Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-12
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

use that their advocates hoped for.
Indications point now to English rs
tho popular medium of intercourse
between nations officially and in trade
as well.
Once German. French and English
were the three contestants for inter-
national recognition. Now. German
has lost much OF its popularity with
other countriea.
The advance of French has heen
restricted because French has had to
share with tho Spanish in popularity
among foreigners. Many students.
able to take only ono of the two
cause of its predicted Importance. So
far as communication In south Amer
lea 10 concerned. Spanish Ia import
ant. Americans are Raid to have
caused resentment In some cases be-
cause they came 10 sell goods in South
American countries and expected cv-
eryone to talk English with them.
Spanish u not making rapid progress.
however. as an international language.
Tho Spread Of English.
English Is making progress There
arc more than 50.ooo.0oo native
English speaking people today. About
120.o0o.o00 speak German. and then
come Russian and French with so.-
100000 and eo.ooo.ooo respectively.
Not only Is English spoken regular
ly by moro people than any other
tongue. but 1t Is also widely spoken
As a secondary language. Tho Amer
leans and English arc not specialists
in languages. Tho proportion OF
English people who master any lam
guage other than their own is small.
The complacent American refuses to
spend time on languages. figuring
that tho foreigners will learn English.
hA En- ~Ifah r In
tries are so important VIC have been
able generally to &c. away with II"
English has become almost a neces-
rity to the foreigner. Whether he
Is interested in foreign trade. or five,
in n little village thru which tourists
pass. he finds smattcring of English
necessary.
English has the advantage of beinE
derived from both Teutonic and
Romance languages. Thus. It has
MANY words familiar to people speak
ing both types OF language, and Il
is more acceptable to both than a
language entirely dssimhar to their
own would be.
English. one of the other uses of an
artificial international language is
disappearing. II has been claimed
that an artificial language made
travel easier. Tho American find.
that almost anyone who would take
the trouble to learn Esperanto under
stands enough English to supply his
wants. n
There rcmains another field where
Esperanto Is advocated. This is for
trade and for communication by air
plane and radio. Here. II anywhere.
a common language that can be
quickly mastered would be OF SER
vice. A better means OF communica- :
t!on between airplancs crossing
Europe is said to be especially needed.
Perhaps here is an opening wedge
for Esperanto. or some other inter-
national language.
There has been much cnthusias SIN
professed for Esperanto in particular.
Esperanto societies still function.
Steps have in several instances been
taken to put the language into prac-
teal use on an official basis Peace
advocates at one International con-
vention officially adopted Esperanto
as one of the languages for their
meetings. But there, somehow. the
project sticks. with all tho interest
aroused. people go on using tho old
languages. An experiment with Es.
peranto for airplane communication
would be interesting and might prove
of practical value