The Denver Jewish news., 1919-06-11

written words.
There are words for which we have
no proper translation into other Ian
guages. There is no translation for
the English baby" or bargain or
Tor the German "Gemiithiichkeit,' or .
for the French Chic" Some lin
gusts say, "A man who knows but one
language, knows no language at all"
Others claim that the knowledge of /
more than one language is gained AT !
the expense of the mother tongue.
In countries like Russia and Aus
tria, where about dozen languages !
who speak . and 6 different languages. |
but 1t is claimed that they seldom mas
ter any. If the mastery of Ian
guage depends upon the concentration
upon the mother tongue. the extension
and perfection of a language is gain,
ed with the knowledge of other ton
CUES. a man who has the knowledge |
of more than one language will ~
more original, and sometimes even
startling, in his expressio".'.
But the One-langunge writer or
speaker will be more popular.
AS he speaks so he writes, and as
he writes the people speak.
Attempts for universal language
lave been made in many countries.
nj Vol
ments. but as these attempts have never
found the endorsement OF amy Govern
ment little headway was made
Science uses the dead languages.
Latin and Greek. for the designation
CT new discovery or invention. The
result is that the words telephone. tel
egraph and automobile are understood
anywhere in any tongue.
The only universal language is mu-
sc. The music pictures. or notes mean
the same to all civilized people of the
world: they all understand their tone
beauties.
Now n language, unless we under
stand it. becomes even less than n
meaningless sound. it will even jar
upon us. it will irritate us. This irri-
tation grows into suspicion and will
result in distr,Ist and hatred. The
result Is that tribes of the same tom
que band together. and fight n pco-
pie of different tongue. whom they
can not understand. and whom they
consider their natural enemies.
The European troubles of today are
largely problem of languages.
All the people of the world with few
exceptions tried at some historical pc
riod to cpnguer the world, by force.
OF arms and by force of argument
They all tried to set up tower of
FabylOn. All were aiming to un'fy
their people under one language! The
last attempt was made by Germany.
Christianity now dominates the
world. Language was its only weapon.
Now let us see what wds this lam
guage that brought about such n Won
der. The original old Testament was
written IN Hebrew. The orthodox Jew
still retains the Hebrew in his pray
ers. Jesus spoke Hebrew. Has He
brew become a dominating Language.
The original New Testament was
written in Greek and later with the
Old Testament translated into Latin.
The Catholic religion still retains the
Latin tongue in its ceremonies.
Did Christianity conquer in the holy
languages? Would Christianity have
succeeded If it had attempted TO teach
ITS gospel in Hebrew. in Greek or in
Latin? No. Christianity did not try to
erect tower of Babylon. 1t preached
its Gospel in the different languages
of each different people it undertook
10 enlighten.
Christianity has proved that the diff
the adoption of one ideal among diff
ferent people.
Languages are hard to unlearn, in
spite of the contrary observation some
of our travellers have made among the
primitive people.
Our immigrants, no matter what
country they co,pe from, be it small
or large, ambitious or modest, if they
land here after they are twelve years
Of age. never discard or forget the
melody of their mother tungue. They
"a, IL
always retain its intonation. We call
This accent.
A foreign accent will he pleasing,