ESPERANTO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 7

ESPERANTO

MASTERTON CLUB MEETING. At the weekly meeting of the Masterton Esperanto Club held last evening, Mr W. J. Beresford presided over' a good attendance of members. Mr A. G. Wiltshire spoke on the subject of international correspondence and pen friendships. He mentioned the difficulties confronting the non-Esper-antists when engaged in the international field and instanced the experience of one writer who found that Esperanto was the most satisfactory of the several languages he employed. Usually the English of his overseas friends did not reach the level of pidgin; the Latin, Greek and Hebrew of his college years were unworkable and no two letters from France or Spain seemed to use the same form of the national .language concerned. On the other hand, Esperanto did not take long to learn and there was only one variety of it; and whereas in the national tongues to get one good correspondent it was necessary to experiment with a dozen, in Esperanto almost every one proved satisfactory. Mi - Beresford presented an Esperanto poem entitled “Al la Fratoj.” Following its translation, club members undertook reading and general conversation in the international language. The session ended with a short question period,