The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-09-15
ia SIGN FOR THE WHOLE POSTWAR oRLD:
I"BASIC ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE
BY MARGUERITE YOUNG
NEA stan Correspondent

Cambridge, Mass, Sept l5-Basic
English, the simplfled language Of
only $50 words which experts regard
as the coming common tongue Of
the whole world, already is on the
march.
Approved by Britain's Roosevelt
and expedited by various educators,
including the enthusiastic Walt
Disney-Basic English is preparing
to follow advancing Anglo Allied
armies and to move into other
friendly lands.
DR.. Ivor Armstrong Richards,
Godfather Of the pocket language,
has written q movie INSTALLATION
Of It which Disney Is animating.
A preliminary reel has just been
shown, in New York, to a group
Of teachers from South America.
DR.. Richards expects the movie
to be used by Americans in teach
Ing Basic English to people In all
occupied countries as they are
freed from NaN rule,
The professor Is hurrying back
to his ce-quiet headquarters at
Harvard University. He was in
the Canadian Rockies when Wins
ton Churchill, in his address here
Stepember 8, spoke strongly for
the spread of Basic.
MOST POTENT FACTOR"
Girdling of the globe by the
English language would make a
bigger chump than ever Of Ru-
dolf Hess, Hitler's one-time dep
uty fuehrer, who once prophesied
that English soon would be mo
more than an unimportant Ger
manic dialect" Germany's Bis
marck had decidedly different
ideas. AS Churchill pointed out
in his recent address, the Iron
Chancellor noted that the most
potent factor in human society at
the end of the 18th century was
the fact that the British and
American people spoke the same
language.
However, all that works out.
Basic Is booming now. Christine
M. Gibson, chief researcher and
translator for Richards, will tell
you that Basic English is ready
to unite all the people every
where linguistically. Indeed, 1t is
on its way.
Chinese flyers in training at
Luke Field, Ariz., are learning
the blunt-spoker. English from a
textbook for teachers, prepared
by Richards and his half-dozen
associates this year. Cornell
University teachers who are train
ing selected soldiers for the Army
of Occupation In Italy are using
the same book. SO are civilians hur-
riedly preparing at Harvard for
overseas administration in occupied
territories. In Camp Devens, Mass,
doughboys having little schooling be-
hind them are studying Richards
primer called words on Paper"
With that primer, an unlettered per-
son who speaks English or any other
language, can learn Basic within a
month.
Army officials say they are not
yet instructing regular soldiers
and officers in Basic; they are too
busy teaching minimum Of the
foreign languages. However, Miss
Gibson says State Department
would be interested in any pro-
gram to teach the simplest tongue
in foreign countries.
She was not surprised when
Churchill reported that President
Roosevelt Is sold on Basic. Miss
Gibson previously had translated
! one of the Presidents fireside
chats into Basic, sent 1t to the
White House, and received "a
most generous response"
USED IN ORIENT
Other conspicuous enthusiasts
are the Chang Kai-sheks Of China,
and Madame Ivy Litvinof Of Rus
STA. The Russian diplomats wife
tried the easy English personally,
then taught 1t to Russian soldiers.
China's ministry OF education once