The Osceola times., 1880-08-21
How to Learn German.
Cincinnati Commercial.
"Van" writes:

ivan" writes:
"Could you piease advise me as to the
best work that is published on the Ger
man language for self-instruction? |
wish to commence the study, and will
be, from the force circumstances. of COM
PEELED 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 teacher"
You can learn the German language
without teacher. There are shades of
sound in the vowels and consonants,
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 Ian
guage correctly-on this point YOU can
not be too carefll-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. 1t will be
tiresome 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. 1t is not easy
to learn, being as hard, perhaps, az
Greek, but it is among the grandest OF
languages. ancient or modern, and when
you master it you will be well rewarded
lor your trouble.
You should provide yourself with a
good German dictionary. and when you
learn a word verbally, search it out
tharn o,,1 bat lnpkl lIlyn Sn NJ
to remember it with the eve. In short
time, if you persIstently fight against
your own timldity, you will be able to
engage in ordinary conversation with
moderate huency. You should also at
tend German churches and theatres,
preseveringly and try to catch the mean
ing of what you hear. The theatre is n
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-
ton 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
aid of teacher. But that is the least
part Of learning language. You want,
as far as possible, to tram 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
TO 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 a 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
monty heard upon our streets is no
more like the pure German than the
language of British coal-heaver is like
the English OF Thackeray.
We have thus spoken at length upon
this subject from having heard 30 often
of the unpracticalness 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 - post If anybody says