Longwood House

1403 Johnston Drive

Farmville, VA 23901  USA

Tel. 804/392-7374

Email:  rcormier@longwood.lwc.edu

19 April 2000

Letters to the Editor

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Box 85333

Richmond, Virginia 23293

Dear Sir:

            Thank you for printing the interesting series, "The Mother Tongue" by AP writer

Ted Anthony.  It is filled with fascinating facts representing a good deal of research.  It is true that English dominates the world of money today.  Note that he does, however, draw mainly on examples of English or British geographical dominance.

Two other observations are in order.  In spite of Anthony's comments in passing, the parallel with Latin's prestige as spoken throughout the Roman Empire remains unquestionable.  "Vulgar Latin" prevailed and continued unbroken its robust life in the various Romance languages.  These are still viable today, from Brazilian Portuguese to "slavicized" Romanian, and from Neapolitan Italian to Norman French.

            As I asserted 25 years ago in the New York Times (Op-Ed page), English is far from being "universal."  Visit a small, out-of-the-way village like Béziers in Languedoc, or even a lovely town like Tortosa in Catalonia (Spain) or Fermo in Italy and your English won't get you very far.

            What we need today is more incentives for all Americans to study foreign languages,

not generalizations that only reinforce the cultural arrogance of English speakers.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    Raymond CORMIER