717 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
717 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!cobra!urban
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From: urban@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov (Michael P Urban)
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.esperanto,news.answers,soc.answers
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Subject: soc.culture.esperanto Frequently Asked Questions (Oftaj Demandoj)
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Followup-To: soc.culture.esperanto
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Date: 4 May 1994 15:36:24 GMT
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Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
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Lines: 701
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Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
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Distribution: inet
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Expires: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 00:00:00 GMT
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Message-ID: <2q8fdo$bgn@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>
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NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.149.70.44
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Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu soc.culture.esperanto:6204 news.answers:19097 soc.answers:1146
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Archive-name: esperanto-faq
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Frequently Asked Questions for
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soc.culture.esperanto, esperanto@rand.org and esper-l@trearn.bitnet
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(monthly posting)
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This posting attempts to answer the most common questions from those
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new to the newsgroup (or mailing list), or to the language itself.
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Because the majority of readers are in the United States, it is
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somewhat biased towards those readers, but it may be useful
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for anglophone readers in other countries. The opinions expressed
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are those of the author. If there is some information you feel should
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be added or changed, send mail to the author (urban@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov)
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1. What is Esperanto?
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2. How many people speak Esperanto?
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3. Where do I find classes, textbooks, etc.?
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4. How do you type Esperanto's circumflexed letters?
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5. How can I display those circumflexed letters on a (Sun/Mac/PC)?
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6. What about other `artificial' languages like Loglan, Ido, etc.?
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7. How come Esperanto doesn't have <favorite word or feature>?
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8. Is there any Esperanto material available online?
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9. In what language should people post to this newsgroup/list?
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10. Are there other bulletin boards, online services, etc?
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11. What are PIV, PV, PAG, and UEA? What are IRKs?
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----------------------------------------------------------------
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1. What is Esperanto?
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Esperanto is a language designed to facilitate communication among
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people of different lands and cultures. It was first published in 1887
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by Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) under the pseudonym `Dr. Esperanto',
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meaning `one who hopes', and this is the name that stuck as the name of
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the language itself. Unlike national languages, Esperanto allows
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communication on an equal footing between people, with neither having
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the usual cultural advantage accruing to a native speaker. Esperanto
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is also considerably easier to learn than national languages, since its
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design is far simpler and more regular than such languages.
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2. How many people speak Esperanto?
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It is always difficult to measure the number of speakers of any
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language; it is rather like estimating the number of people who play
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Chess. Speakers of a second language vary widely in their competence
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and fluency. The World Almanac, whose researchers actually conduct
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interviews with speakers, estimate about two million speakers
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worldwide. This puts it on a par with `minority' languages like
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Icelandic and Estonian. Of course, unlike these other languages,
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Esperanto is not the primary language for its speakers, although
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there _are_ native speakers (`denaskaj parolantoj') of Esperanto
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who learned to speak it (along with the local language) from
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their parents.
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3. Where do I find classes, textbooks, etc?
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For U.S. residents, the Esperanto League for North America is the
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best and most reliable source for Esperanto materials. They
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offer a free basic correspondence course (about which we will
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say more later), and may be offering a more detailed and advanced
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paid correspondence course. They have an extensive catalogue
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of books, including texts, reference, fiction, poetry, and
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cassette tapes. Their address is
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Esperanto League of North America
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Box 1129
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El Cerrito, CA 94530
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A free information packet can be obtained from ELNA by
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calling their toll-free information number: 1-800-828-5944
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or by sending electronic mail to:
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elna@netcom.com
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(be sure to include your paper-mail address!)
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A more immediate source of texts, especially for those with
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access to a university, is your local library. The quality
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of the books, of course, will vary widely, but most of the
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texts, even the older ones, will provide a reasonable general
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introduction to the language. One exception, mentioned here
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only because it was surplused to _many_ libraries around the US,
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is the US Army's `Esperanto: The Aggressor Language', which
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is more of a curiosity than a useful textbook.
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The problem with most old texts is that they are...well...old! Their
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presentations can seem very bland and old-fashioned, and their
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`cultural' information about the Esperanto community will often be
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hopelessly out of date. The newest American textbook, and probably the
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best, is Richardson's `Esperanto: Learning and Using the International
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Language'. It is available from ELNA and perhaps some libraries.
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Another book, the Esperanto entry in the `Teach Yourself ...' series of
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language primers, is a slightly stodgy but very useful introduction to
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the language. The `Teach Yourself' book can sometimes be found in
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ordinary bookstores. There is also a `Teach Yourself' English/Esperanto
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two-way dictionary that is a very popular and handy reference.
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Another good, if a bit old-fashioned, textbook, Step by Step in
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Esperanto, has recently been reprinted and is available from ELNA.
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Still another book recommended by more than one participant is
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`Saluton!' by Audry Childs-Mee. This is entirely in Esperanto, with
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many pictures.
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Macintosh owners with HyperCard and MacinTalk can take advantage
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of an introductory HyperCard course on Esperanto. This is available
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from ELNA for a nominal media charge, or can be downloaded
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from the Sumex Info-Mac server. Swedish and Dutch versions
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of this course have appeared in their respective countries.
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***
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*** If you know of other texts that should be mentioned here,
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*** please let me know
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***
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Each summer, San Francisco State University and ELNA offer a three-week
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curriculum of Esperanto courses, in which one may participate at
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beginning, intermediate, or advanced levels, and earn three semester
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credits. It is widely considered to be one of the best opportunities to
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learn to speak Esperanto `like a native', and draws students and
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faculty from around the world.
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***
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*** Further info, like details on Chaux-de-Fonds (sp?) activities
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*** and similar international learning opportunities, are
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*** requested
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***
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For those with relatively little time, a free Postal Correspondence
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Course is available. You mail in each of ten lessons, and
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a grader corrects your exercises and sends you the next lesson.
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Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to
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Esperanto Information Center
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410 Darrell Road
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Hillsborough, CA 94010
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415 342-1796
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In Australia:
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Australia Esperanto-Asocio, GPO Box 313, Sunnybank, Queensland 4109.
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Junulara Auxstralia Grupo Esperantista,
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17 Renowden St., Cheltenham, Victoria 3192.
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Book service: PO Box 230, Matraville, NSW 2036.
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Correspondence Course: J. Moore, 7 Pelican St., Emu Park, Queensland 4702.
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In Canada:
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Kanada Esperanto-Asocio (English course)
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P.O.Box 2159, Sidney, BC V8L 3S6
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Esperanto-Societo Kebekia (French course)
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6358-A, rue de Bordeaux, Montreal, QC H2G 2R8
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Book Service
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6358-A, rue de Bordeaux, Montreal, QC H2G 2R8
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In New Zealand:
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New Zealand Esperanto Association (also correspondence course)
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PO Box 41-172, St Lukes, Auckland
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In Britain:
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British Esperanto Association, 140 Holland Park Avenue, Londonw W11
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In France:
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UFE (Union Francaise pour l'Esperanto)
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and its youth section JEFO (Junulara Esperantista Franca Organizo)
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4 bis, rue de la Cerisaie
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75004 PARIS
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In The Netherlands:
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ECN (Esperanto Centrum Nederland)
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Riouwstraat 172, NL-2585 HW Den Haag, tel. +31 70 3556677
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****
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**** If you think YOUR country should be listed here, let me know...
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****
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The Free Correspondence Course is also available online as the
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Free Esperanto Course. Information is posted regularly to this group.
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The Correspondence Course is now conducted in English, French, and German
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versions.
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4. How do you type Esperanto's circumflexed letters?
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Esperanto has five circumflexed consonants (c, g, h, j, and s can all
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be circumflexed) and an accented vowel (u with breve). The Fundamento,
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which forms the official basis for the language, suggests that printers
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that lack a circumflex can use `h' (ch, gh, hh, etc.). This is,
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however, not a completely satisfactory solution for computers, and
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introduces unnecessary lexical ambiguity. Two solutions are now in
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current use:
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The European Computer Manufacturer's Association Standard ECMA-94
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contains four 8-bit Latin alphabets to cover a variety of European
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languages. Latin alphabet 3 covers Esperanto (as well as nine other
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European languages). This alphabet also forms the basis for the
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international standard coding ISO 8859-3 (LATIN-3). This eight-bit
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coding is probably the best `canonical' representation for the storage
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of Esperanto text, although it is inconvenient for sorting
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applications (this is a common technical difficulty for almost all
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languages). A more immediate problem is that the Internet mail
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protocol is currently only able to transmit 7-bit ASCII. Finally, it
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may be inconvenient to generate the eight-bit codes on particular
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input devices.
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Various `ASCIIzations' of the accented letters are popular. Some
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people type a circumflex before the accented letter; others type it
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afterwards. Some use a `<' sign instead. Some use the Fundamentan
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formula with following `h'. Others follow with a `~' (tilde) to
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facilitate alphabetization.
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The best ASCIIzation is probably to use following `x', which has
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several advantages: the `x' is not part of the Esperanto alphabet and
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so the digraphs like `cx' can automatically be translated to Latin-3
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codes or other representations; `x' is alphabetic, so various editing
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and text-processing programs treat `accented' words as single units;
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since `x' is near the end of the alphabet, sorting algorithms are quite
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reliable when applied to words coded in this way. Finally, combinations
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like `sx' are rare in English, so automatic conversion of mixed
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Esperanto/English text is highly reliable. While nobody can
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dictate a standard, widespread adoption of this convention on the
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networks would facilitate the development of standard programs to
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convert or display the accented characters, at least until 8-bit
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mail transmission becomes commonplace.
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Esperanto's circumflexed characters are covered by the incipient `wide
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character' standards (Unicode and ISO 10646), so Esperantists will not
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be left out if and when those standards are widely adopted and
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implemented. Unicode is a widely endorsed 16-bit character encoding
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expected to be supported by Microsoft's Windows NT and Apple's
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QuickDraw GX system software.
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5. How do I display those characters on a (Mac, PC, etc.)
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`Dumb' terminals generally cannot overstrike accents with arbitrary
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characters, and so cannot display the Esperanto characters. Most
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modern equipment uses `softer' display technology and can display the
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Esperanto characters given proper software.
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On the Macintosh, one can prepare and display text with an Esperanto
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`font'; such fonts usually match the accented characters to convenient
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(USA) keyboard equivalents, rather than to standard binary codes. A
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couple of such fonts (Imagewriter resolution) are available on ELNA's
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HyperCard disk, and Esperanto versions of Helvetica and Times (in
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Type 3 PostScript) are also obtainable through ELNA and via anonymous
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FTP from ftp.stack.urc.tue.nl.
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*
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* INFORMATION SOLICITED ON OTHER MACINTOSH FONTS
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*
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WordPerfect 5.1 allows the display of Esperanto characters when the
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512-character screen is selected from the Setup menu. To type an
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accented character, type control-v, the charactrs.doc table number,
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comma, the character code, and RETURN. The Esperanto codes are all in
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table 1, with the following values:
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^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ - -
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C:100 c:101 G:122 g:123 H:126 h:127 J:140 j:141 S:180 s:181 U:188 u:189
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so that you type <CTRL-V>1,100<RETURN> to get circumflexed C.
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You can set up a `keyboard file' to assign these combinations
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to keys. (thanks to Cleve Lendon and Michael Johnson for this information)
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In Word Perfect 5.1, you can also type <CTRL_V> followed by
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the character and the accent mark; thus <Ctrl-V>C^ gives C-circumflex.
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Two problems are: the lowercase circumflexed j looks lousy in most fonts
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and there is no breve on the keyboard, so u-breve cannot be done this way.
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(thanks to D. Gary Grady for this information)
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Two programs, `vidi' and `montru', which can display some of the common
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Esperanto ASCIIzations as accented characters on PCs with graphics
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boards, are available via anonymous FTP (see below).
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On Unix (and other) systems running X11, it is possible to create a
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text font using the ISO 8859-3 encoding. With such a font in your
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server's font repertoire, an `xterm' window (with terminal modes set
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for 8-bit output) can display Esperanto text using standard Unix
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commands such as `cat'. An ISO 8859-3 font is included in
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the contributed software portion of Release 5 of X11. The Esperanto
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versions of Helvetica and Times for the Mac might be usable with
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a suitably equipped X11 server -- since they are Adobe Type 1
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fonts -- but this has yet to be verified.
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GNU Emacs Version 19 is able to deal with arbitrary X11 keyboard
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inputs and output fonts. It can be obtained from the usual GNU
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sources (e.g. prep.ai.mit.edu). There is also a version of GNU Emacs,
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known as MULE, that is able to handle several non-ASCII encodings,
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including Latin alphabets 1 thru 9 (except 8) and several Asian
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languages. It comes with X11 fonts for all these alphabets, including
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ISO 8859-3. Sources are in several places; try world.std.com in
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src/gnu/mule.
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In any of these cases, a certain amount of data massaging may be
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necessary to convert some particular representation of Esperanto text
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(see Question 4) to an appropriate form.
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Text processing languages like TeX and Troff permit the arbitrary
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placement of diacriticals on characters and so make the preparation of
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good-looking Esperanto documents quite easy. TeX's Computer Modern
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fonts are particularly good for this, because they include an undotted
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`j' character. Note that the hyphenation algorithms used by TeX and
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Troff are not intended for Esperanto and may produce unpleasant
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results. TeX is available, often as free software, for a variety of
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computers.
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6. What about other `artificial' languages like Loglan, Ido, etc.?
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People create languages for a variety of purposes. J.R.R. Tolkien's
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languages of Sindarin and Quenya, for example, were created partly as
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a recreation, and partly to fulfill a literary purpose. Many languages
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have been created as international languages; only Esperanto has
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continued to grow and prosper after the death of its originator. Many
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of the people who have attempted to promulgate international languages
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more `perfect' (i.e., more `international', more `logical', or
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whatever) than Esperanto have failed to understand that -- given a
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certain minimum standard of internationality, aesthetic quality, and
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ease of learning -- further tinkering not only fails to substantially
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improve the product, but interferes with the establishment of a large
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community of speakers. A language like, say, Interlingua might be (by
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some individual's criteria) `better' than Esperanto, but in order for
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it to be worth uprooting the established world of Esperanto and
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creating an equivalently widespread world community of Interlingua
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speakers, it would have to be visibly and profoundly an improvement
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over Esperanto of prodigious proportions. No international language
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project has yet produced such an obviously ideal language.
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In the network community, one of the best known planned language
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projects is James Cooke Brown's Loglan (and its revised offshoot
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Lojban). While some enthusiasts do see Loglan and Lojban as
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competitors to Esperanto, the languages were conceived not as a tool to
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facilitate better communication, but as a linguistic experiment, to
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test the Whorf hypothesis that a language shapes (or limits) the
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thoughts of its speakers. They are thus deliberately designed to bear
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little resemblance to existing human languages. While Loglan and
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Lojban are unlikely (and, by design, perhaps unsuited) to succeed as
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international languages, both are interesting projects in their own
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right. The address to write for Loglan information is
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The Loglan Institute
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3009 Peters Way
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San Diego, CA, 92117
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U.S.A.
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[ (619) 270-1691 ]
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70674.1434@compuserve.com
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For Lojban, contact
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Bob LeChevalier, President
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The Logical Language Group, Inc.
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2904 Beau Lane Fairfax VA 22031-1303
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U.S.A
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[ (703) 385-0273 (day/evenings) }
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lojbab@access.digex.net
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To subscribe to a LOJBAN mailing list, send a message to
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listserv@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
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consisting of the body line (not subject):
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subscribe lojban Your Real Name
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Lojban information can be found via anonymous FTP at ftp.cs.yale.edu
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in the /pub/lojban directory.
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Those interested in the Mark Okrand's `Klingon' language can
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join a mailing list; contact
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tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
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to be added or to get information.
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There is a general `constructed language' mailing list; send a message
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to
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listserv@diku.dk
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consisting of the body line (not subject):
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subscribe conlang Your Real Name
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to subscribe.
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Finally, fans of Tolkien's language creations
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can join a Tolkien-language mailing list. Contact
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jcb@dcs.edinburgh.ac.uk
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for information. (UK readers invert the address appropriately)
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As for our own Esperanto newsgroup, many readers are interested in other
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planned languages, and discussion of these can often be informative and
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interesting. But politeness dictates that `Esperanto-bashing' in
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an Esperanto forum is inappropriate and should be avoided.
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7. How come Esperanto doesn't have <favorite word or feature>?
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Although Esperanto is a planned language, it has developed well beyond
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the point at which some authoritative person or group can dictate
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language practice, however great the temptation may be to `tinker' with
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the language. For example, many people are critical of the presence of
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a feminine suffix and absense of a corresponding masculine suffix, and
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have suggested masculine suffixes (-icx, -un, -ucx, -ab), neutral pronouns
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(sxli, ri), and/or re-interpretations of familiar words such as
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redefining `frato' (brother) to mean `sibling'. But there is no single
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individual or committee that will simply designate changes such as
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these before they achieve general use.
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Just as with any other language, the only way for such novelties to
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attain acceptability is for them to be used in correspondence,
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literature, and conversation by a growing number of people. So, if
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you see a genuine lack in the language's existing stock of roots and
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affixes, by all means use a new coinage (and ALWAYS with suitable
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explanation, since you are not using standard Esperanto) and see if it
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catches on. Be warned that such neologisms are often controversial
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and will meet with criticisms (in proportion to the extent to which
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they break with the `Fundamento' or to which they are redundant to the
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existing language).
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8. Is there any Esperanto material available online?
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Note: This information is not exhaustive. Check Martin Weichert's
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`Yellow Pages' (Flavaj Pagxoj; see below) for more complete and
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up-to-date information.
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There used to be a Planned Languages Server at columbia.edu , but
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it is, apparently, no longer available.
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An Anonymous FTP archive has been set up at ftp.stack.urc.tue.nl
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(131.155.140.128) in /pub/esperanto ; non-Internet users can retrieve
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material via email: send the following message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com:
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connect ftp.stack.urc.tue.nl
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reply YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS_HERE
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dir pub/esperanto
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get pub/esperanto/UPLOAD-INFO.ALSXUTO-INFO
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get pub/esperanto/READ-ME.LEGU-MIN
|
|
quit
|
|
(binary files require more work; send `help' to ftpmail for info)
|
|
Another (older?) copy of this material can be found buried at
|
|
src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
|
|
/media/literary/collections/Online-Book-Initiative/Esperanto
|
|
|
|
An FTP archive has been set up by ELNA at ftp.netcom.com in /pub/elna .
|
|
|
|
An experimental FTP archive with material from the Akademio Internacia
|
|
de la Sciencoj and a rough version of a glossary of mathematical
|
|
terminology may be found at cfgauss.uni-math.gwdg.de (directory ILo).
|
|
Contact: Hoso HOLDGR"UN <holdgrun@cfgauss.uni-math.gwdg.de>
|
|
|
|
The FTP archives, as well as some other materials, are
|
|
available through Gopher via the gopher server at otax.tky.hut.fi
|
|
(130.233.32.32) port 70 (Helsinki University of Technology).
|
|
|
|
WWW (xmosaic) users can find an Esperanto section in an _experimental_
|
|
WWW server under URL
|
|
http://utis179.cs.utwente.nl:8001/esperanto/
|
|
Use at your own risk, and please do not overuse it. (xmosaic users
|
|
can get there by typing the URL given above in the `Open' dialog box.
|
|
|
|
Some libraries have on-line listings of their Esperanto holdings. On
|
|
Internet, try:
|
|
University of California (450 titles): telnet melvyl.ucop.edu
|
|
(195.35.222.222)
|
|
Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (234 titles): telnet kunlb1.ubn.kun.nl
|
|
(131.174.81.246)
|
|
Universitaet des Saarlandes (>1000 titles): telnet unisb.rz.uni-sb.de
|
|
(134.96.100.100)
|
|
.a logon ub,ub
|
|
(this site is also available via Gopher)
|
|
|
|
Derk Ederveen <derk@saluton.hacktic.nl> maintains a list of
|
|
network addresses of Esperanto speakers and organizations. Please
|
|
contact him if you speak Esperanto but do not yet appear on the list.
|
|
The list is available from most Esperanto archives and is updated monthly.
|
|
|
|
Also, see the next section's information about the Esperanto Lingva Servo,
|
|
and about the `Flavaj Pagxoj'.
|
|
|
|
9. In what language should people post to this newsgroup/list?
|
|
|
|
This is left up to the judgement of the sender, based on his or her
|
|
language expertise, the nature of the material, and the time available
|
|
for composing the message. Several of our readers are not native
|
|
speakers of English; for some, it is easier to read and write Esperanto
|
|
than English. On the other hand, many of our readers have only the
|
|
most basic exposure to Esperanto (and wish to learn more). The best
|
|
solution would be to post bilingually in English and Esperanto (if you
|
|
know Esperanto), but of course that requires composing the posting two
|
|
times. Messages involving details of Esperanto culture (such as a
|
|
recent thread involving some of the personalities of the early
|
|
Esperanto movement) can probably be entirely in Esperanto without
|
|
losing much of the intended audience. Similarly, messages likely to be
|
|
of interest to people who are just learning about Esperanto should be
|
|
posted in English (at least).
|
|
|
|
Beginners in the language should not be afraid to attempt to post in
|
|
Esperanto; people are happy to correct language mistakes in a positive
|
|
and friendly way (not as `grammar flames') and a forum like this can be
|
|
a good way to get language practice. No, this is not strong enough.
|
|
Beginners are ESPECIALLY ENCOURAGED to post in Esperanto whenever
|
|
possible.
|
|
|
|
Of course, if you are uncertain of your Esperanto ability, you should
|
|
include an English version of your text so that, if you make a serious
|
|
language blunder, people can determine what you were *trying* to say.
|
|
|
|
One service that might be of use is the Language Service (La
|
|
Lingva Servo), a group of volunteers who will correct the grammar
|
|
of short Esperanto postings. Information on the Lingva Servo,
|
|
with the current list of volunteers, is posted monthly to this
|
|
group.
|
|
|
|
If you are cross-posting articles to other newsgroups, please
|
|
do NOT post in Esperanto, unless English (or the usual language
|
|
of that newsgroup) is also included, preferably as the primary
|
|
language. Aside from being rude, such postings have tended to
|
|
create a lot of unwanted crossposted response traffic, usually
|
|
of an anti-Esperantan inflammatory nature. Similarly, while
|
|
it may sometimes be appropriate to mention Esperanto in other
|
|
newsgroups, continued discussion of Esperanto in inappropriate
|
|
groups like comp.lang.c will generate more heat than light, and
|
|
should be avoided.
|
|
|
|
|
|
10. Are there other bulletin boards, online services, etc?
|
|
|
|
The Internet mailing list mail.esperanto contains about
|
|
70 individual entries. Whenever someone sends mail to
|
|
`esperanto@rand.ORG', that mail is forwarded to everyone on
|
|
the list. People on other networks that can receive
|
|
Internet mail (e.g. on CompuServe or GENIE) can subscribe
|
|
to the mailing list. Mailing list members may subscribe
|
|
on a `digest' basis, receiving batches of ten or so messages
|
|
at a time, with shorter headers. All correspondence related
|
|
to mailing list subscriptions (including UNsubscribe requests)
|
|
should be sent to:
|
|
esperanto-request@rand.ORG
|
|
|
|
The administration of this mailing list will be transferred from
|
|
RAND sometime in the near future, but the rand.org aliases should
|
|
continue to be useful indefinitely.
|
|
|
|
The newsgroup soc.culture.esperanto is distributed on many Internet and
|
|
USENET sites and has an estimated readership of several thousand. Every
|
|
message sent to the mail.esperanto list is forwarded to
|
|
soc.culture.esperanto, and every article from soc.culture.esperanto is
|
|
normally forwarded to the mailing list. Thus, if you are reading the
|
|
newsgroup, you do not need to be on the mailing list. However, note
|
|
that the newsgroup is theoretically an `Internet-only' group, and that
|
|
many messages, including all those forwarded from the mailing list, are
|
|
tagged with a `Distribution: inet' header line, and may not be
|
|
distributed to every site.
|
|
|
|
Incidentally, the link between the newsgroup and mailing
|
|
list means that mailing list members will sometimes see
|
|
strange messages having nothing to do with Esperanto, caused
|
|
when some lackwit cross-posts a message to all the soc.*
|
|
newsgroups. These people do not read the newsgroup anyway,
|
|
so replies sent to the mailing list (rather than the original
|
|
sender) will not reach them.
|
|
|
|
WARNING: The network community is very large, and is growing
|
|
rapidly. There are many foolish, rude, or inexperienced people
|
|
who will post articles to the network. Some of them
|
|
are, unfortunately, interested in Esperanto. Do not favor
|
|
them with your attention.
|
|
|
|
Duncan Thompson (duncan@spd.eee.strathclyde.ac.uk) coordinates an
|
|
Esperanto penpal service. He posts a monthly announcement describing
|
|
the service to soc.culture.esperanto (or send him mail for details).
|
|
|
|
Martin Weichert <martinw@cs.chalmers.se> maintains the Esperanto
|
|
"Yellow Pages" ("Flavaj Pagxoj"), a list of Esperanto-related material
|
|
and services available on the net. Please contact him if you have
|
|
anything to offer to the net esperantists that does not yet appear
|
|
on the list. The Yellow Pages (in Esperanto) is available from most
|
|
Esperanto archives and is updated regularly.
|
|
|
|
ESPER-L@TREARN is a BITNET-based mailing list; every message
|
|
sent to soc.culture.esperanto is forwarded to ESPER-L, but
|
|
not the reverse.
|
|
(So that ESPER-Lers should post, when possible, to esperanto@rand.org)
|
|
ESPER-L is managed by an automated mailing list server; to
|
|
get added, send a message like
|
|
SUBSCRIBE ESPERANTO your name
|
|
to listserv@trearn.bitnet; to unsubscribe, send
|
|
SIGNOFF ESPERANTO
|
|
to the server
|
|
|
|
CompuServe Information Service (CIS) has an Esperanto board
|
|
in its Foreign Languages Education Forum; CIS subscribers
|
|
can type /GO FLEFO for further information.
|
|
|
|
For those Internet sites providing the Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
|
|
service, Esperanto conversation takes place regularly on Tuesdays at
|
|
1500-1700 GMT (UT) on the channel `#Esperanto'. Contact Axel
|
|
Belinfante <belinfan@cs.utwente.nl> or Wim Slootmans
|
|
<slootmans@nats.uia.ac.be> for further infomration.
|
|
|
|
GEnie has some discussion of Esperanto in the Public Affairs
|
|
Roundtable board, Category 15 -- International Affairs, Topic 29.
|
|
GEnie users can receive Internet mail.
|
|
|
|
America Online seems to have about a dozen members whose list of
|
|
interests include `Esperanto', but no Esperanto forum exists. AOL users
|
|
can receive Internet mail and so can subscribe to the mailing list.
|
|
|
|
Some Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) provide Esperanto services.
|
|
|
|
Devoted to Esperanto:
|
|
|
|
ESPERANTO BBS (416)731-2667 Thornhill, Ontario (near Toronto)
|
|
|
|
Have Esperanto sections:
|
|
|
|
MICRODOT BBS (812)944-3907 New Albany, Indiana (near Evansville)
|
|
(part of the WWIV network of BBS systems. WWIV systems may
|
|
subscribe to the Esperanto group `La Samideanoj')
|
|
|
|
BULTENEJO SALUTON! +31-53-326886 Enschede, The Netherlands
|
|
Dutch/Esperanto. Sysop reachable via Fidonet 2:283/323
|
|
(Wim Koolhoven: Internet address wim@itc.nl)
|
|
|
|
Flandra Esperanto-Ligo +32 32 34 12 60 ((03) 234 12 16 in Belgium)
|
|
Available from 7:00pm - 7:00am; send to the F.E.L.
|
|
(100272.1601@compuserve.com) for a free brochure before connecting.
|
|
Users must be validated by the Sysop before they can upload/download
|
|
or leave multiple messages.
|
|
|
|
Saltronics TBBS (215)464-3562 (8 bits, No parity, 1 Stop bit, 300-2400 bps)
|
|
This line connects to 5 lines in a rotary hunt system.
|
|
215-698-1905 (8-N-1 9600+ V.32, v.42bis modems) single line.
|
|
|
|
Satronics TBBS is a non-commercial, community-supported BBS.
|
|
|
|
Abbenay BBS (405)325-0801. Contains only a few files, hopefully
|
|
to stir up some interest in Esperanto among the users.
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
*** Surely there are more?
|
|
***
|
|
|
|
The Channel 1 BBS in Cambridge, MA (USA) (617-354-7077) apparently
|
|
allows selection of prompts in about twenty languages, including
|
|
Esperanto. For whatever it's worth.
|
|
|
|
An international FidoNet `echo' ESPERANTO exists in Germany, reachable
|
|
from at least Spain, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Portugal;
|
|
ask your FidoNet sysop to subscribe to the this service. For more
|
|
information, you can contact
|
|
Mario Mueller <mario@saluton.hacktic.nl> (FidoNet 2:241/200.9)
|
|
|
|
|
|
In France, the Minitel system has an Esperanto service: try
|
|
36.15 ESPERANTO for information. 36.14 PING is an online chat
|
|
and mailbox service in four languages (French, Esperanto, Italian,
|
|
and English). 36.14 RIBOUREL is `300 pages about/in Esperanto'
|
|
|
|
In Slovenia, Boris HERMAN is sysop for the Center BBS (FidoNet
|
|
2:380/125 (??)). His current address is unknown.
|
|
|
|
An Internet-accessible BBS has been set up in Russia:
|
|
DEMOS BBS: telnet 192.91.186.145 (fantom.demos.su)
|
|
Log in with username bbs
|
|
Contact: Ivan Popov (pin@demos.su)
|
|
There is also an FTP directory /esperanto at surplus.demos.su
|
|
Note that Internet connections to these sites are not always reliable.
|
|
|
|
11. What are PIV, PV, PAG, and UEA? What are IRC/IRKs?
|
|
|
|
As with other groups, there are some common acronyms that come up from
|
|
time to time here:
|
|
|
|
PIV: Plena Ilustrita Vortaro, a very complete Esperanto dictionary
|
|
(i.e., it is entirely in Esperanto) containing not only the
|
|
officially recognized words, but many more that are in general
|
|
(and not so general) use. Some of its entries are dubious,
|
|
but it is a highly useful reference work. PIV is now quite
|
|
expensive and hard to obtain.
|
|
|
|
PV: Plena Vortaro. PIV's little brother, so to speak; it contains
|
|
only the officially recognized words.
|
|
|
|
PAG: Plena Analiza Gramatiko, an analysis of Esperanto grammar.
|
|
It is not authoritative, and many people will disagree
|
|
with some of its conclusions, but it is the most detailed
|
|
reference work to date on Esperanto grammar.
|
|
|
|
UEA: Universala Esperanto Asocio, the international Esperanto organization.
|
|
They publish a monthly magazine cleverly titled `Esperanto',
|
|
produce a `Jarlibro' (yearbook) containing information on
|
|
national and special-interest Esperanto organizations and
|
|
contacts, and sponsor the Universala Kongreso (the annual
|
|
international Esperanto convention).
|
|
|
|
IRK International Reply Coupons (Internaciaj Respond-Kuponoj)
|
|
These are the international version of the `Self-Addressed
|
|
Stamped Envelope'. You buy them in your local post office
|
|
and send them to your correspondent, who takes them to
|
|
his or her local post office and can exchange them for
|
|
local first-class postage to send you a reply. They are
|
|
also occasionaly used as a kind of informal international
|
|
currency for small purchases. The English abbreviation
|
|
IRC (International Reply Coupon) should not be confused
|
|
with the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) facility described earlier.
|
|
|
|
Mike Urban
|
|
|
|
urban@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov
|
|
|