Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-05-01

|cate) more by two than by one langu-
age, Education should not crush what
is in the child. gathered in generations,
but draw It out. The work of assiln-
ilation is slow process-except In
mere Language. All children who un-
derstand and persistently refuse to
speak the home language have some
things in common in being ashamed. to
express themselves freely in the home
language. They dSiiver Themselves
however, more freely on the street in
English than in their own homo. Alas
1t soon becomes no real home to their
whole nature. For the sake Of the home
influence, the education Of the child and
the happiness Of the parents, children
read and write. but 20 speak the home
dialect
Best Time to Learn Language.
The best time to begin the study Of
a second language is in the elementary
high school or university. One is never
too young. but soon becomes too old for
this task. The earlier the better.
"The Report Of the Committee Of
Twelve Of the Modern Language Asso-
citation Of America" is national author
ity on this subject, and it speaks clearly
thus: In childhood the organs Of speech
are in a plastic condition; the memory
is tenacious Of whatever interests
Forms of expression are readily mas
tered as simple facts. Later in life, in
proportion as the mind grows stronger,
1t also grows more rigid. The habit of
analysing and reasoning interferes more
or less with the natural receptivity of
the child. The fxation Of speech in the
mother tongue makes it increasingly
difficult to acquire even a moderately
good pronunciation and perfection is
usually out Of the question"
The time mothers and the home can
assist the school most in language in
struction, is when the children are in
the elementary grades. If school and
home are to aid one another, the. home
must be given the best time and chance
to do its part, and that is not in the
high school or university When we
build house we begin at the founda-
ton, and not at the roof. - -
Children Of immigrants illustrate this
in that they learn English quicker than
their parents, and must often interpret
for them. If, for example, parents with
five year old child move to Germany,
the child will there soon teach the par
ents, but If in year or two all return
and the child hears only English, It
will soon forget its German, while the
parents retain theirs. The child learns
quickly and forgets quickly. The teach
ers part is to keep it from forgetting
/ what it learns in the family. = -
A Minnesota county sur erintendent
recently assured me that he, Norweg-
ian. and IL German boy met in an Eng
| fish village when each was five years
Of age and spoke only English and both
| learned ii in three months almost as
we'll as they knew their mother tongues
lie was positive child could learn q
language in three months If taken al
| the right time and in the right way with
the right environments. Why not dc
lit?
I know German, who when little
learned German from his parents, Eng
fish from mis- playmates and Norwegian
from their domestic help. A Danish
girl, now. an eight grade teacher, who
took German in all the grades in Mil
waukee, and then Of herself learned tc
read and write Danish from her know
| ledge of German and English. Some
university professors as at Yale Uni.
versity had special German or French
teachers to teach their children these
languages in early childhood. If two
languages are SO valuable for univer.
sity professors children, why not fol
the children of immigrants? French
teachers travel and claim to teach one
to speak French in rs lessons Some
500 persons, mostly women, in Mime.
lapolis attended Professor Nesbit's les.
sons at $500 each. He is an English.
man and is said to coin money. The
old Latin grammar method Is passing
People are growing more anxious te
converse with other nations. The prob
lem is nearing solution by the parent
and teacher working together in the
early years of the child's life Zee A..
Importance Of Scandinavian Language,
undersstimated. ri
English and German are world-lan
guages. 1t is difficult to determin.
which is the most universally spoken
Will not Scandinavian, the third leu
tonic tongue be swallowed up in tn.
race? Is it not a waste of lime to learr
to speak it? 1t may be- in Texas ant
mississippi, in Madrid and Constantin
lople, but not in our northern states
canada and Alaska, not in Berlin AM
i st. Petersburg. There will be new
IScandinavia in America as there is /,
j New Spain, New France and New
England not politically, but culturally
It will be in the far north here wha
4 Old Scandinavia is in the far north o
Europe. No one nation of Europe cal
Iexpand over all North and South Am
erica, SO each nationality will concen
trate in the climate resembling it's own
land develop city and rural cultural cen
tiers -"
i It is well to remember in this connec
ton that the languages of the earlies
civilizations were all in the south-He
brew, Greek, Latin. italian, Portuguese
and Spanish. They looked upon TIL
northern races as barbarians, whose ter
lritory they in vain tried to invade. TIL
barbarian dialects Of the north, Ger
man, Scandinavian and Russian, grad
ually assumed cultural form and devel
Ioped civilizations distinctive1y their ow.
which are now vieing with one anothe
/ for world influence. The battle has no
been, and is not now, between tn
tongues of the east and west, but of tn
north and south. In this peaceful cul
tural combat the Scandinavian lar
guages will take large part
L