More Tripe

Readers often exclaim when told that writers are paid ten oents, twenty-five cents, a dollar or even more--a world for their stories. Few realize the fact that the monetary value of words in commercial activities may be greater than than placed upon the works of even the highest paid authors.

One of the universal plaints of schoolboys, and one of the commonest growls from the average man, is: "What good is all this Latin and Greek? No one over talks these dead languages."

No one ever says: "What is the use of learnings that three times nine is twenty seven?" Yet Latin is the three times nine of the majority of the modern languages. More than 65 per cent of the words we use trace back to the Latin root. A knowledge of Latin greatly increases the understanding of the full meaning of words used in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and practically all other languages used in commerees and increasingly, a thorough knowledge of the meaning of words and ability to speak and to understand languages are becoming necessary to success in business.

More than half of the world's business is done in English. Pnlor to the World War, German ranked second and Spanish Hard in commercial languages. A great part of the success of the Germans in South America and other countries has been due to their ability to speak the language of peoples with whom they traded, while the English speaking salesmen have been inclined so insist that these with whom they deal speak English.

Anyone who attempts to do business through an interpreter is handicapped so heavily that his chances of selling are seriously damaged. With radio, airships, and automobiles bringing the peoples of the world into closer and more intimate contact every day, the world is moving rapidly toward a universal language but, until all peoples speak and understand the same tongue, knowledge of languages is the essence of success in international trade.

The Polish Jew claims to be the greatest linguist in the world because, in order to suceed in business in that polyglot section of the world around the northwest corner of old Germany, the merchant had to speak at least six languages. The Dutch rate high as linguists merely because, being surrounded by five different nations using different tongues, and depending upon them for commercial success, the Hollander is compelled to speak English. German, and French, and to understand Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. The Swiss merchant must do business in French. English, German, and Italian and does. The Dutchman in Ceylon, Java, the islands of the South Seas, does not attempt to force the natives to learn his own languages; he learns theirs and gets the business.

The commercial value of language is hard to figure. Considering the fact that American's trade with non-English-speaking countries amounts to about two and a quarter billion dollars a year, it is evident that being able to speak the language of those countries counts heavily.

This expansion of trade relations with non-English-speaking countries accents the fact that Americans are losing heavily through neglecting the study of languages, and yet striving to compete with German, Jewish, Swiss, and Dutch merchants who commence their preparation for business with those countries by learning their languages.

No country affords as general or as thorough facilities for learning languages as does the United States, and perhaps no investment is as valuable in bringing quick returns as knowledge of other languages especially German and Spanish. Yet we are neglecting a basic asset in the commercial world by assuming that our customers ought to come to us and speak our language. --Liberty, Oct. 23.