Evening star., 1947-03-09

Army major, he was directly re-
sponsible for the staff work that
produced many new techniques and
new materials for the Army's in
tensive language training program.
Dr.. Smith now is applying the
he learned In getting his
Ph.D. in linguistic science at
Princeton. and practiced in the
Army, to helping American diplo-
mats learn to talk to people all over
the world In their own languages.
ENJOYS Given at Least
R Rudimentary knowledge
Until he went from the Army to
the State Department last July,
knowledge of foreign languages in
the American Foreign. Service was
largely q hit-or-miss proposition.
There was Government sponsored
training for q few specialists in the
tough" ones like Chinese, Japanese,
Russian and Arabic. sBut in the
easy" ones like French or super
Tough ones like Siamese, 1t was UP
TO the individual.
The aim now Is to equip every
diplomat and clerk sent to q foreign
country with at least . rudimentary
knowledge of the language Of that
country, as well as to develop more
real experts in every language
Starting on "shoestring," DR..
Smith and q handful Of assistants
have In the last seven months
taught something about 81 different
languages to 468 people in the State
Department and its Foreign Service.
DR.. Smith figures 1t takes at least
q four-month intensive course to
give a student complete control Of
the structure Of a foreign language
so far as speaking 1t goes, with some
facility in reading and writing 1t.
Under present conditions few Of
his students have time to learn
more than "how to learn" the Ian
guage they are working on before
they have to leave Washington.
'But 1t means q lot" he says, "just
to get people over fear Of . Ian
guage, teach them how to study and
what to avoid in going ahead on
their own"
That's where modern linguistic
science comes in.
AS linguistic scientist, DR.. Smith
finds as much to criticize in the
way English grammar is taught In
most of our schools as he does in
the, traditional methods Of teach
ing foreign languages. -.
Language Is the Noise,
Writing Is. the Scratch 1-...-.,..
II never cease to be amAzed,. he
says, "at the number OF naisconcep-
tions educated men and women en-
tertain concerning the nature Of
language"
Most annoying to him is "confu-
sion between language and writ
ing" -..,
Language" he emphasizes, "is
the noises you make with your
face, not the scratches you make
with your fist.
I'VE don't pronounce a series of
letters. People were talking thou
sands of years before any one ever
tried to reduce language to writing.
And when we reduce our language
to writing, how we do reduce it!
"Our writing system is a very in
adequate symbolization of our Lam
guage."
One Of the things generally over
looked Is the stress" arrangement
that means so much in understand
ing English.
For example. DR.. Smith points out.
I'VE have no consistent way of
distinguishing in writing between
the utterance boy when used as q
command to summon a servant, and
boy as an exclamation Of pleasure
or surprise"
"Notice the contrast" he adds,
between they live in the white
house and they live in the White
House And between light house
keeper and light house-keeper.'
Grammar Describes How
The Language Works
During the latter part of his Army
career, DR.. Smith directed the teach
ing of English to group of German
prisoners of war. He told them
not to bother with many things
drilled into the heads of
school children by their
English" teachers.
"Why confuse them," he says,
when all Of us have suffered from
trying to make sense out Of English
grammar as taught In most schools?"
Most Of u.s." he added, have for
gotten nearly everything told us, or
have gone on vainly trying to sell
the logic of 1t is r instead
Of the more natural it's me- and
the correctness of the man to
whom I gave the book instead Of
the man I gave the book to-
"Such unrealities of the grammar
have nothing to do with the way
most people talk. They are useful
only for literary essays, interofice
and public speeches"
Why is that the expression 'it's
me" Is more natural than what the
grammar books say Is correct?
The answer lies, DR.. Smith says.
in 'the pressure Of the configura-
ton"
Putting the language of linguistic
science into everyday talk, he .ex-
DlaiY1ed 1t this Wav.