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


Ian; "Augustana'' and "Veckobladet" for
Danes. The Scandinavian press Of Min
neapd1is Is power in the city. the
northwest and Canada. It Ii ready TO-
aid in promoting every good cause.
There are z Scandinavian Institutions
Of higher education in the city and %
iii the state, which will help to furnish
all the teachers of Scandinavian. able,
conscientious teachers. the public
schools may call for. The teachers Of
Scandinavian must solve our problem
and our chief duty is to prepare and
support only teachers of high rank.
Minneapolis has set a good example in
this respect.
The scandinayians are musical and
have contributed to make our city ell
musical center. They report seven mu-
steal organizations.
II Is impossible to give the number
Of all the Scandinavian clubs and as
SOC iations Of various kinds. where the
their culture is maintained.
The public libraries are fairly well
supplied with Scandinavian papers,
magazines. books and works Of art
The University teaches Norwegian
Danish and Swedish, containing librar-
les in each language. The scandin-
avian languages are taught in four Of
the five high schools.
The weakest point in the scandinav-
ian culture of Minneapolis and in its
educational system is the lack Of teach
vio To-
graded schools. Sentiment on this ques-
ton is growing. Without this funda-
mental work well directed and literally
supported Minneapolis will in the fu-
ture contain the renowned museum of
Scandinavian antiquities of the new
world, instead of being a living planta-
ton of transplanted healthful christian
culture and civilization, up-to-date and
growing.
English, German ana Scandinavian.
These three tongues include all the
Teutons and are the three languages any
Teuton most easily acquires. BY learn
ing the second, he will soon acquire the
third. and will thus possess the key to
the larger part of the civilized nations
The English language opens the door
also to the Gaelic nations Of Scotland
Ireland and Wales-different in blood
from the Teutons, but understanding
English. The German includes nations
of the same blood, but different dialects,
| the Austrians and Swiss are high Ger
man. Holland and Belgium, low Ger
man. Through it many people Of Ro-
| nance and Slavic races are reached
| Scandinavian, the tongue Of the once
sea-ruling vikings, whose people today
are the worlds best sailors, with the
| fourth largest merchant navy, the har-
access to Laps, Films, and Eskimos
and many sailors of other nations. If
each nation adopted a three Language
education the world language problem
would be about solved.
They are the easiest for Teutons to
learn. Possessing one and learning an
other, you will soon have the third.
When learned German, much Scan
dinavian came naturally Of itself, be-
cause it is half way between German
and English. Hence Germans who learn
English soon understand Scandinavian,
if with a trained ear they hear it spok-
en-. Scandinavian is therefore the east
est of the three and this may be the
reason it is less studied, and why Scan
dfnavians learn English or German
more than people of either Of these
learn the languages of the other two.
Germans should take an English
Scandinavian course; Scandinavians, a
German-English course, and English
speaking people a German-Scandinavia
course. This would be fair to each
natural-easy-and most fruitful In dis
cipline, cultural, commercial and social
results.
| These three peoples show different
traits in learning other languages. The
German is anxious to learn a second
language and SO is the Scandinavian
but from the process the German will
thereby tighten his grip to his mother
tongue, while the Scandinavian loosens
his. The Englishman is SO in love with
his own language and from fear or
pride is Indifferent to all other tongues
He will not risk acquaintance. Ger
mans prefer to speak their mother
tongue. Scandinavians prefer to speak
the second tongue, Englishmen are
rather averse to speaking second Ian
guage.
What is the difference between three
men speaking only one language and
each of the three speaking the langu-
ages of the other two, as far as bro
therly, intelligent fellowship is con-
cerned If all cannot learn the same
language and each can easily the other
two, why not strive for it, why should
the brotherly fellowship not be realized
IOf course If either Of the three refuse
to learn the others languages, the three
oneness of fellowship will suffer, each
losing much. The same applies in re-
gard to the three brother nations, COM
posing the three largest race elements
in our American population.
The first step in developing the bro
these three brother-nations by learning
to know each other better and this is
Impossible without knowing ono an
others speech. Efforts for universal
peace will be checked without it. In
stead Of forcing our language upon
Iothers so they understand us. we should
learn theirs to understand them. Then
they are pleased instead Of irritated
an-scandinavian Course Preforrsd
i There are so many important langu-
lagos. Which shall we learn? Only
suggestive rules are offered. We said
first the language Of the nation, second
that of the home or neighborhood, and
third, that most helpful for your cul.
tura1 and business aims in life. Fol-
the /Teutons this argues that the Eng.
lfsh, Germans and Scandinavians should
first learn one another's tongues because