Step by Step in Esperanto

by Montagu C. Butler[1]

Preface

On the appearance of this book I received various suggestions for its improvement. I was advised to omit, among other things, all stories about mothers-in-law (as giving a wrong outlook on life, and treating a serious subject with levity); the story of the cannibal who ate his wife (as immoral—perhaps the reader might go and do likewise); all puns (as confusing); all jokes of any kind whatsoever (as undignified); all English verse (as doggerel); all Esperanto verse (as waste of space); all translation exercises (as inadvisable for beginners); all proverbs (as obscure); every word exemplifying the vowel-sounds in which the vowel is not followed by the letter “r” (as misleading); and every word in which it is so followed (for the same reason). One friend regretted the inclusion of illustrative sentences from the Ekzercaro (as hackneyed); another advised the omission of all sentences not in the Ekzercaro (as not authoritative). A Scottish correspondent urged the publication of an expurgated edition, labelled “For Sale in Scotland”, which should omit all reference to a certain insect apparently unknown in that country, though otherwise sufficiently international. Some complained that there were not enough exercises; others, that there were too many. The exercises given were condemned by one as too simple (because they leave nothing to the learner’s intelligence); by another as too difficult (because they call for thought, and the average learner does not think). One said “Make more use of varied type, to help the eye”; another: “Your use of varied type is excessive, and offends the eye.” I was told by one that the book was pedantically Zamenhofan; by another, that no one could accuse it of making any attempt to follow Zamenhof. Complaints that it teaches too much (or too little); that it has no grammar (or too much); and that it contains no home-work, no reading-matter, no chapters, no index, and no table of correlatives, I record, and leave.

Several friends advised me to scrap the whole book and rewrite it on entirely different lines. Unfortunately, the various plans suggested were mutually exclusive. One critic wrote “The book is too diffuse”; another: “It suffers throughout from over-compression”. Still another asked: “Why write any book at all, seeing that the whole grammar of the language may be put on a postcard, and its principles grasped in a few minutes?”[3]

Further, it became clear that everything should have been placed at the beginning; that everything should have been placed later; and that everything should have been omitted.

Somewhat bewildered by all this advice, I have left the book in essentials as it was. I am encouraged to do this by the fact that teachers and students who have used it as directed have given it warm approval. They have also given many practical suggestions for improvements in detail; these have been adopted in the present edition. I am especially indebted to Mr. K. Alexander for his help.

Some things in previous editions are here omitted to make room for new simple matter, but will be incorporated in a work for advanced students, long in preparation, which I hope may some day see the light.

Many teachers write: “I always give my class another book, but I wish to teach them from yours. How can I do this?” You cannot. First choose your book or method, then give it a fair trial.