Esperanto
Esperanto is an auxiliary language which can make everything cost
less, save the lives of people in the third world,
improve your understanding of English, but
won't guarantee an empty sunbed by the poolside
on holiday.
- If you watched the programme on BBC2 where the
production team from "Eastenders" went to Khazakstan to coach
the state TV company in producing British style soaps, you would have seen
the clash between the English and Khazak producers, carried out through
an interpreter. You would have seen how these two men never really met
each other as their eyes were always on the interpreter's face. You would
also have realised that all of the teaching and coaching would have to
have been carried out through interpreters too, thus taking twice as long
and costing the additional high fees of the interpreters.
Now multiply the time and the costs by any number you want and you will
get some idea of how obscenely costly is the as yet unsolved language problem.
This is because all international exchanges of any weight require double
the time (and the extra cost of interpreters) than if both parties could
speak Esperanto.
I know that this can be totally avoided. I have taken part in a several
truly international conferences where no interpreters were present. I have
met many people from many different countries where the only common language
between them was Esperanto. The communication between us was direct and
easy, most of the time as good as if I had been speaking to one of my Scottish
friends.
- Did you know that the largest proportion of money
donated to international aid charities is spent on interpreting and translation
rather than on aid? People are losing their sight, their good health and
their lives in the third world because aid workers do not share a common
language. It costs very little, both in terms of time and of money, to
learn Esperanto as it is by far the easiest, yet most effective, language
in the world.
- The grammar of Esperanto is the essence of language
itself. There are no frills and no complications. Once you have grasped
the basis of Esperanto you have got the grammatical skeleton on which all
languages are constructed. The details, obviously, are unique to every
language, but the principles are the same for all. If English grammar never
made sense to you, it was probably because it is difficult to see the wood
for the trees in a national language. In Esperanto the trees are easily
spotted, and once you do spot them you will start to recognise them under
another guise in your own language, and indeed in any other language.
- Esperanto is not the answer to conflict and war.
That can be found only in the hearts of human beings. But the road to peace
is communication. That road will be shorter if all people and their governments
have a neutral but effective second language to call upon as their means
of communication in international dialogue. There will always be conflict
and friction. There will always be those who put their towels on the sunloungers
before the other holiday makers get up. Esperanto is not the solution to
that. You just have to get out of bed before they do!
Some links to Esperanto pages:tutmonda esperantista junulara organizo
negxo@piloto.u-net.com
