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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY
By way of illustration, compare the Paternoster in Esperanto and Latin.
| Patro nia kiu estas en la ĉielo, | Pater noster qui es in coelis, | |
| sankta estu via nomo; | sanctificetur nomen tuum; | |
| venu regeco via; | adveniat regnum tuum; | |
| estu volo via, kiel en la ĉielo, | fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, | |
| tiel ankaŭ sur la tero. | et in terra. | |
| Panon nian ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiau; | Panum nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie; | |
| kaj pardonu al ni ŝuldojn niajn, | et dimitte nobis debita nostra, | |
| kiel ni ankaǔ pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoi; | sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; | |
| kaj ne konduku nin en tenton, sed liberigu nin | et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos | |
| de la malbono. Car via estas la regado, | a malo. | |
| la forto kaj la gloro eterne. | ||
| Note.—Vowels have continental sounds. Consonants as in English, ĉ ch in church, otherwise c ts; s sh; final j as y. Each syllable is pronounced. Accent on the penult. |
It will suffice to conclude with a translated extract from a recent French memoir, entitled, "La Langue Universelle" (Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1904), by Couturat and Leau. This memoir is the result of a comparative study and research into all the published systems of international speech appearing within the past two hundred years. The authors are two members of an official delegation, appointed by the International Association of Academies, which undertook, at the instance of the French Academy of Sciences, to consider the adoption of an international auxiliary language. Concluding their critique of Esperanto, the writers say:
In spite of its imperfections, easy to correct, the system of formation of words in Esperanto is one possessed of remarkable regularity and fecundity. It is this, especially, which contributes to give it the striking character of a "natural" language, of a living tongue, which good judges recognize in it. It is truly an autonomous language, which possesses intrinsic and unlimited resources, which has an original physiognomy and a genius all its own. . . . It is therefore not an "artificial" language, dried and dead, a simple replica of our idioms; it is a language capable of living, of developing, and of surpassing in richness, suppleness and variety the natural tongues. Finally, it is a language susceptible of elegance and style, if one admits that true elegance subsists in simplicity and clearness, and that style is but the order which one takes in the expression of thought.
