Esperanto: Hearings Before The Committee On Education Part 2

Prof. CHRISTEN. Undoubtedly; this is a statement I make in my lectures: If you gentlemen will give me a number of children aged 4 or 5 years I will give them a quarter of an hour's pleasant explanation about grammar, that is Esperanto grammar, and they will understand it after a quarter of an hour's explanation; then I will jumble together a number of blocks, with various words on these blocks, and I will say to these children "pick out every noun," and they will be able to do it--that is, pick the nouns from the adjectives--and so with every part of speech.

The CHAIRMAN. Because they will know to a certainty?

Prof. CHRISTEN. Yes; every word tells its own tale on account of its distinctive ending. Now, that is a thing you can not do in English; that n.o.body can do in English, because we can not tell the parts of speech simply by the appearance of the words; we can only know from the context and that is not always easy!

The CHAIRMAN. How does that apply to other languages?

Prof. CHRISTEN. The same thing applies more or less to all, because they are all irregular; they were not formed; they have "growd" like Topsy.

Mr. TOWNER. The Latin language is more regular?

Prof. CHRISTEN. Yes: but it does not begin to compare with Esperanto.

Now, we have had these four words, and I want to proceed a little further, and I will take up something that will help me to answer your questions. If I had to teach you gentlemen French I would have to make you commit to memory 2,667 endings and contractions for the verb alone; it would take you months and months to learn that alone. The same absurdities and even worse occur in Italian, in Spanish, in German, in English, and in all so-called natural languages.

Mr. TOWNER. And we never could learn these irregularities and exceptions.

Prof. CHRISTEN. Well, if you did learn them you would never remember them at the right time because the whole scheme is so complicated.

This is only one of the many reasons which make us so shy at speaking foreign languages. Now, the same thing is true of German, and of all other languages, but it is not true of Esperanto. I will teach you the whole Esperanto conjugation in five minutes and you will never forget it, because there is nothing to remember. You already know that a noun ends in "o" and that the infinitive ends in "i," and so on: there is absolutely no difficulty whatever. (9) Now, I am sorry I have to speak so rapidly, because I would like to give you more information.

The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have you add to your remarks.

Mr. TOWNER. You can extend your remarks.

Prof. CHRISTEN. Since my time is up and, indeed, far exceeded, I will be very glad to do so. But before I leave you, let me read one or two items, which will only take two minutes more. Here is a quotation from the British Esperantist, of November, 1913, showing the progress Esperanto is making:

The central Esperanto bureau, of Paris, gives the following statistics: In 1889, there had been published 29 books in Esperanto; in 1899, 128; in 1910, 1,554; in 1912 (to August 30), 1,837. Enough already to keep most readers going for full five years of Sundays, and the output, both of bookshop and of press, is increasing daily.

Mr. TOWNER. In a general way, what is the character of this literature?

Prof. CHRISTEN. Up to now chiefly textbooks for learning Esperanto, such as this little book [indicating], which can be purchased for 10 cents. You can learn the whole mechanism of the language from one of these little books. Then there are a great many other publications, translations, scientific articles, etc., and we have already several novels originally written in the new language.

Mrs. CRAFTS. May I say a word right here? I hold in my hand the New Testament, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society together with the Scotch Bible Society. It is a translation from Nestle's Greek Testament, and the Old Testament is now being translated by one of the most eminent Hebrew scholars in the world.

Prof. CHRISTEN. Here is the next item, which I would like to read to you:

Evening cla.s.ses for the study of Esperanto under the auspices of the L.C.C. (London county council) are being held at the Halstow Road Nonvocational Inst.i.tute, Greenwich, S.E., on Thursday, 7.30-9.30 p.m., and at Bloomfield Road Commercial Inst.i.tute, Plumstead, S.E., on Fridays, 7.20-10.50 p. m. Instructor Mr.

William H. Dennis, B.D.E.A., 108, Eglinton Road, Plumstead, S.E., from whom any information may be obtained. These cla.s.ses are designed especially to meet the requirements of the serious student, beginner or advanced. (10)

That is from London. Then I have another quotation which I want to read from Edinburgh:

The chief constable of Edinburgh has interested himself in Esperanto, especially in view of the 1915 congress. The chief constable has ordered a copy of "Esperanto For All," to be sent to the 650 members of the Edinburgh police force, with a recommendation that the police learn the language. A cla.s.s for policemen is being arranged, for which 14 names have been received.

Esperanto cla.s.ses for policemen have been conducted for several years in several towns in Germany, in France, in Spain, etc., and even during their hours of duty cla.s.ses are going on in Esperanto so that policemen may learn Esperanto without the loss of their own personal time. I thank you, gentlemen, for bearing with me so long.

Mr. BARTHOLDT. I should like to have an opportunity, if possible, at some future time to have you give us about 10 or 15 minutes to hear Mrs.

Crafts.

The CHAIRMAN. We shall be very glad indeed to give you that time.

(The additional matter submitted by Prof. Christen follows:)

(1) We are apt to lose sight of the fact that the whole world's business is daily becoming more and more internationalized and that what in former centuries was done parochially is now more and more done internationally.

The first public international convention ever held took place less than 75 years ago; it is a significant fact that this was a peace convention. To-day there are over 300 societies: Commercial, scientific, religious, sociological, industrial, sporting, etc., organized internationally. During those seventy-odd years over 2,000 international congresses of one kind or another have actually taken place, and now a days not one year pa.s.ses without several scores being added to the total. An incomplete list for 1914 gives 49 such prospective international gatherings and over one score of exhibitions, fairs, and festivals of an international character.

What lamentable and foolish and provoking situation at such gatherings is due to the mult.i.tude of tongues only those know who have wasted time and money in attending them. Usually three or more languages are officially accepted and most of the time is irretrievably lost in misunderstandings and more or less inadequate translations.

Compare with this the nine yearly international Esperanto congresses held at Boulogne, Geneva, Cambridge, Dresden, Barcelona, Washington, Cracow, Antwerp, and Berne, at which from 800 to 1,500 delegates from 20 to 30 different countries spent a week in complete communion through this wonderful language. Orations, discussions, sermons, concerts, theatrical performances, and general fellowship among the members being freely enjoyed by all, and often by individuals who had only had a few weeks of acquaintance with the language.

An international language of some sort has become an absolute necessity of our new era of universal solidarity.

A hopeful sign of progress is that many international organizations have already declared in favor of Esperanto for their future meetings.

(2) The impossibility of ever making any national language international will at once become clear if we imagine the whole youth of the United States condemned to become proficient in French or Spanish or German.

Say we take the easiest of them, Spanish: does anyone dream the thing possible? Only an infinitesimal fraction of our young people could attain even a smattering, and that at the cost of from two to three years' study; and even then it is quite unlikely that other nations would adopt the same language. But if they all did this impossible thing the Spanish speaking peoples would still have the pull on them all because they grow up with the language and have not to acquire it artificially.

What holds good for Spanish holds good for even other so called natural language, including English, and more with English than any other on account of its barbarous spelling and p.r.o.nunciation.

None of these objections, neither structural nor national, apply to Esperanto, which is entirely neutral and ideally simple.

(3) The U.E.A. (Universala Esperanto Asocio) has its central office at 10 Rue de la Bourse, Geneva, Switzerland. Yearly dues 50 cents for private members, $2.50 for business firms. These contributions ent.i.tle the members to use the machinery of the a.s.sociation for the acquisition of information--free of cost, except postage--on any subject whatever (except confidential matters), the only condition being that the request be written in Esperanto. A sufficient amount of Esperanto for this purpose can be acquired by anyone in a few days, or even in a few hours. It is not even necessary to have a teacher, the textbooks being very easy to master. In America, if local booksellers do not yet stock Esperanto literature, the would-be student may apply to Peter Reilly, Esperanto bookseller, 133 North Thirteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

A growing number of Esperantists all over the world are using the services of the U.E.A., not only in correspondence, but actually traveling through many countries for pleasure or profit by means of Esperanto alone, and finding everywhere helpful hints and congenial surroundings in the local Esperanto groups.

In addition to the U.E.A. there is an international Esperanto society for the propaganda of the language; this has its world center at 51 Rue de Clichy, Paris, France, and powerful national societies in France (240 branches), in England (118 branches), in Germany (over 250 branches), etc.

(4) I should, however, add, in justice to the American people, that wherever Esperanto has been brought to their notice by press or platform it has been well received. I have myself lectured to large and sympathetic audiences in Chautauqua, Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Public schools, high schools, and universities have frequently opened their doors to Esperanto, and in my own case the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Columbia have shown their open-mindedness to the extent of engaging a paid lecturer for a prolonged course.

So has the Department of Education of the city of New York.

In the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C., a considerable number of scientists have declared in favor of Esperanto, and are adepts of the language.

My experience is that in this country the informed public warmly approves of Esperanto and the ideals it stands for, but expects the spread of the language to come through the schools. There is consequently in this country a special inertia in this matter, in spite of approval; this makes organised propaganda extremely difficult in such a vast territory.

Accordingly the national organization, the E.A.N.A. (Esperanto a.s.sociation of North America), central offices, Newton Center, Ma.s.s., has so far had but a checkered and precarious existence.

A rival society, the U.S.E.A. (United States Esperanto a.s.sociation) has its headquarters at Shaller, Iowa.

(5) If I were asked how Esperanto could best be introduced into the schools, I should suggest that a limited course of lecture lessons, say, from 6 to 12, to the teachers would suffice to give them all that is necessary to enable them to practice the language until complete proficiency is attained. In many places there is even now a supply of local Esperantists ready to cooperate with the schools.

After a month's study any teacher should be able to teach others and perfect himself in the process. At that I would teach the language only to the pupils in their last year of school; many of them could make immediate use of Esperanto on entering business; most of them would probably get enough of the language during the last session at school to engage them to keep up the practice afterwards according to local opportunities.

Please do not judge of this probability by your experience with other languages, which most students drop as soon as possible. Their endless complications make the study and practice irksome and futile, while Esperanto is positively fascinating.

In my opinion two lessons of 45 minutes a week would amply suffice to secure practical results never dreamed of in the French, German, or Spanish cla.s.ses. After a very short course of study, the boys and girls would get an opportunity to correspond with scholars of their own age and station in many lands. There are even now hundreds of school boys and girls in France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and even in China and j.a.pan eager for such interchange of thoughts by means of Esperanto.