August News!

HIGHLIGHTS

MEMORIES FROM FINLAND
* Local Esperanto activist David Yaki and his wife were in Finland for the 104th World Esperanto Congress. Read his report below.

PROMISE PROJECT REPORT
* We now (August 13) have 2270 promises, only 99 997 730 to go!

EDMONTON EVENTS (details below)
* Tuesday evening Esperanto will now be offered in different branches of Edmonton Public Libraries. (Join us most Tuesdays to learn and practice).
* Friends of Esperanto will dine at Kyoto Japanese Cuisine on August 22.
* Three upcoming Esperanto courses have been scheduled.

WORLD EVENTS (details below)
* August Esperanto events are scheduled in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States

ONGOING GLOBAL INITIATIVES
* There are about 90 people registered for the 2020 World Congress.
* There are now 262 825 Wikipedia articles in Esperanto.

WEBSITE CHANGES
* Our main English language website ea-mondo.org has been revised and completely updated.
* The website learn.esperanto.com is a user-friendly site for those interested in learning at no cost online. It has been added to our web page containing descriptions of, and links to, Internet Resources in the “MORE ABOUT ESPERANTO” section of our website.

MEMORIES FROM FINLAND

The 104th World Esperanto Congress was held in Lahti Finland from July 20-27 of this year. Local Esperanto activist David Yaki and his wife attended the Congress.

“After arriving in Helsinki, we took a train towards Lahti. We had to change trains in Tikkurila. While waiting for the train to Tikkurila, my wife heard a couple of people speaking Esperanto. It was a man from the United States speaking Esperanto with a lady from Poland. The Polish Esperanto speaker was Barbara Pietrzak, well-known within the Esperanto movement as the voice of Pola Retradio. I introduced myself and joined the conversation as we shared the train to Lahti.

After arriving at the train station in Lahti, my wife and I took a taxi to the hostel where we stayed the first night. The taxi driver spoke three languages fluently Finnish, Ukrainian and Russian. He spoke very little English and no Esperanto. Fortunately, for me, in addition to English and Polish my wife speaks Ukrainian, (and a little Russian). We were able to get to the hostel, where the lady in charge of the hostel spoke only Finnish and Russian. The taxi driver helped us get settled. I later met many people in Lahti who spoke English quite well, but found it interesting that the first two whom I met, both of whom worked in professions where they often deal with tourists, hadn’t learned enough English to deal with potential clients who expect to be able to conduct business in English.

After breakfast, we made our way to the amasloĝejo (literally: the large quantity living place), our home for the rest of the Congress. Along with an international group of about 40 others we were sleeping in the gymnasium of a school about 300 metres from the Kongresejo (the Congress place), the Isku Arena. While checking in, a young man from Brazil who was still a beginner in Esperanto was struggling to communicate with the Finnish Esperanto speaker at the desk. Because, after learning Esperanto, I had become fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, I was able to help him get settled. He was attending the Congress with his grandfather a fluent Esperanto speaker who was also making a presentation later in the week.

After getting settled into the amasloĝejo we went to the Kongresejo to check in and get our packages with most of the information needed about the events of the week ahead. It was a busy week full of interesting things to do. There were usually five or more possibilities scheduled at the same time, so it was impossible to take it all in. You had to choose what interested you most. Among other things on the first day I also walked through the Libroservo (Book Service). For people new to the language, the rows upon rows of Esperanto books filling two rooms is impressive.

As I had planned, I began networking with many of the Congress participants, getting their response to some questions that I believe need addressing and inviting them to my scheduled presentation about the promise project. One of the first people I spoke with was Renato Corsetti, perhaps the most active Italian Esperanto speaker, and former president of the World Esperanto Association. During the week I also spoke briefly to Mark Fettes, and Duncan Charters, the outgoing and incoming presidents, and Trezoro Huang Yinbao from China. Trezoro who works with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was elected Vice President of UEA, during the Congress. Thanks largely to his efforts, the quarterly magazine of UNESCO, the UNESCO Courier is now available not only in the six official languages of the United Nations and Portuguese, but also in Esperanto (picture 3 above).

I also met some old friends. I met Deiter Rooke, a Swiss Esperanto speaker that I befriended years ago and Deitrich Weidmann, one of the most active Esperanto speakers from Switzerland and someone whom I visited regularly while living there. (I worked as an engineering student intern in Switzerland from October 1999 to March 2001.) I also ran into Paul Hopkins, president of the Canadian Esperanto Association who now lives on Vancouver Island, but whom I met when he moved to Calgary about 15 years ago, and Allan and Meredith Simon, from Calgary. Allan, for years the World Esperanto Association delegate in Calgary, taught the first Esperanto course that I organized. He is also a third generation Esperanto speaker. Both his father and grandfather spoke Esperanto.

The Congress was officially opened on the second day, Sunday. By the final count, 917 people from 57 countries registered for the Congress. Most of them were in the arena for the official opening. A three-minute youtube video shows a few of the highlights of the two-hour opening ceremony (SvisRaporto 2a tago). For me the highlight of the day was the concert by the Italian Esperanto singer Manŭel.

Presentations, lectures, lessons, hands on activities, the wide range of interests of Esperanto speakers was evident in the 39 choices of what to do on Monday. One possible set of choices might be Aikido at 9:00 followed by Finland Whisky at 11:00, a presentation of Eurythmy at 12:30, an advanced Esperanto class at 2:15, a lecture about Education in Finland at 3:30 finishing the day with Vilnilkosmo at 5:00. Vinilkosmo, based in France is a Music production label exclusively dealing with Esperanto music (visit their English website at Vinilkosmo). The day’s activities finished at 6:00. The evening Banquet began at 7:30. We shared the table with a couple of Esperanto activists from Japan and another couple from Korea.

Tuesday was another day full of choices. An eight minute you-tube video captured a few highlights of some of the events (SvisRaporto 4a tago).

Wednesday was a day when we had a choice of six all-day excursions. We chose excursion E5 (Kinnari, Kiikunlähde, Hollola, Koiskala). Our first stop, Kinnari, was a Finnish Farm belonging to the same family since 1667. From there to Kiikunlähde, the largest natural spring water lake in Finland. Then to Hollola to visit a church from the middle ages, and the art gallery of the Finnish artist Asta Pulkkinen. Finally, on to Koiskala, another farm practicing ecological agriculture where we enjoyed an excellent dinner of natural products.

Thursday was the day of my presentation. Already in progress at the time scheduled for the start of my presentation was Komitata Forumo-Komunumo (Community Committee Forum), the Belarta Konkurso (which judges and awards prizes to new Esperanto written work in five categories), a showing of the film Reĝino de Serpentoj (Queen of Snakes – Probably based on one of the best known Lithuanian fairy tales), and a meeting of IFEF (the International Federation of Esperanto Speaking Railway Workers). Starting at the same time was a football (soccer) match between a team of Esperanto-speaking players and a local team. (The Esperanto team won 5-2.) A you-tube video showing the highlights of the game is available at SvisRaporto 6a tago FUTBALMATĈO.

My presentation was attended by an international audience of about 30 people. I invited audience participation and quite a few people contributed ideas. The discussion continued after the presentation was over. Although a number of people were very interested, I left the presentation without any firm commitments for future cooperation; however, since the presentation, there has been an increase in international visitors to our website. We have received promises from Finland, Sweden, Spain, the United States, New Zealand and Iran. There is still a long way to go, but the first steps into the international arena have been taken.

After another (final) busy day, Friday evening’s big event was the Internacia Arta Vespero, (Evening of International Art), where we enjoyed music and dance from around the world. It was a memorable end to a memorable week. Saturday morning, we again gathered in the arena for the official closing ceremonies and the ceremonial passing of the flag. The ceremonial flag was given to the Canadian team organizing next year’s Congress. I hope you can join us from August 1- 8, 2020 for the 105th Universala Kongreso de Esperanto in Montreal, Canada.”

EDMONTON EVENTS

Tuesday Evening Esperanto

For several years now, a small group that speak, or are interested in learning Esperanto have been meeting in Edmonton most Tuesday evenings. Anyone interested in learning and/or practicing Esperanto is welcome to attend. Starting this month, Tuesday Evening Esperanto will be offered in different Branches of Edmonton Public Libraries. The schedule below is also available on our web-page Courses and Events.

▪ Tuesday August 20 – Calder Library (12710 131 Avenue)
▪ Tuesday August 27 – Jasper Place Library (9010 156 Street)
▪ Tuesday September 3 – Idylwylde (Bonnie Doon) Library (8310 88 Avenue)
▪ Tuesday September 10 – Strathcona Library (8331 104 Street)
▪ Tuesday September 17 – Highlands Library (6710 118 Avenue)
▪ Tuesday September 24 – Calder Library (12710 131 Avenue)
▪ Tuesday October 1 – Idylwylde (Bonnie Doon) Library (8310 88 Avenue)
▪ Tuesday October 8 – Jasper Place Library (9010 156 Street)

Friends of Esperanto International Restaurant Event

On Thursday August 22, Friends of Esperanto will be visiting Kyoto Japanese Cuisine at 8709 109 St NW. to enjoy Japanese food and meet others who like the idea of Esperanto. We plan to start at 7:00 pm. The restaurant would like to know how many to expect, so if you are interested in coming, please register for the event on our registration page ea-mondo.org/register. (click here for map)

Last month 12 Friends of Esperanto enjoyed Turkish food at Turquaz Alaturk Restaurant..

Esperanto in 12 Lessons

The vast majority of people who try learning a second language don’t become fluent for years and rarely become fluent at all without an extended period of immersion – unless they are learning Esperanto. Esperanto can be learned in weeks instead of years; and the vast majority of the world’s Esperanto speakers, became fluent without any immersion at all. We invite those interested in learning with the help of a teacher in a classroom setting to register for an upcoming course. We have upcoming courses scheduled in three time-slots.

▪ Thursday evening classes start Thursday September 26, 2019.
▪ Wednesday evening classes start Wednesday October 23, 2019.
▪ Tuesday evening classes start Tuesday November 19, 2019.

For more details visit our web-page Courses and Events.

WORLD EVENTS

There are 457 upcoming Esperanto events listed on the events calendar at eventaservo.org. In August there were/are 138 events scheduled in 26 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States.
Twelve of these countries are hosting multi-day events.

The next multi-day event in Western Canada will be NOREK (The Northwest Regional Esperanto Conference) in Sidney BC from September 27 – 29.

Start learning Esperanto now and you can be completely fluent for next year’s World Esperanto Congress in Montreal Canada.