Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/138

124 on this subject, is to use the word which happens at the time to be the most intelligible, from whatever language it may be derived, and to leave it to be determined by experience whether that or some other ought to be finally adopted.

If English is to be the language of education in India, it follows, as a matter of course, that it will be the scientific language also, and that terms will be borrowed from it to express those ideas for which no appropriate symbols exist in the popular dialects. The educated class, through whom European knowledge will reach the people, will be familiar with English. They will adopt the English words with which they are already acquainted, and will be clear gainers by it, while others will not be losers. The introduction of English words into the vernacular dialects will gradually diminish the distance between the scientific and popular language. It will become easier for the unlearned to acquire English, and for the learned to cultivate and improve the vernacular dialects. The languages of India will be assimilated to the languages of Europe, as far as the arts and sciences and general literature are concerned; and mutual intercourse and the introduction of further improvements will thus be facilitated. And, above all, the vernacular dia-