New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-27

He Finds Mastery of English a
Difficult Task.
A MEDLEY OF TONGUES
Tries in Vain to Form g Rule for
proncuncing and Spell
ing Words.

ing Words.
The woes of a foreigner graphing with
the peculia rites of the English language
are numberless I have come TO this con-
clusion in Jew OF the experiences OF
great many foreigners from different parts
Of the world. and. still better, after some
years struggle on my own part TO master
the intricacies OF this tongue. OF which the
Germans are accustomed to speak as a
monster having two mouths with one OF
which Il speaks German and with the otHer
Latin" Only two Notwithstanding two
languages? The Germans would have come
nearer TO the truth II they had multiplied
these numbers by dozen or a score.
When a boy heard a fantastic Turkish
legend which, IN my mind, aptly Illus
trates the actual facts concerning the
origin and formation Of modern English.
After creating the first parents OF each OF
the races, so the story runs, Allah took a
large piece OF meat. and. cutting II into
slices distributed them among these peo-
pie to serve them as tongues But for some
reason the Englishman was absent while
the others received their share Al last he
came to the presence OF his Maker and in
mute humility begged Him to put tongue
into his mouth But nothing was left OF
the meat So Allah was obliged 10 cut
little piece from the tongues Of all the
| others. and Joined these pieces. He thus
fashioned a tongue for the Englishman.
J This story seemed merely amusing 10 me
as boy: but when / came to this coun-
/ try and began to struggle with English |
| found to my evaporation and sorrow that
the legend approached the facts too close
/ ~ to be amusing.
| Not long ago / was talking with TWO eau
Gated American women about inc dlincu
/ ties Of foreigner in acquiring Eng
/ During the conversation | asked 10 lVu
know how many letters and combinations
, Of letters are used to represent the sou"u
ebo" Tbev confessed they did not. having
never thought Of 1.-TWO or three, perhaps
/ four" On stating that there were hloi
/ than half a dozen of them, they denlahueu
proof: and when | put down on PaPei
! these words-sugar shoe, tension C"ap
eron. social. ocean, obnoxious. nation Is
/ SUE. conscious-their astonishmeht was
great. Here are ten different symbols LOT
/ the same sound ! acknowledge TINS Is All
extreme case. but little consideration
, will bring 10 notice marked singuiariues III
/ almost all the other consonants
\ literary Young man asked, Miss -
! suppose you are familiar with Crabbe
/ Tales" The young lady scorntuIiy re-
piled. Il was not aware that CRABS nad
tails" The young man FASTENED to- add
/ 81 should have said read Crabbe's Tales
Still more scornfully the young lady re-
piled. And / was not aware that red
crabs had tails either
Many foreigners have attempted 10 dis
cover a system in the spelling Of English
words; but. 10 their dismay. they have
| found that ii was like the Trishmans flea
when they had it, IT was gone. While
grouping with satisfaction such words az
! exceed. proceed that ended in coed. they
came upon other words. such as sccede,
/ recede precede. that ended with cede, with
no c1rthlv reason. and cast their Short
! lived satisfaction 10 the winds. Deceit ana
I receipt would not come under the same
spelling All these peculiarities impose
upon a foreigner memory a heavy and In
tolerable burden. learned man has said
/ that the English language is the most
2 harbarouslV Spelt OF any CultNdteh ''ie"N
/ in Christendom.' and | do not think that
\ any one can dispute the assertion
/ The orthography Of the English language
! does not by any means cover the whole OF
a foreigners troubles one of the most
perpleXing features Of the English tongue
is the fact that. as a rule, the same word
/ has different Specifications. Ny dictionary
attributes TO the verbs see. iead. hold and
| draw fourteen, eighteen. nineteen and
! thirty-two meanings. respectively. Nov,
| for a foreigner 10 be able 10 distinguish
| all their various meanings is a herculean
| task The words which have only one or
| two meanings are comparatively few. II
| is surprising that a foreigner is often
| puzzled by the numerous and sometimes
! opposite meanings OF many an English
word? Just for an illustration, consider the
oerplexity of a persevering Frenchnlan.
arising from the word fast as is shown
! from the following dialogue:
"Zis horse. sair. he go queek; what you
say?"
| YES. he is A fast horse
All, pardon. monsieur, but your friend
say he make fast his horse, and he tie him
10 post so he no 90 at all
!