May 26, 2007
Hazairin R. JUNEP
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is Hazairin R. JUNEP of Indonesia. Junep is a 46-year-old author and tourist guide.
Professionally, in truth I have no permanent labor; I often teach English or other languages, guide tourists or sell things ... I am a volunteer and often take part in the action of a group in organizing aid for the victims of catastrophe or conflict.
I have learned and can speak five languages, but I feel that none of the languages has the right to be called an international language.
Esperanto and I
By good luck, in 2003 I found an old magazine from the year 1952, with a short article about Esperanto. Later I listened to the broadcast from China Radio International, in Esperanto, and I understood about 70% of it! only one day after reading the article. I fell in love with Esperanto.
I immediately started writing letters to the Esperanto Section of China Radio International and took part in the contest about knowledge of China. I won third prize. I wrote the first Esperanto-Indonesian vocabulary. (1) Now I'm trying to publish it and will bring it to the World Esperanto Congress if that is possible.
I wrote a short article in our newspaper about Esperanto, translated and distributed documents in both Esperanto and Indonesian, up to today.
At the end of 2004, I corresponded with Mrs. Dianne LUKES, who later visited me twice, a few days before our country was hit by the tsunami. She is my guide and also my mother and the grandmother of my children.
World Esperanto Congress and After
At the World Esperanto Congress I want to talk about peace with our comrades in Japan, because we have the same problem in history. I want to visit the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to pray for the victims of the bombs. I also want to experience how the Japanese live and to introduce my country. I want to experience Esperanto-land.
Afterwards, when I return home, I will be able to begin visiting universities to have a course or just to talk about Esperanto. And I will continue to work on my Indonesian-Esperanto Vocabulary. With several new Esperanto speakers I want to establish an association and more effectively disseminate the language throughout my country.
Hard Intelligence
I see in today's paper that the Bush administration was warned ahead of time about precisely those events that came to pass in Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein: the struggle for power between Sunnis and Shiites, the appearance of a home-grown tentacle of AlQaida in Iraq, and the near certainty of an extension of Iranian influence into the country. (As to the latter, I've often wondered if the Iranians themselves didn't engineer — through Chalabi and his staff, whom Bush almost seemed to worship, in Washington — the American overthrow of Saddam.)
According to Republicans, however, documents showing these warnings, and their release, "exaggerate[s] the significance" of this early intelligence, because, according to my local newspaper, "they were based more on expert analysis than on hard intelligence."
Surprise! The CIA had no hard intelligence about the future. Does anybody?
That is why the CIA, the NSA, and other such organizations hire experts to analyze. There is no hard intelligence about the future.
May 23, 2007
Venus CRUZ
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is Venus CRUZ of the Philippines. Cruz is a 32-year-old worker in an association that helps women.
Esperanto and I
I started learning Esperanto three months ago. Mr. Bharat GHIMIRE ofered the course, and now I am treasurer of the Esperanto Association for the Philippines.
World Esperanto Congress and After
Because our Esperanto Association is very new, I have many aspirations for it. I hope that it will be helpful in the growth of the Esperanto movement in the Philippines. We hope to teach dozens of people, who will also teach other people. I want to grow our membership. This will be possible through plans and mechanisms of our association. We will teach, recruit and strengthen our association.
May 22, 2007
Merry Ruth M. GUTIERREZ
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is Merry Ruth M. GUTIERREZ of the Philippines. Gutierrez is a 37-year-old professor of reading and literature at the Philippine Normal (Teacher Training) University.
Esperanto and I
I started learning Esperanto in 2006 when Mr. Bharat GHIMIRE from Nepal came to Manila to teach Esperanto. I am an active member of the Esperanto Association for the Philippines. In January 2007, when Mr. HORI Yasuo came to the Philippines, I took care of him and studied Esperanto again under his guidance.
World Esperanto Congress and After
1) I want to teach Esperanto in my university as an official object of study. 2) I want to edit a textbook of Esperanto grammar, bilingually in English and Tagalog on the basis of Mr. Hori's Basic Grammar of Esperanto.
May 20, 2007
Irrelevant but Right?
"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," President Jimmy Carter is quoted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."
White House (or, more properly, presidential ranch) spokesman Tony Fratto replied: "I think it's sad that President Carter's reckless personal criticism is out there. I think it's unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments."
(Both paragraphs modified from those at www.cnn.com .)
Whether or not former President Carter is becoming "increasingly irrelevant" strikes me as itself an irrelevancy. The question is not whether he is irrelevant but whether he is right. I'd tend to say "yes", but with the following caveat:
I have lived through this sad excuse for an administration, and certainly, of those I can remember (maybe Truman, very vaguely; certainly Eisenhower to the present), Bush's administration qualifies as the worst, and not by a few percentage points, either. But I didn't live through the administrations of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding (both Republicans, incidentally), both of which also have a very bad reputation among historians, particularly for the kind of corruption whose stink we have smelled coming out of Washington since January of 2001, and particularly since 2003. (1) And I should point out, to liberals like myself who find themselves distressed by the Patriot Act and warrant-free wiretapping, that it was that icon of modern liberalism, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who authorized the incarceration of thousands of Americans who had done nothing more sinister than mistakenly choose ancestors who happened to be Japanese. Bush has at least refrained from carrying out a similar pogrom against Americans who happen to worship Allah, something many of our fellow countrymen would be happy to see. Given his record with appointment of blacks and women to high-ranking posts (think Colin Powell, Condi Rice), I suspect that his heart is in the right place (well, sort of), though he might want to consider spending fifteen minutes each day, singing, along with The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, "If I Only Had a Brain ..."
Nonetheless, there is little question in my mind that, overall, Carter's assessment of the Bush administration is not too different from the one that historians of the future will assign to it (though they may also relegate it to a footnote, something that those of us living through it may find hard to imagine).
Zhang Yan
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is ZHANG Yan of China. Zhang is 27-year-old secretary of the Zaozhang Esperanto Association.
Esperanto and I
I started learning Esperanto in 1997. I worked as one of the organizers for the First International Festival of Esperanto in Zaozhuang, China, held in cooperation with the Zaozhuang Esperanto Association and the Seoul Esperanto Cultural Center.
World Esperanto Congress and After
I want to take part in all the meetings of KAEM (Commission for the Asian Esperanto Movement) to learn about various experiences in other countries. After the World Esperanto Congress I will definitely report about the friendly contact in the Congress in magazines and newspapers in my province. I will inform about and disseminate our language, vigorously and from the heart, in our city and in our country.
Linguistic Diversity at the UN
The General Assembly of the UN recently issued the proclamation described as follows. I give it here in its English version (presumably there are also versions in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, the other five official and working languages of the organization) as well as my own Esperanto translation (the latter appears here primarily to ensure a permanent copy available to anyone who wants to read it).
GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROCLAIMS 2008 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LANGUAGES, IN EFFORT TO PROMOTE UNITY IN DIVERSITY, GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING
The General Assembly this afternoon, recognizing that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding, proclaimed 2008 the International Year of Languages.
Acting without a vote, the Assembly, also recognizing that the United Nations pursues multilingualism as a means of promoting, protecting and preserving diversity of languages and cultures globally, emphasized the paramount importance of the equality of the Organization’s six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).
In that regard, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to ensure that all language services were given equal treatment and were provided with equally favourable working conditions and resources. The Secretary-General was also requested to complete the task of publishing all important older United Nations documents on the Organization’s website in all six official languages, on a priority basis.
Further, the Assembly emphasized the importance of making appropriate use of all the official languages in all the activities of the Department of Public Information, with the aim of eliminating the disparity between the use of English and the use of the five other official languages.
Introducing the resolution (contained in document A/61/L.56), France’s representative said the text would ensure a “global” approach to multilingualism and would promote a reasonable vision of multilingualism at the United Nations. It would help ensure adherence to the principles of multilingualism in the Organization’s daily activities and, for the first time, would underline the importance of providing technical assistance and training in the local languages of beneficiary countries.
Speakers, among them the representatives of Tunisia, Andorra, Russian Federation, Romania and Senegal, stressed that multilingualism in the United Nations served to enrich the work of the Organization. Linguistic diversity was the foundation of cultural diversity. Without appropriate attention to the issue of preserving linguistic diversity, the harmonious integration of a growing number of countries in the practical work of the Organization would hardly be possible.
They welcomed the work of the Department of Public Information regarding multilingualism in electronic resources, as well as that of the United Nations information centres (UNICs) in disseminating information through local languages. Some speakers hoped the next resolution on multilingualism would include an explicit reference to the need for linguistic diversity in peacekeeping operations.
The Assembly was informed that any resource implications resulting from the resolution would be addressed in the Secretary-General’s report to the sixty-third session of the Assembly on implementation of the esolution.
ĜENERALA ASEMBLEO PROKLAMAS JARON 2008 INTERNACIA JARO DE LINGVOJ, KIEL PROVO AKCELI UNUECON EN DIVERSECO, TUTMONDAN INTERKOMPRENON.
La Ĝenerala Asembleo ĉi-posttagmeze, rekonante, ke vera plurlingvismo akcelas unuecon en diverseco kaj internacian interkomprenon, proklamis jaron 2008 la Internacia Jaro de Lingvoj.
Agante sen balotado, la Asembleo, ankaŭ rekonante, ke la UnuiĜintaj Nacioj subtenas plurlingvismon kiel rimedon por tutmonde akceli, protekti kaj konservi diversecon de lingvoj kaj kulturoj, emfazis la gravecon super ĉio de la egaleco de la ses oficialaj lingvoj (la araba, la ĉina, la angla, la franca, la rusa kaj la hispana) de la Organizaĵo.
Tiurilate, la Asembleo petis, ke la Ĝenerala Sekretario certigu, ke ĉiuj lingvaj servoj ricevu egalecan traktadon kaj ke ilin oni provizu per egale favoraj laborkondiĉoj kaj rimedoj. Oni cetere petis, ke la Ĝenerala Sekretario prioritate finu la taskon aperigi ĉiujn gravajn pli malnovajn dokumentojn de Unuiĝintaj Nacioj ĉe la TTTejo de la Organizaĵo en ĉiuj ses oficialaj lingvoj.
La Asembleo cetere emfazis la gravecon konvene uzadi ĉiujn oficialajn lingvojn en ĉiuj agadoj de la Fako pri Publika Informado, cele al forigo de la malegaleco inter la uzado de la angla kaj la uzado de la kvin ceteraj oficialaj lingvoj.
Prezentante la rezolucion (en dokumento A/61/L.56), la reprezentanto de Francio diris, ke la teksto certigos "tutmondan" aliron al plurlingvismo kaj akcelos konvenan vizion de plurlingvismo ĉe Unuiĝintaj Nacioj. Ĝi helpos certigi obeadon al la principoj de plurlingvismo en la ĉiutagaj agadoj de la Organizaĵo kaj, la unuan fojon, substrekos la gravecon provizi teĥnikan helpon kaj edukadon en la lokaj lingvoj de helpataj landoj.
Parolantoj, inter ili la reprezentantoj de Tunizio, Andoro, la Rusa Federacio, Rumanio kaj Senegalo, emfazis, ke plurlingvismo en la Unuiĝintaj Nacioj servas por riĉigi la laboradon de la Organizaĵo. Lingva diverseco estas la fundamento de kultura diverseco. Sen taŭga atento al la afero pri konservado de lingva diverseco, la harmonia integrigado de ĉiam pli multaj landoj en la praktika laborado de la Organizaĵo preskaŭ ne eblus.
Ili bonvenigis la laboron de la Fako pri Publika Informado rilate plurlingvismon en elektronikaj rimedoj, cetere tiun de la informcentroj de Unuiĝintaj Nacioj (UNICoj) rilate diskonigadon de informoj pere de lokaj lingvoj. Kelkaj parolantoj esperis, ke la posta rezolucio pri plurlingvismo enhavos eksplicitan mencion pri la bezono de lingva diverseco en pacigaj funkcioj.
La Asembleon oni informis, ke ĉiujn implicojn pri rimedoj rezultantajn de la rezolucio oni pritraktos en la raporto de la Ĝenerala Sekretario al la sesdek-tria sesio de la Asembleo pri plenumo de la rezolucio.
May 19, 2007
Sending a Message
President George W. Bush has reason for vetoing Congress's bill for funding our troops in Iraq: he cannot sign any bill that contains a timeline for withdrawal of those troops because that would "send a message" to our enemies — a message that they need only pull in their horns and wait for a while, and then they will have a free hand.
Bad news, George. Whatever we do sends a message.
Case in point. Some days ago our enemies ambushed an American patrol, killed four members, and "kidnapped" (1) three. Our army's immediate response was to assign a thousand or so men to scour the countryside seeking our soldiers. They've not yet found them, and are still on the job.
And the message? If you "kidnap" an American soldier or two — note: you need neither torture nor kill them, just put them away somewhere safe for a week or two — you will effectively tie down a thousand or so American soldiers, taken away from the main battle against the insurgency to search for our missing soldiers.
Unfortunately, such messages are unavoidable; they are an intrinsic part of our policy ("No one left behind"). In effect, everything you do sends a message. The other side need only decipher it to be able to take advantage of it.
Xiong Linping
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is XIONG Linping of China. Xiong is a 46-year-old teacher of the Chinese language. He is also known as "Minosun".
Esperanto and I
In 1979, by chance I read an article about Esperanto in a newspaper. In it was written that Esperanto is the easiest language to learn in the world, and that it is a bridge among various nations for understanding ... Those charming words drastically attracted me. The young heart dreamed of knowing the outside world, traveling through the world, becoming friends with people in different places. I fell in love with Esperanto and began to seek a textbook and teacher everywhere. A few months later I received the first textbook for beginners and a small dictionary from the Xinhua Esperanto Correspondence School. But I did not succeed, because there was no Esperanto near me. In 1991 I had a chance to learn Esperanto in Beijing during one year, but after that I did nothing again for almost ten years under the pressure of keeping myself alive. After that, I learned that the 89th World Esperanto Congress was to be held in Beijing. Excellent information that saved me. From the beginning of 2004 until now I have never stopped on the Esperanto road. Everyday I get on-line to read, write, translate and chat. Because of my internet activity in 2006 I was elected as vice-president of the Jianĝi Esperanto Association.
World Esperanto Congress and After
In Japan many exotic things are waiting for me. I believe that I will be happy in Japan.
After returning from Japan, I will continue my writing and translating (mainly into Chinese from Esperanto) for web sites and local magazines and newspaper.
I now have plans: 1) after the 92nd World Esperanto Congress I will travel around to give talks about my experience and thought-discoveries from Japan in the congress, in Esperanto clubs or associations of our region and perhaps in other places; I will published the experience and thought-discoveries in our local newspaper or magazine; 2) I will found first an Esperanto course in my college and then a club in it.
May 18, 2007
Farewell, Wolfowitz
Well, Paul Wolfowitz is finally resigning from his post as president of the World Bank.
And not before time. Wolfowitz's arrangement of a huge package of salary increases and benefits for his girl friend — and his insistence not that he made a mistake but that there was nothing wrong with this act — exemplifies one of the major problems with President George Bush and his appointees, a failing that some have described as "ethical tone-deafness."
Wolfowitz will be leaving at the end of June, but it appears that the bank's board of directors will make sure that his ability to make personnel and policy decisions is effectively castrated, as of now. There is some fear of reprisal on his part against those bank functionaries and employees — a large number — who carried on the campaign to have him ousted.
One other possible casualty of Wolfowitz's departure may, it appears, be the seemingly eternal policy of allowing the President of the United States to select the head of the World Bank. Nowhere is this practice specified in the rules of the Bank, but it's been a given since the late forties (in return, the Europeans get to name the head of the International Monetary Fund). But Bush's blunder in naming right-wing crony Wolfowitz, whose lack of administrative competence has been legendary in government circles, (1) to this post calls the practice into question, and it's possible that the Bank's Board of Directors will find some other way of selecting a bank president.
Wang Shanshan
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is WANG Shanshan of China. Wang is a 24-year-old announcer for China Radio International (Esperanto section). Among Esperantists she is appropriately known as "Eŭfonia".
Esperanto and I
I began to learn Esperanto in my university in September of 2003. I had previously studied Italian. And later, the Esperanto Section of China Radio International collaborated with my university (Chinese Communications University) to recruit students to learn Esperanto, and train new workers for the Radio. Informed of the news, I took part in the exams for the students to be recruited, and succeeded very well. So I changed my field and became an Esperantist. Truth to tell, at that time I still did not know exactly what Esperanto is.
Thanks to my learning of Italian, I learned Esperanto joyfully because of its easiness and because of the similarity of its pronunciation with that of Italian.
The 89th World Esperanto Congress was held in Beijing, and I and my classmates became volunteers and tour guides, although at that time we had been learning Esperanto for only eight months. I think that the World Esperanto Congress was the key period in my life, because it was at just that time that I fell wholeheartedly in love with Esperanto and decided to make whatever contribution I could for it. During the period of the Congress I saw, with astonishment, emotion and for the first time, that more than 2000 people from more than 50 countries could communicate in one language.
In August of 2005 I started work in the Esperanto Section of China Radio International. Since that time, I have worked every day in and for Esperanto. I very much enjoy my work.
World Esperanto Congress and After
During the World Esperanto Congress, I want not just to experience Japanese culture and life, but also to take part in various meetings. And I also want to help the Local Congress Committee or the Universala Esperanto-Asocio to do something during the period of the Congress, if they need me. Working as a reporter in and for Esperanto, I and my colleagues will be broadcasting daily reports about the World Esperanto Congress over the internet and by telephone as before. In addition, I will also be doing interviews with Congress participants.
As usual at China Radio International, when we return to our Radio, we will give detailed reports about the World Esperanto Congress over the entire week. The detailed reports will be available not only in our daily broadcast, but also in our web page.
May 17, 2007
Wu Guojiang
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is WU Guojiang of China. Wu is a 42-year-old petrochemical engineer. He is the moving force behind the "Twin Cities" movement within the Esperanto movement.
Esperanto and I
On July 21, 1984, I read in a local newspaper a message of recruitment for a course in Esperanto (in Chinese named "the world language"). Up to that time I had never heard the words "the world language". Laughingly, I thought at that time that the language was a foreign language or another name for one of the other foreign languages widely taught, intentionally given by the course organizer to recruit more pupils. Wanting to know more, I announced myself for the course. After entering it, I really learned what was the world language named. It was Esperanto! I deeply love this language and have never abandoned it in the last more than 20 years, because Esperanto has a beautiful, noble ideal of promoting world peace and can play a role in constructing a harmonious society. From that time on I decided to become a practitioner of Esperanto and a genuine Esperantist.
World Esperanto Congress and After
If I succeed in taking part in the 92d World Esperanto Congress, to be held in Japan, I will use all means to get any experience which will be able to guide me to promote the project of the "Twin Cities" and the local Esperanto movement. Concretely, I will consider the use of the experiences I get in building and development of local Esperanto organizations and in applying Esperanto to widen the community of Esperanto, after I return to my country. I believe that my visit to Japan will not be fruitless, that I will certainly return with my fruit basket full.
Before the European Parliament
On May 9, the European Union celebrated the fifty-year anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, and invited a number of Nobel Laureates to speak in the European Parliament. Among them was Reinhard Selten, who shared the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994. Selten's short presentation was delivered in German, but an Esperanto translation by Bertilo Wennergren and Ziko van Dijk was recently published in the webzine Libera Folio. I've taken the liberty of making an English translation, which I offer here.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
It is for me an honor and a joy to speak to you today.
In the 50 years since the Treaty of Rome economic integration has progressed wonderfully. It's been a long road, but basic changes have been politically fulfilled. Much was long viewed as impossible, as for example the Monetary Union. The Monetary Union has been shown to be a great success. That must be especially thanked to the independence of the European Central Bank and to its requirement to hold to the goal of monetary stability.
It is probable that a new European basic treaty will be decided on instead of the European constitution. I hope that the independence and tasks of the Central Bank will remain unchanged. Economic integration has certainly not been completed.
The irreproachable, under cartel law, takeover of a New York electricity provider by a California electricity provider would not cause political excitement in the United States. In Europe we are not yet ready for such an event.
It is necessary to stimulate the creation of a stronger European identity. The Europeans must learn to feel themselves as Europeans first.
An important hindrance on the way to a stronger European identity are the language barriers within Europe. That language problem demands a solution. Domination by one national language cannot be in the solution. In the long run only a neutral solution is acceptable. We have no right to place any nation at a disadvantage.
An easily learnable planned language such as Esperanto makes a neutral solution to the language problem possible. A second foreign language is learned much more easily than the first. The second-language effect is so strong, and Esperanto so easily, that it is more favorable to first learn Esperanto and then a national foreign language than just that foreign language alone. This has been scientifically proven in tests in schools.
First, several countries can make a treaty about the teaching of Esperanto in schools. Afterwards that treaty can be widened to other countries. The way to the widening of treaties has been followed successfully several times, for example the Schengen Treaty and the Monetary Union.
I thank you for your attention!
May 16, 2007
Song Jingquan
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I am reproducing them here, in English translation, one by one.
The next listed activist is SONG Jingquan of China. Song is a 42-year-old customs officer.
Esperanto and I
I became an Esperanto speaker in 1983. I was elected vice-president of the Tianjin Esperanto Association in 1993, as general secretary in 1998, as vice-president as well as general secretary in 2005. I am an adviser to the Chinese Esperanto League. I often inform about Esperanto, have taught Esperanto in the Esperanto course, organized the 14th Common Seminar among Chinese, Japanese and Korean Youth in Tianjin, participated in the 71st World Esperanto Congress in Beijing in 1986, the 79th World Esperanto Congress in Seoul in 1994, the 89th World Esperanto Congress in Beijing in 2004, the 3rd Asian Congress in Korea in 2002, and national congresses, conferences and meetings. In 2006 I was invited as a worker by the Local Congress Committee of the 58th Railway Workers' Esperanto Congress in Shanghai. I have also often received Esperanto speakers from various countries, from example Japanese, German, Iranian, Swedish, American, Bulgarian, Australian, New Zealander, Polish, Korean etc.
World Esperanto Congress and After
As a sincere and active Esperantist, I will work harder to inform about our common language Esperanto, as I have done before, so that more and more people will get to know and learn Esperanto and speak Esperanto.
May 15, 2007
A. S. Venkatesh Reddy
The Japanese Esperanto Institute is issuing a special invitation to 23 Asian Esperanto activists to take part in this year's World Esperanto Congress in Yokohama. In the April issue of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta JEI has published statements by each of these people. I think I'll reproduce them here, in English translation, one by one.
The first listed activist is A. S. Venkatesh REDDY of India. Reddy is 47 years old and a consultant in social law.
I live in the village of Whitefield, an eastern part of the city of Bangalore. The name Whitefield was given by Englishmen who lived in my village. It was a colony of Anglo-Indians and everybody spoke English. So my family became accustomed to speak English from birth. And there were many schools where we learned via English. But we had many problems with those Anglo-Indians for many reasons. After my elementary school years I joined the prep school, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba Higher Learning". I was in that school for five years. The school is only four kilometers from my home. I met many foreigners who came to see "Sai Baba" and they all spoke many different languages, for example Russian, Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Swahili, etc. I was curious about the languages. I spoke with great interest and curiosity to foreigners. But there was always a lack of foreigners, books, etc. who shared my language.
Esperanto and I
When I was 15 years old, I encountered Esperanto. I decided to learn the language, although I knew nothing about it. A few years later I began to disseminate Esperanto among my friends and in the scout movement (because I'm a boy scout). Now I am disseminating it in schools and in the scout movement. I dedicate my whole time to the dissemination of Esperanto, because Zamenhof's goal was to have peace in this world. Via the noble purpose (universal love) "Sri Sathya Sai Baba" I became an Esperanto speaker. And now I want to give mankind love through Esperanto.
World Esperanto Congress and After
The visit to the World Esperanto Congress is to know more about the Esperanto movement, because the experience is very important for dissemination. After the World Congress I want to spread the Esperanto movement further, and to reach the goal for next year's project. This is to organize more courses in schools and the scout movement, and also a seminar.
The Young and the Noteworthy
In the Auxlang mailing list, Todd Moody posted the following comment:
I thought the author's perception of a high number of young participants [in this year's national Esperanto conference in Britain —DH] was noteworthy.
I posted the following answer in Auxlang. I think it deserves quoting here.
Hi, Todd.
Noteworthy not to see so many young Esperanto speakers as to see that somebody somehow convinced them to show up at a national Esperanto conference.
The "graying" of the Esperanto movement has always been exaggerated by elderly Esperanto speakers who believe that club meetings and landaj kongresoj represent the Esperanto-speaking community. Actually, even in those limited venues there hasn't exactly been a "graying" over the past 50 years; the average age of participants in the San Francisco group and the annual ELNA congress today is pretty much the same as it was in the Los Angeles Esperanto Club and the annual ELNA congresses respectively when I was first active in around 1961-1962 (only difference is that the LK is generally bigger today).
It might be argued that there's a whole new generation of young people showing up in the Esperanto movement today, after years of absence, but I don't think that this is the case, either. Anybody who subscribed to Budapeŝta Informilo back in the mid-to-late-eighties, and looked at its "Deziras korespondi" column (perhaps the best available after El Popola Ĉinio went to a pay-as-you-go format), could easily see that a vast majority of those applying for pen pals were somewhere between 15 and 25 years of age.
I do have to admit, however, that when I saw, on-line, some overhead shots of a bunch of people at the All-Americas Esperanto Congress in Mexico City a few years ago, I exhaled: "Huh?" It was the first time I'd ever seen such an event where the hair showing was more black than gray or white. When my friend Ming-chi and I went to the UEA banquet in Beijing in 1986, there were well over a thousand people in the room, and the big majority had gray hair; Ming-chi and I, in our forties, were not the youngest people in the room, but probably in the youngest ten percent.
(On the other hand, we took a taxi back to the congress headquarters after the banquet and found a similar number of people having fun, dancing and the like; in that room, we certainly weren't the oldest people, but were probably in the oldest ten to twenty percent ...)
Traditionally, I've considered that there are two modes in the age range of the Esperanto movement, one in the fifties and early sixties, and a much smaller one in the late teens to early twenties. But if you go to amikumu.com and check the age stats for their 1200+ members (which are also shown as a bar graphic), you find a single mode at age 20 and no sign of a mode at the upper ages (above age 52, things get very sparse). As I've said before, it gripes me to find myself isolated out on a statistical tail ...
The one group historically lacking in the Esperanto movement has been that between the early twenties and retirement; it's been traditionally supposed that these people are too busy making a living to participate in the Esperanto movement, so that their children and parents can do so ... Interestingly, I was given a copy of the Japanese magazine La Revuo Orienta, April issue, today. There's a long article about 23 activists from eleven Asian countries (India, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam) who are being invited especially to the UK in Yokohama; aside from the fact that they are as evenly split as you can get with an odd number between men and women (12 men, 11 women), their age range is from 18 to 47, with a mean age of 35.57 years and a median age of 38 years. So maybe as we get away from Europe and North America, the traditional rules of engagement will come to be meaningless.
May 10, 2007
Allowance
A week or so ago I was thinking of ways by which Congress could bring President Bush around to their way of thinking regarding money for troops and withdrawal dates. There were two that came immediately to mind:
1) Pass the same bill again ... and again ... and again ... eventually, people would start to see that it's not Congress that's depriving the troops of money, but the President, with his unending vetoes.
2) Pass a new bill providing money not for a year, but for a month or so, thus forcing the President to come back to Congress, time after time, for more money — and eventually perhaps forcing him to accept at least benchmarks that the Iraqi government would have to meet.
I get the impression that Congress is now looking at this second alternative. And I get the impression that the President is now perhaps looking at some sort of compromise. (I notice that Dick Cheney is now in Iraq and trying to light a fire under the Iraqi government to convince them to actually meet some benchmarks ...)
May 03, 2007
"Springboard to Languages is Launched"
The following article by Paul Gubbins appeared in the March, 2007, issue of the magazine Esperanto, pages 51-53. The translation, and any errors included in it, are mine.
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In several countries of the world, the news that more than 100 children are learning Esperanto would not be especially striking. But when the country in question is Great Britain, home of the internationally adopted English language, and the children are learning not privately but in state elementary schools (where young people between the ages of 5 and 11 years study), the statistic is impressive. The more so because language learning started in the first school only in September last year, but it has already reaped positive and enthusiastic reactions both from teachers and, more importantly, from pupils.
Obviously, preparatory work was being done before September. For two years Angela Tellier, comissioner of the Esperanto Association of Britain for educational matters, has been working on the project "Springboard to Languages". Helped by a small group of teachers, designers and other advisers, she has planned and written not only the course materials but also the informational and advertising instruments. She has also related to educational offices and the schools themselves. Let's not forget the role of the Esperanto Association of Britain, which is financially supporting the ambitious and expensive project for five years.
The initiative was encouraged and made possible by changes in the British government's language policy (if, in truth, it's possible to talk about a language policy in Britain). In the 1980s, because of the introduction of the so-called national study program, it was not possible to teach Esperanto officially in British schools. The languages of the European Union and those of ethnic minorities in Britain (e.g. Welsh, Bengali, Gujarat) were sanctioned. Other languages, including Esperanto, were permitted on condition that approved languages of the national program be studied first. As a result, Esperanto disappeared in British schools except as a recess or hobby occupation (notably in the North English town of Skipton, were Malcolm Jones inspired his pupils to visit a World Esperanto Congress; also in southwest England, in Gloucester, thanks to Elizabeth Stanley).
Meanwhile, in part because of a great choice of school topics considered easier than languages (e.g. sociology, psychology, mass communications), interest in language-learning in second-level schools shrank. The government panicked and ordered that from the age of 14 years the learning of a foreign language would no longer be mandatory (a decision attacked by intellectuals and perhaps, after a change of government, to be reversed). In addition, to stimulate language learning among 11- to 14-year-olds, the government this February announced that in second-level schools the mandatory teaching of at least one EU language would be nullified in favor of "economically useful" language (e.g. Chinese or Arabic). In compensation, because of the changes at the second level, and to defend itself against critics, the government announced that through the year 2010 every older pupil in elementary school would be allowed to learn a foreign language.
This time the government did not insist on approved languages. But knowing that in many elementary schools, without experience in foreign-language pedagogy, teachers face their new challenge at times nervously and directionlessly, and recognizing the possibility of officially introducing the international language into national schools, British Esperanto speakers took action. The result is Springboard to Languages, whose purpose is not only to teach Esperanto but also — here is the hook for headmasters — to present it as a language to facilitate learning in preparation for study of other language in the second-school. The global cultural contacts that can be acquired through Esperanto are also underscored.
It was not easy to find schools ready to participate in the pioneering phase of the project. In Britain the first foreign language, for historical, no longer for economic, cultural or even vacation reasons, is French. Many Britons have learned at least a little French, and so teachers in elementary schools prepare themselves to teach a foreign language by trying to refresh knowledge, for the most part basic, about French. Convincing them to acquire and teach a new language, especially a language which, according to the British sub-Minister for Education, Lord Adonis, in a letter of this year to an Esperanto speaker, "is not associated with a particular culture", was at times a reason to lose hope. But by the beginning of the year two enterprising elementary schools with clear-sighted and, honestly speaking, courageous headmistresses announced themselves ready to accept Springboard to Languages.
Applying the concepts of Springboard to Languages is simple in theory. The school is visited by an experienced Esperanto speaker, who works together with both teachers and children. So Tim Morley goes to the Bar Hill school, in the East English university town of Cambridge (where the third World Esperanto Congress was held 100 years ago). Twice a week he teaches Esperanto for 30 minutes to three classes. During at least one of the two lessons teachers and assistants, who occasionally receive additional sessions, join in learning. Training of the teachers is especially important: one of the goals of Springboard to Languages consists of the Esperanto teacher little by little withdrawing so that the on-site teachers take over responsibility for the Esperanto lessons. Clearly, because a single Esperanto speaker will not be able to continue teaching the language to the 90 pupils, aged from seven to nine years, at Bar Hill school. Additionally, if Springboard to Languages advances according to play, experienced Esperanto speakers such as Tim will be needed at other schools to train the teachers there.
Certainly, the possible withdrawal of their leader somewhat scares the teachers. To start teaching a language that was unknown a few months ago, even at an elementary level, is somewhat nervous-making. According to one of the teachers at Bar Hill, Su Proctor, learning Esperanto is not easy because there is no personal motivation. Furthermore, she adds, she is not a linguist. Another teacher, Karen Hindmarsh, nevertheless notes that she is learning relatively quickly. "I am quite surprised that the language is being memorized ever after only half hour a week. On the other hand," she says, "I really don't know whether I'll be able to teach it in September."
But, despite tiny doubts about their future language capabilities, both teachers are excited about the positive effects of a project that began in Bar Hill only in September. According to Su Proctor: "The children enjoy it. They all want to participate. The interactive aspects, the role playing and the Mazi videotape are all pleasing. They are gaining self confidence, even the children who are not especially clever in other fields, and this all crosses over into other occupations. This is a new approach to language learning, and when they start to learn French or German, they'll think: 'I've already succeeded in this'."
Karen Hindmarsh is of the same opinion: "I didn't expect that the children would be so enthusiastic. And I didn't expect that the less clever children would be able to read it. I thought that they were facing enough problems related to reading English, but in fact it's easier to read Esperanto, and that helps them read in English."
The headmistress at Bar Hill, Lin Whyte, also notes Esperanto's side effects, which are influencing other fields of study positively and especially helping the less endowed children. She says: "Esperanto is a very inclusive language. All children, without consideration of capability, can access it because of its structure. We intend to use it to teach other fields, for example reading. And counting."
Although the comments of the professionals are welcome, they remain subjective and still without a scientific basis. But thanks to the financial aid from the Esperantic Studies Foundation, researchers from the pedagogical group in the prestigious North English University of Manchester will rigorously keep track of and report on the project over a five-year period (2007-2012). Hopefully the results will contribute to those found in earlier researches, for example in Paderborn in the 1970s and 1980s, and in Monash, Australia, in 2000.
But what do the children, who have been placed as pioneers in the arguably widest-ranging and perhaps most important such project ever undertaken in Britain, think of Springboard to Languages? Eight-year-old Ola, whose parents are of Polish origin, and who speaks Polish at home, notes that if you remove the o-ending from the word "domo" (house), you get the equivalent Polish word. "I like to learn different languages: that's nice," she says.
Eight-year-old Matt likes to sing in Esperanto and make the gestures that accompany the songs. "Esperanto is interesting and I'm learning quite quickly," he says. And now Matt has been especially struck by his contact with a school in Benin established within the framework of Springboard to Languages. He comments: "It's shocking to see that in Africa some people have never seen or touched a computer. I think that if they came to Britain they would also wonder at the electricity that we have and they don't. And if we were to go there, some would be very sad because they would be missing their electronic toys and computers."
So, still naively, still prematurely, not only language knowledge but also international understanding are being launched. Headmistress Lin Whyte wants to strengthen the latter with a visit probably not to Benin, because of the high costs, but to a nearer country, where the children of Bar Hill will be able to use Esperanto and get to know other cultures.
Because of the success of Springboard to Languages in Cambridge it is easy to overlook the other, smaller school, in Scorton, a village in Northwest England, where 21 children between the ages of seven and 11 started learning in January. Here, too, pupils and teachers are reacting positively. As in Bar Hill, they like to sing in Esperanto. "We learn amusing songs," says ten-year-old Katie. Hannah, also ten years old, is of the same opinion: "Singing makes you merry and you learn more." And she notes the advantage of Esperanto in contrast to other languages: "Esperanto helps people talk throughout the entire world."
The international language is being introduced in Scorton by Stephen Thompson, past president of the Esperanto Association of Britain. For 25 years he taught foreign languages in British schools. So he well understands that it is first more important for the children to learn how to acquire a foreign language than to concentrate on a particular language. In that respect Esperanto is more successful than any other language and this, Stephen says, is the meaning and value of Springboard to Languages. He is very happy to find himself back in the classroom: "It's good to be teaching children again: the elementary school is the right level to introduce learning a foreign language, and Esperanto is the right language."
In the school he works with the class teacher, Alison Dodd. She is enthusiastic about the project, astonished at how much the children are learning: "I like Esperanto very much, because they have advanced so much in so little time. For example, it has already helped the children understand how we change words in English. In that way they are gaining competences in their mother tongue."
Scorton's headmistress, Liz Smith, also welcomes Springboard to Languages. She notes with pleasure how the study material provides general information about language and grammar, not just about Esperanto. The cultural aspects of Springboard to Languages are also impressive: "Now we are educating citizens of the world," she says.
To sum up: Springboard to Languages' progress since September, when the first children started learning, is impressive. Ready — mainly thanks to the indefatigable Angela Tellier — are several dozen colorful, child-pleasing teaching aids: in preparation are others for the project's following years. To be added are recruiting folders, informational fliers and even compact disks to inform educators, and the public, about Springboard to Languages, because hopefully other schools will join the two pioneering schools.
This is a project which is continually changing, evolving and growing. Those interested can follow the progress of Springboard to Languages here, where you can read — in English — sample documents and other information.
However the project ends, it can be said that it has already succeeded. Introducing Esperanto to more than 100 young students in Britain represents a triumph. Maybe, by comparison with other attainments in the Esperanto world, only a small triumph. But in any case a triumph.
"Successful experiment in a Russian school"
In an earlier blog entry I mentioned that "Again, this [the value of Esperanto as a preliminary topic of study before starting one of the more traditional languages] is one of the great undiscovered stories about language teaching of our time." I also published an entry about the use of Esperanto at a school in Russia. From the same country, here's another piece of testimony about how Esperanto can serve as a propaedeutic language. This article originally appeared in Esperanto in the March, 2007, issue of the magazine Esperanto (p. 68).
In middle school number 100 of the city of Iĵevsk (Russia) Esperanto has been taught since 2001. During the schoolyear 2001-2002 it was taught to pupils of the 3rd grade and older. The next year the idea was born of teaching the international language to pupils of the second grade. And so it was that since last year Esperanto has been taught to 7-year-old children, who immediately showed great interest and capability of learning our language. More than half of those pupils are continuing to learn it this year. In the same year they have begun to learn English as a mandatory object of study, and those pupils who know Esperanto are learning English with greater desire and are progressing better by comparison with those who did not learn Esperanto.
An interesting phenomenon has become obvious. Many children who have entered the first grade did not know how to read or write in their mother tongue (Russian). So they have simultaneously learned to do that in the mother tongue and in Esperanto. In fact it's happened that they learned Esperanto's alphabet earlier than that of Russian.
The children learn Esperanto with great pleasure, because the lessons pass interestingly because the program is learned songs and poems, which later become segments in festival concerts. The pupils very much like to sing and declaim poems known by heart.
Curricula have been compiled for pupils of the first and second grades (three steps — the program lasts for three years), for pupils of the 5th and 6th grades (three steps) and for pupils of the 9th and 10th grades (two steps — the program lasts for two years). All curricula anticipate two hours per week of Esperanto.
In the school it's tradition to arrange English lessons with elements of Esperanto and Esperanto lessons with elements of English. The pupils are informed during those lessons about common characteristics of the two languages and about their differences. This evokes interest in the languages. The pupils who know Esperanto are active with special enthusiasm during the lessons.
In the school concertos with segments in four languages — English, French, German and Esperanto — are arranged during important feast days.
Esperanto speakers in our school regularly meet with members of the International Friendship Club, which functions in the Palace of Youth Creation. The meetings usually occur in December during Esperanto week and in February during the traditional International Friendship Week. Our children tell about Esperanto and the Esperanto movement and present a concert. For these meetings pupils from other shools in the icty are always invited. Esperanto-speaking pupils and their teacher have been interviewed on television and radio several times.
During summer camps held in the school an Esperanto course is held for 7/8-year-old children, who during the camp period (24 days) succeed in learning two songs, three poems and get some exprience in speaking Esperanto. As a result, the participants in the course take to Esperanto in the next school year and diligently learn it. The program of the Esperanto course for the summer camp, titled We Get Acquainted With the World, has been highly apprised by the city department of education.
Many pupils like, and are able, to write fairy tales. Some of them have participated in the International Fairy-Tale Contest, which is organized every year by the Pää Institute in Taivalkoski (Finland). In the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 our pupils won prizes. Jaroslav Vorobjov, who won the grand prize in 2003, has taken part in the national project "Talented Children of Russia".
During the last five years teachers of English, French and German have felt the real utility of the teaching of Esperanto in our school. They have unanimously declared that Esperanto is a necessary object of study, because the pupils who have previously studied Esperanto succeed better in the study of foreign languages. And the entire pedagogical collective of the school has expressed the opinion that Esperanto should go on being taught in the school.