Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1922-02-03
BROCHURE FRENCH
MOST IMPOSSIBLE
Rev. Father Vezina Regrets T a t
Translation Was Not Left to
Someone Who Knew Language

SOHlGOHt w nO huCW Language
Writing relative to the brochure pre-
pared and presented by the Burling--
ton Chamber of Commerce to Marshal
Foch on his visit to Vermont, Rev.
Father L. Albert Vezina of Rutland,
writes in the Rutland Herald as fol
lows:
at certainly was a novel as well as
a practical idea on the part OF the Bur
lington Chamber OF Commerce to set
forth the history and the beauties OF
the fair City on the Lake in a neat
souvenir booklet presented to Marshal
Foch on his recent journey through
Vermont. I understand that this
phamphlet has found wide circula-
ton and l believe it will do much to.
wards advertising the advantages OF
being a citizen of the Queen City
81 regret, however its translation in
to the mother tongue of the military
leader, as | feel that, after it has been
perused by him, he will come to the
conclusion that Burlington, with one
third of its inhabitants of French des-
cent, does not possess a scholar really
educated in the tongue of his lair
country.
Can it be that the Burlington Cham
Der of Commerce intrusted the trans
lation of this work to a school boy
or girl when in Winooski there are men
holding degrees in Literature from La
Sorbonne' and in the city itself many
others who have studied in Canadian
colleges not the so-called Partisan
French but the real and classical
French? One would think so on glanc-
ing over the now historical booklet.
On the very cover the word allies
is misspelled This might have been a
Typographical error; but on opening
the pamphlet we are told that Burling-
ton is disappointed in not being able
to welcome the Marshal in the heart
of the City and at its inability to give
him its franchise on the threshold OF
the City Hall
"Adjectives become nouns at the lac
lie pen of the writer, Lafayette's sta
tue becomes Sympathetic and 'reju-
venates the souvenir of Lafayette
visit Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga de-
manding the surrender of the fortress
de part lie grand Jehovah will surely
be a Chinese puzzle for FoCh and his
compatriots. The habitant of Burling.
ton spends his happiest moments
studying the varied characters OF the
Lake; the setting sun is lie couCher du
soliel and the massive silhouettes are
reflected on the sky
zone might guess at the meaning OF
the following sentence, but it is Meth
er French nor English: I'm bout de n
de fer uui est les votes du chemin de
fer Onion soup may be translated
'soupe aux oignons,' but glide to the
waters and to the sand will never be
chute aux eaux ct chute all sable
1 when Lafayette wrote to the Gov
ernor of Vermont he must have written
Britannique and not 'Brittanique,'
Converse Hall is a dormitory which
shines in the sun,
"And so the story goes from page tc
page without correct phrasing and
often with grammatical error and IN
correct spelling
/ at is unfortunate that this tranS.a-
ton came off the press without having
been submitted to some Burlingtoniar
who knew French and was able to cor
rect it, If this had been done the i'm
preston would not have gone abroad
that not one among the seven or eight
thousand of French extraction livine
in the city on the lake could be !ounc
who was able to write correctly the
language OF his ancestors"