctly, the conference in question occurred either in 1986, when I also attended the World Esperanto Congress in China, the largest international conference of any kind ever held in that country, or in 1987, when 6000 people visited the World Esperanto Con- gress in Poland. Neither of these latter events were mentioned in the American press, at least not to the extent that this non- event at the MLA conference was. Perhaps they, too, proved something—the wrong something. hi the above article, Prof. Fahd al-Mani is a religious doppelganger of Pierre Oilman, Professor of Spanish and Portu- guese at the University of Wisconsin-Mil- waukee, a long-time Esperantist and ELNA member whose reviews of Espe- ranto translations of Iberian literature can occasionally be found in the pages of Literatura Foiro. I spoke with Prof. Ullman on the phone about the article. He is apparently not unhappy with it—it has, he told me, attracted several requests for information about Esperanto and inter- views on public radio—but he did state that the author had misrepresented or failed to present all the facts, and had occasionally misquoted him. Two per- sons, rather than no one, listened to the presentations at the seminar (one was the article's author). Prof. Ullman professed disappointment at the small turnout for the seminar; the article converted this into a profession of disillusionment about Espe- ranto. The Esperanto seminar was sched- uled by the MLA powers-that-be for early Sunday morning, a time when it would be difficult to get people to attend a love-in; this was not mentioned in the article. The article quotes Prof. Ullman as stating that "there are only six or seven Esperantists in all of Wisconsin," when Prof. Ullman is certainly well aware of the fact that there are at least twenty ELNA members in the state, not counting unaffiliated Esperan- tists, A purported example of Esperanto is half in bad Esperanto and half in bad Latin; it certainly did not come from Prof. Ullman, whose command of Esperanto is impressive. (Additional note on this last point: some twelve years ago, another wire-service ar- ticle about Esperanto presented a lengthy example of the language stated to be from the Esperanto Bible. The quote was en- tirely in Spanish.) Several issues ago I wrote about such articles and how Esperantists ought to re- act to them. Several appear to be doing so. One copy I received had a letter attached to it; the author wrote: "I called the editor who was responsible for placing the article and who admitted never having read the article nor having any knowledge about Esperanto." Bad advertising about Esperanto is in some ways better than no advertising at all. But it does give us an opportunity for producing a little good advertising. This issue of Esperanto USA., the last for 1990, is a month late. The reason for this is sickness in the family—namely, my own. I apologize for the delay and hope- but do not promise—that it will not happen again. It does give me the opportunity for a late, but certainly not too late, reminder. Namely: if you have not renewed your ELNA membership for 1991, this is the last issue of Esperanto U.SA. that you will receive. If you have not paid your mem- bership but want to go on receiving Es- peranto USA., please send your dues to the Central Office as soon as possible. Issue 1991/1 will be appearing in about a month, and we wouldn't want you to miss it. Don Harlow 2 esperanto/usa: The ELNA Newsletter The Chapter 122 News of the American Association of Retired Persons (Septem- ber 6,1990) includes an article by Roy Lott describing Esperanto and telling the reader how to obtain the first lesson in the ten-lesson free postal course, (sent by Roy Lott) Esperanto is described as a "Language of the World" by Janice Hoke in the Reno, NV Gazette-Journal (Sep. 25,1990). This four-column article, largely consisting of an interview with Reno Esperantist Natalie Sera, describes Esperanto's his- tory, its value in the modem world, and its construction. It also includes a sidebar explaining where to learn Esperanto, ei- ther through NICE (Nevada Jnform- Centro pri Esperanto) or ELNA. (sent by NICE and Gene Barratt) In an article about Scituitate Citizen of the Year Gil Wilder, Alison Cohen of the Scituitate, MA, Mariner (Sep. 27, 1990) describes Wilder's interest in Esperanto, how he first learned about the language forty years ago and learned it four or five years ago through the San Francisco State University summer courses, (from Gil Wilder) Esperanto is "Easy Speaking" says Los Angeles, CA, Times (Oct. 25,1990) writer Robyn Loewenthal in a full-page article with that title. The article discusses Espe- ranto and the Esperanto experiences of three local Esperantists: Prof. James Fonseca and Prof. Myron Bondelid of California Lutheran University; and long- time Esperantist Elwin Reed. A sidebar gives addresses for the Ventura County Esperanto Association, the American As- sociation of Teachers of Esperanto, and the San Francisco State University sum- mer courses, (sent by H. Elwin Reed) "Prenda Cook loves the Valley—and language," according to "Spotlight on Today's Woman," a magazine insert in- cluded with the Harlingen, TX, Valley Morning Star (Oct 28,1990). This article, about ELNA Executive Board member Prenda Cook's life and activities inOdessa and Harlingen, Texas, also discusses her work in the Esperanto movement and mentions the forthcoming ten-week course in the Harlingen Public Library, (sent by Prenda Cook) Elizabeth Mayes states that "Esperanto Still Means Hope" in the New York, NY, Westsider (Nov. 8-14, 1990). Ms Mayes tells about Esperanto's history and com- pares the facility of learning the language with the difficulties of more standard lan- guages. The article quotes from Dr. Julius Manson and Leonard Dzelzitis, who teach Esperanto courses at Stuyvesant Adult Center. The magazine Transitions Abroad: The Guide to Learning, Living, and Working Overseas, in a column on "Socially Re- sponsible Travel" by Dianne Brause, lists ELNA with its address and phone number, adding that "various clubs, schools, con- ferences, and Esperanto-traveling oppor- tunities are available through this net- work." (Continued from page 1) language with all the questions and prob- lems of any other living language. With this in mind I would like to make a few comments about the living nature of Esperanto and living languages in gen- eral. These opinions are my own, and I am accountable for them. Those who are acquainted with one or more living languages or with the study of languages in general are well aware of the fact that living languages change and adapt to the needs of those who use them. English is a good example; it is notorious for variations, flexibility, and adaptabil- ity. Yet with all of this, English has a core of "standardization" that makes it com- prehensible across all borders. The articles that I have indicated above suggest that some people have really come to see Esperanto as a living lan- guage. If we accept, in a fully practical way, that Esperanto is a living language, then we must accept the fact that it is subject to all the pressures that impinge on any other living language. This has extremely important implications for the users of Esperanto. Many of them will no longer be able to look on the mythology of Esperanto as writ final from some di- vine revelation. May all of us be able to accept these implications gracefully. We must recognize that there are vari- ous communities of users of a living language. Some feel needs that others do not feel. Esperanto users of all shades of ideology must eventually develop a tol- erance for the idea that those who use the language are ones who own the language. This would be a sign of maturity. The articles I have referred to above are the kinds of leaven a healthy, living lan- guage needs to stimulate adaptation to broader needs and desires. Tradition should and must carry weight, but it is never the final word. My length of life, experience, and intellectual pursuits will not permit me to believe that tradition in and of itself has the final say. For all forms that do not or cannot adapt, extinc- tion is the end. About 99% of all living forms that have ever existed are now extinct. Their debris is well recorded Almost the same can be said for lan- guages on which we have records. Those on which we have no records must far exceed thoseonrecord.Weare conscious of these facts today, therefore we can act from knowledge. Now is the time for the users of Espe- ranto to take charge of their language in such a way that it does not become locked into some rigid form that will hear of no change. Perhaps a very wide based acad- emy or committee would be useful. It would not be able to dictate, but it would evaluate and recommend on the basis of discussion, experience, and need. The membership would be broad enough to encompass representatives of all types of users, and no member would have a lifetime tenure. The evaluations and recommendations would be published (Continued on page 10) esperanto/usa: the ELNA Newsletter 3 !TJ