The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-27
NEW YORK POLYGLOTS.
Many Of the Ignorant Are Excellent linguists
A Remarkable Collection Of Them.

An old French friend Of mine. " said a man
who has travelled around a good deal, used
10 say that any man who can learn a new IAN
puage after he has reached the age of 2lis peri
lousy near a natural-bornfool. The old gentle
man was a lawyer. a cultivated man. who had
lived in New York for about FIVE years. but,
%. course. he did not know a word of English.
This idea seems 10 be generally shared by
French people. Witness Henri Rochefort, who
lived in London for four years and refused even
TO look at an English newspaper, lest the purity
Of his French style should be contaminated.
As a matter of fact. in New York linguistic
facility. so far from being a badge OF culture.
is almost a hall mark of the uneducated. Few
educated New Workers can speak another
language than their own with facility, on
the other hand. ! believe that there are more
good l~inguists in New York than in any other
city onthe globe, tits among the low-classfor-
eigners that one meets the polyglotS, men who
can scarcely write their own names and YET can
converse auently in half "A dozen language.
In BleeCker street ] emembe meeting y saloon
loafrr who wasn't quite sure whether English.
French. German or Italian was ms mother
tongue. Once when ] was doing the city | Went
into a NAL cafe on Third avenue There were
Il lot Of women sitting around. ] began critics
ing them in French 10 ny friend who was with
me. Presently they began talking French 10
one another. From that they went 10 German,
and after few moments conversational Italian
ended w in Spanish. We felt We had been
desnrvedly rebuked
But the cham pion centre of pOlygloti-nl ia
nv experience j. the region down by the bat
terry, whittier the waits and ~trays Of the remote
places of the earth drift, and. after remaining
for "A day or two. are waited of 10 rart- un-
known. Down in the Syrian quarter in lower
Washington street there IL a queer little hotel.
a dinEN little place which does "A rushing buSl-
ncss. however. on lines peculiarly its own.
ltis partly ahotel and partly "A travelling agency.
II l. the property of "A company which has
lis headquarters IN Switzerland and branch
houses all over the world. Its patrons are mn
migrants and poor travellers, Of whom II takes
comule,e charge and sees them safely, al the
smallest cost, to their destination. These immi-
grants come from every country. Russia, ter
many, Austria. Hungary, Italy, Spain, Greece,
and so on. and the great majority Of them are
innocent of any tongue but their own. The
help In the hotel must, Of course, be able 10
Communicat" with them, and The result l. the
finest aggregation of llnguist~ that ] have ever
come across. The manager l. the poorest mn
gui~t. lie only speaks five languages huently.
None ri the waters speaks less than seven.
Their English and French are perfect. andthev
seem 10 he M home in the other iargons. Mono
of these men makes more than $40 n week,
so far a. getting work goes. linguistic ability
IS certainly not a passport. One OF the best
linguiStS ever met was a German teacher. lie
could speak all the turopean languages ner-
fectlv, and many Of the Asiatlc. Not only that,
enormous variety Of subjects. such aS NodiC
poetry. the higher mathematics. philosophy and
electricity, The moor man got ont of n job IN
New York and. after applying from one end Of
the city 10 the other in vain. finally
suicide 10 save himself from starvation"