The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Esperanto unigas la homaron

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Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Esperanto unigas la homaron

Staff Reporter

Esperanto was created as a universal second language to foster peace

Photo: Bhagya Prakash. K

JOINT EFFORT: Horiyasuo, president of Esperanto Commission for Asia; K.E. Radhakrishna, educationist; Abdul Salam, president, Indian Esperanto Federation, and Probal Dasgupta, president, Universal Esperanto Association, lighting the lamp to inaugurate the fifth Asian Esperanto Congress in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Bangalore: Esperanto unigas la homaron pere de pace unueco kaj amikeco. Esperanto eblas kunigi ciujin tra la mondo. No. It is neither Greek nor Spanish. It is Esperanto, which is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language.

The sentences above mean: Esperanto unites the people by means of peace, unity and friendship. Esperanto unites all throughout the world.

The city is now playing host to the fifth Asian Esperanto Congress.

Venue

The Esperanto Congress will be held at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences Convention Centre till Friday.

Inaugurating the Congress here on Tuesday, K.E. Radhakrishna, principal of Surana College, said that language, instead of being a uniting force, had become a divisive one.

Boundaries

“We are drawing boundaries based on languages. Languages, any language, evolved from the need to communicate. But we have turned language to become divisive forces,” he said.

Abdul Salam, president of the Indian Esperanto Federation, said that Esperanto, though created and developed around 120 years ago, came to India only about 25 years ago. “Esperanto is a very easy language to learn. As it is not genealogically related to any ethnic language, we can promote it as a universal language,” he said.

India is a multi-lingual country, and Asia, a multi-lingual region.

“The number of Esperantists is increasing. A day will come when the entire world will speak one language — Esperanto,” he said. Prof. Salam said that Esperanto is the language of the people, not of the professors in the universities.

Issues

The delegates would discuss several issues pertaining to the spread and means to popularise the language during the three-day Congress, he added.

Over 250 delegates or Esperantists from 30 countries are participating in the conference. Hori Yasuo, president of Esperanto Commission for Asia, and Probal Dasgupta, president of Universal Esperanto Association, spoke on the occasion.

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