The daily gazette., 1876-06-02
For the Gazette.
Remarks On lhG Study Of Languages

We stated already In some articles,
the consideration which should in
huence our readers, the selection of
languages; the utility of modern Ian
guages, and how they may be acquired.
We call analysis the method which
rests on example and practice, and
leads by induction to the principles
under which the facts of language may
be classed; and synthesis, the meth
cd which makes prccept and theory
the starting point from which to arrive
by deduction, at the forms of expires.
sion. In the acquisition of a foreign
language, translation into the native
tongue, the learning of words from
ddiscOurse-either in hearing
or reading-the study OF the foreign
writers, the expressing of ideas by
analogy, with the standard phraseolo-
gy and the discovery of grammatical
principles by induction from the Ian
guage, are examples of the analytical
process. The learning of words, def
ditions, and rules of grammar, as an
introduction to they study of foreign
language; and the writing of gramma-
ticial exercises, are examples of the
synthetical process.
By analysis we discover truths; by
synthesis we transmit them to others:
hence the former is called the method
of invention, and the latter the method
of doctrine. Analysis consistently
with the generation of ideas and the
process of nature, makes the learner
pass from the known to the unknown;
| 1t leads him, by inductive reasoning,
to the object of study, and is both in
teresting and improving as it keeps
the mind actively engaged. Synthesis,
on the contrary, which imposes truths
and sets out with distractions, presents
little interest, and few means Of men.
tai activity in the first stages of in
struction. But although it yields to
analysis in efficiency, for all practical
purposes; it should not be entirely re-
iected, it is necessary for completing
the work commenced by analysis
these two processes are a mutual assis-
tance and proof to each other.
In rational method we should follow
the natural course OF mental inVesti'
CATION, we should proceed from facts
| up to principles, and then from princi-
Piles down to consequences; we should
begin with analysis and conclude with
synthesis,
The benefits derived from a foreign
language, considered as a vehicle tor
receiving and communicating ideas,
are consequent on knowledge of it,
and commensurate with the wealth of
| its literature, with the advancement in
science of the nation to which it be-
longs, and with the number of persons
who use it habitually. But the other
| benefits: Improvement in the native
tongue and intellectual discipline
which arise from the exercises by
| which the foreign language is learned,
are only incidental, and depend not so
much on the language as on the me>
| thOd pursued in its acquisition.
There are two distinct modes of
proceeding in learning foreign lam
| guage, the one is the practical or natu-
raj process, the other the comparative
or artificial. The former is the more
rapid and more successful for merely
acquiring the use of language; but
the latter, although slow mode of
proceeding, is the only means by
which the incidental benefits can be
secured. The practical and the COM
paratlve methods have each their dis
tinct sphere OF acquisition, the former
exercises the powers of perception, i'm
itation and analogy; the latter, those
of reflection, conception, comparison
and reasoning; the first leads to the
art, the second to the science of Ian
guage. The practical process requires
little mental effort, and leads in-
stinctively to a mastery of language.
The comparative process, on the con.
trary, by presenting difficulties which
increasingly call the reflective powers
into action, inurcs the learner to sell
reliance, self direction, and intellectual
labor, which constitute its chief worth
as an instrument of moral and mental
discipline. The one teaches how to
use language, the other how to use
the higher faculties of the mind. The
combination of both would consti-
tute the most efficient system.
j. THIBAUT,
| Professor of modern languages. No
100 West end street.
|
| a