Mayer, of the University of Oxford, learned
Esperanto in his seventy-ninth year. I heard him make a speech in
the language about six or seven days after he took it up, and he
declared that Esperanto ought to be introduced into the educational
system of the country. He was professor of the Latin language at
the Oxford University. He declared Esperanto ought to be introduced
into the schools, into the kindergartens, where children of 5 years
of age should begin with Esperanto, and I hold with him, because
if children were to learn Esperanto it would be of help to them in
their English. It is extremely easy to learn and can be learned in
a very pleasant fashion, because it is so scientific and so simple. (5)

If children understood Esperanto, they would understand English better,
and much of the time we waste in trying to teach them English would be
profitably spent, for they would have something to go upon, something to
compare English with, and that something so scientific and so logical as
Esperanto. Take, for instance, analysis. I will not say it is difficult
but I will say it is impossible to analyze an English word, because
every word can be so many things. It can generally be an adjective,
a noun, a verb, a preposition, a conjunction, and an interjection,
that is, the same word, without any structural change, so that it is
difficult for a child to discriminate and label the word. Take the word
"benefited." That might be used in the past tense (I benefited), or as
a past participle: (We may have benefited), and it is impossible for
a child to sense the difference, and such confusion occurs to a great
extent with most words in the English language.

I am a teacher of languages and have done nothing all my life but study
and impart languages. If I had to teach you gentlemen, say, French
upon the theory that you were going on an important mission this day
12 months, and that it was absolutely necessary that you should speak
French (or any other language that I could impart you) by that time, I
would say it was impossible for a number of busy men to acquire a new
language inside one year; that I could not guarantee useful results,
but that if you would take two months to start with for the learning of
Esperanto, then I might be able to teach you the other language in the
rest of the time, because Esperanto is the best foundation for learning
any language. And, as I say, an English-speaking student, be he young or
old, k