ESPERANTO–WHY NOT ENGLISH
Esperanto is an international language devised in 1887 by Dr Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof (1859-1917) an eye doctor, under the pseudonym of “Doctoro Esperanto”. He originally called the language “La Internatia Lingua” (the international language”) but it soon became known as Esperanto. Zamenhof was born in the Polish city of Bialystok which at that time was home to a polyglot, multiethnic mixture of Poles, Russians, Jews, Lithuanians and Germans. It was his belief that much of the distrust between the ethnic group lay at the different languages and each groups slightly different comprehension of them, so he resolved to create an international language which could be used as a neutral lingua franca. That would help break down the language barriers. I am not a proper linguist and do not intend to go into the intricacies of what the good doctor proposed, except to say the doctor renounced all the rights to his novel idea. The first Universal Esperanto Congress was held at Boulogne-Sur-Mer in 1905. It is obvious that with the state of the world to-day, climate, pandemic and the fact that the idea of a Universal Language being created was not on anybody’s agenda at all, will it happen or will it not?
Are you watching the Olympics? (2020). And before I forget have you noticed how well the the Canadian women athletes are doing? I just watched these beautiful Canadian women beat Sweden and take the gold medal for soccer. Did you see Andre DeGrasse win a gold in 100 meters. But not only that I am listening in Toronto and of course we have the CBC in Tokyo and the winners of all nationalities are being interviewed by Andrew Chang and Adrienne Arsenault and nearly all are answering , not in perfect English , but they all manage. All of them! Suppose we tuned in Russian Radio, or Chinese Radio or French Radio, how many would speak these languages at all. Very few. No I will bite the bullet and say none. Silently, unobtrusively English is now on its way to being Esperanto. I would suggest that for a better world every country should teach English as a second language. People learn their own language because they live it but for the betterment of the world, for the health of all counties and for world peace English should be taught world-wide
Name of author
Name: Murray Rubin
Short Bio: I was born in Toronto in 1931 to a wonderful mother who divorced shortly before my birth. I owe a great deal of my success to her. I am Jewish but not at all religious, yet my culture plays an important part of my personality. I attended Harbord Collegiate and U. of T. Faculty of Pharmacy. A unique mail-order pharmacy was the first of my endeavours in the profession, followed by many stores throughout Ontario. I have a loving wife, 3 children and grand-children and I am now retired from pharmacy. But what do I write about? Everything! My topics are funny, serious, whimsical, timely, outrageous, inspiring, and inventive. I promise that if you take the time to read any one of these topics – you will not be sorry.
