The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-03-09
Shall We Learn Esperanto

DNiJut Inc washington hclalQs
Thanking you sincerely for the space
so kindly given me in your valuable paper
In the past few months. I would like the
privilege Of having the space 1 may re-
quire for a presentation Of the pro and
con OF this question. The Importance OF
being in the advance guard Of the Esper-
anto nation can easily be seen by any
one, If we find that the arguments for
the language overb&lance those against
it. Il Is only the absolute pessimist OF
this world who sees and can see only
the hole in the doughnut; who will say,
regardless OF investigation, that ssper-
anto is useless and will soon follow
Volapuk to the realms Of lost hopes and
broken good intentions Again, II is only
that supremely pessimistie person who
will refuse 20 investigate.
Last Monday evening there was a lee
tuTe in the large assembly room Of the
Y. NJ c. A. by Mr. Edmond Privat, the
official delegate of DR.. Ludovic Zamen-
hof. the inventor OF Esperanto, in which
he gave us a brief history OF the early
life OF Esperanto. The fact that Is
peranto has been IN existence for twenty
one years Is eertaiAly very strong point
in its favor, since il shows conclusively
that Esperanto IS not a monetary fad
II is a living language. for me simple
reason that it contains various elements
Of the living modern languages
Another point in it's favor is its OK
treme simplicity. On the one hand, we
have in French. German. Spanish and
the other modern languages pages upon
pages Of exceptions 70 the various rules
Of those tongues, which carry the size
Of their grammars into the hundreds OF
pages. On the other hand we ind in
the entire language of Esperanto but one
exception. and that is that no rule shall
have an exception Therefore. the whole
grammar OF Esperanto consists merely OF
two or three pages. IN regard 10 pro
nunciatiOn. while in the modern Ian
guages each letter has more than one
sound, and the words OF each are. there
fore, confusing 70 the native OF the coun-
try in which that tongue Is spoken. In
Esperanto there are but five invariaole
rules
]. The sound Of the letters IS always The sane
whether ilatial. medal. OF final Each letter ha
ia peculiar sound, ard the vosels ean Be renisna
bered BY the following question. which gives then
M their proper order; Pa. may 50, toc!"
There ara silent letters IN Esperanto Ever
letter must be sounded separately. excerpt IN IN
case q "A" which Is pronounced like the Euglisi
Il. Eu. which is pronounced lbs the ~0W'' Il
"how." and "oi' pronounced by some like owl
in sowing. and b. others Ike ~oy'' IN boy
but never misunderstood.
s Esperanto bring g phonetic language is wit
ten exactly "as she Is spoke and read exactly a
written Dune" "doo-may." not Dom Tel
'ee-ale" not "eols ''fare- FRA er-ravr NJ.
'fra-iTe. -inTing0.' -fecu-g reen-gn'' not -'dng
gIfngo. Treat ing" always afte- this model
!. Every word IN Esperanto is acucuted on tn
peuuitimate 1.-THE last syllable but onel hence tht
syllable must be vel marked. missing the yoics OF
It and not on the final syllable Even IN words o
two syables the scorut must be strong distinct am
clear upon the first This Is called the tonic &C
cent.
5. This however. does not mean that the othe
gllabes should re slurred or pronounced carelessly
Every syllaole must get It's fun sound value hu
the neglect of the tonic accent world tend IN
peat measure 70 rob the anEuagr Of an esseutia
part Of its beauty and esphony-The Students Com
plete Textbook. J. c. OConhcr.
From these two points OF simplieIty
any one can see that II would be but
right that Esperanto could be learned IN
one-tenth OF the time It would take one
TO learn foreign language.
In another article I viii take I'D the
other grammatical points with regard "a
the essential simplicity OF the language
and endeavor 10 show the remainder OF
the arguments. pro and con.
Cv.~sl,,d psrk