Esperanto:
The New World Language?

    World language is a common language for the human race. Every country recognizes its global status.

    According to Prof. Tang Wai Lan, Head of the Linguistics and Intercultural Studies section of the Chinese University, world language should possess the generative power of existing languages such as English, Mandarin, Japanese and French. They should also have basic, common grammatical rules like tenses and pronouns.

    She explained, "World language should enable people to link the concept of an image and the word itself.

    "For instance, the word "sunrise" immediately makes people think of the image of the sun appearing at the sea level."

    Chairman of Modern Languages and Inter-Cultural Studies Department of The Chinese University, Mr. Wong Kin Yuen, suggested other properties of a world language.

    "World language should be practical, innovative, easy to learn and contain few grammatical rules.

     Esperanto, devised in 1887 in Poland by Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, is a language designed to facilitate communication between people from different lands with different cultures. He published the first book on this language under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" meaning "one who hopes".

    About 75% of Esperanto’s vocabularies come from Latin and Roman languages, especially French. About 20% come from Germanic languages while the rest are from Slavic languages and Greek.

    According to Mr. Bill Mak, the secretary general of the Esperanto-Association of Hong Kong and the chairperson of the Hong Kong Youth Esperanto Association, the vocabulary of Esperanto mainly comes from Latin from which many European languages originated. Those with European backgrounds can recognize about 70% of Esperanto’s vocabulary.

    Said Mr. Mak: "Generally speaking, learning foreign languages isn’t easy. Difficult pronunciation, irregular grammar and inexplicable rules hamper our learning.

    "Esperanto has a logical structure. The suffix of a word shows its properties. Nouns end with -o, adjectives end with -a, and adverbs end with -e.

    "There’s no "silent" letter in Esperanto. Every word is pronounced exactly in the way it’s spelt. Each letter always represents one single sound only.

    "Actually, the time it takes to learn Esperanto depends on many factors: language background, environment, motivation and ability.

    "Nevertheless, given that the environment is identical, Esperanto is the easiest language to learn."

    Mr. Mingles M. T. Tsoi, the director of the Professional Alliance Consultants Ltd., is a member of the Hong Kong Esperanto Association and one of the about 20 people in Hong Kong who can speak Esperanto though he has not yet finished his Esperanto course after learning it for six months.

    Said Mr. Tsoi: "I can’t spend time finishing it since I have to work, but for students, if they’re attentive enough, they can understand it within a short period of time.

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, has already passed resolutions recognizing Esperanto’s status as a world language.

    Ironically, no government has officially supported it as an international language.

    In Hong Kong, a place where cultures meet and mix, little light has been shed on the language. While the World Esperanto Association was founded in 1907, the Hong Kong Esperanto Association was not established until 1994.

    Mr. Mak attributed this to political factors.

    "Many languages were promoted through military invasion.

    "Hong Kong was once a British colony and citizens had to learn English as it’s superior to local dialects.

    "Esperanto has no such political backbone. Virtually, no government will actively advocate it. We promote it for the benefits to the learners."

    The Hong Kong Esperanto Association holds meetings monthly at the City University of Hong Kong to give members opportunities to practise Esperanto.

    Said Mr. Mak: "There is an international communication network of Esperanto. "Besides practising Esperanto among ourselves, we deal with correspondence from other countries as well. We received a letter from Siberia. The sender wanted to get some information about Chinese martial arts and we referred him to the suitable sources."

     According to Mr. Mak, the language also helps speakers to make friends all over the world. Those Esperantists who like travelling can bring along "Pasporta Servo", a list which includes the information of Esperanto speakers in more than 70 countries. They are interested in accommodating travellers and showing them around their town or country.

     Also, speakers can go to meetings such as the World Congress of Esperanto, the International Youth Congress taking place in different countries.

     In August 2000, the Hong Kong Junior Esperanto Association will host a youth camp targeted at local university students.

     Said Mr. Mak: ""Local university students have a lack of concern about international affairs. We hope Esperanto can serve as a bridge for them to communicate with the outside world and they can get a sense of globalism.

     Some critics doubt if Esperanto is aimed at replacing English.

     Said Mr. Mak: "Esperanto isn’t going to be the first language. It’s impossible.

     "The idea of Esperanto is that all people speak their mother tongue while Esperanto acts as a supplementary language to facilitate effective communication among speakers of over 6000 languages in the world."

     Prof. Wong Kin Yuen said, "English is the instant language that can be considered as a world language."

     He attributed this to political power, economic power and the issue of English imperialism.

     "For instance, English has become the official language of British colonies such as Hong Kong, Canada and India," he added.

     Under the post-colonial climate, most parents considered English-medium schools to be more prestigious than Chinese-medium schools. It shows the great significance of English and its ability to influence our daily lives.

     However, English has the potential danger of dominating minority cultures.

     Said Prof. Joseph Patrick Boyle of English Department of the Chinese University: "English is helpful for international communication, but it’s too powerful as it crushes other languages."

     The idea to use Esperanto as a new language to end the dominant role of English is not appealing to Prof. Wong however.

     "Esperanto’s another form of English if it’s successfully promoted. The only difference is that Esperanto is used by different groups of people. It’s just another kind of imperialism," he argued.

     "It seems that the idea of world language means taking control of other languages, no matter whether it is English or Esperanto.

     Sign language, Prof. Wong suggested, is more meaningful to take the role of world language as it eliminates the labelled nationalism.

     However, sign language shares the same problem as oral language.

     "There’re at least British and American styles in sign language," Prof. Tang Wai Lan said. "But it’s possible to develop an universal sign language."

     It is unlucky and inevitable that languages are manipulated by politicians. This phenomenon is especially acute in Hong Kong, where Mandarin and English are both official languages under The Basic Law.

     Hence, it is difficult for Hong Kong people to identify themselves merely by the languages they speak.

     Therefore, as Prof. Boyle pointed out, "We should be proud of our native language."

People who speak English in history:
 

Period	Number of people
Late 16th century	5 to 7 million
Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II, 1588 to 1952	Up to 250 million
Late 1990s	1.2 to 1.5 billion

By the year 2000, by predictions, the number of people who speak:
 

Language	Number of people
Italian	53, 370, 000
French	72, 571, 000
Russian	130, 479, 800
German	157, 480, 000
Spanish	505, 286, 242
English	1, 837, 286, 153

"It (English) reached England from Northern Europe in the fifth century. It began to spread around the British Isles. It entered parts of Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria and southern Scotland, traditionally the strongholds of Celtic languages.

After the Norman invasion in 1066, many nobles from England fled north to Scotland and the language spread throughout the Scottish lowland."

Extracted from Crystal, English as a global language "

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