Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on Education by Richard Bartholdt;A. Christen
page 24 of 41 (58%)
page 24 of 41 (58%)
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Prof. CHRISTEN. I know. Since Esparanto began to move forward there have
been at least 30 to 40 different schemes elaborated, and that is easily done. You can do it overnight. But there is no scheme that has ever touched and no scheme that can ever touch Esperanto, because it has hit the mark from the first. (8) Mr. TOWNER. What do you do with adverbs? Do they have a definite form? Prof. CHRISTEN. Every derived adverb ends in "e." Mr. TOWNER. So you could not distinguish from the form between a verb and an adverb, could you? Prof. CHRISTEN. Perfectly. The adverb ends in "e" and the infinitive ends in "i." Mr. RIPLEY. It is your contention that children will do better in English if they acquire a knowledge of Esperanto? Prof. CHRISTEN. Undoubtedly; this is a statement I make in my lectures: If you gentlemen will give me a number of children aged 4 or 5 years I will give them a quarter of an hour's pleasant explanation about grammar, that is Esperanto grammar, and they will understand it after a quarter of an hour's explanation; then I will jumble together a number of blocks, with various words on these blocks, and I will say to these children "pick out every noun," and they will be able to do it--that is, pick the nouns from the adjectives--and so with every part of speech. The CHAIRMAN. Because they will know to a certainty? |
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