Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-15

NRhM| universal ambition of the
@ M people to learn the English
ia NkMI language. The Japanese rec
auzz2l ognize the fact that English
has become the universal coin
current of conversation and they are
determined to possess 1t. Taking a
walk through q public park in Toxic
an Americans ears are greeted by the
familiar Strike one!" ball threei"
"Safel" The umpire is clad In the
kimono of his people; one nine dresses
in uniforms from an American sport
ing goods house, the other in native
costume, but the game Is good Ameri-
can baseball and 1t Is always conducted
in the English language.
The study of English is compulsory
in the high schools and is being grad
ually introduced in the elementary
schools also. A few years from now
English will be spoken in every part
of Japan, and It will be the national
business language. The zeal OF the
high school boys is remarkable. Amer
leans or Britishers who have lived here
for some time become impatient with
the students, but the newcomer is al
ways interested. The boys have learned
to be on the lookout for the rubber
necked stranger. Let him stop to
watch game or look in a shop win
dow i'm some section of the city remote
from the foreign settlement, and he
will be surrounded by a group of high
school boys dressed in white dotted
blue kimonos. If he will SO much as
glance at one OF them encouragingly
the conversation begins and the boys
volunteer themselves as guides or In
terpreters. They know that practice Is
required to learn to speak language
and they never overlook an opportu-
nifty. An American on a trolley car
will have the services of two or three
boys to aid him in finding his destina-
tion, while the other passengers who
do not know English look upon their
young compatriots with proud and ap-
proving smiles.
Even those boys who are too poor
to go to school and must work for their
living are possessed by the same ambi-
tion. Such books as English Learned
at Home" have an enormous sale, and
a foreigner who is shopping is often
asked by a working boy how to pro-
nounce some especially difficult word.
Shop keepers put up English singns,
some of them ludicrously funny. and
the imperial and municipal govern
ments recognize English as "the other
Shop keepers put up English signs,
over the doors of all public institutions.
The money of Japan also bears Eng
lish inscriptions as well as native
characters.
It has been within the memory of
young men now living that the greatest
of Japanese scholars declared that
English-speaking people were Inherent
ly wicked because of the outrageous
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Englishman or an American would say
"See the moon," instead Of Moon see"
which was absolutely idiotic. because
if the moon was not there how could
any one see it! Now knowledge of
English is required as standard of
eligibility to many positions, and with
out 1t no one is reckoned an accom-
plished scholar.
The men educated in the universities
of America and England speak excel
lent English, but there are many Jap
anese who have never been outside of
their own country who are equally as
proficient. One of the leading newspa-
pers in Toxic has an English sub
editor who was born In small village
of interior Japan. His father and
mother were Christians and he fell
under the influence OF American mis-
sionaries. He studied English in jap
anese university and then went to live
with an American missionary family.
He speaks not only English but Ameri-
can, and is equal to making an original
Joke in the purest of George Ade. His
accent is strange. of course, but no
one has any difficulty in conyersing
with him upon the most abstract sub
ject. He translates the foreign cable
grams for his newspaper, and when
such distinguished visitors as Secre-
tary Taft or Mr.. Bryan come to Japan
he is sent to interview them. He is
often asked: "Where did you study in
America? and it is not without par
donable pride that he replies: MY
English was made in Japan.
The Japanese students look to Amer
ican sources more often than to Eng
lish. perhaps because of the fact that
American translators have been more
active than their British cousins. IN
the native book shops scattered all
about the great city of Toxic one sees
the unmistakable evidence OF American
influence. There are several dinerent
editions of "The Life of Roosevelt
and books which hide their mysteries
under the cryptic Chinese characters
declare their origin by the halrtone
cover pictures of Washington, Ben1a-
min Franklin, General Grant, Llncoln.
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