ESPERANTO.

Waipukurau Press, Volume I, 17 April 1906, Page 2

ESPERANTO.

— o — The new language, called Esperanto, is attracting considerable attention all through the world at present, the public interest being aroused through the description of Esperanto Congress recently held at Boulogne, at which three thousand representatives of all nations were present, appearing in various periodicals. Esperanto aspires to be a universal.language. It is also claimed that it is absolutely phonetic, the grammer has been reduced to the simplest possible form, it is more than half English, can be learned sufficiently well for correspondence in a few weeks, and can be spoken fluently after six months. If there is any truth i.i thebe assertions — and they are made by many prominent, clever, men —the language is certainly worth investigating. Very little has been heard of it in this part of the colony, though a New Zealand Esperanto Association has been formed for some little time, and in Christchurch in particular, quite a number of people have taken up the language. There are at present hundreds of societies for encouraging the study of the new language in every part of the civilised world, including Japan. Numerous journals and magazines are published in Esperanto, and it is estimated that there are over a million Esperantists at present, and this number is rapidly increasing. Max Muller, Sir William Ramsay, Zangwill, Tolstoi, and many other well-known men speak in the highest terms of Esperanto, and it is being taught in many oi the Continental schools, and is being adopted as the official language of numerous societies. Those of our readers who care to make further enquiries regarding Esperanto would do well to communicate with Mr Cedric E. White, of Christchurch, Hon Secretary of the New Zealand Association.