Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-01-17
MODERN LANGUAGES IN OUR
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
BY Prof. J. N. Lenker, D. D.


country and the Netherlands. They
were written for the foreign press.
The English magazines, devoted to
education, are awake on the subject
of the relation of philology and ped
agogy to each other. The Minneap-
oils Journals able editorial Of jan
uary 9TH is right in saying Ameri-
cans are more English than the Eng
fish themselves. It is so good that
we give it in full.
"STILL WE STICK TO ENGLISH
ALONE."
1t is a curious circumstance that
America, the melting pot of nations,
remains a one-language country. We
stick to English more pertinaciously
than do the English themselves. We
have sort Of fatuous belief that at
home or abroad everyone must I'M
derstand English. Our widening for
eign commerce brings us in contact
with all manner Of languages, yet our
statesmen jabber in none Of them, and
our business correspondence and cat
alogues are usually in plain English,
except for the illustrations which
speak more or less intelligibly in any
language.
To the South Of us is a great, rich
Continent, teeming with commercial
opportunities. 1t speaks Spanish
mostly. For it's trade we yearn
The natural thing to do would be tc
learn to talk to these neighbors in
their own tongue. French and Ger
man are the open sesames not only
to trade, but to science, both theoret-
ical and applied, as well as to vast
and wonderful iteratures.
The Scandinavian languages
should be easy to acquire here in the
Northwest, where there are so many
practical opportunities for talking in
these vernaculars. Yet so far from
the native-born learning Swedish OF
Norwegian, either Of which would un-
lock storehouses Of good things, it
appears that the children of Scan
observation-disclosures, content with
English, do not also keep command
of their parents mother-tongues.
American isolation in the past &C.
counts, no doubt, for our benighted
unilingual condition. English has
been so all sufficient that the children
of the foreign-born have FASTENED to
learn it and forget the tongue Of their
parents, while the native-born have
lacked the incentive to acquire more
than quickly forgotten smattering
Of French and German, and have
quite ignored Spanish and Italian.
Childhood is the golden time fol-
learning a second language. The
mimetic faculty is then at it's best
and the memory is retentive."
THE GERMAN AND SCANDINAV-
IAN PRESS GROWING.
While the English press is growing
more favorable to instruction in mod
ern languages, the question arises is
the press Of these languages doing al
it can? Is it not losing ground? W.
have heard some express the opin.
ion it reached it's highest point ter
years ago and it is on the decline
Hence we were anxious to see the re.
turns Of the 1910 census to secure
the exact facts on this point. TIL
figures have just been published ant
they are far more encouraging thar
were expected. There were publish
ed in the United States 40 Scandinav
ian periodicals in 1880; lis in 1900
and 161 in 1910. The German per
iodicals in 1900 numbered 6l3 and il
1910 they had increased to 692. From
1904 to 1909 the English periodical
Increased one per cent and their cir
culation nine per cent. The foreigl
periodicals increased in the sam
time from 1249 to 1897, or IL pc
cent, and their circulation from Z,
568,655 to 9,030,797, or 10 per cent
The German periodicals increase
their circulation from 3,922,227 t.
4,434,146, or nearly half of the cir
culation Of all the foreign periodicals
The foreign press in the Unite
States is thus growing faster tina
the English. These figures are YER
encouraging when we remember tn
German and Scandinavian immigra
ton was not large during the last de
cade. No home that is in earnes
about keeping up two language
should neglect to take at least on
good paper in each language and in
terest all the members of the famil
to read both. This may seem to b
a small matter, but it is not. Farm
ers and mechanics help to maintai
their language and culture by SUP
porting the press in their mothe
tongue. It will help them in man
ways to see the world in anothe
light. The wisest thing to do is t
develop the foreign press to thu
point Of perfection that it will con
mand the respect and support Of tt
entire nationality. Do what you ca
to extend it's circulation and intere!
others to read it.