Benedicto Silva:
“There is
already very
rich literature
published
in
Esperanto”
Translator of
many books into
the language
created by
Zamenhof, the
well-known
teacher talks
about his
experience in
the area
|
Benedicto Silva
(photo)
was born in the
Brazilian state
of São Paulo. He
lives in the
city of São José
do Rio Preto,
where he retired
as a teacher. He
is an enthusiast
of Esperanto and
translated books
into the
international
language. In
this interview
he talks about
his work in that
area.
|
When and how was
Esperanto
created? |
Esperanto was
created by the
Polish doctor,
Ludwig Lejzer
Zamenhof in
1887, as a way
of approaching
human beings
from many
nationalities,
cultures and
languages
through a
neutral and easy
means of
communication.
What are the
main
characteristics
and function of
the
international
language?
Its main
features are:
easy
pronunciation
for all peoples;
shortened
grammar, with
only 16
fundamental
rules and no
exceptions;
vocabulary made
up mostly from
words coming
from the main
languages spoken
across the
developed world,
such as Latin,
Greek, English,
French, Italian,
Spanish, German
etc. There is
already very
rich literature
published in
Esperanto.
What aspect of
the
international
language strikes
you the most?
Why?
What really
strikes me from
Esperanto is its
practical and
logical grammar
structure, whose
rules don’t have
exhaustive
exceptions so
common in
national
languages. That
is why the
grammar of
Esperanto can be
learned in a few
hours only,
depending on the
dedication of
the student. The
best place to
start is the
First Manual of
Esperanto, which
in Brazil has
been published
by the Brazilian
Spiritist
Federation (FEB)
for over half a
century.
How many books
did you
translate into
Esperanto?
There were many
books, including
Filigranas de
Luz, from Tagore
with the
psycography of
the medium,
Divaldo P.
Franco, and O
Consolador,
written by
Emmanuel through
the medium,
Francisco
Cândido Xavier.
About 35 years
ago, at the
request of the
late Francisco
Thiesen, then
president of
FEB, and my
friend Allan
Kardec A. Costa,
I translated
into Esperanto
the excellent
biography of
Allan Kardec, by
Thiesen and Zeus
Wantuil. As
Thiesen passed
away, that book
is still to be
published in
Esperanto. I
hope it will be
published one
day.
Share with us a
remarkable event
linking
Esperanto and
your personal
life.
With the respect
and admiration I
have for the
medium,
Francisco
Cândido Xavier,
I can say that
the most
important event
of my life was
when he invited
me in 1974 to
work on the
bilingual
edition of the
book O Esperanto
como Revelação/Esperanto
kiel Revelacio
(Esperanto as a
Revelation).
Chico Xavier had
written the book
years earlier,
dictated by the
Spirit,
Francisco
Valdomiro
Lorenz. It was
Chico Xavier
himself who came
up with the
suggested
structure for
the book, which
is already in
its fifth
edition.
How about the
Spirit who
didn’t want to
have a certain
part of a book
translated?
It was the book
Filigranas de
Luz, written by
the medium
Divaldo Pereira
Franco and
dictated by the
Spirit
Rabindranah
Tagore. It was a
poetic text,
very difficult
to translate. It
took me months
to translate.
Once I finished,
I began to
translate the
preface, but got
stuck and simply
could not do it.
One day,
however,
everything was
clarified.
Divaldo came to
our city to give
a talk and he
explained to me
why I could not
translate the
preface, stuck
on the sixth or
seventh line. He
looked at me and
said:
“Benedicto,
Tagore does not
want that
preface to be on
the book because
he is mentioned
there as a great
thinker, winner
of the Nobel
Prize”. I gave
up translating
it then.