"Dana College", Blair, Nebraska, a short time ago invited its students to participate in a competition to write a treatise of or more than 1,000 words on the above question. Of the many excellent answers received, the one reprinted below was awarded first prize. It has been most kindly lent us for publication, as it is a "Question" with which our readers are confronted time and again.

Should a Danish-American Learn Danish - and Why? (by Holger Christensen, Dana College.)

There should hardly be any doubt as to whether or not Danish-American should learn Danish; if properly considered most people will agree, that it is of great importance in many fields of endeavor. In short "that is the answer."

Whom shall we include as Danish-Americans? The best answer to this would be: All Danish immigrants, all born of Danish parents or near ancestors.

Many Danish immigrants are possibly of the opinion, that they do not need to learn Danish; that they have learned it already, and now they want to learn as much English as possible. This is altogether natural and proper. The trouble is a foreign born has difficulty in learning English to perfection, particularly so if he throws his mother-tongue overboard. Some people seem to think that it is a waste of time for a native Dane to learn Danish in America; but this is far from being the case. We can assume as a matter of course, that it is well nigh impossible to acquire a good command of another language, if we have difficulty in expressing ourselves in our native tongue, and we must also agree that there is a woeful inexpertness among our immigrants in this respect. Most of these people speak the dialect of their province, which is difficult to understand in other provinces and more so in America.

If every Danish immigrant would polish up on his dialect and acquire an understandable Danish, it would be a whole lot easier to conserve our language down through generations; it would also give the parents more indluence over 3their children, when they use good Danish without an admixture of anything else; the children will not only lose respect for the "Old Country" language, but also for their parents, when these, largely on account of difficulties with the language, are misunderstood. From the above we arrive at the conclusion that the immigrant should learn Danish as well as the American born.

The American born Danish-Americans are having difficulties in grasping the position of their parents, without knowing something about the conditions which have influenced them. This is best overcome by becoming familiar with the language as well as with its literature; unless one has the opportunity to travel and receive first-hand information, here again a command of the language plays an important role.

Many will perhaps say; we can obtain the different country's literature in translations; this is true, but no translation from the Scandinavian or German languages into English, however good, can even approximately compare 4with the Original language.

Others will claim there are so few opportunities to use Danish as its distribution is somewhat limited. You will find Danes wherever you go in this world and they also retain their language. We go to much trouble and many head-aches to learn the "dead" languages, which after our school-days are quickly forgotten.

It should be the ideal of every Danish-American to know the Danish language and its characteristics. The Danish literature is so encompassing and comprehensive that no one wished to become acquainted with foreign conditions needs be without material for study. Many will say, that they are familiar with these conditions, because they have Danish parents, but here they are wrong; the Danish people and the Danish-American are two very different people both socially and in thought.

The two have much to learn from one another, learning their ways of living, 5their horizon of life, thereby widening ones own. The same applies to the study of languages. Anyone studying a new language considers it a serious and pleasant undertaking and refrains from mixing the different languages like another "Bable with its Confusion of Tongues." He will also realize that his knowledge of his own native language will materially improve as he proceeds in his study.