llrtSHjMlHl jSBk. imam 1994(3-4) The ELNA Newsletter: News of the Language Probieni and Esperanto as the solution IN THIS ISSUE: Language around the World German In Eastern Europe7 Breton in France 8 The European Language Problem 9 Chinese in Hong Kong 10 How Long to Learn Esperanto? 26 Esperanto in the Schools 3 Allan C. Boschen: Poem 12 Awards to Esperantists 13 Special Reprint: Mark Fettes on Realism and Idealism in Esperanto 21 Recent Conferences 25 Kongresaj Informoj: 1994- 1995 27 Reviews: Conroy, Beginnefs Esperanto, and Piron, Le deft des languages 28 Michael Jackson and Esperanto 31 QOenove (Sfgvajaro NOVJARA SALUTO DE UEA [La ĉijara novjara saluto de Prof. John C. Wells, la Prezidanto de la Universala Esperanto-Asocio, estis sendita rete alia Esperanto-Ligo por Norda Ameriko.] Mi deziras sukcesan kaj prosperan novan jaron al ĉiuj niaj membroj! ĉi tiu estas la sesa fojo, je Mu mi tiumaniere salutas vin kiel Prezidanto: kaj ĝi devas esti la lasta, car en julio, post kompletigo de miaj du trijaraj oficperiodoj, laŭstatute vi ne rajtos plu reelekti min. Venis do la momento por rigardi malantaŭen kaj antaŭen. Antaŭ ses jaroj, kiam mi transprenis la prezidadon de nia Asocio, ankoraŭ staris la Berlina Muro kaj ankoraŭ ekzistis Sovetunio kaj unueca Jugoslavio. Kiaj konvulsioj depost tiam trafis la landojn de orienta Eŭropo kaj kun ill ankaŭ nian tiean movadon! Oni devis lerni novajn manierojn por vivi, novajn manierojnpor organizi. Sed ni ja lernis kaj lernas. Ekzemple en Pollando la landa asocio jus renovigis sin en nova formo por la novaj cirkonstancoj. En Rusio salutinde malaperis la skismo inter la du landaj asocioj: RE A kaj REU unuiĝis sub la nomo Rusia Esperantista Unio. Tiuj eventoj ne restis seneriaj en okcidenta Eŭf opo. Aparte bonvena estis la decido de la nederlandaj esperantistoj, forbalai la malnovan dividon inter la "socialista" kaj la "neŭtrala" (aŭ "burĝa") movado, tiel kreante unuecan landan asocion, Esperanto Nederland. ĉiu iom sperta esperantisto scias, ke ne sufiĉas unu-du jaroj por ke ni gajnu la tutan mondon por Esperanto. La vojo estos longa. Ni devos labori por nia lingvo ankoraŭ dum multaj jaroj kaj jardekoj. Fervoraj movadanoj foje seniluziiĝis, car ne ĉiu nia klopodo tuj portas fruktojn. Foje ni estis tro ambiciaj: foje ni devis rezigni pri klopodoj, kiuj montriĝis esti preter nia kapablo. Tamen tio ne signifas, ke ni devas rezigni pri la agado por Esperanto. Ĝi restas unu el la belaj kaj noblaj idealoj de lahomaro. Samekielnistrebupormonda paco (sed diversloke la homoj ankoraŭ militas), same Mel ni strebu por homa interfratiĝo (sed diversloke la homoj restas dividitaj per malamo), tiel same ni strebu por interkompreniĝo per komuna ling vo (kvankam ĝis nun restas la ling vaj baroj inter la homoj). qz sfc sfc Inter la apartaj problemoj de 1994 estis la suferoj de la esperantistoj en Bosnio, Angolo kaj Ruando, pro la tieaj militoj. Per nia konto "Espero" ni faras, Mon ni povas, sed ni povas malmulton. Ekonomia krizo ja daŭras en pluraj orienteŭropaj landoj, en Kubo, kaj aliloke. Sed la jaro alportis ankaŭ plurajn gravajn sukcesojn. —La 79-a Universala Kongreso en Seulo estis granda sukceso: ne nur el organiza kaj financa vidpunkto, sed ĉefe pro la neeŭropeco de la partoprenantoj. Hi pruvis ke ofte ili estas pli vervaj adeptoj de Esperanto ol la laciĝintaj kaj konsum-obseditaj okcidentanoj. —En Afiriko ni notas modestajn atingojn en la formo de la kongreso de Tanza- nia E-Asocio kaj la preparoj por la Tria Afrika Kongreso de Esperanto. —I^mondkonataitateveiMstoUmberto Eco, per sia libro La serĉado de perfekta lingvo, pledas nerekte sed Daŭrigota sur paĝo 20 EDITOR A L Playing catch-up In February 19881 took over the edito- rial position of The ELNA Newsletter, and put my very first editorial on page 2. The header was, if I remember correctly: WE APOLOGIZE. No issue of The ELNA Newsletter had appeared since the previous summer, my very first issue was a 24-page catch-up issue to finish off 1988.1 publicly hoped that that would never happen again, but recognized that such things happen from time to rime... Well, here we are again. WE APOLO- GIZE. This Is another catch-up issue (32 pages instead of 24; hope you enjoy them). Hopefully it won't happen again. I am anxiously awaiting word from some enthusiastic volunteer willing to take over the job of editing esperanto usa. I will emphasize again that I am willing to hang onto the most technical side of the job: layout and printing. All I ask is someone who will tell me what to put In where, and who will provide me (on floppy disk or over the net) with fries for the articles. Anybody out there? (... he asked plaintively...) Coming in a month or so, the long- promised Literary Supplement. Coming late in February (the month In which you should have this in your hands): Peter Benson, The Comprehensive English- Esperanto Dictionary, now, after many technical hangups at the printer, in press. Meantime, a couple of issues' worth of musings... Learning Esperanto Most of you, I hope, know that you can work your way through a ten-lesson free postal course by contacting ELNA or, if you are on-line, by contacting Marko.Rauhamaa@tekelec.com. You may also know that there are three levels of full-scale correspondence courses of- fered by the American Association of Teachers of Esperanto and ELNA, avail- able through the ELNA Central Office. Textbooks are readily available: besides the old stand-by Teach Yourself Espe- ranto (now being published here in the United States, in a delightfully surrealis- tic new cover), we also have David Richardson's Esperanto • Learning and Using the International Language, ELNA's recent reprint of Montague C. Butler's classic Step By Step In Espe- ranto, and now, thanks to Hippocrene Press, Joseph Conroy's Beginner's Espe- ranto. Let me in addition recommend to you any of several national-scale summer courses In Esperanto. Chief among these is, of course, the traditional three-week summer workshop at San Francisco State University, now entering Its 26th year. The SFSU courses, which start on June 26 and last through July 14, are taught in four levels, ranging from introductory ("Bonan tagon! Kiel vi fartas?") to an advanced course that covers several as- pects of Esperanto literature; occasion- ally, a fifth level about teaching method- ology will be added for specialists. As usual, SFSU is providing a qualified, and international, team of teachers: Duncan Charters of the United States, Atilio Orellana Rojas of Argentina, and Spomenka ŝtimec of Croatia. They will be assisted by Umeda Setsuko of Japan, who will be leading evening conversa- tional groups. For information, you will want to contact Catherine Sctralze at 410 DarreU Rd., Hillsborough, CA 94010. Coming up fast on the outside—and, while obviously not as complete as the SFSU courses, of greater interest and utility to those whose free time is re- stricted—are the University of Hartford series of summer Esperanto courses. The Hartford courses, which tills year will run from July 10 to July 15, are taught in three levels: elementary, mteimediate, and ad- vanced. This year's teaching team will consist of Joseph Conroy, mentioned above, and Boris Kolker of Russia. Dr. Humphrey Tonkin, President of the uni- versity, will be personally serving as gen- eral cooriinatof of the program. For in- formation, contact Ms. Hilda Grossman, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT 06117-1599. Kajtielplu... It Is embarassing to admit that there is another nationwide Esperanto magazine that, at least during the past year, has been more punctual in Its appearance than esperanto usa, but there it is. The maga- zine is Ktp!, published by USEJ, the U.S. youth organization. It goes, so far as I know, to every "youth" member of ELNA. Despite my age, I get to see it, even before It appears, because my daughter Sybil is heavily involved in the layout and print- ing of the magazine. The editor is Joseph Truong of Pennsylvania, who Is also the driving force behind USEJ. Check it out. Information on USEJ and Ktp! is avail- able from the ELNA Central Office, or from Joseph Truong, address in the Adresaro. How many of us axe there? Every Esperantist has, at one time or another, been asked "How many people speak Esperanto?" Possible answers in- clude: (a) "Only a few thousand"; (b) "Tens of millions"; (c) "Nobody knows"; (d) "That is not important, and I refuse to play the numbers game with you." The most popular answer in recent years is: "About two milhon people; that's what it says in The World Almanac and Book of Facts. I rest my case." Whatever answer you give, somebody Is going to argue that (a) you are indubi- tably wrong (which is probably correct, though the person involved is not likely to present you with any evidence for this) and that (b) the number is certainly smaller (also no evidence, or reason for thinMng that the correct number has to be smaller rather than larger; it just has to be, that's all!). This happens on the net (In soc.cultui-e.esperanto, the Conlang mail- ing list, or elsewhere) with depressing regularity, about once every six months; the argument lasts for about a week, and everybody finally goes away dissatis- ' Dairigotasu paĝo 18 2 9speranto/usa1994(3-4) MEE Esperanto in the Media This may not exactly qualify as news, but in the magazine Poetry Unlimited (May-June 1994) there is a full-page ad- vertisement by Alberta Casey describing Esperanto and giving a contact address and two telephone numbers, including ELNA's toll-free number, (provided by Alberta Casey) On the NBC Tonight show (Aug. 1, 1994) Jay Leno showed a newspaper ad- vertisement purporting to help improve one's "English" [sic!]. Leno's comment: "It's like Esperanto: it's English." (re- ported by Steven Graham Belant) In the "Feedback" section of Soldier magazine (August 1994), Spec. James Howard suggests that the army should consider Esperanto as an international language that soldiers could use. (re- ported by John Wiley) In Elevator Music, Joseph Langa writes, "Muzak and mood music are, in many respects, aesthetically superior to all other musical forms: they emit music the way the twentieth century is equipped to receive it They have so successfully blended genres and redefined music ap- preciation that they have become the music world's Esperanto." (quoted by Rob Hardy) TEACH CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WELL TEACH THE WORLD. by Charlotte Kohrs Last year, exciting events took place in elementary and middle schools in North America. On Sunday evening, July 18, 1994, at the ELNA KONGRESO in Sacramento, Ron Glossop, Prenda Cook and Charlotte Kohrs competed with each other to tell their audience about these happenings and to ask ELNA and its individual members to help us create a miracle in the next few years. The "miracle" began three years ago, when Kent Jones, Commissioner for Education for ELNA, taught Esperanto to several teachers in Chicago public schools and helped them introduce Es- peranto to their students. In the school year, 1993-1994, under Kent's guid- ance, in 19 elementary and middle schools in the United States, teachers who are themselves learning Esperanto have introduced Esperanto to their stu- dents. Kent is solving a problem which for 107 years, no one has been able to solve: Where does one find experts who will introduce Esperanto to chil- dren? He has found the experts right in the schools. In the past year, 19 expert teachers, some of whom are still work- ing on the free postal course, have dem- onstrated that, with guidance and ap- propriate learning materials, one does not need to be an expert Esperantist to introduce Esperanto to children. Our association, CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD, has been working closely with Kent Jones. Many of the teachers who are introduc- ing Esperanto under his guidance are using our materials, especially our lat- est book, DEK DEMANDOJ—a book written to provide immediately usable pages for classroom teachers, and for Esperantists who are not necessarily expert teachers of children. DEK DEMANDOJ incorporates materials in our previous booklets— questions and answers, songs, games, and an introduction to world geogra- phy. But unlike our booklets, it is spiralbound, on 8 1/2" by 11" pages. Teachers can photocopy the 19 activity pages and songs in the twelve lessons, giving each child a copy, one lesson at a time. The 22-page TEACHERS' GUIDE at the end of the book helps teachers with pronunciation; gives de- tailed guidance for each lesson; and provides an Esperanto-English vo- cabulary, a summary of basic grammar rules illustrated in the lessons, and four pages of games. Janice and John Atkinson have recorded the four pages on pronunciation on Side B of our song cassette, Kantu Esperante kun Janico kajJobano. During the past year Prenda Cook and Ron Glossop have been using DEK DEMANDOJ in school classes, supplementing the pages with their own highly creative activities. Some of you have asked us: "When you intro- duce Esperanto to elementary school children, do you aim to teach them to become expert Esperantists?" At this time, our answer is NO. In over- crowded school curricula, very few teachers are able to find more than one hour a week for Esperanto. Over the years, however, encouraged by children's immediate response to the idea of a world language, and their eagerness and successes, and by achievements in a few schools where children can study Esperanto daily, the successes and rewards will be so great that more and more teachers will fit Esperanto into their schedules—for at least half an hour twice a week, and the Daŭrigota sur paĝo 15 esperanto/usa 1994(3-4) 3 Usono California La novaĵoj de la Oazo de Esperanto As you know Oazo de Esperanto (ODE) has its roots in the spirit of Friend- ship with all nations and people who want and believe that all people should have one non-ethnic, non-political common language. We believers were further motivated by that spirit when just four years ago the State of California allowed ODE to es- tablish our non-profit organization. The spirit continues to motivate us now as we reach out to additional communities with our help and friendship. During the past year with the help of everyone we continued to have our classes, weekly conversational meetings, monthly board meetings and fund raisers, ground breaMng of the Oazo Dome and increasing our funds in the treasury. Tom Sorrier taught a successful class during the year and is getting ready to teach another in the near future. We are still meeting each Thursday evening and hope to increase the number of people attending. We had two successful fund raisers during the year to increase our budding fund; however the biggest increase in our treasury came from a Distribution of Trust from a Will. Harry Bell was the person who named ODE in his Will. He could not speak, read or understandEspe- ranto but he had the spirit and believed that what we were doing was good for the world. We increased our beginning balance from $2,202 in January to $10,285 end- ing this year. The location of the Dome to be con- structed was agreed upon and ground breaking began as stakes were driven into the sandy desert earth. We hope we can get the concrete foundation poured and construction started in 1995. Our new brochure is being distributed in the seven local high schools in our area. We hope we will get many begin- ning students. Tom Somer will teach one course and J. Tilman Williams will teach another. It Is hoped that we can have two classes, one class on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM and the other on Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. During the past year we had nine Espe- rantists housed in the Amikeca Domo on Harbor Blvd from five different coun- tries, Argentina, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Russia, Brazil and of course the United States. Dr. Stanley Drake, of the Interna- tional Society of Friendship, and his new bride were our guests for two nights at the Amikeca Domo. Language is the doorway through which all knowledge must pass. The study of Esperanto widens that doorway. (El lastatempe cfrkulera letero de OdE) District of Columbia La ĉarma kaj talenta SARA SU JONES regalis ein ne nur per vizito, sed ankaŭ per lerta ludado de klasiia muzlko kun JIM LIEBERMAN ĉe ties oficejo la 20-an de augusto. Sara kaj Jim (ludante violonon kaj vlolonĉelon, respektive) ludis "Passacaglia" de Handel kaj Halvorsen, unu el la malmultaj muzikaĵoj speciale verkitaj por tiuj du muziMloj. Tin Esperantista duona korda kvarteto ravis ĉlujn. Sara Su, filino de ĉikaga Esperantisto R. KENT JONES kaj Ha ekzino CHAESUN, klu ankaŭ ĉeestis la festenon, estas membro de tin feliĉa tribo, la denaska Esperantistaro. Ekde ŝia nasMĝo, ŝia patro decidis paroll al ŝi ĉefe nur Esperanto en la hejmo (iomete angle aŭ koree), kaj la plimulto da gastoj kiuj vizitis Ilian hejmoe ankaŭ estis Esperantistoj. Krom tio, ŝia edukado inkluzivis multajn Universalajn Kongresojn en diversaj landoj, Me ŝi kutime ankaŭ violonludis. (DANIELA DENE VA POWER memoras ke ŝi vidis Sara Su ĉe la UK en Varna, Bulgario en 1978.) La Infanaj Kongresetoj, ŝi diras, estis ofte aĉe orgaeizitaj, kaj ŝiaj plendaj raportoj pri ili koitribuis al pMbonigoj. Plej frapis ŝin la UK en ĉinio en 1986, Mu "malfermis (raiajn) okulojn pri la potenco de Esperanto Mel komuniMlo inter popoloj." La plej granda potencialo por Esperanto, ŝi pensas, estas en Azio. Ni devas havi fortan unuecon en la movado, ŝi opinias, kaj la eŭropaj kaj aziaj movadoj devas ligi sin pli forte. Sara Su nun studas ĉe Harvard, Me ŝi estas unu el la redaktoroj de la Harvard International Review. Lastan jaron Ŝi verMs por tiu revuo tre frapan artikolon titolitan "Power of Babel: The Struggle to Balance Linguistic Unity and Diver- sity" Mu efike argumentis por Esperanto Mel solvo al lingva imperiismo kaj aliaj ling vobazaj problemoj. Si diras ke ŝi eble starigos Esperanto-Muboe ĉe Harvard se tempo permesos. Dum ĉi tiu somero ŝi laboris Mel internulo ĉe k "rusiapupitro" de k usona Ŝtata Departemento. Kompreneble, pro sia edukado, Sara Su ĉiam havis mondan perspektivon ekde k junaĝo. Fakte, si anoncis "Mi estas monda civitano" kiam ŝi estis 4- jara! Kaj k tuta mondo povas lerni ion gravegan de ŝi: Sara estis renkontinta plurajn iranajn Esperantistojn dum ŝia vojaĝado, kaj sla reago al la irana-iraka milito de k 1980-aj jaroj estis: "M tirnas pormiajamikoj-mitimaskela bomboj mortigos ilin." Jen gravega valoro de Esperanto: per ĝl oni aMras amikojn tutmonde kaj poste vidas k mondon Mel amikaron kaj iun ajn militon kiel minacon kontraŭ k propra familio de amikoj, ne nur kiel serion de foraj novaĵoj. Kiel dolĉe estus se ĉiuj en la mondo rigardus la mondon—kaj la militon—per tiu perspektivo. (Note by the editor of La Potomaka Esperantisto: I want to repeat that very important last point in English for those of you whose Esperanto is non-existent or shaky: Sara Su met several Iranians during her many years of attending Espe- ranto conventions in various countries, and when the Iran-Iraq War broke out In the 1980s, her reaction was: "I'm afraid for my Mends—afraid the bombs will kill them." Thus a key value of Espe- ranto: one acquires friends throughout the world and henceforth sees any war as Daŭrigota sur paĝo 80 4 esperant©/«sa1994(3-4) LA ©EMTFA ©FUCIEJI© MONEY MATTERS & U.N. With the last edition of esperanto usa, you received a little brochure describing a deal with National Telephone & Com- munications by which ELNA would re- ceive a percentage of the long-distance bills paid by members who switched their service to NTC. Some members were offended by receiving a commercial so- licitation viaELNA, and some by its style or content. I have decided to withdraw from the program, for I do not wish to function any longer as de facto representative for a telephone company. This has consumed many hours which I might have applied more fruitfully to direct advocacy of our dear International Language, rather than this indirect attempt to help ELNA earn money. I would like to request your material assistance in another capacity, however. Here at the Central Office, we compose all of our letters, pamphlets, catalogs, documentation, etc. on old IBM-clone computers, while this newsletter is com- posed by the editor, Don Harlow, on his Macintosh. It would be quite convenient for us to have ready access to aMacintosh here in the CO, but there is no money in the budget for such an investment. If you have recently upgraded, or for any other reason have a spare Macintosh which could be donated to a non-profit organi- zation, ELNA's CO staff would be happy to put it to good use; and you would get a tax break! Board member Derek Roff has suggested that several monetary dona- tions could be collected together to allow ELNA to buy a Mac if none is donated, and Derek has pledged a generous sum to that end. Til keep you posted about de- velopments. We could also use another DOS machine... Antaŭdankojn! s|e9)c4Mfc3fe m 1995 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the ceremonial signing of the docu- ments which brought the United Nations into being. I am working here on several projects to raise awareness of Esperanto within the context of UN50 celebrations. As you doubtless know already, the UN. is immersed in a linguistic soup which absorbs (dare I say "wastes"?) almost a third of its budget on translation and interpretation. This will be a fine oppor- tunity to inform UN staff and the general public about our proposed solution to the world's language problem. If your area has a local UN chapter, perhaps you could write a short article for their news- letter, or volunteer to take part in a panel discussion. You probably also know that in 1984, the United States withdrew from UNESCO, citing mismanagement and internal political problems as the cause. In the ten years since then, UNESCO has addressed and improved these issues, and now deserves and needs U.S. support. This educational branch of the U.N. re- cently requested that member-states re- port on the progress of Esperanto educa- tion since the 1985 resolution which en- couraged the introduction of Esperanto into schools and institutions of higher education. Since the U.S. is no longer a member-state, we cannot officially re- port on the progress recently and continu- ally made here, thanks in large part to the excellent work of R. Kent Jones, ELNA's Education Commissioner, and Dorothy Holland, President of and Editor for the American Association of Teachers of Esperanto. Perhaps a letter to political representatives can nudge the govem- ment towards rejoining UNESCO. Oram I too naive to believe that we have democ- racy? Amike salutas vin —MikoSLOPER. Direktoro, Centra Oficejo [Note from the President: The United Nations Association of the United States of America will be holding two confer- ences this year: its annual conference, which will occur in San Francisco in June, and a special Assembly in Wash- ington D.C. in August. The ELNA presi- dent has been invited to two special events in conjunction with the former conference, including a reception for the Secretary-General of the UN, and ELNA is, with several other organiza- tions, co-sponsoring the Washington as- sembly. ELNA is now investigating the possibility of being more actively in- volved in both conferences.] Daŭrigata de paĝo 6 devas skribe konfirmi tion. (Eventuate necesas antaŭe altigi vian servobonhavon: ĝiru kiel kutime al la konto n-ro 2051-305 ĉe la poŝtĝiro- oficejo Hannover, BLZ 25010030) 3) Se vi havas konton ĉe UEA (kun sufiĉe da bonhavo), tiam eblas ĝirigi la sumon al la AIS-konto aisc-j ĉe UEA. Samtempe aldonu al via mendo kopion de via letero, per kiu vi petas ĝiradon en Roterdamo. 4) Eblas sendi monbiletojn en laŭeble registrita koverto kune kun via mendo. Sed tion vi faros je via propra risko, la eldonejo ne povas kompensi iujn tiajn eventualajn perdojn. La eldonejo ege bedaŭras, sed ne eblas konsideri subskripciojn sen kompleta pago, kiu okazu antati la limdato: 1995- 01-31. Demandojn pri kromaj detaloj vi elektronike povas sendi al mi. Mi aŭ provos respondi aŭ peros vian demandon al la eldonejo. HS Holdgrtjn aŭ esperanto/usa 1994(3-4) 5 ©@