Esperanto League for North America, Inc • Box 1129, El Cerrito, CA 94530 • (415) 653-0998
Issue 1, 1991
h|1i1> language
«tIIBrld language problems
Fatal Language Problems
•  In Chicago, a German symphony conductor had a
heart attack during a performance. Medication was
delayed an hour while searching for an interpreter.
•  An Italian ship sunk after being rammed by a
Swedish ship. Language confusion contributed to
the accident, and also prevented rescue of many
Italians.
• A Chinese man in Illinois was confined in an insane
asylum for decades because nobody could
understand him.
•  Unable to read warnings in Spanish, 6,000 Iraqis
died and 100,000 were crippled from eating seed
wheat which had been treated with insecticide.
(Extracted from "An Outrageous Situation Which
Our Leaders Ignor" which appeared in "Saluton"
the newsletter of the Esperanto Society of Chicago,
Jan.Feb. 1990)
Esperanto - A Dangerous Language In Iraq
According to "Franca Esperantisto", an Iraqi
Esperantist was imprisoned for several years simply
for speaking Esperanto. After being let out of prison
on the condition that he never teach the language he
fled to Kuwait. Unfortunately the french magazine
did not reveal if he made it out of Kuwait before
Iraqs invasion.
The book by Ulrich Lins, "La Danĝera Lingvo" (The
Dangerous Language) is soon to go into its second
edition and is an excellent resource for information
about the discrimination speakers of Esperanto have
suffered from its very beginning. This book is
available through the ELNA Book Service. ( Franca
Esperantisto, Nov. 1990)
Puerto Rico Senate Votes For Spanish_____
Dealing a blow to Puerto Rico's statehood
movement, legislators overwhelmingly approved a
bill making Spanish the sole official language of this
Caribbean island of 3.6 million inhabitants.
The bill revokes the Official Languages Act of 1902,
which designated both English and Spanish as the
languages of the commonwealth government's
business. The new law will make Spanish the only
officiallanguage.
Fewer than 25 percent of Puerto Ricans are fully
bilingual in Spanish and English, and opponents of
the Spanish-only measure said it would set back
programs to extend English fluency. Statehood
advocates claimed that the real purpose of the
proposed law is to hurt Puerto Rico's chances of
tecoming the 51st state. (Extracted from San
Francisco Chronicle, 3/6/1991)
French Bungle Bid To Reform Spelling_____
Prime Minister Michel Rocard sought at first to do
French school children a favor when his government
proposed removing many irksome accents and
anomalies and otherwise taking the kins out of the
language.
Rocard reasoned that in the computer age, the French
language should be made more orderly so that
children could spend less time memorizing illogical
spelling rules and more time studying software and
superconductors.
He also hoped that the changes would help stem the
decline of French worldwide, The French are
unhappy that their old bete noire, English, is steadily
gaining the upper hand.
Critics say the changes trample on the linguistic roots
of Prousts language and fret that there will be a
linguistic civil war in which children learn the new
rules and parents use the old spellings.
Changes should evolve from usage, they argue,
rather than be dictated. "This is a totalitarian
measure," said Francois Bayrou, a member of
parliament and a leader of the anti-reform movement.
(Extracted from the San Francisco Chronicle,
Monday, January 28, 1991)
NAJMINAL NEWS
U.S. Conferences And Classes___________
April 5 - 7, 1991. All California Esperanto
Conference. The Sand Man Inn. Santa Barbara, CA.
Esperanto. For Information, Esperanto-Rondeto de
Santa Barbara. 5140 San Lorenzo Dr. Santa Barbara,
CA 93111-2521.
July 8 - 13, 1991 - 4th Midwest Esperanto
Classes and Conference. Will be conducted in
Esperanto and English. For information write to:
Sherry Wells, P.O. Box 1338 Royal Oak, Michigan,
48068.(313) 543-5297. (source: Esperanto USA)
July 1 - 19, 1991 - 22nd Annual Summer
Esperanto Workshop at San Francisco State
University. Come and study Esperanto in one of the
worlds most fascinating city. Some partial
scholarships available. For more information, write
to: Cathy Schulze, 410 Darrell Road, Hillsborough,
CA 94101 (415) 342-1796.
July 20 - 25, 1991 - 39th Annual Conference of
the Esperanto League for North America. Will be
conducted in Esperanto and take place in Raleigh-
Durham North Carolina. ELNA members will
receive descriptive brochure and registration form
with an upcoming issue of ESPERANTO USA.
Non-members are requested to write to: ELNA, P.O.
Box 1129 El Cerrito, CA 94530 (415) 653-0998
University Of Hartford To Offer Courses In
Esperanto___________________________
A special one-week Esperanto Institute will be held at
the University of Hartford from August 12 to August
17. Elementary and Intermediate level courses will be
taught by J.C. Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the
University of London and President of the World
Esperanto Association. Assisting Professor Wells
will be a variety of noted Esperanto speakers,
including Dr. Humphery Tonkin, President of the
University of Hartford.
Participants may elect to take either of these courses
for non-credit or for credit. The institute will be
sponsored by the university's foreign language
department. Information about fees and other details
may be obtained from Hilda Grossman, Director of
Summer Programs, at (203) 243-4401 or by writing
to University of Hartford,
West Hartford, Ct. 06117
IfUlNATIONAL ESPERANTO NEWS
Four Articles About Esperanto In The Annual
Review of the American Society of
Geolinguistics________________________
I just received the new year review (1990) of the
American Society of Geolinguistics, a society
founded by Mario Pei in 1965, whose goal is to
collect and distribute up-to-date information about
present day languages of the world. I was very
happily surprised to see, that among the 14 articles in
that issues were four about Esperanto, (adapted from
a letter in Esperanto by Cecile Low and published in
Novorka Prismo, January 1991)
Esperanto Linguists Hold 9th Conference at
United Nations________________________
On the 14th of December, 1990, the main
headquarters for the United Nations in New York
was again the location for the conference of the
Translation Section of the United Nations and the
Center for Exploration and Documentation for the
World Language Problem (CED), the linguistics
branch of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio. As
clarified by Dr. Humphry Tonkin "Both the
Translation Section of the UN and the Esperanto
movement are trying to solve in practice the real
difficulties of mutual understanding across language
barriers." Fifty specialists from the university and
translation prof essions participated.
The theme of the 9th Conference About Language
and Communication was "The analysis of content
from an international perspective". Dr. Tonkin, the
director of the CED and president of the University
of Hartford, noted in his introduction the timeliness
of the theme, in a world where a more active role is
being played by countries outside the European
cultural sphere.
The Center for Exploration and Documentation was
founded in 1952. It produces one of the main
linguistic reviews about language planning,
"Language Problems and Language Planning"
(publisher John Benamins, Amsterdam), published
books and organizes conferences about diverse
aspects of international communication. From its
beginning, it has worked with the United Nations and
its organizations, mainly UNESKO. (Universala
Esperanto-Asocio "InternaciajNovafoj" - January 9,
1991)
History Note: First Film in Esperanto_______
The first (in the USA) talking picture in Esperanto
was a four-minute film made July 13, 1929, in the
Paramount studio, New York City. The actors were
Germaine Chomette and Henry W. Hetzel. Donald E.
Parrish, secretary for the United States section of the
Universal (world) Esperanto Association with
headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, delivered an
address and salutation to accompany the film at the
22nd annual convention of the Esperanto Society of
North America. The film was exported to 16
countries. (FAMOUS FIRST FACTS, Joseph
Nathan Kane. The H.W. Wilson Company, New
York 1981. Page 405. Submitted by Mike Jones)
New   Esperantology   Institute   in   Moscow
On the 23rd of December, 1990, the "Institute de
Internacia Komikado" in Moscow, USSR was
founded the combined effort of Moscow State
University, the Academy of Sciences in the Soviet
Union and the Russian Open University. The
Institute will focus on the instruction of languages
used for international communication, including
Esperanto. Special attention will be given to the
scientific exploration of Esperanto and its ability to be
used for practical uses. (Universale! Esperante-
Asocio "InternaciajNovajoj" -January9,1991)
Rok' Gazef - 6,000th Magazine in
Esperanto?________
The latest addition to the world of Esperanto
magazines is not only the youngest, but also the most
youthful. We're talking about "Rok' Gazet'" a rock
music review which is produced by an international
group of editors with headquarters in Donneville,
France. The first issue was published in February of
1991. For those who believe that rock music exists
only in English, its 28 pages of news about
Esperanto rock groups will be a big surprise.
"Rok' Gazet'" is the newest in a long line of
Esperanto periodicals. Other new arrivals include
"Vietnam", an illustrated magazine from the Vietnam
Information Agency, which started publication in
1990, and a modest bulletin for academicians about
. . . periodicals in Esperanto! Its editor, Dr. Arpad
Mathe (Hungary) has recently uncovered the titles of
5,994 diverse reviews, bulletins, etc., which appear in
or are about Esperanto. Since that was the number at
the the end of September, 1990, we can ask, is "Rok'
Gazet'" the 6,000th Esperanto periodical?
Dr. Mathe notes that many of these periodicals are
short lived. "According to our research, the average
life span is 4.5 years." During the 101-year history of
the Esperanto press, every six days one Esperanto
periodical has either appeared or disappeared! Often
the cause is financial, because the Esperanto
movement usually must depend on money from its
members to publish and distribute its reviews. The
historic first periodical in the language, "la
Esperantisto" (1889-1895) died when the Czarist
censor forbade subscriptions to it in the Russian
Empire.
Today, according to research by Dr. Mathe and his
colleagues, more than 500 periodicals exist in
Esperanto. Many, of course, are fairly simple
bulletins from associations and clubs; but more than
100 have an international readership. Among them,
the oldest is the organ for the International Catholic
Esperanto Union, "Espero Katolika", which began
publication in 1903. The most widely read include the
World Esperanto Association's review, "Esperanto",
with more than 6,000 subscribers in 100 countries,
and "El Popola Cinio", a 54-page illustrated magazine
about the People's Republic of China, which is
published by the Chinese Foreign Language
Publishing House. Other very popular magazines
include "La espero el Koreujo" from South Korea,
"Monato", an international news magazine which is
the Esperanto Equivalent of "Time", and "Juna
Arniko", a magazine for school children and other
young Esperanto learners. Literary, scientific and
specialist publications abound, although of course
with fewer subscribers. (Extracted from "Internaciaj
Novaĵoj", a bulletin of the World Esperanto
Association).
1991 ELNA BOOK SERVICE CATALOG
This 26-page catalog details nearly every item
available from the ELNA Book Service. Books
and materials are conveniently grouped by
category. The Book Service catalog is sent to
members and "Friends of Esperanto" at no cost.
Non-members should send $2.00 (check or
money order, please) payable to ELNA. Those
purchasing the catalog will receive a coupon
worth $2.00 off their next order.
Send payment to:
Esperanto League For North America
P.O. Box 1129
El Cerrito, CA 94430
Support the Esperanto movement in the United States
JOIN   ELNA TODAY!!!
Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
P.O. Box 1129
El Cerrito, CA 94530
Usono/USA
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1991 FUD Boot "  i   VeCatah,
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Berkeley, CA
Permit No. 330
ELNA Membership Benefits
The satisfaction of contributing materially to
the propagation of Esperanto in the U.S.A.
A bi-monthly newsletter keeping you up to date
on issues of importance to Esperantists
The quarterly ELNA Update with information
on the world language problem and Esperanto
as its solution
The ELNA Book and Tape Service catalogs and
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Discounts on most items carried by the ELNA
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A "Friend of Esperanto" is not a dues-paying
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ranto movement by providing financial support.
A "Friend" receives:
Four issues of the ELNA Update via first-class
mail. The ELNA Update keeps you abreast of
the world language problem and Esperanto as
its solution.
A free copy of the year's ELNA Book Service
Catalog
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