LEARN GERMAN.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16209, 11 May 1918, Page 12

LEARN GERMAN.

THE KEY TO HUT\ SECRETS

(By Frederic William "Wile, late Berlin Correspondent of "The Daily Mail.") Somewhere in n London paper tho other day I read that there had beeu a dccided "slump" during thd war in both tho teaching and the study of tho German language.

That is a mistake, and a grievous one. It is, in niy judgment, tho esseneo of shoz't-kightednctis. It- is, moreover, conferring 'a boon on the' enemy. It" we ever intended, or if we ever had the power, to wipe the German race oil the map thoro would be some reason in relegates the atrocious -German language to the philological scrap-heap ior eternity. But even if I be accused of being a rank pessimist for saying it, 1 do not contemplate the annihilation of tho German race as a result of this war. It will live on> polygamy in Prussia or no polygamy, and the rest of us will have to Jive with it. "We shall do so to our greater intellectual, political, and economic profit by learning to read anct speak German, and oven to think in German.

I am going to explain why that is so. In my first year or two in Berlin as a newspaper correspondent my German was the last word in crudeness. It was months and months I could even remonstrate intelligibly with, the waiters who habitually gave me short change in the restaurants. Had it not been for the sign language my early days in Germany would liavo been difficult to the point of despair. There was, however, one saving factor. .Every well-educated • German — certainly almost .every Gorman with wlioru a foreign newspaper correspondent had. to come in contact —spoke English. A large number of them Epoko it well. Nearly all commanded it with greater fluency than 1 was able for some time to command their language. Thus, choosing the line of least resistance, I yieids'l, till I could make my way through the baffling maze of verbs, genders, articlei. and endless sentences which comnrko the German language, to the unwise and larsy habit of talking English. It was the easiest way.

"How is it." I once asked an eminent German publisher, who talked our tongue as well as I do, "that so many of you Germans speak English perfectIv?' T explained that tfiis made it extremely difficult- for English-speaking i citizens of the world ever to learn German properly. •'That's what we want to do," he repliel, 'nth disconcerting frankness. "You see. 7 ' he went on, "when you learn a country'? language you acquire a key to the country. W'e donit want too iuarv krys to Germany in circulation. The less German you English and Americans speak the less you'll know about Germany. We specialise m learning English and French because we realise the value of language keys." Thereon I rest the ease for the continued and continuous teaching of German in British schools Tho reason all of us know so littlo about the real Germany is that , a knowledge of its language is the exception, not the rule, among us. I am sure that the tens of thousands of German prisoners of war in British captivity neglect no opportunity to improve their English. Tiiough. the "Hymn of Hate" is said to have been sung in certain German schoois, it was followed by the usual classes of instruction in English. In the higher forms of Prussian Gymnasia, "Tho Times" has been used for English instruction, despite the war ana the "Thunderer's" -unpopularity in Ger many. In the Gel-man papers I stil! encounter advertisements of language teachers anxious to give English lessons. We are going to hare a Trade War worthy of the-name with the Germans in the years ahead of us, whether it be formally declared or not. Before the war Germans were beating us in many of the world's markets—in tho Far l£ac.t and elsewhere —because of their proficiency in languages, particularly English. Are we going to continue to let them hold all the keys?