The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-02-10
INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

The action of Emperor William in ordering In
struction in the English language in all the higher
institutions of learning of Germany in place OF
French has attracted attention anew to the wonder
full growth of the English language For several
centuries French has been the court language of
every country of Europe, and it has been the Ian
guage Of diplomacy throughout the world. All
treaties have been written in French the first excep
ton being the ripartite treaty for the government
of Samoa, between Germany England and the United
States. in 1889 when the treaty was written in Eng
sh this being first instance of the kind on rec
ord in recording an agreement between world pow
ers
AT the beginning of the nineteenth century the
English language spoken by less than $4,000 900
OF people Today is spoken by more than 1875 00O-
000 while it is widely difused than any other
language spoken on earth Porhrio Diaz the Presi-
dent of Mexico and who by the way is one of the
greatest men the world has produced in the past
century, long ago foresaw the position English was
assuming as world language and had BIZ passed
by the Mexican Congress providing for the teaching
OF English in the common schools Of Mexico While
it is true that this instruction is not as yet very
thorough. it is sufficiently so to give all Mexican
children the groundwork of the language making it
very easy for them to learn speak it in later years
So great is the influence OF the English language in
Mexico and in the Orient that when the treaty be-
tween Mexico and China signed. about year
ago. the original treaty instead of being written in
French was wri,,en in English and then translated
into Chinese and Spanish This was the first in
stance in the worlds history of treaty between
powers, neither of which used the English language
being written in that language
Japan is now instructing the pupils in all her
higher institutions of learning in the English Ian
guage and nearly every prominent man in public
ifp in foda
influence of the language upon the scholars of that
country that young Japanese. Hajime Hoshi is
about to establish Japanese newspaper in New
York which he proposes to print il Roman letters
He expects to lead movement for the abandonment
OF the syllable characters in which his native Ian
guage IS written and printed 1t is entirely feasible
to express Japanese in Roman letters which are
used by many other nations If the Japanese news
papers will take up this innovation Hajme Hosh be-
lieves it will the rapid incorporation of Eng
lish words into the Japanese vocabulary and event
ally this remarkable nation may adopt English as it's
official and polite language.
Already there is visible every dav in the Janan
csc newspapers. the Interpolation of English words
in many articles. They say "reru" for railway
"suteishan" for station and 'tonneru" for tunnel
Teberu is table "biiru' is beer. "burande'' is
brandy. "Butta means butter 'bifuteki' means
beefsteak. chiisu cheese; ham, ham: ''naifu''
means knife. "suppu' soup; ''sashidzu,' sausage
and "shichu" stew. The japanese wear "furokku
kota or frock coats, and call their handkerchiefs
'hankechi "Chifus' is typus "Deiru' is dollar
As there is no'-l' in the Japanese language these
words look queer. "mairu" for mile With the 81,
added to their sounds many of the English words
would be Identical
1t is not at all strange that the japanese should
desire TO enter into the family nations which
speak English. Great Britain the United States and
Hawaii. Canada Australasia, South Africa the fringe
OF foreign settlements along the Asatic coast to-
gether with the new rulers of the Philippine Islands
all speak English, and it would be of great advantage
TO Japan 10 belong to the linguistic league