FOREIGN TONGUES
[To the Editor of TnE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —When I began to subscribe to The Spectator, some years ago, I hoped I was subscribing to an English journal for English readers. Now I find that The Spectator is quite a polyglot journal—speaking in many tongues. If I want to know what your German Correspondent has to tell about affairs in Germany, I find now that I must learn German. If 1 want to know what your French Correspondent has to say, I must learn French. Why should this so be ? Is The Spedator ceasing to address English readers? Am I to expect The Spectator to become more polyglot still ? I am beginning to dread the day when all your acebuntS Of the Debate on the India Bill will be printed in Hindustani ; and your comments on the Formosa Earthquake will be in Chinese. Where is this thing going to end ? May I venture to ask, Sir, that you will once again give us an English Spectator, suitable for English readers ? Yours, very truly,
[It is not quite so bad as this. Each issue of The Spectator contains on an average fifty-nine columns in English to one in French or German. The latter is there because many readers appreciate it. Some. of them have already learned French or Gerinaa--En. The Spectator.]
Previous page
