I.^*^' EXGIISH I.AN'GUAGE AND LITERATURE IX SOUTH AFRICA. 



has done considerable harm to EngHsh. though doubtless English 

 has done still more to Dutch. 



The Reports of University Examiners, especially in the last 

 two years, will prove this point conclusive!}-. ' " ' 



Idiomatic English is becoraitig rarer and rarer. I am sorry to 

 say, in the School Examinations., The order of words and the 

 use of the tenses are quite un-English. For details I can refer 

 to my own rejiort on the School Higher English of iQoy. a very 

 lengthy Report and one ujwn which I spent a good deal of time 

 and trouble. The School Examiners of 190S have also very 

 pessimistic Reports on the condition of English in the schools 

 of the country. I do not think that people realize properly how 

 poor the English teaching in the great majority of our schools- 

 is. \\'e are drifting slowly but surely towards a lingo and away 

 from a language. Baboo English is clearly in sight in South 

 Africa, and will l)e upon us unless we make a stand for English 

 pure and undefiled. 



I feel bound to record some extracts from the last Reports of 

 the Examiners in English in the Intermediate and B.A. Examina- 

 tions, for these Reports do not attract as much attention as their 

 importance deserves. In regard to the Intermediate, Mr. W. E, 

 C. Clarke, who has had many years' experience as a teacher and 

 Inspector in Cape Colony, and as a Departmental Officer in the 

 Trans^•aal. and also as a University Examiner, and therefore a 

 man whose words should carry weight, writes as follows after 

 condemning various faults : — 



But fay more serious than anv of the f()re,t,'oing weaknesses is the distitr'biiig 

 fact — only too evident — that comparatively feiv have even a tolerable acijuaint- 

 ancc witli cultured spoken English as a vehicle for thought. Frequentl^^ 

 words were grouped in combinations thoroughly un-English : others were 

 used that have no authorised existence : expressit)ns and terms were 

 employed in circumstances totally unsuited to them : idioms from other 

 languages were rendered literally into English. The feiv essays written in 

 easy style and natural language were in refreshing contrast to the mass." 



Another Examiner, the Rev. H. V. Taylor, an examiner of much 

 experience, makes the following recommendation : — 



" That public attention be drawn to the serious and liahitual neglect of 

 elementary rules of svntax by a large section of Intermediate students. 

 This fault must be laid at the door of our teachers, mainly, I presume, those 

 in A.i and High Schools." 



In reporting upon the B.A. English, the Rev. J. A. Campl:)ell 

 writes : — 



" The ct)miH)sition as usual, is the weakest part of the camlidates' wttrk. 

 The impression left on my mind is that it is jxjorer than last year." 



Does it not seem true that a bilingual country is one where 

 neither of two languages is spoken or written correctly ? 



I now pass to another way in which English is being contaminated 

 by various influences in South Africa, viz.. the question of pro- 

 nunciation. 



We have happily not yet reached the stage of pronunciation, 

 in which, as in the case of many Americans and in some of our 

 English dialects, man ceases to be an articulate speaking animal 

 and expresses his meaning by inarticulate nasal utterances which 

 can only be understood after special study. But there are in- 



