Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1912 — Man Needs to Know but Three Tongues [ARTICLE]

Man Needs to Know but Three Tongues

By I. H. GEHRING

I possess the same fluency and command of German and English, but possibly I can use the English just a trifle more readily as I converse in it oftener than the other, which is my native tongue. When speaking with my father and mother I invariably speak German. A good many years ago I had a very fair mastery of Italian and Spanish, but through disuse I have utterly lost the ability to converse in either. French I read with ease, but seldom essay to talk It because! of bad pronunciation. After all, a man nowadays needs to

know but three tongues—English, German and French. The Russian matters little, for one can go all over the czar’s dominions On one or two of the predominant languages. The English will keep at the head of the procession, for many more millions employ it than any other one tongue. While a great language, it is in some respects very inferior to the German. One can express his thoughts more clearly, I think, and convey his exact meaning more accurately in German. By reason of this the German literature is preferable to the English.