Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-04-29
SATU URDAY PRESS.
iPRIL 40, ias.
THE REASON WHY.

correspondent b'letlh w our having
erased several Latin quotations from commit
nication, aud hints at ouf lamentablo ignorance
" tho olaHscs We must admit that wa have
written nothing IN latin that can compare with
Nt6il's dneid that wa ats not ao we'll vetsod
In ancient Greek ns waA tho blind Homer
that we have not Finished reading tho Talmud In
tho original Hebrew that we have mol trans
lated tho Rig Vedas from the olden Sansofii
and va would not have II understood that wo
have altogether slighted tho foreign living Lam
gnnges When younger We studied French four
days under all irish tutor wo once received IN
u Christmas present. AN Eaay Introduction
TO the Rursian Language picked up fiag-
ments Of several Indian tongues learned
few sentences OF nh EsquimauI dialect was
able To count ono hundred In Chinese years
| and years ago obtained a nlight knowledge
| Of Hawaiian! when u small boy learned To say
naughty words Ia Spanish before We knew
| their meaning can wfiio Celso Cesar Moreno
correctly in Italian, and can say Yah" In
German. Hut with this fund Of lnguntio In
formation to draw from. we prefer to oloiho
our ideas In the simple Engliah Of plain John
| Smith.
| The reasons OF our preferences for tho Eng
liah nio many | We are not writing for the
few people alone who have reinforced tho dead
languages In their brains, but for the many
who understand plain English. 2. Tho nso of
foreign quotations was all tho rage three or
four centuries ago but Ia now ont Of date and con.
sidorcd vulgar. T. Foreign worda are usually
printed in iialio letters. aud II newspaper brok-
Oh out with an itlaio rash reminds un Of pa
tiont with tho chicken poN. I. Thoao who uso
anch quotations most, arc, generally, those who
know lensi about thom. .. II 10, in n certain
eonsc, an admission that the English language
ia not capable of expressing tho ideas of tho
writer, and this NC do not believe. d. They
eitonor ooniuso than add strength to ones
meaning, and when they appear, accompanied
with their Specification in English. IN is not in
frequently the case, 1t il tho most absurdly alb
aurd OF the ahsurdost absurdties
II We were writing for tho old Romans who
climbed the golden stairs centuries before any
OF tho present generation entered this Tale of
Tears. We would olotho our thoughts in tho
best Latin wo could command. II writing Il
psalm for tho ancient lsraelitcs, wc would i'm
mortalize our verses in the characters of tho
Hebrews. II writing editorials for u Partisan
newspaper, we would lot our knowledge OF
Latin and Hebrew retire behind tho scenes,
bring our French out upon 4 . stage. and make
our beat bow TO tho public with permission)
a Ia France. However, as wo arc writing for
mono of theso but for readers OF tho Anglo
Saxon race, and those who speak their Ian
guagc, wo oonfine ourselves TO language that
all can understand. We do not writo it 90 ol-
cgantly, perhaps, M somo others, but we eau
make ourselves understood by tho average
reader,
There are times when u Latin, French OF
other quotation comes in good play, but such
occasions arc rare. Ii is very seldom neees-
smy. In most casos it is better to translate
them. rose by any other name would smell
as sweet A jowol is jowel wherever found
A jcm Of thought whether in Digger Indian o,
, Latin ia s,ill jem, and one is not moro deserv.
ing of use than tho other. They arc equal,
I Ineligible to tho average reader, and on,
would be as much appreciated as tho other by
people accustomed to seeing articles intcrlard
! ed with italicized foreign words No languag
y has anything more expressive, for instance
y than tho Esquimaux saying 'v,o,gi ochas kor
e e kor omdhioltih; or more soul stirring (and sol
, stirring too) than Hialiik iidi taska imuk ku,
:, i,rmk. Nothing could bc moro sublime thar
O,ray !Sagonash, payshik shomogonish, from
the Chippewa Indian tongue; nothing NOR,
Il elegant than Hiyoima td'on MiaAmm nah
o from tho Wutchumna dialect; nothing NOR
5 true than Ra shakum pohr, Ia shdkm tek
from the Pah-u,c; nothing more poetic tina
no me non dobeh meh mohale, him mini 500 10
b from the common Digger Indian dialect; an
9 what could be moro unintelligiblo to tho aver
10 age reader, uuless the rcsurrccted saying
e from the defunct languages Of past centuries
,s We leave our readers to diaw their own cor
clusions.