Revieic of Reviews, 119/06. 



Esperanto. 



261 



fluent English. We give his rendering of Example 

 No 2 : — 



(1) IN A TRAIN. 



(A True Story.) 

 Extracted from a French Magazine, slightly rewritten. 



N.B. — Becaiise of the lack of accents (1) we are 

 unable at present to print much in Esperanto wholly 

 according to tlie original work. 



In a train, four professors were travelling (2) in the 



same compartment, two from the school (3) of V , 



and two from the school of 6 , who knew each 



other only tiirough school acquaintance (4). A con- 

 versation soon took place between the professors of 



V . " You probably know," said one of them to 



his companion, "that during the la.^t holiday, Mr. 



S , professor in the School of G , married the 



school director's daughter " (5), " It is said," he con- 

 tinued, '■ that the new wife is sufficiently ugly (6) to 

 .serve as a remedy for love-sickness." And the two 

 professors laughe<l (7) at such a narrative. But soon 



one of the professors of G , a humorous man, stood 



up and said, '' Esteemed gentlemen (8). I have the 



honour to introduce to you Mr. S , who is sitting 



before you." 



The train entered the station ; the two professors 

 of V got out, and — entered another compartment. 



NOTES TO TRANSLATION NO. 1. 



In these notes we give some of the various render- 

 ings of the text that occur in the translations sent in. 

 <1) For lack of accented type (A, O, T). 



(2) " Found themselves " is good Englishj and would 

 be quito literal. 



(3) One is tempted to translate " College " in con- 

 nection with professors but the word in the text is 

 only " lernejo," and not '' lernejego." 



(4) " Professorially," " professionally," " as men of 

 learning," in their scholastic capacities, but not per- 

 sonally. 



By " lerneje " the author seems to mean knew of 

 each other as being connected with the schools, and 

 the narrative implies " not personally." 



(5) The daughter of the director of that school 



(A, C, T). The daughter of the director of the said 

 college (Mrs. F.). 



The word " dirita " should not be overlooked in an 

 exact translation. 



(6) Ugly enough (M. McL., A, C, T), " plain enough " 

 is probably what an Englishman would have said. 



(7) Burst out laughing uproariously. Perhaps burst 

 out into a loud laugh would be a sufficiently vigorous 

 translation. 



(8) '■ Eateemed gentlemen," though exactly literal, is 

 not an English mode of address. 



(2) AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE (1). 



Undoubtedly the need of some international lan- 

 guage is felt throughout the whole world, but peoples 

 fail to agree as to the manner in which such a lan- 

 guage shall be brought about. 



Some are of opinion that one of the dead languages 

 should be used ; others that it should be one of the 

 li\ang languages. 



If, however, a dead language is adopted, is it to 

 remain as it was spoken in Rome or Athens, or should 

 an endeavour be made to improve it? 



If they try to use the language in its ancient form 

 we fear that present-day people will find it totally 

 unsuitable for present-day requirements. But if they 

 want to improve it that would be practically to in- 

 vent a new language, and such indeed is Esperanto. 



If they propose a living language, which oie should 

 it be.^ The answer will depend on the nationality 

 of the proposer. The citizen of the world advocates 

 the single (2) universal language ; that is Esperanto. 



NOTES TO TRANSL.4TI0N NO- -■ 



(1) As this is a free translation we refrain from any 

 remarks on the literal translation of phrases. We 

 would remark, however, that the use of a uniform 

 style of rendering the Espeiianto impereonal construc- 

 tion should be adopted throughout the piece. If " oiii 

 uzadas " is translated by " is adopted," " oni pravus " 

 should not be " they try." 



(2) " Sole " is an adverb modifying " proponus," and 

 not an adjective (which would require the form 

 "Solan,") qualifying " lingvon." " Would only propose 

 the univei-sal language " is the meaning of the text. 



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