The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-06-26
THE BEST LINoUIsTS.
Why Russians. Poles and Hungxrians Hold
This Distinction.


This Distinction.
In conversation with Frenchman
the other evening a reporter asked the
following questions: How comes il
that among the foreign population in
Paris the Russians are credited with
the gift of speaking the best French?'
THE Russians. the Poles. and. / think
1 may add. the Hungarians." replied
the Frenchman, speak French with
wonderful facility. Their accent is
perfect, and they acquire all the finesse
of the language with marvellous rapid
~. One can account for their capture
of pronunciation and accent easily
enough, but their ability to get down
into the depths of language in a COM
paratively short time is little mystic
rious. You have often seen a common
German concertina. and the other thing
that is called the English concertina.
You can only play limited number of
tunes on the former, because it has no
semi-tones or half notes. There is no
sound that the human tongue can utter
that is not included in the repertoire of
the latter. Consequently a Russian
hears no discordant note in a foreign
language. He masters its pronuncia-
tion with ease. Now. when 4 man &C
quires a correct pronunciation of 4
foreign tongue he can get the accent
with little difficulty, especially if he has
a good ear. and that is something which
almost every Russian has.
THE same can be said of the Poles
and Hungarians. The Hungarians and
Polish languages have compass prob
ably as extensive as that of the Russian
language. The theory that man must
be possessed good musical ear in order
to be able to get over all the difficulties
of pronunciation and accent is interest
ing, and there may be something in 1t.
But it must be remembered that some OF
the best linguists the world has ever
seen were men without any ear for
music. Bismarck. for instance, who can
speak half dozen languages fluent
ly and elegantly, has no ear for music;
in fact, he can't understand why any
body should like it For him it is all
damned noise
Among English-speaking people
Americans. especially the ladies, talk
the best French. 1t is not generally
known that there is marked difference
between the accents of Americans and
Englishmen when they speak the dip
lomatic language. There is what we
call the American accent, and, while
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, as we say idiomatic-
ally, if indeed that phrase is not speci-
men of what may be called the argot of
New York. But it is expressive, and
everything that is expressive is good.
"As a rule, French-speaking and
English-speaking people are not good
linguists. OF course, there are con-
spicuous exceptions, but the rule holds
good. The Germans, on the other hand,
through inferior to the Russians may
be set down as good linguists. They
have great difficulty in putting their bis
in their proper places, and Frenchmen
make fun of them on account of that
weakness, but in time they manage to
get over that defect. Moreover, they
always attack language boldly, with
out caring a fig for the blunders they
make, and doubtless that is q good plan.
1T is, of course. we'll known that the
Jews have a wonderful power of pick
ing up languages. That is gift which
they received from the prosecutions
that compelled them to become no
madic 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 neces-
sarily denote high order of intellect:
but that is a question which had better
be left with the philosophers. All we
know for a certainty is that it gives
poor evidence of stupidity. Y. Sun