The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29
Reforming the German Language.

Among the recent dispatches from Ger
many appears most welcome piece of
news, one calculated TO calm the troubled
mind of many diplomat. The Emperor
William has set himself about reforming
the German language.
This action on the part of the War Lord
of Germany may not be particularly condu-
Give to peace in his own land, and the
sympathies of persons in other parts of the
world will naturally go out to the unhappy
Germans; but it will be sure to occupy
the Emperor's mind for some little time,
so that ne will have no opportunity TO
think about the Philippines or canned beef.
Many people, including Mark Twain, have
at one time or another been of the opin-
ion that the German language ought TO be
reformed, but this is the first time that
competent person has really set about the
task. 1t has occurred to most students
of the tongue. especially when they were
about one-third of the way through the
grammar, that it was foolish to have Ian
guage in which the subject and the predi-
cate Of a sentence are anywhere from a
foot to half a mile apart, with all the rest
of the words carefully arranged in family
groups between. II has also been thought
that the circumstantial German way of
coming a new word by adding noun or
an infinitive or an adjective on to an old
one had its defects for an advanced state
of civilization among a people SO thorough
as the Germans because the word has to be
so descriptive. 4 wild Indian, for example,
might refer to telegraph operator as The
Man THAT Talks on "a Wire: but the Ger
man would have TO construct a word that
would explain, first, the nature of cleo
tricity, then what the wire was for then
| the process by which the wires are strung
on poles. then the principle on which
Morse's alphabet is constructed and final
, ly, the nationality. age, circumstances. and
family connections of the operator When
you have mastered a word put together on
those principles you feel as if you had
swallowed dictionary. Such things make
| il real task TO learn German.
Yes; if Emperor William can contrive
a way to introduce his subject to his
predicate and make it possible 10 talk
about modern improvements at the rate
will have reason to feel really proud of
himself
II is OF The utmost Importance, however,
that he 20 10 work at this colossal task
IN the right way. II is rumored that he
! intends TO prohibit the using of foreign
words, especially French terms. To the
impartial thinker this seems an unwise
step As has been shown. one of the moss
grown defects of the German language is
the lack Of short words 10 express COM
mon ideas. If the people have taken to
using French or English words to save
time, one can hardly blame them If
woman is in hurry TO send a telephone
message, someone being i'll, or dead, or
caught without his naturalization papers
she wants 10 attend to that business MS
quickly as possible, and if, with this end
in view, she uses half a dozen French
words instead of their proper German
equivalents, it seems as II she ought not
10 be punished for II. II might take her
half an hour longer TO deliver that mes
sage in the me-honored way and a per-
son can die, or be taken 10 prison, in much
less than half an hour. Again, if man
is putting up stovepipe (supposing that
men 90 those things in Germany, and the
pipe comes down, and he gets his eyes
full of SCOT and his trousers spoiled, why
should he waste time and breath on elab
crate German explosives when one short,