RICHARDS FORESEES BASIC ENGLISH AS INTERNATIONAL SPEECH MEDIUM

Stressing the need for an international language, Ivor A. Richards, University professor and collaborator with C. K. Ogden on Basic English, yesterday predicted that when the world adopts one common second speech, "it will probably be Basic plus." The lecturer from Magdslen College, Cambridge, England, pointed out that the English language was the most widely used in the world, and that Basic was an "escalator" into English.

Professor Richards admits that Basic is "too frank" for diplomacy, but sees its use in "travel trade, scientific abstracts, and news reporting." He emphasizes, however, that Basic will not curtail the spread of other languages, and that "more people will have to be equipped to speak foreign languages than ever before."

"English lends itself to simplification more than other languages," Professor Richards explains, in questioning the use of a Basic French or Spanish. Mastery of Basic entails one-tenth the labor of learning English, and since foreign schools place their greatest emphasis on the English language, Professor Richards believes the place of Basic "pretty secure."

Used in Propaganda Broadcasts

Professor Richards states that British and American propaganda broadcasts to the continent used Basic, read very slowly, to combat the barrage of static which is put up by the Germans. "The BBC and the Voice of America use Basic quite a lot for anti-jamming," he said.

Basic In March of Time Films

The March of Time, with Professor Richards' assistance, is producing a series of four shorts on Basic English which will be used for foreigners learning the language as well as backward readers. A new experiment in education, these pictures emphasized audience participation, with spectators shouting the words back at the screen actors.

Professor Richards has written many books on Basic, and to illustrate its practicability, has translated Plato's "Republic," the Atlantic Charter, and other important documents into the simplified vocabulary. A popularized, illustrated self-teacher, entitled "The Pocketbook of Basic English" will appear early next year.

Professor Richards came to Harvard five years ago as a University lecturer. Since his arrival, he has been director of the Harvard Commission on English Language Studies.

Famous for Literary Criticism

Perhaps his most widely-known work is "The Meaning of Meaning," which he and C. K. Ogden wrote in 1923. During the current term, he is teaching English 35a, Literature and Thought, a new experimental course and the first he has taught for five years at Harvard. Consisting of Homer, Plato, and the Old Testament, "the big B. C. authors" as Professor Richards calls them, the course admitted only 12 students.