[6]Wer fremde sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eignen.
J. Grimm.
[7] Ch. Darwin had the strongest disbelief in the common idea that a classical scholar must write good English; indeed he thought that, the contrary was the case. (Life and Letters, i. 155.) See also the strong expressions to the same effect in H. Spencer’s Facts and Comments, 1902, p. 70.
[8]Der geist des schÜlers muss eine ganz wunderliche turnerei treiben, immer hin- und herhÜpfen zwischen den beiden sprachen, in keiner recht zur ruhe kommen. Das mag eine treffliche Übung sein zu mancherlei anderen verstandesleistungen (? O. J.), nur gerade fÜr die spracherlernung ist der gewinn zweifelhaft.—G. v. d. Gabelentz, Die Sprachwissenschaft, 1891, 73.
[9] F. Polle, Wie denkt das volk Über die sprache. Leipzig, 1889, p. 35. The languages are as different from each other as English and Russian.
[10] Only by understanding the connexion in which they occur is it possible to know what is meant by English light, or bow, French montre or fin, German thor or lieben. So the language must be understood before it can be translated.
[12] It is quite a different matter if the (literary) texts which more advanced students can read are to a large extent annotated in the language itself. But the annotated editions prepared for native students in many cases assume too much for our pupils, and on the other hand are apt to give a good deal of information which is not so valuable for them; so it were best as soon as possible to prepare editions of works of foreign literature with commentaries in the language, which especially meet the requirements of our pupils.
[14] But which, of course, ought not to be asked in the form “Do you understand?” with the obligatory answer “Yes,” which too often means nothing.
[15] As an introduction to these exercises, the teacher might compare several different translations of a part of Goethe, for instance, with each other, and with the original.
[16] Somewhat similar to “The House that Jack Built.” Biquette veut pas sortir des choux.
[17] The text-books may sometimes contain a whole piece in two versions; perhaps the teacher himself may occasionally undertake to re-write (on the blackboard) or re-tell a selection.
[18] And even for them only in small measure, since it must be remembered that nothing is learned thereby, but it is merely a test in what has been learned, and that the mistakes made by the pupils, as we know from experience, easily take root in their memory because they have written them, and are not effaced by the teacher’s corrections.
[19] The only thing in the grammar which it might be reasonable to learn by rote is the numerals.
[20] The story goes that a Swedish dialectologist who was on a tour to investigate how extensively the strong form dog (died) was in use, asked a peasant: do you people here say “jag dog” or “jag dÖde”? The peasant was not a grammarian; he answered sensibly: well, when we are dead we generally do not say anything.
[21] Kr. Nyrop informs me that he has found “Mais je mourus hier” in Mairet, La Silvanire, v. 2, 175, and I myself have come across it in a short story by Zola about the sensations felt by a person who has been buried alive after his apparent death—but that does not make the form more “living.”
[22] The dots which are given in the printed book between the two words disappear in oral recitation; so they play no part in the minds of the pupils.
[23] The former “redundant” words are now the most important ones, indeed in reality the only important ones, since Pas du tout etc., where there is no verb, is fully recognized, and sentences like Je veux pas are becoming more and more common in colloquial language.
[24] Cf. my remarks on “schaffende und erhaltende analogiebildung,” in Techmer’s Internat. Zeitschr. f. allgem. Sprachwissensch., iii. (1887), p. 191 ff.
[25] Slawo-deutsches und Slawo-italienisches, Graz, 1885.
[26] i.e. Translations from the mother-tongue, beginning with single sentences of the usual kind.
[27] Aus meinem leben, II. vi. Goethes werke, Cotta’sche bibl. d. weltlitteratur, 20. 218.
[28]Obwohl ich mich seit geraumer zeit mit der theorie der sprachen beschÄftige, hege ich noch heutzutage eine abneigung gegen die systematischen sprachlehren.—Auf anlass des volapÜks. Berlin, 1888, p. 38.
[29] If the text-book itself does not recommend certain exercises for each piece.
[30] On the whole teachers who read connected pieces with their pupils in the thorough manner which I have suggested, will be surprised at the strong powers of association produced by successiveness; one word always recalls the whole context in which it has been learned. In one of the exercises given by Walter, pupil A mentions one of the words which the class has had and then the name of pupil B, who is thereupon expected to give the whole sentence in which the word occurs. Of course this can be done now and then by way of recreation; as a rule it is not necessary. This new method of always learning and remembering the words in their natural context may be compared to the newest methods in natural history teaching, according to which the pupils must see the animals and plants as they are at home in their natural surroundings, acted upon by them and in turn acting upon them.
[31] Each phenomenon which is taken up should, however, be treated to the end with as much thoroughness as is possible at that standpoint. Grammar ought not to be taken up during the lesson merely as a matter of secondary importance, subordinated to other exercises, whose object is to help the pupils to understand the text, or to develop their practical skill in the language. If the teacher does not want to devote a whole hour to the grammar, he can at least draw a sharp line between these exercises in theory and the other exercises. One thing at a time, and that done well!
[32] Or when a period is reached, he may give all the substantives which he has found one at a time—the rest as above. The advantage of this is that the connexion is kept intact.
[33] Dr. Sweet tries to throw ridicule on my suggestion as to inventional grammar (The Practical Study of Languages, 1899, p. 115–116); he seems to forget the distinction between independent grammatical research and teaching in schools; and when he speaks about the boys having to sort “a hundredweight or so of slips,” I think his exaggeration needs no further refutation than the above statements, which are nothing but an amplification of what I wrote in 1886. Fortunately, on p. 117, Dr. Sweet recommends practically the same course as is outlined here, only carried out to a less extent.
[34] The French superlative is a purely syntactical, the comparative, a mixed phenomenon.
[35] I have treated accidence and syntax together in my own little English grammar (Kortfattet engelsk grammatik for tale- og skriftsproget, Copenhagen, 1st edition 1885, 4th ed. 1903).
[36] With reference to grammatical systematization, I may refer to my preliminary remarks in Progress in Language (London, Sonnenschein 894), p. 138 ff.
[37] I am tempted here to enlarge upon Gouin’s method of teaching languages, but I have neither the space, nor exactly the desire, to do so since I have never seen it carried out in practice. I can refer to R. Kron’s (certainly too enthusiastic) description (Die neueren sprachen, III, also published separately), and to Brekke’s (for me absolutely convincing) criticism: “Indberetning om en stipendierejse til England for at studere Gouins metode for undervisning i sprog” (Quousque Tandem No. = Norske univ. og skoleannaler, 1894).
[38] Greek could just as well be read with Latin letters, for they are almost as much like the letters which Demosthenes used as the late black-letters are which we print as Greek.
[39] A dot after the letter and above the line is the best indication of length. a is here taken phonetically, the vowel in arm.
[40] A hand-mirror is a useful thing to have in these preliminary phonetical exercises. In several places, the teacher requires each pupil to bring his own along.
[41] Here also the experiment in hearing the voice distinctly by holding the hands flat against the ears.
[42] I have often also conducted the exercise in such a way that the class had to voice the sound when I raised my hand, and unvoice it when I lowered my hand; thus I have made them articulate fffvvvffvvvff, ssszzsss, etc., without any pauses.
[43] That I am not exaggerating (as people certainly will suspect in about ten years from now), I could easily prove by means of a long series of opinions from pedagogical meetings, articles in pedagogical periodicals, newspaper reviews, etc.
[44] I have sometimes made the introduction longer, sometimes shorter than here indicated; some teachers make it more complete, so that they get a whole system of sounds tabulated before they pass on to the reading.
[45] But stopped consonants, like p, t, k, are exceptions to these instructions to isolate the sounds—every phonetician knows the reason why. They should be uttered with a vowel before and one after, e.g. ata.
[46] With the exception of the vowels [a·] in alms, [?·] in war, and [?·] in sir.
[47] This method of procedure follows in the main the suggestions of Klinghardt.
[48] If the teacher does not care to prepare such charts himself, he can use ViËtor’s Lauttafeln.
[49] Besides, the different systems of modern phoneticians all resemble each other very much—far more than did the earlier arbitrary methods of designating the pronunciation (for instance, Walker’s, FlÜgel’s, Toussaint-Langenscheidt’s, Tanger’s, etc.). Any one who has learned Sweet’s phonetical transcription can easily read Passy’s or my own, and vice versÂ; the differences are hardly worth speaking of.
[50] I remember a lady’s dismay when a Frenchman used the combination [stane] in a sentence; she could not understand the sentence until I repeated it, inserting [s?tane]. “O well,” she rejoined, “if he had only said [s?tane]; we always said it that way in school.” (Cette annÉe.)
[51] The use of the French or German names of the letters of the alphabet when words are being spelled in English is merely affectation, and deserves only a shrug of the shoulders, especially since, as a rule, it is not consistently carried through, but is applied only to some few letters, y being called [igrÆk] or ypsilon, ch, [sea?] or [tseha], according to circumstances, and this in the midst of other letters which are allowed to retain their English names with diphthongs and everything. It is quite a different thing when the teaching is wholly conducted in the foreign language; then it is necessary to practise the foreign names of the letters, but then it must be carried through consistently.
[52]Wer jemals in der schule die lautschrift als hilfsmittel zur erzielung einer besseren aussprache benutzt hat, der weiss, welcher nutzen aus ihr entspringt; der weiss aber auch, dass der schaden, welchen sie bezÜglich der orthographie anrichten kann, sich nur auf wenige wochen erstreckt und Äusserst gering ist, jedenfalls viel geringer als der schaden, welchen eine schlechte aussprache in der orthographie anrichtet. H. P. Junker, Die neueren sprachen, v. 99.
[53] See especially Murray, Bradley, and Craigie’s New English Dictionary, A. SchrÖer’s edition of Grieb’s Englisch-deutsches wÖrterbuch, and Rangel-Nielsen’s Fransk-danske ordbog. I am myself transcribing the English words in Brynildsen’s Engelsk-dansk-norske ordbog, two-thirds of which have already appeared. Edgren’s French Dictionary should perhaps also be mentioned, but I have never seen it myself.
[54] Alfred Lord Tennyson: a Memoir by his Son. (Tauchnitz ed., IV. p. 84).
[55] Those who have their doubts may also read the accounts given by natives who have visited German schools where the instruction was conducted according to the reformed system, and who have had long talks with the pupils, in Walter, Englisch nach dem Frankfurter reformplan, pp. 152–165, and Miss Brebner, The Method of Teaching, etc.
[56] The letter-form is on the whole that form of composition which most persons have most use for, and which therefore ought to be practised most frequently. The international students’ letter-exchange, which has just been started a few years ago, will be of great benefit—for those who happen to get good correspondents and who themselves are not afraid of taking a little trouble.
[57] But of course the mother-tongue too; the study of nature, plants, animals, the human race; drawing and manual work, out-door life.
[58] An eloquent recommendation of this principle is to be found in v. Pfeil’s previously mentioned work “Eins,” but the same thought is also gaining ground elsewhere.
[59] Lessons which may be devoted not only to the language itself, but also to the acquisition of useful information in other departments as well; why not learn the geography and history of France in French during the French lessons, etc.
[60] I am here speaking of the Danish school-system, but I have a suspicion that this canker is not unknown in other countries.
[62] A certificate from the school would be quite sufficient, if the instruction was under good control during the year.
[63] It has been previously suggested that various exercises in linguistic observation and classification may be given in connection with the revision, and that by means of such exercises the revision may be masked, as it were, and thus receive some of the fresh interest that attaches to something new.
