The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-05-27
Che ~GttdlGaen1sI
oass, Nos, as and ~ FourtosptA Street.
HOW 10 LEARN LANauAaEs.
The Advantages and Evils Of ModsE
WMothndaN


HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES.
The Advantages n Evils of Modern
NeS YORK 7riBaAe.
A teacher Of German, well,known In
New York, was converting recently with
one OF his pupils,
"What do you think," asked the pupil,
"of the various methodsof leaning ioTeigu
languages, which have been so much talk.
ed Of lately"
"They have all more or less utility" re-
piled the professor, "but they can none oil
them dispense with earnest, systematic
work on the part Of the learner. The
promise to teach German or French in q
month or six months is q promise which
can never be redeemed. Euclid's old say
ing is absolutely without exception,
There Is no royal road to learning The
theory on which most Of the modern
methods proceed ia simple and logical. l.
"a that n should learn q foreign language
IN the same way as he learns
his own language-that is by the
ear rather than by the intel
lect. This theory, however, may easily
be pushed 10 an extreme. II requires four
or i've years for q child to learn its own
language, and during these years its mind
is in reality concentrated on this study,
though the child does not know it. Now
a man whose ideas are already formed,
who has learned the elementary rule oil
construction which are common TO all Ian.
gusges, can easily shorten the period in
acquiring a foreign tongue. To do this,
however, q systematic grammatical study
is necessary, in which his knowledge OF
the grammar Of his own language will aid
him in the learning Of that OF another,
The man who should attempt to learn 9
language like German, with a really COM
pliCated grammer, simply by hearing it
spoken, would probably never arrive at
proficiency. To learn . language in that
way the mind must, like the mind OF a
child, be a perfect blank, ready to receive
and retain first impressions.
"My experience abroad with Americana
and Englishmen who have come to Ger.
many to learn the language teaches me
that they often push this ear theory to an
extreme. For instance, they come TO Ber-
lin without knowing the first word OF Ger.
man, They Immediately matriculate in
thu University and begin to attend lee.
lures. In this way they learn nothing, or
very little. A child a year old would
learn as much II 1t were brought into the
lecture hall to hear DR., Grimm talk about
art and DR.. Virchow about anatomy, The
learner must first have a certain vocabu.
larry; he must be taught something about
the grammatical construction OF the
language; above all, the idioms that he
will hear must be explained to him. In
other words, he must be taught how to
hear. II is a curious fact that when an
idiom has once been explained 10 a learn
or he Immediately begins to hear 1t EN-.
ployed on all hands, and finds himself I'M.
consciously making use Of it-in the right
way, too. Probably he had heard that
idiom used q hundred times before, but 1t
had fallen on deaf ears. This is what /
mean when l say that In learning q foreign
language q man should supplement the
ear by the intelligence, and should not be
content to proceed by the same slow pro.
gress as a child"
"What do you consider the best method
by which the ear can be taught to hear,
az you say?"
"0E course, each teacher champions his
own method, but this is the way | gener.
ally proceed, and | find 1t serves the pur.
pose well. After the student has obtained
q knowledge Of elementary grammar and
q limited vocabulary, let the teacher select
some novel Of the day, written in the col.
loquial language Of the tongue to be
learned. Poetry won't answer the pur.
pose, least OF all classical poetry, which Is
generally full Of obsolete words and ex.
pressions. II you are studying French,
don'tbegin by reading a play Of Cornielle
or Racine. Their language Is not the Ian.
guage spoken in the cafes and on the bou-
leyRrds. Faust, however, forms an ex-
Ception to this general rule, for there
is hardly an idiom in the German
language which does not turn up in
the course Of this work. Armed with
such o book lot the teacher and the stu.
dent study together. AS each idiom is
met, its meaning and uses should be thor.
oughly explained to the learner and then
written down for future reference. The
same should be done for every new word.
No one, remember, can ever expect to
learn q language by studying q book, but
thiR Is an excellent method Of calling the
attention to words and expressions, 90 that
the ear may be ready to detect them
when heard. To study OF this kind add
the conversation lesson, or better still the
lecture and the theatre, and you have the
elements necessary to the complete acqui.
Bition OF q foreign language"
"What degree ofprolcienCy Is II possible
for q foreigner 10 obtain in q language not
his OWN"
SIN my opinion there is only one limitin
that direction, and that limit Is rather
theoretical than practical. l do not be.
lieye that q man can ever create in q
foreign Language. He may write 1t and
speak II grammatically, automatically with
all the tluenCy OF his mother tongue. But
he will always express himself according
10 forms which havebe created for him,
and which he has learned. He can never
30 far master the genius Of the language
as to mold 1t TO bis own ideas. His
thoughts will rather fall into the mouldH
which others have made. Hence to write
poetry, poetry with the real creative fire,
In a foreign language, ! consider impos.
sible. Yet, that need discourage no one,
Tor how many are real poets, eyenin theii
own tongues
--$S\--
Commencement at BuCkhannon.
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