Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on EducationBartholdt, Richard
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Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on Education
Bartholdt, Richard
Esperanto
Then another difficulty is that Americans are not generally very much
given to what I should call ethical ideas of this kind, that offer no
immediate and sudden cash returns, until they really become a craze or
until a certain class, perhaps, takes them up. (4) Let us not forget
also that the American people are not so much in touch with the language
difficulty as are other countries, and they do not yet appreciate the
enormous use that Esperanto will be to them, for, in my opinion, no
white people will benefit more from Esperanto than will the American
people, chiefly because like all English-speaking nations they are very
poor linguists. Then it is becoming more and more acknowledged among
educational people that the English language is the only language that
can not be taught. It is well known that if you put educated people from
different countries together the Anglo-Saxon will invariably be the one
who understands his own language least. That is due to the peculiar
construction of the English language.
However, Esperanto would not be difficult for the American people
because it is so scientific, so logical, and entirely free of all
irregularities. Prof. Mayer, of the University of Oxford, learned
Esperanto in his seventy-ninth year. I heard him make a speech in
the language about six or seven days after he took it up, and he
declared that Esperanto ought to be introduced into the educational
system of the country. He was professor of the Latin language at
the Oxford University. He declared Esperanto ought to be introduced
into the schools, into the kindergartens, where children of 5 years
of age should begin with Esperanto, and I hold with him, because
if children were to learn Esperanto it would be of help to them in
their English. It is extremely easy to learn and can be learned in
a very pleasant fashion, because it is so scientific and so simple. (5)
If children understood Esperanto, they would understand English better,
and much of the time we waste in trying to teach them English would be
profitably spent, for they would have something to go upon, something to
compare English with, and that something so scientific and so logical as
Esperanto. Take, for instance, analysis. I will not say it is difficult
but I will say it is impossible to analyze an English word, because
every word can be so many things. It can generally be an adjective,
a noun, a verb, a preposition, a conjunction, and an interjection,
that is, the same word, without any structural change, so that it is
difficult for a child to discriminate and label the word. Take the word
"benefited." That might be used in the past tense (I benefited), or as
a past participle: (We may have benefited), and it is impossible for
a child to sense the difference, and such confusion occurs to a great
extent with most words in the English language.
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