Wanted—Universal Language!

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 39, 11 April 1930, Page 5

Wanted—Universal Language!

Esperanto Lecture from 3YA

‘Beon REALISING the growing need for a universal language to cope with "the broadcast and sound film problems, My. N. M. Bell, M.A., B.D., lectures regularly from 8YA. Following is one of his talks which outlines the need for Esperanto and explains the fundamentals, ALTOGETHER about 100 Esperanto newspapers and periodicals are published, and I should like to read you one or two items from one of them this evening. The.one I have chosen is "La Suda Kruco" (the Southern Cross), a little monthly paper published in Melbourne, in the January issue of which may be found the following paragraph about: Hsperanto in our: own country of New Zealand. An Important Announcenient. RFPLXIN G on November 27, 1929, to an inquiry made by the New Zealand Esperanto Association. regarding the teaching of Esperanto by departmental teachers to children of the primary schools outside of ordinary school hours, the Director of Hducation, Wellington, N.Z., stated: "T have to. acknowledge receipt of your memorandum of the 22nd inst., and in reply have to say that, subject to the by-laws of the Edueation ‘Board, a teacher might. form in his school an Esperanto elass for his pupils out of school. hours. Of course, attendance at such a class would be subject to the approval of the pupil’s parents. f

"Subject also to the by-laws of the board, the school may be used out of school hours, on such terms as the commitiee (school) may prescribe." ("La Suda Kruco," January, 1980.) From this it appears that any State teacher at any rate can now form an Esperanto class in his own school in New Zealand, if he so wished, I suppose most people who study past history will conclude that most of it is decided by economic motives, How does this’ apply to Esperanto? During the last 40 years Esperanto has gradually gained in . strength, and possibly 1,000,000 people have become more or less acquainted with it. That it is still gaining in strength, by ‘the way, is sufficiently proved by the fact: First, that the some 200 attempts at a universal language since the XVII century, Esperanto alone shows sign of such vigorous life that it can hold annual conferences which some 1500 delegates from all parts of the world now take part; and secondly, that the Esperanto library of the Universal Hsperanto Association in Geneva now contains some 7,500 different volumes of translations from all languages or

of original works, showing that on an average one new book a day has been published in Esperanto since 1920; and thirdly, that the radio stations of Europe, for example (such places as Cologne, Paris, Moscow, Bern, Turin, Vienna, Brussels) have regular Hsperanto broadcasts of various kinds). Advent of the Talking Film. Following is a conversation between a well-known film director and the delegate of the Universal Esperanto Association :-- Delegate: "Why are you now more interested in our universal tongue?" Director: "I have not had much time for Esperanto. I did not need the language. Now that the talking films are so much appreciated throughout the world, a new problem has arisen. It is a problem of our continued existence, of our success in Europe. The English Janguage is not wanted on the Continent of Europe. A universal language is absolutely necessary for our new films. It is a matter of money. If the films cannot be hating in Europe, our profits are ess."

Delegate: "American films could be shown at least in Britain, couldn’t they?" Director: "Yes, but you must remem: ber that our American English is not very pleasant to a great many Englishmen, We have, in addition, many idioms which are not understood by Britishers. In Britain they have other idioms which we don’t understand. And it is the idioms which give spice to a language. The English of British films will not be liked by most American people. ‘But besides all that, we don’t wish to lose the patronage of Continental Europe and of other cou. tries." Delegate: "A universal Inaguage ix the simplest and most logical." The Esperanto Alphabet. N a perfect alphabet there would le one separate sign for each sepurute sound. In English, we have five vowel signs, a, e, i, o, u, to represent 20 different sounds, which again may be spelt in 190 different ways. This makes English such a difficult language to learn. Only a phonetically written English would appeargto have much hope of ever becoming an international language, In Esperanto we have five vowel Signs which by themselves or in combination represent all the Esperanto vowels. (a) For example, the English sign "a" is one of these five, being pronounced like the "a" in "ma," not like the "a" in "rat" or "tall" or (Concluded on page 25.)

Esperanto

(Continued from page 5.) "many" or "made" or "care or "want" or "steward." English gives eight different sounds to the one letter "a," Esperanto only one. Hence it is so much easier to learn to pronounce Bsperanto words than English. (b) The English sign "e" is the second of the five, being pronounced almost like the "e" in the word "sell," not like the "e" in "he" or in "her" or in "clerk" or in "pretty." Hnglish has five ways of pronouncing "e," Hsperanto only one. (ec) The Wnglish sign "i" is the third of the five, being pronounced like the "i" in "police" or the "i" in "mice." (d) The English sign "o" is the fourth of the five, being pronounced like the "aw" in "law," not like the "o" in "hot’or in "cold" or in "wolf" or in "women" or in "whom" or in "son" or in "button" or in "lost" or in "hero." English gives at least nine different sounds to the one letter "o," Hsperanto only one. (e) The English sign "u" is the last of the five, being pronounced like the *‘o9" in ‘pool."" Besides these five vowels, in Hsperanto there are also 23 consonantal signs, each representing only one sound. In English we have 25 differvuaemene ere sansinethdocnanneryapeinimecajenaioeneststeapastaaihiniveeasipepenn castennsastetionasrattnaaaas

ent consonantal sounds, spelt in 166 different ways. But of the consonantal signs in English, four, CJQX, are redundant, ie., they are not wanted at all. The Esperanto consonants are written as in English, but pronounced as an "o" ending: Thus B is BO (baw), D is DO, K is KO, P is PO. R is RO, and so on. Twelve of these consonants require special attention, and I hope to deal with that next time, Meanwhile it is interesting to note that the recent official commission which westernised the Turkish alphabet for the new Turkish Republie finally adopted an alphabet which is built up on very similar lines to that of Esperanto. Grammar is perhaps a somewhat dull subject to some. So, for the benefit of those who have kindly kept on listening to me so. far I will conclude with the following short. story, entitled UNCONSCIOUS REFORM. Vicar (to village reprobate): I am pleased, John (mi estas kontenta, Johano). that you have turned over 2 new leaf (ke vi tion nliboniagis). I was glad to see you (mi gojis vin vidi) at our Temperance Hall last night (ce nia Sobrec-Halo hierau vespere). John: "Cu Tie mi estis? Is that where I was?" , Good-bye, ladies and gentlemen, Adiau, Samideanoj, adieu. ert to ceeneraptienmnenpinesteniusteaphgusiennamsuanpenasnenemrnmniainnstentatanaed