The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-04-16
Speaking English
in Japan
Ply FREDERIC ). nAsKIN.

TOKYO.
The visitor to Japan is Immediately
struck by the universal ambition OF
the people TO learn the English lan-
guage. The Japanese recognize the
fact that English has become the uni
versal concurrent of conversation,
and they are determined to possess IT.
Taking a walk through a public park
in Tokyo. an Americans cars are greet
ell by the familiar strike one!"
Ball three!" "Safe!" The umpire
is clad in the klmono of his people,
one nine dresses in uniforms from an
American sporting goods house. the
other in native costume, but the game
Is good American baseball. and 1t Is
always conducted in the English Ian
guage.
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. Ameri-
cans or Britishers who have lived
here for some time become impatient
with the students, but the newcomer
learned to be on the lookout for the
rubber-neckcd stranger. Let him stop
to watch a game or look In shop
window in 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. II he Will so
much as glance at one OF them en-
courag ingly the conversation begins.
and the boys volunteer themselves as
guides or interpreters. They know
that practice Is required to learn to
speak a language, and they never over
look an opportunity. An American on
trolley car will have the services Of
ing his destination, while the other
passengers who do not know English
look upon their young compatriots with
proud and approving smiles.
Even those boys who are too. poor
TO- go to school and must It, work " for
ambition. Such books as English
learned at Home have an enormous
sale, and foreigner who is shopping
lis often asked by q working boy how
word. shopkeepers put up English
signs, some of them ludicrously fun
ny, and the. imperial and municipal
governments recognize English as the
other language" by placing English
signs over the doors of all public in
4
bears English inscriptions. as we'll as
native characters.
1t has been within the memory of
young men now living that the greatest
of Japanese scholars declared that
entity wicked because Of the outrageous
Language they used. He said that an
Englishman or an American would say
"see tho moon," instead of"moon see"
which was absolutely idiotic because
a NOT thara how COulCi
any one see it! Now a 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 news
papers. in Tokyo has an English, sub
editor, who was born In a small VIII
lage Of interior Japan. His father and
mother were Christians, and he fell
sionarles. He studied English In a
Japanese university, and then went to
live with an American missionary fam
ily. He speaks not only English, but
oR kna the pnrest Of egerge
AIDE. Ills accent Is strange, Of course,
but no one has any difficulty in con-
versing with him upon the most alb
stract subject Fle translates the for
eign cablegrams for his newspaper. and
when such distinguished visitors as
Secretary Taft or Mr.. Bryan come to
Japan he is sent to interview them.
He is often asked: Where did you
study In America" and 1t Is not with
out pardonable pride that he replies:
"My English was made in Japan"
Tho Japanese students look to Ameri-
can sources more often than to Eng
fish, perhaps because of the fact that
American translators have been more
active than their British cousins In
tho native book shops scattered all
about the great city Of Tokyo one sees