The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-05-16
IoNG-RANGE LANGUAGES.
why Russians, Poles and Hungarinns Arc
tho Best ~Linguists.

why Russians, Poles and "hungRrihns AFRO
the Best Linguists.
In conversation with a Frenchman
the other day a Sun reporter asked the
following question: How comes 1t
that among the foreign population In
Paris the Russians are credited with the
gift of speaking the best French
1.-THE Russians, the Poles, and think
may add the Hungnrians," replied h
F~renchman, "speak French with Won
derful facility. Then accent is per-
feet, and they acquire all the hnesse or
the language with marvellous rapidlty.
One can account for their capture of
pronunciation easily enough, but their
ability to get down into the depths
of a language in a comparatively short
time is a little mysterious. You have
often seen a common German concer-
tina, and the other thing that Is called
the English concsrtina. You can play
only a limited number of on the
former, because it has no semi-toneS
or half notes, while with the latter you
can play anything. Well, the Russian
language is an English concertina- 1t
has all sorts of notes. There is no sound
that the human tongue a utter hat
is not included in it's repertoire. Con-
~sequently, a Russian hears no discor-
dant note in a foreign language. He
masters its pronunciation with ease.
Now, when a man acquires a correct
pronunciation of a foreign language
he can get the accent with little diff
Guilty, especially If he has a good ear,
and that is something which almost
every Russian has.
'The same can be said of Poles and
H~ungarians. The Hungarian and Pc
lish languages have a compass prob
ably as extensive as that of the Russian
language. The theory that q man must
be possessed of n good musical ear in
order to De able to get over all the diff
culties of pronunciation and accent Is
interesting, and there may be somc-
thing in it. But it must be remem-
bered tha some of the best linguists
the world has ever seen were men with
out any ear for music. Bismarck, for
instance, who can speak half a dozen
languages tluently and elegantly, has
no ear for music; in fact, he CAM un-
derstand why anybody should like it.
For to him it is all id noise
among English-speaking people
Americans, especially the ladies, talk
the pest French. 1t is not generally
known that there is a marked differ
ence between the accents Of Americans
and Englishmen when they speak The
diplomatic language. There is what
we call the American accent, and there
is the British accent, and, while we
Frenchmen cannot admire either, we
are bound to admit that the former is
preferable. Moreover, the average
American traveller is more observing
than the average Englishman. He
catches on quicker, a we say idiom-
atically, If, indeed, hat phrase is not
a specimen of what may be called the
argot of New York. But it is express
i've, and everything that is expressive
is good.
"As a rule French-speaking people
and English-speaking people are not
good linguists. OF course there are
conspicuous exceptions, but the rule
holds good. The Germans, on the other
hand, though inferior to the Russians,
may be set down as good Enguists.
They have great difficulty in putting
their BIS and p's in their proper places.
and Frenchmen make fun of them on
count of that weakness, but in time
they manage to get over that defect.
Moreover, they always attack a lam
guage boldly, without caring a fig for
the blunders they make, and doubtless
that is a good plan.
1T is, of course, well known that he
Jews have a wonderful power of pick
ing up languages. That is a gift which
they received from the prosecutions
that compelled them to become a no
nadic race; but the fact that they are
great traders, hard students and keen
observers, with good ears, must also
have something to do with it,
1T has been said that the ability to
grasp many languages does not nee
essarily denote a high order of intel
lect; but that is a question which had
better be left with the philosophers.
All we know for q certainty is that it
gives poor evidence of stupidity."-N.
Y. Sun.