New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-10-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
HARRIS GERMAN UNIVERSITIES.


mend it to friendly attention are the freshness OF It's
information. and the fact that it IS not gathered
from preyious works ON the subject, but Is founded
nm the personal experience of the author. Mr. Hart
visited Germany in the Summer of 1861 with the
pnrpose Of residing at one of the principal UNIVERSE
ties but with definite professional objects III vlew
His first choice was Gottingep, once favonte re-
sort of American students but which of late years
has given place. in great degree to other seats OF
learning He was quite ignorant OF the German
language and at once commenced his attack on the
fortress which forms the key to such vast literary
treasures. The discovery was soon forced upon
him that there royal road to the consumma-
ton of this enterprise. German, as he found, can
never be made easy even for the natives. There is
subtle. lurking spirit in the language that always
battles the vision and eludes the grasp. Such thing
as smattering of German is hardly possible and is
certainly not desirable The man who thinks he
can get up" German in n month or so, Will soon
find his mistake. III he trusts to Easy Courses,
or to German in Thirty Lessons without Master"
he will only have his labor for his pains The only
way is to buckle down to the grammar In the begin
ming and then to pursue the widest possible course
Of reading The method of the author as he de-
seribes it, was marked by rare good sense.
As for myself, took q serious view OF the question,
and resolved TO master the language as FAR as III me
In one respect certainly, plan differed from that OF
before me- decided spend six months with the gram
before ven,uring upon any course vi re'uiS,
without reading its authors Easily enough
extbooGs OF h o Whom The form
everything learn more from good grammar than
from the best readng that say, he wll get, in
condemned and more available shape, what lies scat
tered over many pages OF an ordinary 00ok by Writ
can train himself the of the very modes of ex-
preston which he be weakest. Let rue give dh
example or two The most perpexinC features OF the
German language are the called passive voice, the
government of the propositions. the separa0le and ~
and 1t difficult TO glide over these pecu'
haritles as they arise IN reading; me Degnnfp can
the aid Of the context Bat 1t IL much more serious
to master them 50 as to v use ans sen as
fences German in which they Will not De involved
once for all by writing and committing to memory
great number OF model sentences III winch the Same
principles are applied again and again
He also urgently insists on the necessity of trans
Iating coplously from the mother tongue into the
foreign There is probably other means, he a1irms
of sCizng the spirit of foreign language. The labor
Is immense, but nothing will yield so large returns
1t is one thing to be able to pick your way through
German book with the help of the dictionary and
grammar: but quite another to read it off with the
feeling that all the idioms familiar to yOu and
that you might have expressed your own ideas in
nearly the same fashion. This is the final stage of
the Students progress and il puts him III possession
of new power. But tins result is not the work OF
week or a month. 1t can be attained only by
severe and patient efforts. The way to 1t leads
through composition and translation from the
mother tongue. The authors experience on this
point is worth relating.
During the first months of my stay in Gotngen,
read nothing that could b. called German book 1t
seemed 10 me PROCLAMATION, IL TO stumble through
Schiller hunting every other word In the
dictionary striving TO seize the poetry of the original yet
every pary irregular verb proposition
governing different cases 1t much like parsiug
the Paradise Lost" felt persuaded that would be
better ill the long run TO wait until had developed my
cell INTO somewhat OF German before ntrudine into
The sacred precincts Of German art. The reader will
the opportunity, in subsequent place, Of judging
whether the experiment succeeded -
go settled down TO all unmerciiul 81 grind For SIX
long months toiled over grammar and grammars. l
wrote all tue exercises in Woodbury. ana Otto and
tedious, and then mastered Plate This work not SO
well in America 1t should be- the author, prn-
oughly familiar with both languages and has treated
certain subjects g. the separabe verbs the passive
phrase better and fully than the other GRAMMAR
Woodbury. found chiefly valuable for the collec-
of IdiOmatc phrases illustrating the use OF the
German propositions. Besides these Engish,German
also consulted necessarily Hcyse's Seh0rammauk der
dencAen Sraehe, book written for the of pupils in
work was III translating from English into German.
Here ,red my hand at all sorts Of books and styles
London Times. My plan 10 translate few passages
FROM one book enough seize the pecuarities OF the
authors style and dicOn and then pass to another In
looking Old copybOoks and manuscripts, blurred
places to be scarcely eglDle, i is
easy to that, notwithstanding the help of
grammar and teacher, wrote good deal OF rubbish.
clumsy. unGerman sentences that no native would
think of putting on paper But with all their imperfec-
tons, these exercises answered their purpose tney
language than could have got in any way There
scarcely an English idi0m that dld not attempt
TO upset" INTO German after a fashion.
PeriDit 70 narrale one amusing incident. In the
Eugsh text That l happened to he working upon
occurred the phrase he said by the way" The ex-
preston .'by the way" had left blank not finding any
equivalent In the dictionary. But said my teacher,
"why done you translate: daQ dem WegeF IL was IN
vain tried TO convey the idea OF the English how the
word "way" not used in literal sense, like road
but in figuratve sense, TO denote something thrown
io as it were, something incidental. WHAT missed the
teacher tue Circumstance that me person speaking
was actually in motion at the time described OF course,
then the phrase mast a,V dem Rege. felt instinc-
lively that he wrong nut now blt upon word or
talked 10 and fro exhausted my vocabulary and the
feac his patience until sat confronting each other
All at once light, the German students would say.
"talow-!ight" dawned upon me. oethought me of
at 10y teacher ten so! wIth the delicate sneer that
90 can be made TO suggest IN Germaul En- paSsant !
Ma nun, natoriict; DEILAUFIG icoien Sic sdgeh :"
cons lied my watch We mad spent ten minutes i'll
nud!ng one word. A liberal outlay OF time. but then
the furthermore ii had been in
such way as its beng forgotten there
danger Oi my losing sight of deutdnytg
Mr. Hart gives lively description of his mode of
life in the old university town. German students
never board in the American fashion, but each man
lives by himself in his own room, where he takes his
breakfast and supper, dining at the table d'h6te
of hotel or restaurant. Mr. Hart, during his first
Winter adopted different plan. and took his meals
in the family dining-rOom, with the exception of
his rolls and coffee for breakfast which were sent to
his room by the andlady
Yet the rooms that we had were Ike those OF every
other student. The one occupied 10y E. tIn English
describe 10 in preference 1t large square room,
the Two front windows acug on tue street the side
entrance for the Geisnar road ntS the town on TO