How to Be Amika

Charles Thollet, a hardware dealer of Port-Lyautey, French Morocco, knows only a little English, but that did not bother him when he planned a trip through the U.S. He only looked up some addresses, and sent off a few letters beginning "Estimata Sinjoro." Last week the "Dear Sirs" of the U.S. were entertaining him and his wife royally. The language they used: Esperanto.

In the 66 years since Polish Physician Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof invented it, Esperanto has not become the world language he hoped for, but it has turned into a minor international cult. Today, Esperantists claim to be 1,500,000 strong, about 10,000 of them in the U.S. There are Esperanto books from La Sankta Biblio to Kiel Placas Al Vi (As You Like It). Australia has made a movie in it; KLM has advertised, "Flugado sparas tempon kaj monon" (Flying saves time and money); and Bing Crosby sang an Esperanto song in The Road to Singapore. Last week the Thollets proved what tourists can accomplish by simply asking, "Cu vi parolas Esperante?"

A mild-mannered little man who learned the language in three months,* Charles Thollet got his first taste of American hospitality when he received a shore-to-ship telephone call while still one day out of New York: "Vi estas bonvenita en Usono." Next day a group of enthusiastic Esperantists were at the pier. They whisked the Thollets through customs, drove them to a hotel, took them up the Empire State Building ("Kiel alta!", exclaimed the Thollets), wined & dined them for six days.

In Detroit, another group of Esperantists took them through the Ford plant ("Kiel granda!"), and in Chicago, still another group showed them the stockyards ("Kiel multaj bestoj!"). Last week, back in Manhattan after a visit with California Esperantists and a few days in Washington, D.C., the Thollets happily pronounced the U.S. "pura, agrabla, kaj automata." But above all, they said, it is amika (friendly). Added Sinjoro Thollet to a reporter: "You ought to learn Esperanto. Only three months. Tiel facila!"

* About par for the course, since Esperanto has only 16 rules of grammar, with no exceptions and no irregularities. Sample rules: nouns end in "o," adjectives in "a," adverbs in "e," direct objects in "n," plurals in "j."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.