Yesterday I posted an article about the birthday of L. L. Zamenhof, who invented Esperanto. Among other things, I wrote:
Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, is often described as "a Polish oculist". During most of his life he was, in fact, a Russian-Jewish ophthalmologist.
Yesterday marked another milestone — a negative one — in the history of Esperanto. Radio Polonia, Poland's main international radio outlet, after almost a half century of broadcasting in Esperanto cancelled its Esperanto broadcasts. The timing was perhaps a bit embarrassing, especially given Radio Polonia VP Jerzy Targalski's explanation:
If Poland should broadcast in Esperanto because we are proud of Zamenhof, Israel too should broadcast in Esperanto, because they too are certainly proud of their fellow Jew.
Perhaps they are; Israel has just published its first postage stamp in honor of Zamenhof. But it is worth remembering that Zamenhof spent his entire life in Poland (except for a year or so studying in Moscow, and a few trips abroad), never set foot in the Middle East, and during his youthful Zionist phase supported the "North American" option — the establishment of a new Jewish state somewhere in the American West — rather than the reestablishment of the state of Israel on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. In other words, Zamenhof, lifelong resident of the terrain now known as Poland, though he was proud of his Judaism, had no connection with the state of Israel. And, Targalski notwithstanding, what the state of Israel does or does not do should have no bearing on whether Poland continues to broadcast in Esperanto.
Maybe there were financial reasons for ending the broadcasts? According to one source, they cost 4,000 złoty per month. Yet this is really a pittance; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which finances the station to the tune of nine and a half million złoty per year, wanted the transmissions to continue.
Maybe nobody listens? We can't tell how many people tune their radio sets to specific languages broadcast by Radio Polonia; maybe a hundred times as many people listen in, for example, Belorussian as in Esperanto. Yet for years now the reactions to broadcasts from the Esperanto section have surpassed those from any other section, including English and French (German occasionally seizes the palm from Esperanto), and this would suggest that the programs are popular.
Maybe Esperanto is just a hobbyist language and doesn't deserve its own radio broadcasts? Yet the language has brought money to Poland — six thousand people, with their pocketbooks, showed up in Warsaw for a week in 1987 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the language — a success the country would like to duplicate in 2009 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Zamenhof's birth. And industry brought in by Esperanto is not unrepresented, e.g. by Japanese industrialist Etsui Miyoshi's factory to be located in Malbork. It's also interesting to note that Poland recently elected the continent's first active Esperanto-speaking Europarliamentarian, Mrs. Malgorzata Handzlik.
Perhaps the best argument for ending the daily broadcasts is simply that very few people listen to them as broadcasts; according to Targalski (and where he gets this figure I don't know, but it does not seem improbable) 92% of those listening to the Esperanto broadcasts get them over the internet, through on-demand streaming, rather than by tuning in their shortwave radio to a satellite emitter right at broadcast time. This almost makes sense; it is quite possible that the age of the international radio broadcast in general is coming to an end, replaced by an era of streaming and podcasts. It's how I listened to Radio Polonia; prior to its appearance on the net, I had never listened, nor could ever listen, to its Esperanto broadcasts (except for a short period in 1959 when I was living in Denmark). And there are indications that Radio Polonia is willing to compromise with its staff, its listeners and its own government at least to this degree: that in a few months broadcasts over the internet will be restored to the listening public. Let's hope that this is the case.
But whatever the result, the ethnicity of the creator of Zamenhof should have nothing to do with any decision to continue or cancel broadcasts in Esperanto. That Targalski has given it such a spin is a blot on the good name of Poland.
Don hit the nail squarely on the head, I think. I don't know exactly what function this Targalsky has in Radio Polonia, but apparently he has at least quite a bit of influence. The suggestion that Israel should broadcast in Esperanto is a cheap shot. Zamenhof was a humanitarian and a humanist (in the best sense), not a Zionist or Jewish activist. But anyone who has studied homaranismo, that fascinating invention of LLZ, would know his true value. He gave the world a useful tool to heal its unfortunate bigotries - and apparently one of those bigotries, anti-semitism, still flourishes in certain circles in Poland.
I, too, could only hear the Esperanto broadcasts through the streaming on the internet, as reception from Poland on the U.S. west coast is abysmal. And I enjoyed the broadcasts greatly. Let's keep the pressure on the Polish authorities to maintain the broadcasts.
Posted by: William R. Harmon at December 16, 2006 08:29 PMI too, was disappointed by the cessation of Radio Polonia's Eo broadcasts. I have been an eternal beginner, never quite getting my fluency up to the speed necessary to really listen to a conversation and understand what is being said, let alone participate in one myself.
Currently, I have a bit more time to focus on such things--naturally this is when Radio Polonia pulled the plug. Further, Flavio Rebelo's projects (his Eo 'net TV channel, and his online jxournalo), both seem as if they're being shut down.
I'm really hoping for someplace on the net where I can hear regular conversations in Esperanto, and really start to build my fluency. Paltalk is one option, but it seems a little too rag-taggy as to when one is likely to find activity going on (and sound quality is kind of poor--I often have trouble understanding what I hear on Paltalk in __English__ chat rooms, let alone trying to understand a foreign language.
Is there anywhere else on the web for this kind of thing? It would seem that Skype, with it's heavy international approach, would be the perfect venue, and there could be some sort of regularly scheduled "Skypecast" in Eo. NB: I am emphatically NOT volunteering for the job of coordinating such a thing. My own fluency is too poor, and I don't really have the time. But I do wonder why no such group has formed. Even the Lojbanists are doing Skypecasts from time to time.
Posted by: Steel Wheel at December 22, 2006 01:50 AMThe figure of 4000 zl a month is for the wages of the editorial staff only. Broadcasting involves lots of other costs which have not been calculated.
That said, to claim as Targalski says that 92% of the Esperanto Section's listeners tune in on the internet is strange. He would have no way of knowing that, of course. He seems to have plucked the figure out of thin air.
Targalski is not an experienced broadcaster — in fact he has no experience in this area at all. His position as Vice President of Polskie Radio is entirely a political appointment.
If I were an Esperantist I would be sending my emails to the Foreign Office (which is ultimately responsible for the funding of Radio Polonia and not to the likes of people like Targalski, who seem to have an agenda of their own.
I fear that the Esperanto Section has become another victim of a rather hysterical conservative backlash in Poland. Its demise looks political, not financial.
Steel Wheel:
For good and clear Esperanto pronunciation, with a slight Italian flavor, why don't you try the weekly broadcasts from RAI/Italy at:
http://www.international.rai.it/radio/multilingue/presentazioni/esperanto.shtml
or a couple of times per week from Radio Vaticana at:
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/esp/on_demand.asp
I wouldn't be surprised if these two are next in line for the chop, as more countries trim their shortwave broadcasting and turn to cheaper Podcasting.
I'm not such a fan of the daily Esperanto broadcasts from Radio China International though at:
http://esperanto.cri.cn/
as neither the content nor the pronunciation are quite to my taste.
If these links don't work for you for whatever reason, just Google "Vancouver + Esperanto", where you'll find direct links to all of them on the main page.
Posted by: mankso at December 23, 2006 12:06 PM