The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1905-08-31
LINGUIsTS WANTED.
LARGE FIELD FOR sPEAKE1S
OF ToRE1au TONGUES.
Growing Trade Opens Up oppor-
tunities for Young Men and
Women Who Prove
Capable.

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great and increasing Importance, as
the growth Of foreign trade from the
United States promises O large, new
Held for them. The services of q
young man or woman commanding
one or more Of these languages are of
distinct value in an exporting house.
The young inoman may soon become a
we'll paid foreign correspondent, while
the young man soon rises to the man.
agement Of the foreign department,
and perhaps he sent to foreign coun-
tries as trusted salesman or agent.
Neither Is this latter field closed to
women, for there is one now travelling
in Mexico for a western house, who
sells moro inks and adhesives than
any OF the men they have on the raod,
and she began with only Q limited
knowledge Of Spanish.
In the present state Of foreign trade
from the west, Spanish is the leading
language. coming as 1t does with the
trade from Cuba. Porto Rico and the
West Indies and Philippines. the South
American countries. and Mexico. and
also from Spain. After the Spanish.
American war there was sharp inter.
est in commercial Spanish. and this
has resulted in the establishment Of
classes for instruction in that language
for business purposes, both under pri.
vate auspices and In the public
schools.
The almost universal knowledge of
French makes II the next available
tongue for business correspondence.
Just as French so frequently is the
language of diplomacy, SO It lends It.
self to the t,ansactio Of international
business.
Closely ranking these languages in
their order come German, Italian and
Portuguese; and after these, as the
leading foreign languages in business
correspondence, come the Russian,
Swedish and Norwegian, Dutch and
Danish. Finnish, Polish. Bohemian.
Hungarian, modern Greek, etc., Japa.
nese and Chinese occasionally claim
attention In one way or another, and
once there was handed to me q letter
In Cingalese. This had to be given up
as untranslatable. and was respectful.
ly referred to the British consul, but
In every other case, I have always
been able to find some one to take
care OF business matters in languages
that I do not know re, sonally.
In general the knowledge of Ian.
guage for commercial uses Is much
short Of the necessities of that Ian.
guage In 4 literary sense. The mere.
ly literary translator finds difficulty at
first In the commercial use of the Ian.
guages on account of the trade ex.
pressions and technical terms peculiar
to each line Of business. Yet in the
letters from the foreign correspond.
ent there are invitations to something
more in correspondence than the
average American letter writer Is dis.
posed to see. Almost invariably the
foreigner of Intelligence, in writing a
business letter, puts into 1t a good
deal more of formality and of polite.
ness than the Amer can at the same
time putting more care into the pen.
manship and general appearance Of
the misstva, many Of their communi.
cations being remarkable for the neat.
ness and beanv OF their execution.
In the ordinary matter for the aver.
age correspondence, the translator
has opportunity beyond the mere
stenographer to make a letter all that
1t should be. II a businessman indite
letter In short, brusque manner,
the translator. who realizes that It
will go to q person where the formali.
ties Of life count for good deal. has
the opportunity to soften the diction
and round out the sentences where. In
dictated correspondence in English.
the writer wOulI insist upon his exact
wording. In this matter the translator
OF foreign languages requires q good
deal more In equipment than does the
Shorthand letter writer.
Few people appreciate the necessity
fer the use Of the languages In dozens
Of lines in the large cities and the
sui rounding cLrntry. often Wish
that could follow to their destination
the letters that leave my hands daily.
In every capital city Of the world I
should see the names Of leading firms
10 familiar a. are any In my own city,
and IN every country should 6nd peo.
pie using American machinery Of
every description and ether American
products In endless variety.
This shows to what an extent our
foreign trade has grown. but mani.
festly none Of these goods from the
western factory gets into the anti.
podes by mere force Of gravltution.
Not even the direction accredited to
the course Of empire accounts for the
fact. Business methods in business
languages are the outr'ders Of this
foreign trade. and the necessity fnr
linguists in handling It. comes Of the
fact that foreigners generally insist
upon writing letters In their own
tongue and upon receiving replies that
require no Interpreter. The frequent.
ly live In small provincial towns or
out of the way places, far removed
from anyone speaking the English
tongue, so that translation Is impos.
sible, and letters in English are often
returned to the senders with the notice
that In order to do business with thsee
correspondents letters must be In
their own language.
A Common Blundsr.