The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-12-31
WONDERFUL IS ESPERANTO
Latest Universal Language the
World is Learning.
NOW USED IN COMMERCE
Tongue Built on Hope-l,usiness,
Science, Exploration and Govern
mcnt would All BE Easier II There
Was n Universal Specch-The
Grammar Of Esperanto.


Ever since the Tower of Babel, ma
tions and men have been kept apart
by a barrier Of languages. Those
who speak the same language find in
IL a bond of union closer even than
the tie of race. The Dutch and Ger
mans are far closer of kin to the
English, for example. than the hete-
rogoneous population of the United
States yet the English-speaking ma
tions stand together. practically, in
feeling and tradition, and count all
others outsiders. hungary. Fighting
for her own language, keeps apart
from Austria In heart. The partition
OF Poland was emphasized by the
forcing of the Russian and German
tongues upon the Poles, and there
has been a determined battle on the
point ever since in evory Polish PROF.
ince. In our own United SJatos .ba
first thing the emiErant child does >
t. learn English, and the process 3
accompanied by a marvellous AmC.i-
canization.
War has sometimes made the CON
Queror's language dominant. Bore
made Latin world-languagn rs
Greek had been in Aloxander's 'ay.
French, a century ago, was sYoEon
more widely than any other tongue.
English to-day is the dominant LAM
guage But none is universal and
all are hard to learn. the hope Y
for language when It comes, must He
casv, ana must also commend itsolf
90 ach nation by being, in some de-
gree, related to its own speech.
There have been a good many ct
teUpts at 1t. There is no reason,
really, why men should refuse a
practicable world-languaEe, and the
machinery of the schools in every
land of importance could easily be
put at its service if each government
WIS willing. There is nothing abb
surd in the notion except somehow
We all think 1t absurd, and laugh at
il.
Esperanto, OF course. is language
built on hope. Anybody who knows
Latin, French, Spanish or Italian can
understand the name, "One who
Hopes" that far. That is the beau
ty Of the new speech--it consists OF
some two thousand root words. chos-
en- on the basis OF their use by the
largest number of nations. Any one
who knows his own language well is
already in possession, so the Esper-
Artists maintain, OF something like
half the vocabulary OF roots. II he
Knows one Teutonic language and
one Latin one, he will recognize old
friends In two-thirds OF the root
words. Unlike any language that
has struggled with human stubborn
ness in It's growth. Esperanto has no
Irregularities and almost no inflec-
tions, and can be learned in from two
to six weeks. It's grammar can be
learned in half an hour. Sir Will
liam Ramsay, a believer in It, as
serts, 1T is almost incredible that
the whole essential grammar of a
language can be given In para
graph; but 1t is quite true"
Here Is a sample of it's simplicity.
Every noun ends in o, every adjec-
tive ends In a, every adverb in @, with
no exceptions. Every letter is al
ways sounded and in one way only.
Such a thing as an irregular verb is
N a nj In
J English ". The pronouns all end
in /, and add for the objective and
TO become possessive-thus mi, |.
mia, mine, min, me.
"Simpla, fleksebla, belsona, we're
intornacia en- giaj elemertoj, la lin
gro Esperanto prezentas, al la monde
O. iyilizita la sole veran solvon de lin
gro internacia; car, tre facila por
homoj memulta instruitaj, Esperan-
to estas komprenota sen peno de la
personj bone edukitaj."
Count Tolstoy believes in the new
language. He says that in two
hours he was able to read 1t. Max
Muller, the great philologist. was an
'Esperantist."
The grammar of Esperanto has
been translated into twenty-eight
languages and dialects. II has only
twenty-four pages, including quite a
large vocabulary.
II is not, however, hoped that Es-
peranto Will become the only LAM
guage. 1t is meant to be a second
language learned by every one who
wishes to communicate with those Of
other nationalities. Already It has
been used In commerce, as an es-
peranto order, with an accompanying
grammar key" enclosed, printed in |
the language of the foreign firm ad- |
dressed, can easily be deciphered and
filled
one little point will touch every
one who has ever struggled with pre-.
positions. In Esperanto all prepo.
sitions govern the nominative; and
"if 1t be necessary to employ some
proposition, and 1t is not quite evi.
dent from the sense which II should