The San Francisco call., 1896-06-08
THE BEST LINGUIsTs.
Why Russians, Poles and Hungarians
Hold This Distin ction.

Hold This Dlst1n CtfOn.
In conversation with a Frenchman the
other evening a reporter asked the follow
ing question: "How comes it that among
the foreign population in Paris the Rus
slams are credited with the gift of speaking
the best French?"
'The Russians, the Poles, and, think
l may add, the Hungarians," replied the
Frenchman, "speak French with wonder
full facility. Their accent is perfect and
they acquire all the finesse of the language
with marvellous rapidity. One can account
for their capture of pronunciation and &C
cent easily enough, but their ability to
get down into the depths of q language in
comparatively short time Is little mys-
terious.
"You have often seen a common Ger
man concertina and the other thing that
is called the English concertina. You can
only play a 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 in
cluded in its repertoire. Consequently, a
Russian hears no discordant note in for
eign language. He masters its pronuncia-
tion with ease. Now, when q man ac-
quires correct pronunciation of foreign
tongue he can get the accent with little
difficulty, especially If he has good ear,
and that is something which almost every
Russian has.
"The same can be said of the Poles and
Hungarians. The Hungarian and Polish
languages have compass probably as ex-
tensive as that of the Russian language.
The theory that man must be possessed
of good musical ear in order to be able to
get over all the difficulties of pronuncia-
tion and accent is Interesting, and there
may be something in it. But it must be
remem bered that some OF the best hn-
gusts the world has ever seen were men
without any ear for music. Bismarck, for
instance, who can speak half dozen Ian
guages tiuently and elegantly, has no ear
for music; in fact, he can't understand
why any body should like it. For him it
all - noise.
Among the 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 In the diplomatic lang
uage. There is what we call the American
accent, and, while there is the British ac-
cent, and while we Frepchmen cannot adj
mire either, we are bound to admit that
the former is preferable. Moreover, the
average American traveller is more obsery-
Ing than the average Enghshman. He
catches on quicker, as we say ldlomatlc-
ally, If indeed that phrase is not specimen
OF what may be called the argot OF New
York. But it is expressive, and every
thing that is expressive is good.
AS rule, French-speaKing and Eng
disappearing people are not good lin
gusts. OF course there are conspicuous
exceptions, but the rule holds good. The
Germans, on the other hand, though in
ferlor to the Russians, may be set down as
good llnguists. They have great diff
Guilty In putting their BIS and p's in their
proper places, and Frenchmen make fun
OF them on account of that weakness, but
IN time they manage to get over that de-
feet. Moreover, they always attack a
language boldly. without caring fig for
the plumbers they make, and doubtless
that is a good plan.
1t is, of course, well. known that the
Jews have wonderful power OF picking
up languages. That is gift which they
received from the prosecutions that COM
PEELED them to become nomadic race, but
the TACT that they are great traders, hard
students, and keen observers with good
ears, must also have something to do
with it.
ut has been said that the ability to grasp
many languages does not necessarily de-
note high order of intellect, but that is a
question which had better be left with the
philosophers. All we know for certainty
is that 1T gives poor evidence of stupidity"
New York Sun.