Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Denver Mods 7/26/84) 6/24/83; site druny.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!mtuxo!drutx!druny!neal From: neal@druny.UUCP (Neal D. McBurnett) Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.travel Subject: Esperanto as a practical aid to the language barrier for travelers Message-ID: <30@druny.UUCP> Date: Wed, 6-Nov-85 00:46:50 EST Article-I.D.: druny.30 Posted: Wed Nov 6 00:46:50 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 04:29:49 EST Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver Lines: 137 Keywords: My Summer Vacation Xref: watmath net.nlang:3672 net.travel:1838 When I travel, my goal is to personally experience the people and cultures of other countries. If I expected to be interested in one particular country for many years, I would certainly feel it necessary to study their language (or languages...) in depth, since the native language is an integral part of a nation's culture. Even for a short trip, I learn as much of the native language as I have time for. Unfortunately, however, languages require years of study to attain any sort of proficiency, and since I'm interested in many countries, I simply don't have the time. I'm not talking about asking where the bathroom is; I want to discuss politics, third-world development, relationships, and other things that are important to me! Despite the claims English makes to being an "international language", I can rarely find people who speak it well enough to have a comfortable conversation, especially in out-of-the-way places. For years I was discouraged by these problems, but then I ran into Esperanto: a language specifically designed to facilitate international communication. It has been a practical tool for addressing the language barrier in tourism for decades. There are currently over a million speakers all over the world. (We don't hear much about it in the US, where language problems pale in comparison to the problems in Europe, Africa, and India.) Unfortunately, it has not yet met its potential for facilitating international conferences and negotiations, but that is mostly a political issue, and is the topic of another discussion. Last summer I spent 3 weeks in Europe, and used Esperanto most of the time. First, I took part in the "International Youth Congress" of Esperanto, which took place this year in Eringerfeld, Germany. I lived for a week in dormitories with hundreds of people, mostly in their 20's, from 35 different countries. There were lots of organized activities (listening to lectures on everything from the Cherokee Indians to the history of the Esperanto movement, singing songs, dancing, juggling, playing volleyball, etc), but most of all we talked to each other and got to know one another. I met a Bulgarian who has since sent me some records of Bulgarian folk music, a Dutch girl in high school who has already studied 5 languages, a woman from Prague who displayed a surprisingly good grasp of American politics, one German who was about to come to study in the US, and another who wanted to know more about a particular brand of recumbent bicycle made in Boulder. Five minutes after I had met one Hungarian, he urged me to come visit his home in a village near Lake Baloton. (Unfortunately, because of problems with the telegraph system later on in Hungary, I missed that opportunity.) The following week, I attended a cybernetics conference in Budapest. About 70 people attended. There were 3 working languages: (in order of popularity) Esperanto, English, and French. I presented a talk in Esperanto on a computer project of mine: the "Ilaro por Esperantaj Redaktoroj" ("Toolchest for Esperanto Editors"). In general the level of the conference was not as high as ones I've been to in the US, but I did meet several talented and interesting people. As for Budapest itself, I loved it. I did learn one lesson the hard way, though: don't change too much money into forints. You can't change them back into western currency. I couldn't even pay for the conference with forints! Public transportation is very good, and prices are inexpensive (a delicious dinner for three was $2, bus tickets are 6 cents!). One night I went out in search of some Hungarian folk dancing (now very popular in Boulder), but instead found international folk dancing, just like here in the US. Most interesting of all was the night I stayed with two local esperantists. We discussed philosophy, relationships, whether to have children, Hungarian politics and lifestyles: it was wonderful. The third week of my stay in Europe was again in Germany, this time in the Bavarian town of Augsburg. 2300 people from 57 countries had come for the Universal Congress of Esperanto. The atmosphere was more conservative than the first congress, but once again I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, and talk to them in a single language. This proved to be quite useful during lunch one day in a Chinese restaurant. The menu was in both German and Chinese, but that did us no good at all. Fortunately, sitting next to us was a foursome from China who spoke Esperanto, and they helped us with everything from ordering to getting a "doggie bag" after the meal. I was surprised by the lack of much of a problem with accents in Esperanto. Given our everyday experience with accent problems in the English-speaking world, I assumed that it might be difficult to understand the Esperanto accent of someone from Japan or China, but in fact the problems were minor. One major reason is that Esperanto uses only 5 different vowel sounds, compared to about 12 in English. (Japanese, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, and many other languages use the same vowel sounds that Esperanto does.) When I plan other vacations in the future, my membership in the Universal Esperanto Association will permit me to look up "delegates" wherever I want to go who will meet with me, advise me about where to go and what to see, put me in contact with other local esperantists, etc. There are over 3800 delegates in 70 countries listed in the 1985 Esperanto "yearbook". I find that esperantists are unusually interesting people with interests similar to mine, but different cultural viewpoints. They are also inclined to be more friendly to me because I'm not one of "those arrogant Americans who expect everyone to talk to them in English." Next year I hope to go to a folkdancing festival in Bulgaria and the International Youth Congress in Israel. I've already met some Bulgarians who are eager to help me find esperantists to visit. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a brief overview of Esperanto: It is easy to learn (no exceptions to the rules, based on romance languages). Studies have shown a year of Esperanto to be equivalent to 4 years of Spanish (another "easy" language). It is used a lot in Europe and is gaining strength in the far east and the third world. (200,000 Chinese are taking courses now!) The European Economic Community is funding a large effort to semi- automatically translate among their 9 languages using Esperanto as an intermediate language. It has millions of speakers, tens of thousands of books, and a hundred periodicals. Bulgaria just started requiring the study of both Esperanto and English in one of their high schools as an experiment (it has been an optional subject for several years in many schools.) Each year there is a world congress attended by thousands. It will be in China in '86 and Poland in '87. You will not feel either lost and bewildered speaking other peoples' languages, or put them at a disadvantage by making them speak English: you meet as equals! You can learn it from books (like I did: in a few months I could understand relatively quickly spoken Esperanto, and could read anything at all with a dictionary). There is also a "Free 10 Lesson Postal Course": you send in the first lesson (which I can send you); they correct it and send you the next lesson. The time you spend learning it will also help you learn other romance languages. The documentary "The World of Esperanto" with Steve Allen may be coming to a public TV station near you: tell them you want it! Ask me for more info, or contact Esperanto League for North America, Box 1129, El Cerrito CA 94530 415-643-0998 -Neal McBurnett, ihnp4!druny!neal, 303-538-4852 4825 W. Moorhead Cir., Boulder, CO, 80303 Usono