The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-10-17
OUR ALPHABET FOR JAPAN.
Roman Script Is Hereafter to Be Used
In the Schools Of the
MikRdO's Kingdom.

Japan seems to be about to take one
of the most remarkable and not least
important Of all her steps toward har-
monizing herself with the highest civ
ilization Of Europe and America. That
is nothing less than the adoption Of
Roman scTipt-our own English alpha
bet-pari passu with, If not as a sub
stitute for, her own ancient system Of
biography, says the New York Tri-
bune. For the last dozen years a
knowledge Of Roman script has been
increasing in Japan among the most
highly educated. But now 1t is pro-
posed by the most influential educa-
uonal organization in the empire to
make the teaching of our alphabet and
Of our mode Of word formation com
pulsOry and universal in the public
schools, 1t seems probable that the
government win adopt the proposal,
in which case, OF course, all private
schools will have to do the same, with
the result that all the children Of
japan will presently be learning, not
necessarily an English language, but
at least to write and read their own
language in English fashion.
That will be a great thing for Amer
leans and Europeans who want to
learn the Japanese language. It will
make that language little harder to
learn than French or German and will.
enable people to learn it in the same
way that they learn the European
tongues. At present the great stumb-
ling block in the way of mastering
Japanese is the necessity Of learning
a multitude Of different ~ideographs.
Once Japanese words are expressed in
letters like our W the task of learn
ing will become immeasurably easier.
It win then also be much easier for the
Japanese to learn our language, for OF
course our alphabetically formed
words seem as strange to them as their
~ideographs do to us, Moreover, it will
cause a change amounting almost to
transformation in the Japanese mind.
or in the linguistic functions Of that
mind. The Japanese viii for the first
time regard words not as indivisible
integers OF speech, but as composite
things formed Of letters. Perhaps we
a partly realize the magnitude Of
that change by ourselves trying to re-
gard words as not formed Of letters,
but as indivisible units.
Nor is that all. Dual systems Of
languages are denominations. Where
fore it IS to be expected, having
adopted alphabetical script Dy the side
Of biography, the Japanese will soon
substitute the former for the latter
altogether. 1t will be greatly to their
advantage so to do. and also to IL
advantage to have them do It. But
st viii none the less be an extraordi-
nary thing. For the mother tongue,
in al It's details, is one Of the things to
which men cling most tenaciously. we
need, to convince ourselves Of that, to
recall only the language controversies
IN Canada, in Bohemia, in South
Africa. ia Malta and elsewhere, not
mentioning the recent clamor about
the teaching Of German in New York
public schools. We may also recall
Bismarck's memorable opposition TO
the introduction Of Roman script into
Germany ID place Of the far less legi-
bic German characters. That the Japan
ese should voluntarily make this revo-
lutiOnary change ia their national
script indicates their possession Of an
exceptionally high ambition to place
themselves abreast OF the best civiii-
zatiOn Of the Worid-and all this emer-
genee from 9 savage ~secluslon within
the memory o. men not yet grown oldl