New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-23

ALLOW me TO ask you to bear in mind thai
represent, in this Communication, not my
inaiVidual experience and convictions ONLY
ouI aiso those Of large number of Jaranese
Sut'etlen n, many Of whom have enGcavorcd
,ull1ns the last twenty years. with more OF
success, 10 acquire a knowledge uf Eng
ilsn, 1t IS the opinion Of these gentlemen
ILicIudihg those OF them who understand
EhSish best, that, while there would be lit.
Tie or no difficulty in introduciur into The
schpois OF the empire. and gradually int,
Scneral use, "slmilifcd English" il would
be, on the other hand. nearly useless Il, make
an effort IN that direction in behalf nf the
English language in its present form-a Ian.
cuase so difficult to be learned that = w.
large proportion Of persons of whom il i Tho
yernacular, including those who have been
educated, pronounce it ununiformlv. speak j,
ungrammatically, and write it in defiance Of
all the standards of photography.
Now, my proposition, which receives tn,
concurrence of those Of my countrymcn beat
qualified by their knowledge of English, and
by their general education, to judge accu
rately and wisely on this question, is To pre-,
pare and place in our schools, and in tn,
hands of the people at large. spellng-books
dictionaries, and other textbooks. teaching
what may be termed a ''simpitied English
In other words, propose to Danish from the
English language, for the use OF the japanese
nation, all or most of the exceptions which
render English so difficult of acquisition even
by Englsh-speaking people, and which dis
courage most foreigners who have the harti-
hood to attempt To master it from pcrscvcr-
inc To >uCcess
Mr.. M"ri proposes to substitute the form
seed, sreakcd, bted. tcached, hearcd
thlnkcd, huyed, coined, &c. for the com
monty received preteriics and participleS. Il
make all plurals regular, and to reduce the
English spelling to a phonetic basis. He
goes on to say:
think | have said enough to indicate the
character of the changes | propose to make.
and will not, therefore, trouble YOU with
further details. 1t may be well for me to
state, however, that being much interested
in this subject, have naturally convcrsed
with many persons on it, and that, while
seeking light in all available directions.
have found that most of my views are also
entertained by many eminent men who have
made language a life study of them,
after having duly weighed and considered the
claims of ctymology, even gong SO far as 10
say that not only Notwithstanding people, but
the world at large, would be vastly benefited
by thorough recast of English photography
making the written language what it claims
to be, phonetic, instead of hieroglyphic on a
phonetic basis, which is what it now really is.
To conclude: let the suggest to you to
consider, while you are makngup the opinion
which hope to receive from YOU at an early
day, that many of the reasons which make
Americans and Englishmen hesitate to at
tempt radical changes in their language, for
their own people, do not apply to the case
under consideration which is the adaptation
of the English language to the necessities OF
a foreign nation of nearly 1000, 900 souls
thousands of miles distant from the two great
English-speaking nations. Let me ask you
to consider, also, that the people of the
Japanese Empire are anxious to take a high
position among the most advanced nations OF
the world, but are unprovided with that gre al
essential to individual and national progress
a good language and that the English Ian.
guage, simplitied as | have Indicated. would
be received by them as boon, while it would
be all but impossible to force upon them the
language in its present form. Indeed,
think could not conscientiously recomnenG
my countrymen to cause their children to de.
vote to learning a language so replete with
unnecessary Irregularities, and III which the
interchange of thought and Tie acquisition OF
knowledge are rendered 80 difficult by a fan
tastic photography, six or seven of the most
important years of their lives-years which
should be devoted to the study of positive
science and the practice of the useful arts.
Respectfully waiting your answer to this
letter, have the honor to subscribe myself.
in the meantime, your obedicnt servant,
ARINORI MORI,
Charge dPAfaires of Japan.
Legation Of Japan, Washington, ID. c.,
June Il, 1872.