Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-01-02
THE ENGLISH METHOD
Why It Should he Used I'm ovr u,~s
school.

Editor of Kenne6ee Journal:
l am informed that the Roman me,hod of
Latin pronunciation has recentl7 been adont.
ed our high school. in place Of the Euul;.b
method which was previously used. The
question of the relative merits of d;Heren,
Latin pronunciations is still subject Of cor.
troversy among prominent educators. Mnch
effort is being made to arrive at uniformity
OF usage, with apparently little success.
1t IS not my purpose to enter into any elab-
crate discussion of this question, but to pre-
sent, briefly. few reasons whv the Enolisb
method should be used in our high school in
preference to any other.
L. The colleges which receive nearly all of
our high school graduates, viz: Bowdoin,
Amherst. Colby and Bates, without exception
use this method
ii. 1t does away with one great difficulty in
acquiring foreign tongue-that of pronun.
citation. Familiar letters have familiar
sounds. and the beginner does not have
to be specially instructed in order
to pronounce the words in the lesson.
Care must, of course, he exercised by the
teachers, but from the first the few and SIM
pie rules can De readily applied bv the pupil.
III. The English method must be retained
10 certain familiar quotations as, for example.
rtce cersG. ceni, ridi, cic,, and indeed ali
law Latin Now to tell pupil that he must
pronounce the Latin phrases, in common use
among his countrymen, in different wav
from that taught in the classroom appears to
us to be n0nsensical, and to tend TO make
Latin dead" language. most emphaticallv.
Nv. So many of our words are derived d.
rectly from the Latin, that the Roman method
will affect badly the pronunciation of Eng
llsh The greatest argument in favor of Civ
ing Latin prominent place in the college
and fitting school curriculum has always
been its great assistance in acquiring knowl
edge of English. This ve-y advantage. it
seems to us. is practically lost from our
Latin study when we use the Roman method
of pronunciation. A boy who is taught to
say ktr-koom-ya-kent will find it difficult to
give circumjacent its proper enuncation, and,
on the other hand. the pronunciation
of crcumjacent would not probably
suggest to him tha: it was de-
rived from the Latin words Kir-koom and
Yakeo.
In reply to query as to which method of
Latin pronunciation, in his opinion, would
eventually become the generally accepted
one among American colleges, a well-kn0wn
professor of Latin in prominent New Eng
land college writes: II think the Roman
made great advances between 1870 and 1880,
which it has not maintained in the present
decade, and that the inherent difficulty in put
ting into practice theory, excellent indeed,
but which has not sufficient data of facts to
cause substantial unanimity of views among
lite various exponents, will surely prevent it
from driving out method which has long
been followed, and is even more firmly estab-
lished in England than in America" Presi-
dent Bartlett of Dartmouth in reply to the
same question writes, ''The Italian and Ro-
man, as they are called have each their advo-
Gates in the country but fewer / think than
of the English. | do not think that in my
day there will be an agreement on either the
Roman or the Italian nor that the English
will be given up by a large body of scholars. :"
President Seelye of Amherst writes under
date of Dec. 81, 1.-THE English method is in
use in the college, and is favored by the
Latin department as likely to be most ganer-
ally accepted among American colleges"
The English may not be the pronunciation
of Cicero, Virgil, or Horace. but that is a
topic upon which the most erudite educator
can affirm nothing. AT best it is a mere mat
ter ofcor lecture, and we are inclined to be-
lieve that the Roman method of pronuncia-
ton would sound quite as strangely to the
ears of Cicero rs the English method
To young men who are fitting for college
this is an important question. 1t is no easy
task at the commencement of college
course to change ones method of pronuncis-
ton, as the writer knows from experience
hence it is of very great Importance that the
work in the preparatory school should be in
the right direction. CITIZEN.