THE "SECOND" LANGUAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 64, 16 March 1910, Page 6

THE "SECOND" LANGUAGE.

— j ESPERANTO ENTHUSIAST IN i . .AUCKLAND. ! : Colonel John Pollen, M.D., CLE., president of the British Esperanto Associa-j tion, who arrived in Auckland by the P.! and O. steamer Mongolia this morning,; in conversation with a "Star" representa- 1 tive, said: "I hope to meet in New Zea-> land many of my 'samideanof ('people of the same idea'). Esperanto is gaining rapidly in China, Japan, Poland, France,! Russia and the United States. The! V.M.C.A. is an active agent in the spread' of the - language." "Why, when Volapuk failed so dismally," the doctor was asteed, "do you ex- f pect Esperanto to be finally accepted as! a universal language?" • We don't expect it to be accepted as a universal language," he explained. It I is merely put forward as a second lan-1 guage which is easily acquired by speakers of all tongues. Volapuk failed because it possessed many arbitrary principles insisted upon by the inventor, andl because, when a convention of "Volapuks met, the delegates could not understand' one another. With Esperanto it is quite: different. All I demand as president of the association is a fair field. I do not' ask for any favour at all. In the inte-j rests of the Commonwealth itself, a lan-j guage that can place itself within easy! touch with all the civilised world, no! matter wiat languages may be spoken,! is worthy, I bold, of encouragement. The j authorities ought certainly to take steps! to see that Esperanto is made a compulsory subject in State education. One of the greatest professors of language has distinctly stated that Esperanto pro- , vides the best and easiest method of • grasping foreign tongues. Esperanto is not intended to take the place of anyi national or natural language for ever ! llt is simply meant to be a second language for all nations, just as Hindoostanee is the second language through-' out the_ Indian Empire, in addition to the national tongues spoken there. It l will not check or interfere with the spread of the English language in any 'way; it "will largely help the study of English by foreigners. Briefly, Esperanto'belps- all and hurts none." "