 In the empire the family most often worked among minorities (Slovaks in Alsókubin; Romanians and Germans in Lugos).So the young Szathmari was struck early with the problem of interethnic communication (some Slovaks, for example, laughed at him, when he didn't understand them at the border of a stream).He then felt himself already an Esperantist in spirit, since he began wishing for a language that would bind the ethnic groups together.