English Boys on French Composition. — "Go Ahead" is not in French "Allez une Tete." — How Boys Set about French Composition. — A Written Proof of their Guilt. — How Large Advertisements can Help Them. — A Stumbling-block cleared away.
You have achieved a great success when you have succeeded in getting into young boys' heads that French is not English replaced by equivalent words to be found in a dictionary.
This is the way boys generally set about writing a piece of English into French.
They take the first English word, open their dictionary, and put down the French word they have found for it (the wrong one, as a rule, if more than one is given). Then they take the second English word, to which they apply the same process, until they come to a stop, which they carefully reproduce in the French (many don't). This done, they take their blotting-paper, apply it on the copy, rub it hard for a minute or two, and knock off to enjoy a well-deserved rest.
The amount of blotting-paper used by boys is prodigious. A word is no sooner written down than it is fixed on the paper by a good hearty rubbing down. They are afraid it will evaporate if not properly secured on the paper at once.
Suppose your young pupils have to put into French "I give you."
They will first write je, then donne. After the English word "you," they are referred to a note. They look at this note (many don't), and see that they must put the pronoun vous before the verb. They do so between the lines, and thus write down the proof of their iniquity:
vous
"je ^ donne."