LET’S TALK FOREIGN

Evening Star, Issue 22542, 9 January 1937, Page 7

LET’S TALK FOREIGN

That Englishmen should speak English seems a reasonable proposition. All ©ver Britain culinary programmes are called “menus,” which is not English at all, hut French. Certain protests have recently been made on this score, and a demand has been given publicity that English meals in future ought really be called by English names on a piece of paper with an English title. Yet it is obvious that the difficulty will •not be solved by merely translating the Erench into English—at least, not literally (comments the ‘ Christian Science Monitor’). No one could reasonably be expected to enjoy hors d’ceuvres if that famous 'first course -were called the unemployed ” or “ out-of-works. The same' difficulty is encountered in other activities of life. How could one translate “chauffeur” into English? One really could not call the man who drives one’s car lt a heater-up, M though .that is the literal meaning. He might just as well be described as a hot water bottle. Moreover, this borrowing of words from foreign languages is often a pretty piece of courtesy. Meals are most likelv catalogued in French, because F#ance is a land famous for gastronomy, just as, in France itself, the words “le sport ” are a tribute to Britain’s eminence in games. It would be a pity to lose these examples of internatio*ai amiability.