Mr. TOWNER. He does not say London?

Prof. CHRISTEN. No, he says Londres. And the same is true with Dover;
Dover is not French; The French would be Douvres. However, I want to say
this, that after the first three or four years after I took up Esperanto
geographical or proper names were left optional and they were not given
any particular spelling in the Esperanto language and are not now. Many
Esperantists now would say Washington and London. But you can make the
change if you want to.

Mr. TOWNER. Internationally, has not that come to be the custom, to
pronounce the geographical names and proper names in the way they are
pronounced in the country in which they originate?

Prof. CHRISTEN. I think so. As I said, there is no arbitrary rule about
personal names or geographical names. Now, let me proceed with this
marvelous scheme and repeat that every part of speech is distinctive
in itself; that is the reason a child, when it follows Esperanto, will
not find English so hard and will understand English better than in any
other way. Such a child will understand English far better than if it
did not understand Esperanto, and that is a statement I often make in my
lectures.

Mr. RIPLEY. We had a man here the other day who has a language which he
claims is an improvement on Esperanto.

Prof. CHRISTEN. Yes?

Mr. RIPLEY. He is from Ohio, I believe.