AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19405, 13 August 1926, Page 8

AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE.

Sir,—Your correspondent, Mr. Hodges, makes a mistake in supposing that J am the responsible for the term "universal" as applied to a language and I am ready to admit that " international" is very much moro correct. Otherwise, I don't quite agree with him. Spanish is not easier than Italian. I have had a good deal to do with«it in childhood's days and am perfectly certain that, in spite of phonetic vowels, it is not easy to learn to pronounce—it could not be self-taught. Ask a Spaniard to pronounce, a few well-known names like "Don Quixote," " Cuidad ROdrigo," etc.,, and you will see what 1 mean. The consonant sounds cart only be learned by ear and practice. A dozen novels and scientific books can hardly be called a literature, nor can translations be so called, unless they are of exceptionally high merit in themselves. Mr. Crago jumps to the conclusion that any language is beautiful " when spoken by educated people " (the inverted commas are his). Educated people tend to standardise their language by thought and reading and the careful avoidance of jargon and slang, but -they cannot, make a language like German or Dutch beautiful. By cultivation of, the ,voice one could make them sonorous and virile, but beautiful? Never. A language can only be beautiful if the vowel soqnds are clear and musical, uneclipsed by gutturals, hard and throaty consonants and an excess of sibilants. This is what makes Italian beautiful and also Samoan and many South Sea languages. Italian is learnt very quickly, judging by my own experience, and need, not take "years." As for giving the poor Italians a diplomatic advantage—well, the answer to that would be a thorough study qf the language by other nations. Classic Latin is not sufficiently flexible for ordinary use, and many new words would have to be added to it to make a modern vehicle of it; but the differences in pronunciation would be no bar ,at all. : A graduate of Oxford could learn the; phonetic form in half-an-hour; personal' experience again allows me to speak, for I have learned the English form, and had | not the slightest difficulty in picking up the form used in Auckland colleges at the very first lecture. Given the phonetic vowels it is largely a matter of the letter C —whether it is pronounced S, K, or CH. | There is no doubt about its position hitherto as the international language of science and religion. Mr. Seth Smith's suggestion merits consideration. If we may not use Italian, mould Latin into a modern, uninflected form which would, in time, render the old classic Latin easy for us to learn. Rumanians claim that their language is a very pure form of modern Latin. M. John3tone.