The Russellville Democrat., 1880-08-26
How to Learn German.
Cincinnati Commercial.

l an writes;
 Could you please advise me as to the l best work that is published on the Ger man language for self-instruction? wish to commence the study, and will | be, from the force of circumstances, com pelled to rely upon my own self for some time to come as to instruction in the language; that is, will be compelled to study without the help of q teacher" | You can learn the German language without teacher. TEere are shades of sound in the vowels and consonants, l and in the accent and pronunciation, that no printed letters can represent in English. The first use of that tongue in this country is to speak it. To do this take lodgings in a German family, or find some associates who speak the lan- guage correclly-on this point you can not be too careful--and then try to talk with them. Strike boldly out; do not fear being laughed at, as you will un- doubtedly be. and take every opportuni- ty to practice conversation. It will be tlresome to you, not to speak of those you practice on, but it IS the only way. In general, too, you will find Germans very good natured and obliging in help ing anybody who is struggling with the difficulties of their lingo. It is not easy to learn, being as hard, perhaps, as Greek, but it is among the grandest of languages, ancient or modern, and wien you master it you will be we'll rewarded for your trouble.
 You should provide yourself with a good German dictionary. and when you learn word verbally, search it out there. and see what it looks like. so as to remember it with the. eye. In short time, if you persistently fight against your own timidity, you will be able to engage in ordinary conversation with moderate fiuency. You should also at tend German churches and theatres, preseveringly and try to catch the mean ing of what you hear The theatre is good place to hear the language spoken core :tly.
 Take walks over the Rhine, and learn to read the street signs, German notices in the parks, etc. This practical turn is the greatest lack of the German instruc- tion in the public schools. After speak Ing German, next in importance comes the ability to write and compose in that tongue. For this some aid from gram mar will be necessary. Otto's German Grammar. last edition, is among the best, If not the best, for the American student. Woodbury's German Course, an old work, is also excellent. By the aid of grammar and dictionary you can learn to translate German into English with no great difficulty, and without the ald of teacher. But that is the least part of learning language. You want, as far as possible. to train yourself to think in German. Nothing will accom- plish this but unremitting practice in composition. Learn to render English into German. Exercises of this kind are given in the grammar but do not stop at these. As soon as you are qualified 10 do so, select passages from English newspapers and English literature and turn them into German. Try to write notes and letters in that language. This will require the aid of well-educated native German teacher to correct your taanslations. In learning pronuncia- tions, you will need constantly to re- member that the German most com monly heard upon our streets is no more like the pure German than the language of a British coal-heaver is like the English of Thackeray.
 We have thus spoken at length upon this subject from having heard so often of the uppracticalness of so much of the German taught In the schools here. Sometimes young ladies and gentlemen graduate from our high schools able to repeat every rule in the German Gram mar, but dumb as a post if anybody says even so much as ''Wiener-wurst" to them. They cannot speak half dozen words of German conversationally, though they have been studying it four years. One can never learn to speak and write German merely from study ing books, though he study himself bald headed
 Here is how Thomas Carlyle appre- ciates the language of Goethe and Schil- Ter, The paragraph is from his Letter to Young Man"
 By the way, do you read German? It woHld be we'll worth your while to learn it; and not impossible, not even difficult, even where you are, if you so resolved. These young obscure years ought to be necessarily employed in gaining knowledge of things worth knowing, especially of heroic human souls worth knowing, aud you may be- lieve me, the obscurer such years are, it is apt to be the better. Books are needed, but yet not many books; lew well read. An open, true, patient and valian. soul is needed; that is the one lxs, all