ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1915. GERMAN FOR THE GERMANS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 286, 3 December 1915, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1915. GERMAN FOR THE GERMANS.

The brutalities committed by the Germans in .Belgium and elsewhere may not improbably- have the effect of causing a big drop in the popularity of the German language as 'a subject tor study in British schools. That German is a horribly uncouth language is notorious, ana anyone who has "wrastled-'- with German verbs will agree ' with us that ifc is no easy tongue to learn. Several correspondents ■of the London Saturday Review1 agree in recommending'the ..study of Spanish, in place of German, as a language of power and beauty. Browning is quoted as admiring the long-drawn-out sweet-ness-.of a Spanish name, exclaiming, "I must learn Spanish some day." In this connection, Mr Morris Bent quotes someone as saying:—• There were three laj^guages spoken at the creation of the Ayorld. (1) God commanded in Spanish. (2) The Tempter persuaded in Italian. . - ' (3) Adam begged pardon in French. Whatever may have been, the languages spoken at the creation of the world, it is fairly certain, we should say, that the Master of Evil was a proficient German scholar, for 'judging by the events of the last eighteen months German must now be admitted to be par excellence the liar's favorite language. The plea that a knowledge of German is necessary to young Englishmen engaged in business* with foreign countries was always rather foolish, for Germany had m> colonies or foreign possessions worth speaking of, aoid eyen in those which shes did have English, not the Hun tongue, was the language of the merchants and traders. After the war there will he precious few English visitors to Germany, and German-made goods will, we trust, be so universally boycotted by Englishmen, and indeed by Britons all over the Empire, that there will be no great need for a knowledge of German. As a matter of fact, a good working knowledge of Spanish would, after French, be immensely more valuable than an acquaintance with the German, language, for oiitsido Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, Spanish is the language of all the South American States. With English and French, so it has been said, a man. can travel anywhere in the world and be sure of making himself understood by a fair proportion of the people with whom he comes into contact. Add Spanish, and he will then possess a linguistic equipment which will fulfil all ordinary requirements. As to the German language ! —as we have said, a barbarous speech at the best—it can be left, with everything else "made in Germany," to the nation that boasts the ba>bykillors, the assassins of innocent noncombatants, and the champion- liars of modern times.