394 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
was increasing, even before the great War ; during its course and since the armistice 
the spread of English has been quite remarkable. From every foreign country— 
including those recently at war with the Allies—comes the same story: English is 
being taught more widely in schools, private teachers of English are overwhelmed 
with eager students, there is a great demand for English books. 
To what is this remarkable development due? It is not due to any propaganda. 
The attempt to force any foreign language upon the nations of the world would pro- 
bably be resented, and jealousy might be aroused. The steady progress of English 
throughout the world is due to the growing recognition of the advantages that a 
knowledge of our language confers. 
From the material point of view, the very fact that it is much more widely known 
than any other national language, and beyond comparison more widely than any 
artificial language, is, to many, a convincing argument in its favour. It gives English 
the highest value for purposes of international communication, whether in commerce 
orin learning. English possesses a vocabulary suitable for expressing all the require- 
ments of civilised man, and, where necessary, new words and expressions are readily 
coined. 
Other foreigners value a knowledge of English as the key to a vast storehouse of 
literature, in which—whatever their tastes—they will find much to satisfy them. 
There are some other literatures which, for wealth and variety, may be deemed com- 
parable, but certainly no literature in any artificial language can bear comparison 
with it. There are translations of English works in many foreign languages; but 
in spite of this—or because of this—many learn the language because they desire to 
go to the original from which they can obtain that intimate appreciation which no 
translation secures. 
The language in itself has features which render it particularly suitable for inter- 
national use. As a result of its historical development it has progressed further than 
any other national language. This is seen in the simplification of its grammar, which 
presents little difficulty to the foreigner: a rough working knowledge of English is 
easier to acquire than that of any other natural language. The vocabulary is remark- 
ably rich: words expressing most of the objects and actions met with in ordinary 
life are short and effective ; and, owing to the introduction of words derived from 
the Romance languages and directly from Latin and Greek, the finest shades of — 
meaning can ke expressed by our vocabulary. It would be idle to deny that to acquire 
a perfect mastery of English is no easy task for a foreigner; but that is true of any 
foreign language ; and not many can justly claim to be perfect masters even of their 
mother tongue. 
It may be argued that the pronunciation and spelling of the English language 
stand in the way of its wide diffusion. Practical experience does not support this 
view as regards the pronunciation, considered apart from the spelling. English does 
not contain any sounds that present serious difficulty to the foreigner, if the pronuncia- 
tion is taught by a scientific method, which is increasingly the case. The spelling 
is notoriously unsatisfactory, and a reform would be welcomed by many, on behalf — 
of our own children, and not merely for the sake of the foreign learner. That, in 
spite of this rather serious handicap, English should be spreading so rapidly, is a 
tribute to its many merits. 
If it be compared with Latin, it will be evident that English has a much simpler _ 
grammar; a vocabulary far richer, and better suited to express the many sides of — 
modern life ; and a finer and more varied literature. 
If English be compared with Esperanto or any other artificial language, it has, 
indeed, some irregularities in its grammar, but it has a far richer vocabulary. (It — 
should be borne in mind that the ease with which the Esperanto vocabulary is acquired — 
by an Englishman is due to its Romance and Teutonic constituents ; a Chinaman or 
a Zulu would find nothing in them that was familiar to him in his own language.) r-] 
As has been said above, the literature of an artificial language cannot compare — 
with English literature. 
The great facts, however, that cannot be blinked, are that, for every person who — 
has a working knowledge of Latin or of any artificial language, there are one hundred ~ 
who know English, and that English is spreading more rapidly throughout the world 
than any other language. It is a triumphal progress due to its intrinsic merits ; 
it is the result of no propaganda, and no propaganda on behalf of any other language 
will check that progress. 
