The Teaching
of .
Modern Foreign Languages
in our
Secondary Schools
BY
KARL BREUL
LITT.D. (CAMBRIDGE), PH.D. (BERLIN)
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN GERMAN
CAMBRIDGE:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
1898
[All Rights reserved.]
Cambridge :
PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
PREFACE.
paper on ' the teaching of modern foreign languages '
-L was first read, in the Lent Term of 1895, to the students
of the ' Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers ' and
was twice repeated, with but a few alterations, in subsequent
years. It was also read, by the request of the Syndicate, to
the students attending the Cambridge University Extension
Courses in August 1896.
The lectures were originally intended to form an Intro-
duction to some criticism lessons of modern language lessons
given by the students of the Training College, and the
principles set forth in the lectures were at once practically
applied in the detailed criticism of the lessons heard. The
lectures were intended to be above all suggestive and stimu-
lating, but no attempt could be made to discuss in full the
views either of the old school of language teachers and
examiners who are hostile to any reform or of some modem
extremists.
A few slight alterations were introduced and some references
to recent literature on the subject added when the lectures
were revised for the Press, but, apart from these exceptions,
they are substantially printed as they were first written in the
Christmas Vacation of 1894.
A paper ' on the training of teachers of modern foreign
languages,' read in April 1894 to the College of Preceptors
260611
vi Preface.
(printed in the Educational Times , May 1894, and reprinted
by Professor Victor's special request in Die Neueren Sprachen
ii. 424 sqq., 585 sqq.), supplements in several respects the views
set forth in these lectures and may be read in connection with
them.
The essay describing the contents of a well-equipped
' reference library of a school teacher of German ' is a revised
and enlarged reprint from the Modern Language Quarterly n.
It was thought that many teachers would like to have it as a
useful appendix to the first paper.
The author is anxious to tender his heartiest thanks to
Dr Henry Jackson of Trinity College, Professor G. C. Moore
Smith, M.A., of the Firth College, Sheffield, and the Rev.
W. A. Cox, M.A., of St John's College, who kindly read through
the lectures and contributed some valuable suggestions.
The author is convinced that many important changes are
needed in our present system of Modern Language teaching
and examining ; he believes that many teachers share this
conviction and are ready to consider new problems in con-
nection with their teaching and to take part in the necessary
re-modelling of the system. It is hoped that to such teachers
the present pamphlet will be acceptable. The outlook seems
promising. Modern Languages are at last beginning to re-
ceive in this country the attention to which the subject is
entitled not only by its practical usefulness but still more by
its intrinsic value as an important element in a truly liberal
education.
K. B.
ENGLEMERE,
CAMBRIDGE,
October, 1898.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. THE TEACHING OF MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN
OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS r — 62
a. General part . i — 42
b. Special part : The teaching of German . . . 43 — 56
c. Bibliographical Appendix . . . . . . 57 — 62
II. THE REFERENCE LIBRARY OF A SCHOOL TEACHER OF
GERMAN 63—82
INDEX 83—86
THE TEACHING
OF MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
IN OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
THE subject which I propose to discuss to-night will
certainly not be likened to a smooth and flower-strewn path
leading down hill. If it is not exactly a thorny path, it may
yet appear to outsiders to be stony, dull, and probably devoid
of those beautiful vistas which those who unweariedly climb the
upward path have a reasonable hope of beholding in the end.
Moreover my lectures must of necessity be somewhat technical,
and the limited time at my disposal strictly forbids me to enter
some of the by-paths from the main road which often afford no
small amount of amusement beside material for very serious
reflection. One of these digressions would be a short sketch
of the early days of Modern Language teaching, a discussion
of the old quaint l babees bookes ' or ' bookes of Curtesy '
which sometimes combined teaching of Modern Languages
with teaching of good manners1. Another digression would
be ji discussion of the results frequently obtained by the
present system of Modern Language teaching in our Secondary
Schools. It has been my lot for more than twelve years to
make from time to time a careful study of that very remarkable
and ever increasing part of educational literature which is
1 See my edition of the fifteenth century poem ' * The Boke of Curtesy "
in Kolbing's Englische Studten, IX. (1885), 51 sqq.
B. I
2 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
known to the scholastic world by the high-sounding name of
4 examination papers.' From these papers and the answers to
them one may gather some ideas as to the aims and results of
Modern Language teaching — here I refer especially to the
teaching of German and French — in our Secondary Schools,
and if I were to tabulate my experiences, the results would in
some cases be very curious. In what way do you think must
a girl have been taught, in what spirit must she have read that
great masterpiece of Goethe, his lofty play ' Iphigenie,' when
in answer to my question 'Why do we take an interest in
the character of Iphigenia ? ' she candidly writes ' Because
Iphigenia is the heroine of the play which we had to get
up for this examination'? But I must abstain from telling
anecdotes which are none the less interesting for the fact that
they are absolutely true.
Again, I cannot but allude in passing to the so-called
t reform-movement ' in the teaching of foreign tongues, the
leading ideas of which were set forth lucidly and forcibly by
Professor Wilhelm Vietor (now of Marburg) in his famous
pamphlet : ' Quousque tandem ! Der Sprachunterricht muss
umkehren? This revolutionary little treatise was written in this
country in 1882. Since that date very many books and papers
have been written pro and contra, most of them advocating a
more or less radical reform of the old system of teaching in the
spirit of the so-called ' direct,' ' analytic' or 'imitative' method.
The ' new method ' or ' Neuere Richtung ' has of late made
rapid strides in Germany, and its main principles are being
gradually, and deservedly, adopted by a small band of energetic
Modern Language teachers in this country. I cannot under-
take to discuss here even the best books and pamphlets on
new methods of Modern Language teaching. They will be
enumerated at the end of these lectures, and students and
teachers should make it a point to read the principal ones.
These lectures are especially intended to be suggestive,
and, in my own small way, I hope to fire your enthusiasm.
in our Secondary Schools.
Instead of discussing many different modern methods1 I shall
venture to lay before you my own opinions and experiences
together with my reasons for holding the former. I propose to
throw out some hints on all the more important points of
Modern Language teaching in schools, and shall take my
instances mainly, but not exclusively, from German.
I suppose I may take it for granted that you are all more
or less well acquainted with the general methods of teaching,
and have some notions as to what can be reasonably expected -
from school children. I can therefore restrict my observations
to the more technical part of the Modern Language teaching
in Secondary Schools and the various questions intimately
connected with it.
Some years ago there was a great deal of controversy as to
the educational value of Modern Languages2 — fortunately that
time is now definitely passed. People are becoming more and
more anxious that Modern Languages should be taught, and
should be taught efficiently and with much better results than
heretofore. I firmly believe that there is a great chance for
Modern Language teachers in the immediate future, that great
opportunities will before long be given, and that all we have to
do at schools and universities is to prepare ourselves most
carefully so as to be ready when the time comes. It should
not be said of us ' Aber der grosse Moment findet ein kleines
Geschlecht.'
The question arises : How should the necessary improve-
ment in the teaching of modern foreign languages be effected ?
I think it can be brought about if the following four conditions
be fulfilled:
(i) More time should be allotted to the study of Modern
1 See now Miss Mary Brebner's pamphlet ' The Method of Teaching
Modern Languages in Germany' (London, 1898), Chapter v.
2 See, among others, C. Colbeck, ' On the teaching of Modern Languages
in Theory and Practice,' Lecture I. Cambridge, 1887, and Fr- Storr, 'The
teaching of Modern Languages' (1897), p. 274.
I 2
4 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Languages at School. This is of paramount importance. Our
leading public schools should set the example.
(2) This time should be used much more systematically,
with special reference to the educational needs of the pupils,
and not merely with regard to the requirements of certain
examinations. A great deal of harm is done to Modern
Language teaching throughout the country by the conflicting
regulations of our host of examinations — even though many of
them have done a great deal of good in their time and may
still have much to recommend them — and by the fact that
nearly all of them are conducted exclusively by means of
printed papers and without any oral test. This seems to me
a fatal mistake. The modern tongues should not be treated
like the classical dead languages, a viva voce test should as
far as possible be insisted on, in spite of the many practical
difficulties in conducting the examinations of which I am of
course well aware.
(3) From the very beginning none but duly qualified
teachers should be entrusted with the teaching of Modern
Languages. As to the qualifications which I believe to be
absolutely indispensable I shall in the course of these lectures
briefly give you my views. For details I should like to refer
you to my lecture given in 1894 before the College of
Preceptors " On the training of teachers of Modern foreign
Languages" (Educational Times, May, 1894). I have since
been told that the qualifications desired in that paper were too
high for human capacity to attain, that they represented the
ideal rather than the feasible. My answer is that I know from
experience that in many cases the ideal has been reached, that
I believe that in another twenty- five years it will be realised
much more completely, that the training of a Modern Language
teacher does not end with his having taken his University
degree1, and finally that it is a mistake to put one's ideal too
low. He who forms an educational or any other ideal must
1 See Educ. Times, I.e. p. 230.
in our Secondary Schools. 5
pitch it high ; time will shew if he was right or if his demands
were excessive. I confidently leave you to judge for yourselves.
(4) There should be a more general agreement as to the
chief points of method to be adopted and the books to be read
in school. To this fourth point I wish to devote special
attention in these lectures. It is the one which at this very
moment is engrossing the attention of Modern Language
teachers in this country1 and abroad.
Methods.
There are many different methods of teaching Modern
Languages in the field — all claim to be the one true method, —
all have zealous adherents, and I need hardly tell you that all
promise wonderful results — most of them in a remarkably short
time too. Still it seems to me, and my experience as a teacher
and examiner confirms my impression — that ' the true method,'
* the royal road,' has not as yet been discovered.
It has not been discovered either in England or abroad.
I certainly do not flatter myself that I have discovered it.
We are clearly just now in a time of transition and experiment,
and I think we are in a fair way towards agreeing on a number
of essential points. Many practical and experienced teachers
in this country as well as abroad are at present actively
working in this field ; much that is good has of late been said
and written on the subject, — and much, as it seems to me, that
is quite worthless, unscientific and impracticable; a universal
agreement on all the principal points of method has, however,
at present not yet been arrived at. Much more interchange
of ideas and experience is required. The chief work is
being done in Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, France and
America — England, in spite of a few noteworthy exceptions,
has unfortunately so far lagged behind.
1 See the discussions in the Jotirnal of Edtication and in the Modern
Language Quarterly. Cp. the Bibliographical Appendix, pp. 57-58.
6 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Before going into details I should like to caution intending
teachers on one or two points :
(1) Do not be too confident with regard to certain 'new'
methods, especially do not believe too easily in certain in-
fallible ones which promise to teach many wonderful things in
a very short time. They are mostly very one-sided, no doubt
very good with regard to one certain point, but, to the neglect
of all else, they carry one really good idea much too far.
They are as a rule more or less mechanical, of but little
scientific, literary or educational value ; they afford a certain
routine but do not at all form and educate the minds of the
pupils. They merely aim at drilling the pupil in the use of a
number of commonplace phrases and small everyday chit-
chat. But the acquisition of the practical, though limited,
command of a modern tongue by means of some series of
words and phrases, the knowledge possessed by head-waiters,
couriers and interpreters, although it is no doubt sometimes
useful, cannot be the aim of Modern Language teaching in our
higher schools. A language which has so subtle and elaborate
a syntax as French, or a language which 'is so deeply saturated
with poetry as German, cannot and ought not to be studied by
older boys and girls by mere imitation, after the unconscious
fashion of an infant !
(2) Again, method itself, even the best method, however
important it is, is not everything. A very great deal of the
success depends on the natural gifts, the previous training,
the energy and the experience of the individual teacher. It
is well known that the best Modern Language scholar does not
always obtain the best results as a teacher. Consequently the
Modern Language teacher must not only be a well-trained
scholar, but in addition something of an artist and of a man of
the world. He must have the power of speech, an easy
mastery of the foreign idiom, and the gift of drawing out his
pupils and of making them speak, one and all, the shy ones
no less than the others, at every lesson. He must have, —
in our Secondary Schools.
more I think than any other master, — the great gift of readily
imparting his knowledge, of really interesting his pupils in
using the foreign idiom and in studying foreign life and
thought, and of enabling them not only to speak but to think
in the foreign language. I fully agree with Dr Miinch who at
the general meeting of German Modern Language teachers
held at Hamburg in 1896 insisted that "a teacher should have
a certain amount of natural eloquence, quickness of perception,
and appreciation of foreign character, as well as an interest in
all that concerns modern life. "
Whatever the method adopted may be, each master will
modify it in accordance with his own individuality and the
requirements of different sets of pupils. He will continually
modify and improve his ways of teaching in the light of his
extending study and increasing experience.
Nevertheless, although the possession of a certain, even a
very good, method is not all that is wanted by a young zealous
teacher in order to be successful, it would yet not be right
to undervalue its importance. On the contrary, it is most
important for us to make up our minds as to what seem to be
the most satisfactory principles to be generally adopted in
Modern Language teaching.
Happily on a few important points there seems to exist
even now an almost general agreement among experts. Let
me take these first. They are :
(1) It is necessary that Modern Language teachers should
have a much longer and better training1 than they have had
up to now in the great majority of cases. Their preparation
should be at once more scientific and more practical. The
improvement of the masters must needs precede the improve-
ment of the children entrusted to their care. The element of
dilettantism is henceforth to be strictly excluded.
(2) Modern Languages should not be taught in the same
1 On the method of training of Modern Language teachers see my
before-mentioned lecture.
8 The TeacJiing of Modern Foreign Languages
style as the ancient tongues. They are not studied mainly for
the sake of their form, not even exclusively for the beauty and
value of their literature, but in teaching Modern Languages we
aim at teaching the principal features of the life^ character and
thought of great foreign nations. You will, then, agree with
me that Modern Languages should not only or mainly be
studied and taught by means of translation-exercises, by getting
up many paragraphs of grammar, remembering rare exceptions
and turning over the pages of dictionaries. There should be
no lessons more interesting and delightful to children than a
Modern Language lesson given by the right teacher.
(3) And again, Modern Languages should be much more
closely connected with the study of English on the one hand
and with History and Geography on the other. If groups of
languages are studied together, those naturally related to each
other should be taken by preference. French should be con-
nected with Latin, and German with English. From a purely
theoretical point of view it is even desirable that the two
foreign tongues should not be taught by the same person, as
not many a man will possess the power of transforming himself
now into a Frenchman and now into a German with equal ease
and success. There are, on the other hand, many advantages
in entrusting the teaching of English and of Modern History
and Geography, which are often sadly neglected at school, to
the Modern Language master.
I have maintained that Modern Languages should not be
taught in the old fashion like the ancient classical languages.
A much greater stress must be laid on the language as a living
and spoken organism. Hence it follows that
(a) Pronunciation should be most carefully taught by
trained teachers and from the very first lesson. The pronun-
ciation of the children should be correct from the beginning
and should become easy through much practice. This aim
cannot be reached by mere unconscious imitation, but in the
case of some especially difficult sounds a certain amount of
in our Secondary Schools.
phonetic drill is absolutely necessary in order to shorten and
to smooth the way of the pupil. No one should undertake to
teach Modern Languages even to beginners who has not
previously had some training in phonetics.
(b) Ordinary phrases and characteristic idioms should be
taught from the very beginning. The children should learn to
choose them correctly and to use them readily. And lastly,
(c) Their vocabulary should be as large and as useful as
possible.
Under the old system of studying Modern Languages cases
like the following often occurred : a great scholar would read
French easily but would scarcely understand a word of the
spoken idiom if a French colleague happened to address him
in French. Another scholar would write German fluently and
without a single grammatical mistake, but it would be mere
book-German, a dictionary language, a 'papierner Stir as it
has been called by O. Schroder, a language in which there
would be scarcely one single sentence such as a German would
write. A letter on ordinary topics written by this scholar
would so much smack of translation and be so utterly academic
and unreal that it would require re-writing from beginning
to end in order to become living German. On hearing a
noise outside he would perhaps say : ' Welches ist doch jenes
Gerausch, welches ich eben jetzt dort ausserhalb vernehme?'
while a German would say : ' Was ist denn da draussen fiir ein
Gerausch?' or possibly in familiar language: 'Was ist denn
draussen los?' Only the other day I heard a gentleman who
professed to know Modern Languages well say home for
homme, vou for vu, and Enfenk for Anfang, swonsig for
zwanzig, Studten for Studien, etc.
It is not easy to say to what extent oral and colloquial
German should be combined in school teaching with the study
and analysis of the written literary language. In order to
arrive at a fairly satisfactory conclusion and to strike a fair
balance between the views of the old school who almost
io The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
exclusively studied the written language of a few select classics,
mostly poets, and the modern extremists who condemn what-
ever is not colloquial and, in their dread of elegant diction,
often recommend and teach in school a familiar language
bordering on slang, it will not be out of place before going any
further to settle for ourselves the question : What should be the
aim of Modern Language teaching in our Secondary Schools ?
Here we cannot ask merely : What is desirable on general
theoretical grounds? we are obliged to ask : What can be done
in a limited number of lessons with children ? Hence it seems
to me that 'a practical mastery' of a foreign language as
promised by some methods cannot possibly be hoped for.
How many adults can confidently assert that they are absolute
masters of their own language ? But a good deal may be done
at school, and whatever is learned should be learned well and
intelligently so as to become a good basis for later practice.
What is to be of paramount importance to most learners in
after-life? Here I deliberately look for a moment at thi
from the utilitarian point of view and maintain the follo^
propositions :
Not one of them will have to translate English works into
foreign languages (we are of course not concerned with the
training of interpreters and professional translators).
Few will ever be called upon to speak very fluently in a
foreign tongue.
Some may wish to translate from the foreign idiom into
English.
Others may wish to correspond in the foreign tongue, but
All want to read foreign books, periodicals and newspapers,
and to enjoy the treasures of foreign literature. All will one
day be anxious to know something of and to appreciate
justly the general character, thoughts and manners of their
neighbours and fellow-workers in the great field of European
civilisation. For this most important aim the school teaching
should fully equip them. Hence it follows that reading, and
in our Secondary Schools. 1 1
not translating, should be placed in the foreground. * Sprach-
gefiihl ' should be early aroused and carefully fostered by much
reading of first-rate modern authors. A sufficient amount of
grammar should be learned chiefly from the reading and a sub-
sequent systematic analysis of the most important sentences1.
But in school (the University system is of course different)
grammar should not be taught for its own sake, but rather as a j
subsidiary subject, to promote the full and proper understanding,
and to facilitate the reproduction or imitation, of the author's
words and phrases. Translation from the foreign language into
good and idiomatic English (not the usual shocking trans-
lation-English) should be carefully and systematically practised,
and at an early stage some very easy original composition |
in the foreign language might be attempted with advantage.
But very little ordinary composition, i.e. translation from
English into the foreign language, should be done, and only
with the most advanced pupils. This is I believe the greatest
mistake made in our schools. The worship of early composition
in French and German is as unjustifiable as it is detrimental
to the best training in lower forms. In almost all schools
composition is begun much too early, when the children know
but little grammar, hardly any idiomatic turns and phrases,
and have not yet developed any 'Sprachgefiihl.' Most ex-
aminations prescribe it at a stage when the children cannot
possibly be expected to produce a piece of decent composition
of ordinary difficulty. The regulation requiring early compo-
sition and the pieces set may look very nice on the programme
and in the papers of certain examinations — but look at the
Examiners' Reports in order to estimateHhe value of the work
sent up by the vast majority of the candidates. Rather set
1 As to the way in which this may be dpne eVen with the merest
beginners see F. Spencer's ' Aims and Practice of Teaching ' (Cambridge,
1897), pp. 100 sqq. Cp. also J. Findlay's 'Preparation for Instruction in
English on a direct method ' (Marburg, 1893) and the essays enumerated
under 7 and 12 in the Bibliographical Appendix (page 59).
12 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
them some easy original composition. Original compositions
are in fact easier than translations from the mother-tongue and
certainly at first better calculated to make the children enter
into the spirit of the foreign language. The writing of easy
letters on familiar subjects which would interest the children
should be encouraged early and practised constantly. Little
stories read or told by the teacher should be reproduced by
the pupils, short accounts of ordinary things and occurrences
should be frequently given. The children should be en-
couraged to write and to speak about all they have actually
seen and experienced. During a Modern Language lesson no
English appellation should as far as possible stand between the
objects and their foreign name. In higher forms paraphrases
of easy poems should be attempted, and at the end of their
school time the most advanced pupils might write about the
principal characters in a play which they have read or on
similar subjects. Some of the best pupils might also be
induced to take part — under due supervision — in the lately
instituted International Correspondence between pupils attend-
ing German, French and English schools. This movement is
a very recent, one but much good is reported of it1.
After having now settled the various preliminary questions
concerning the requirements and aims of Modern Language
teaching I shall proceed to the more detailed discussion of the
teaching of pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and similar points
of language, while in a subsequent lecture I shall discuss the
reading, the composition and study of reading-books, and the
proper selection and explanation of authors, and the teaching of
the history of foreign literature. In a final lecture I shall speak
of some special points referring to the teaching of German only.
1 Apply to Dr M. Hartmann, Konigliches Gymnasium, Leipzig, and
also to Monsieur Sevrette, 31 Rue St Brie, Chartres (Eure et Loire).
Compare Miss M. Brebner, ' The Method of Teaching Modern Languages
in Germany,' pp. 38 — 39, and the Journal of Education, 1897, p. 99.
in our Secondary Schools. 13
Pron undation.
Any child that is instructed in a foreign language has a right
to hear and to learn from its teacher a correct and idiomatic
pronunciation of the foreign tongue. Am I wrong if I main-
tain that in many schools, even in good ones, this condition is
far from being fulfilled ? I do not at all require a teacher to
dwell too long on phonetic niceties or to give a great deal of
precious time to the teaching of phonetics pure and simple.
There is neither time nor need for that. He should at first
speak and read to his pupils a good deal himself, in order to
train their ear and to accustom them to the characteristic
sounds and intonation of the foreign idiom. After they have
been bathed, as it were, in the foreign element and have become
somewhat familiar with the foreign way of articulating sounds,
words and phrases, he will make them repeat his sentences
over and over again, carefully and mercilessly correcting any
mistake of any importance. He will sometimes make the
whole class pronounce some sentences together in order to
force shy and backward pupils to speak out and to form their
sounds after the model of the others. He will thus more
readily detect the faulty pronunciation of an individual child.
The chief difficulties will be noted down and tabulated.
Victor's Lauttafeln (for German, French, and English) should
be used throughout in connection with this work. They should
be hung up in the class room during the lesson. They will be
continually worked at and the difficulties will gradually become
less and will finally be overcome by the large majority of children J.
Such difficulties are for instance the French nasal sounds, the
1 mouille^ the guttural r in French and German, the pure (un-
diphthongised) long vowels and the modified vowels in German,
1 On the whole question see now the able lecture " On the use of Phonetics
in Modern Language Teaching" by Dr Paul Passy, an abstract of which is
printed in The Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature ', I. pp. 64 sqq.
and cp. The Journal of Education 1897. (See the Index under " Phonetics." )
14 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
the German initial z, medial and final ch, etc. The instruction
in actual phonetics should be as short and as simple as possible,
but its fundamental principles should be imparted even to
children. They should be told and shewn that— the spoken
words consist of sounds and not of letters (e.g. veau, deuil,
feuille-, schwarz, stehen, sprechen, etc.). There is no very great
difference in the pronunciation of the German Vieh, the English
fee and the French ft, although the vowel sound is perhaps
longest in the English word (=feeee, phonetically^2). Again a
teacher would probably seize an opportunity of shewing the
children that our ordinary alphabet is not by any means
complete, as it is far from representing each sound occurring in
a language by a special symbol, but uses the same letter for
various sounds, e.g. ch in ich, ach, or b in Weib, Weibes • or a in
man, father, small, or oo in good, floor, flood; or th in thin and
thine ; g in gin and gun \ I in fusil, peril and fils (' sons ' and
1 threads'); // in famille, Camille\ or g in gant, mangeant.
Again — and here lies a great source of danger with regard to
pronunciation — the same letter may represent different sounds
in different languages, and in pronouncing foreign words the
child should be early accustomed to give to the letters their
foreign and not their usual English pronunciation, e.g. Mann
and man, Ball and ball. In the case of the German words the
mouth is much more opened and the vowel sound quite short
and pure. The German Quell ' source ' is to be pronounced
Kvel (bilabial but without protruding the lips at all), the
English quell is kuelL Or again, in many German words
the so-called ' glottal stop ' should be carefully noticed and
practised, e.g. Verein (=feryain), erortern (=rfortern}, geachtet
(=gjdctet\ abdndern (=dp'end^rn), Polareis (^ Polar' ais), Wach-
telei (vdct^at), etc.1 The ' glottal stop' is formed by bringing
the vocal chords together, so as for a moment to close the
glottis, and then suddenly opening them with an explosion,
1 For the explanation of the symbols used in the transcription of the
German words see Victor's 'German Pronunciation,' Leipzig, 1890.
in our Secondary Schools. 1 5
as is done in coughing, or in clearing the throat. It is not a
sound difficult to produce, but, as it is not ordinarily written, it
is often neglected by English teachers of German. Students
who wish to speak German at all well must be careful not to
neglect the glottal stop and to make a clear distinction in the
pronunciation of words such as vereisen (=for'ais9n) and
verreisen (foraiszri). It has been well discussed by the late
Miss Laura Soames in her excellent ' Introduction to Pho-
netics' (London, 1891), p. 146, and by Professor W. Victor in
his most useful ' German Pronunciation,' pp. 56 sqq.
A word exists as a rule only as part of a phrase, hence the '
proper reading of whole sentences should be started at once.
Here the characteristic foreign intonation and the peculiar
accent of the phrase should be carefully taught from the
beginning. The teacher should insist on his pupils reading
and reciting the French sentences in the even, rhythmical and
distinct manner which is so characteristic of the French
enunciation. He should not allow them to jerk out the words
one by one, but he should strictly insist on their emitting
them in one continuous flow to the end of the sentence, how-
ever slow the pronunciation of the whole sentence may be
at first. This is often neglected in school teaching, the masters
being satisfied with a correct pronunciation of individual words.
Keating should be regularly and carefully practised from the
Deginning, and also dictation, in order to train the ear to catch
foreign sounds quTckTy~and 'correctly.
In order to teach pronunciation effectively, most advocates
of the ' Neuere Richtung ' strongly recommend beginning with
a phonetic transcription of foreign texts and not letting the
children see the ordinary spelling at all during the first few
weeks (or months). They maintain that children will catch the
foreign accent ever so much better if they do not start with the
confusing spelling of the present day, and they are of opinion
that the transition to the ordinary spelling later on is not
nearly so difficult as one would believe. They say that the
1 6 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
experiment has been tried more than once with excellent
success, while those who most strenuously oppose it have never
given it a fair trial. This vexed question (of which I have no
practical experience) is still much discussed and far from being
settled1. Practical experiments by competent, well- trained
teachers are still much wanted. As far as I can see at present
and have been able to gather from the experience of others, it
is not necessary to introduce transcribed texts — excellent and
indispensable as no doubt they are for students and teachers —
into class teaching. The modern reformers seem to go, in this
case, a little too far in their natural reaction against the old
method. They want revolution instead of reform. At all
events books like Dr Sweet's * Elementarbuch des gespro-
chenen Englisch ' and ' A Primer of Phonetics ' will never do
for school teaching. Dr Passy's system as used in his periodical
*Le maitre phonetique' is much easier, it has recently been
adopted by Professor Victor and bids fair to become the recog-
nised International alphabet for phonetic transcriptions. Single
words of exceptional difficulty might well be transcribed in
class teaching in the symbols of this comparatively simple
alphabet. The books on phonetics from which a teacher will
derive useful information are enumerated in my ' Handy Guide,'
§ 4, b. To these should now be added Victor's * Kleine Phonetik
des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen,' Leipzig, 1897.
After the ordinary pronunciation has been thoroughly mas-
tered by the children, the teacher should discuss with them, as
occasion arises, noteworthy exceptions occurring chiefly in the
rimes of the classical poets. The apparent irregularities of
French rimes such as roi : parlerais : Francois should be
explained by an account of the earlier pronunciation of -oi
(like oe). The German rimes of Schiller and Goethe, e.g.
glilhn : ziehn \ Euch : bleich ; krone : Thrdne ; an : Bahn and
others cease to be impure in the South German dialectic
1 See The Mod. Quarterly of Language and Literature, n. 150 — 3 and
157—8; The Journal of Education, 1897 (in various places).
in our Secondary Schools. 17
pronunciation of these great poets. In the highest forms an
occasional word about the changes of pronunciation and the
standard of pronunciation would not be out of place.
Spelling.
As to Spelling a word or two must suffice. German spelling
will be discussed in the last lecture. In nearly every language
there is a discrepancy, more or less marked, between the way
in which the words are written and that in which they are)
pronounced. The spelling represents in this case an earlier
stage of pronunciation, it is more or less ' historic ' (cp. knight,
veau, Stahl). Much has now simply to be committed to
memory, but again the^adyantage of a good pronunciation on
the part of the children will TileaFIy shew itself If children
have been taught from the beginning to distinguish in French
properly between e, e and e, they will without fail write reponse,
but repos, and representer, pere, and desespere. If they are
accustomed to pronounce the German modified vowels — one
of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the way of English students
of German — no confusion between Tochter and Tochter,
Bur gen and Bur gen, geachtet and geachtet, tauschen and tauschen
would be possible. They would distinguish in writing between
reisend, reissend and reizend, between versehren and verzehren,
between Senne, Sehne, Scene, and Zdhne.
Grammar. V
It is pretty generally admitted that up to now the
getting up of 'grammatical niceties and curiosities has been far
too prominent in most of our schools, and that grammar should
not be taught and learned at school principally for its own
sake — not even in our modern ' grammar schools.' It should
be taught in order to explain difficult passages and in order to
help the pupils to group together, to compare, and thus better
to understand certain important linguistic phenomena. The
1 8 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
study of grammar and the careful analytical examination of
sentences is no doubt a most valuable mental training —
although it is wrong to say, as is often rashly done, that the
study of grammar is a study of logic ; grammar is often not
logical — still the special and minute study of grammar as such
is not school work but should be left to the scientific treatment
of the University. Every school child should know the chief
points of the grammar of the foreign tongue, but only the
master should have made it a special study. He should of
course be thoroughly well grounded in his grammar, moreover —
and this is important — he should be able to give, wherever it
may be desirable, the 'why7 no less than the 'what/ He
should know the historical or phonetic reasons of the chief
grammatical phenomena1 — but it would be a grave mistake if
^he were to introduce too much of this special knowledge into
his class teaching. The classics should be read and enjoyed—
I am not sure whether they always are at present — and they
should certainly not be turned in class into a hunting-ground
for grammatical curiosities. The somewhat elaborate notes to
the classics in the Pitt Press and similar editions are merely
intended to facilitate home preparation, and to help the pupils
thoroughly to understand the words of the text, they are
certainly not meant to be learned by heart in order to be
reproduced in the next examination paper. They are intended
to relieve the teacher and to give him time for reading the
text and discussing the scenes and characters of great plays,
but not to disgust children with a beautiful poem or a fine
story.
From this there follows as the very first precept addressed
to the teacher of foreign grammar : Do not burden the memory
of your pupils with too many rules, still less with numerous
lists of words following their own rules, those words which
we call 'exceptions,' and which are as a rule so very
1 See Ernst Laas, ' Der deutsche Unterricht auf hoheren Lehranstalten '
(2nd ed. (by J. Imelmann), Berlin, 1886), pp. 217 — 222.
in our Secondary Schools. 19
largely utilized by a vast number of examiners whom I wish
I could call exceptions also. All we want to teach and to
impress firmly on the memory of the children is .a number of
ever-recurring facts, certain rules, briefly and clearly expressed,
deduced from the texts before the eyes of the children, and in
addition to these only a very few of the most noteworthy
exceptions. Most ' practical ' school grammars contain far too
much ; they would certainly be twice as good if they were half
as full. They should chiefly be used as books of reference.
Another important point is that the rules should invariably
be preceded by a number of well-chosen instances, selected
phrases from which the pupils with the assistance of the
teacher will find it easy and interesting to deduce the rules for
themselves. This is the natural process of thinking — by com-
parison of similar facts the underlying law is discovered1. All
the rules which a teacher wants to impress upon his pupils, he
should make them find themselves ! The process may be at
first somewhat slow, but the interest of the pupils will never be
allowed to flag, and ultimately the rules will be much better
known, being remembered in their application and not merely
in themselves.
Our model teacher will, I fear, in many cases have to
make up his own illustrative sentences, for what shall we say
of exercises such as the following : Decline in full : ' The blind
mouse,' or of the exercise on the numerals: 'Have you got
two apples?' 'No, but my four sisters have six dolls'?...! have
often pitied teachers and pupils who had to work through such
elaborate grammars, often containing subtle distinctions of which
the Germans themselves are entirely ignorant and which only
live an artificial life in the German of certain examination
papers. You might read in connection with this a pamphlet
which, although it is full of exaggerations and indeed not
free from mistakes, yet contains a great deal of truth; it is
1 This point is not by any means new, but was emphasised by Comenius
and others.
2O The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
4 The caricature of German in English Schools,' by Curt
Abel Musgrave, London, 1894.
Must, then, grammar be dry and repulsive to children ? It
certainly was so under the old system when all schools were
4 grammar schools' in the strictest sense of the word. But
cannot even Dame Grammatica be made attractive to the
minds of the young ? I think she can, and everything depends
on the way in which a teacher will first introduce her to the
children.
First of all he will not give too much at a time, and that
modicum chiefly in connection with the passages read. He
will also give the children some idea as to the actual meaning
of ' rules ' and ' exceptions,' and keep the rules, i.e. the large
groups of facts, constantly before them, so as gradually to
develop their Sprachgefilhl, the unconscious and unerring
feeling for what is right, the creation of which is one of the
highest aims of the teacher. He will discuss the terms 'regular'
and ' irregular ' in the proper way and choose a few easy and
striking instances for his explanations. Even children at school
should sometimes get a glimpse of the ' why ' and the ' how,'
although as a rule they have of course only to remember the
very commonest 'what.' With children of the highest forms
even a few somewhat more advanced grammatical phenomena
may be discussed as occasion offers itself, viz. the problems
of ordinary form-association (e.g. in Goethe's ' Legende vom
Hufeisen' : Das ein zerbrochen Hufeisen was. was, now war,
through form-association with the plural waren ; but cp. English
was and were where the old difference is preserved) ; the
development of Latin words in French, German and English,
the two groups of words which are distinguished as 'mots
populaires' and 'mots savants' (meuble, mobile— Kerker, Karzer
— sure, secure), the former of which is the older group in which
the words have undergone the effect of the usual sound-laws of
the language. Of course all such instruction should be kept
strictly elementary — yet it would be sure to interest the children
in our Secondary Schools. 21
and give them more correct notions of the growth and develop-
ment of language. Good German instances are found in the
little book by E. Wasserzieher, 'Aus dem Leben der deutschen
Sprache' (3^.), also in R. Kleinpaul, 'Das Fremdwort im
Deutschen' (is. Sammlung Goeschen, 55), and in the books
by O. Behaghel and O. Weise (see pages 69 — 70). The
relation of English to French and German should be briefly
and clearly explained. The relation of numerous words such
as finir and finish, or Leib and life, might very well be shewnV
(For classified lists of correspondences between German and
English words see my edition of 'Doctor Wespe' by R. Benedix.
Pitt Press Series, 1888, 2i895.) Rather than not touch on these
points at all, sacrifice the greater number of exceptions, in
fact a good deal of what our practical grammars give in small
print, and what should not be got up at all but only be referred
to as occasion offers. The discussion and brief explanation
of such important general phenomena is of far greater edu-
cational value than the somewhat mechanical drill in rare
exceptions or seldom used words and phrases.
Idioms.
The study of idiomatic phrases and the acquisition of a
useful vocabulary cannot be begun too early. But only the
really current idioms should be committed to memory, and
sentences, not isolated words, should be learned. The princi-
pal idioms should be imparted gradually and, where advisable,
explained. Ancient manners and bygone customs have left many
an interesting trace in the idiomatic phrases of everyday speech.
An explanation of German idioms such as einem die Stange
halten — einen im Stiche lassen — mir schwant Boses — einem ein
X fur ein U machen — einen Kerb bekommen and many others
would not fail to arouse the interest of the class, to set their
imagination going, and thus to help them to remember the
idioms. In most schools they are unduly neglected. The
22 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
necessary books of reference for the teacher of German are
given on p. 71 and in my i Guide' on p. 39; there are some
smaller books intended for the use of the pupils, e.g. those
by Koop (London, 2i89i), Becker (London, 1891), and Weisse
(London, 1892), but a really first-rate book for class purposes
has still to be written.
Vocabulary.
Apart from the vocabulary, which the pupils will gradually
acquire in a somewhat haphazard way from the reading of
foreign authors, the teacher should from the beginning aim at
adding systematically to the stock of words learned by his
class. He will do this by regular discussions of small groups
of words which are either connected by their sense or by their
form and which will be learnt by the class. He will of course
form short sentences shewing the ordinary use of these words
or, in lower forms, have recourse to pictures composed for the
purpose (e.g. Holzel's 'Wandbilder fiir den Anschauungs- und
Sprachunterricht,' 10 pictures, Wien, Holzel1), or G. Egli's
cheap and useful little picture-books with vocabulary called
'Satze fiir den Unterricht in den vier Hauptsprachen ' (Bilder-
saal ftir den Sprachenunterricht), Zurich, Orell Fiissli. He will
take such series of words as : father, mother, child, son,
daughter... i.e. all the ordinary (but no unusual) family names.
Another day he will take : house, court, garden, street, road ;
...or sun, moon, star, cloud, thunder, lightning... the sun sets,
a cloud covers the moon, the thunder roars, the lightning
flashes...; or tree, bush, oak, beech, fir, willow... together with
the verbs : to plant, to grow, to burst into leaf, etc. The
teacher will do well to work the necessary words and phrases
into short and interesting dialogues, or into stories which he
1 In connection with these may be used the books called ' Konversations-
Unterricht nach Holzel's Bildertafeln ' (German, French, Italian, English)
published by Emil Roth at Giessen. The German, French, etc. parts can
be had separately.
in our Secondary Schools. 23
will tell the children several times in the foreign language and
which he will make them repeat, write down from dictation,
and learn by heart. Subjects such as 'a walk in the country/
'a thunderstorm at sea/ £a cycling accident in the street/
' a visit of our uncle from Berlin or Paris ' would afford plenty
of useful material for increasing the vocabulary of the pupils.
The numerals, the pronouns, the forms of address make natural
groups which should be studied together and worked into a
number'of well-devised sentences. Together with the numerals
the chief foreign measures, weights and moneys should be given
with their English equivalents. Some foreign coins should
be shewn to the class when their name and value is given.
Another way of increasing' the vocabulary, which is often
very useful with more advanced pupils, is the study of ordinary
words which are connected by form : sitzen, setzen, Sitzung,
Satzung, Sitz, Satz (Aufsatz, Einsatz, Vorsatz^ Absatz), aufsitzen,
absitzen, nachsitzen, einsetzen, absetzen, vorsetzen^ versetzen, be-
setzen, iibersetzen, Besitzung, Besatzung, Besetzung^ Versetzung,
or steigen, Steig (Bahnsteig, Steigbugel\ Stieg (Aufstieg, Abstieg),
Steg, em-, aus-, um-steigen . . .etc. The difficulty here is where
to stop, but the conscientious teacher who has prepared his
lesson beforehand and has written down the words which he
intends to give to his pupils will not be exposed to the danger
of giving too much, viz. words which are of but little practical
importance for school purposes. Word-formation is at present
far too much neglected in school-teaching.
A third way of widening the vocabulary, and one which
should only be used occasionally in the highest forms by a
skilful and well informed teacher, is the method (so far as it can
be used) of etymological comparison. (See the lists of sound-
correspondences in my Pitt Press edition of ' Doctor Wespe.')
I should not advise teachers to confine themselves to one
method only — some change is always refreshing — but to take
the first method (the ' series ' method — a simplified * Gouin '
method) as a foundation, and to make the children learn,
24 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
gradually and systematically, all the most important words of
the foreign language — and none but those.
Some hints how this may be done are contained in a
German pamphlet on the first teaching of French. It is by
Dr Hermann Soltmann and is called ' Das propadeutische
Halbjahr des franzosischen Unterrichts an der hoheren Mad-
chenschule/ Bremen, 1893. What is said there with regard
to French at German schools holds equally good with regard
to our English schools. A similar guide for English teachers of
German is I believe still to be written. Some other German
books of a similar character are enumerated in the biblio-
graphical appendix to these lectures.
Conversation.
It is of the utmost importance that a master should talk to
his class in the foreign language as early as possible. He will
begin by discussing pictures and objects which are placed
before the pupils (e.g. Egli's or Holzel's pictures ; see above).
At first, of course, in order to be understood, he will occasion-
ally have to give some short explanations in English, and he
will not talk French or German the whole time. Gradually
the necessary explanations in the English language will become
less frequent and the talk in the foreign language will be
continued longer. The master must from the beginning make
all the children take an active part in the lesson; they must be
interested — stimulated to make out what the master says and
to express in the foreign tongue what they see him doing. He
has first to train their ear and their faculty of catching the
peculiarity of the foreign sounds and intonation, then their
faculty of speech. He must make them answer in complete /
sentences — all of them, not only the few forward pupils — he'
must in every way endeavour to overcome their first natural
shyness and disinclination to use the foreign idiom. Most
English boys and girls are unwilling to try to speak any other
language than their own, and it will require all the skill and
in our Secondary Schools. 25
tact of a master in whom they believe to draw them out. He
will naturally make them speak at first exclusively of things
which they see or have observed and experienced, about topics
well known to them, the vocabulary of which they have
mastered. In order to fulfil this condition the teacher must of
course be full of resource besides being able to converse in the
foreign idiom with ease and fluency. A French candidate for
the degree of Agrege is required by the regulations of the
examination to teach for an hour in the foreign language. A
German modern language master is required in his 'Staats-
examen ' to shew fluency and correctness in the practical use
of the foreign language which he wants to teach1. Our English
examination tests are in this respect as yet far from sufficient.
A change for the better seems however to be setting in2.
In speaking the foreign language the teacher should at
first make use of some picture, say the map of Europe, and
teach according to the direct method, beginning perhaps by
pointing to England and saying3:
Dies ist England. Was ist dies? Dies ist England.
Dies ist Deutschland. Was ist dies? Dies ist Deutsch-
land.
England (Deutschland) ist ein Land. Das grosse Land,
ein grosses Land. Deutschland ist ein grosses Land.
Dies ist die Nordsee.'^pie Nordsee ist ein Meer.
1 A still much stricter ' Pruftingsordnung ' will be published before long.
2 At Cambridge the institution^ of a new voluntary viva voce Examina-
tion on a much larger basis and OT a much more searching nature than the
present voluntary oral test is just under consideration and will probably
soon become a fact. It will probably be in connection with our two Modern
Language Examinations for the B.A. degree.
3 Cp. now the excellent chapter on the teaching of German on a direct
system by Professor Spencer in his 'Aims and Practice of Teaching'
(Cambridge, 1897), pp. 100 — 120. My specimen above given was con-
structed before the appearance of Dr Spencer's valuable experiment. On
a similar experiment (by Dr Findlay, Mr Twentyman and Mr Kirkman)
see the Bibliographical Appendix p. 59 under 7 and 12.
26 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Dies 1st der Rhein. Der Rhein ist ein Fluss.
Der Fluss fliesst in das Meer (in die Nordsee).
Dies ist die Elbe. Die Elbe ist auch ein Fluss.
Die Elbe fliesst auch in die Nordsee.
Der Rhein und die Elbe sind Fliisse.
Die Elbe ist ein grosser deutscher Fluss.
A number of questions and answers — carefully pronounced
— would serve to make the children familiar with the foregoing
sentences and the sounds contained in them. Then a sum-
mary of the grammatical material contained in these sentences
would be made by the teacher speaking English, thus :
Der, die, das — ein — dies — grosser, grosse, grosses — ist, sind
— fliesst — Fluss, Fliisse — der Fluss, das Land, das Meer, der
Rhein, die Elbe, die Nordsee — England, Deutschland, deutscher.
Or a teacher might start with Egli's little picture books and
discuss all the scenes of everyday life with his pupils, especially
with young children in the lower forms. With older children
historical and geographical pictures should be discussed also.
In order to secure, without risk of losing it again, an easy
command of the foreign idiom, teachers of Modern Languages
should have resided abroad and should from time to time go
abroad again. But a prolonged stay in a foreign country will
be valuable in other ways also. It will enable teachers to see
with their own eyes and to speak from personal experience.
They will be more just and sympathetic in their judgment of
foreign excellence and foreign peculiarities. Residence abroad
is so far nowhere compulsory, no European State requires it
expressly of its Modern Language teachers; but in France,
where of late the State has done much for Modern Languages,
to have resided abroad is virtually a condition of appointment
to good posts. Travelling exhibitions are given in Germany,
Austria, Switzerland, and France by the State and by munici-
palities ; and in Sweden, I am informed, on such a scale that
every Modern Language teacher receives one every five years
in our Secondary Schools. 27
on an average. America, as is well known, gives a prolonged
leave of absence every seventh year, and also bursaries. At
the Neuphilologentag at Hamburg (1896) it was resolved to
memorialise the German government to the effect that "for the
maintenance of conversational facility and the knowledge of
foreign life and customs, leave of absence should be granted to
teachers of Modern Languages — whether in Universities or
High Schools — at certain fixed intervals of time (at least every
five years)." In England the State does not directly interfere
in these matters, but it is very desirable that teachers of
Modern Languages should help themselves to keep up
their practical efficiency, and that Headmasters should help
them by granting an occasional leave of absence. This is
a point of the very greatest importance and one that
the Modern Language Association should be interested in
taking up. At Birmingham Professor Fiedler has succeeded
more than once in raising a sum of ^50 to be given as a
travelling scholarship to students of the Mason College.
Here County Councils and private donors can do much good.
At present there exist in various French (3 ?) and in three
German University towns so-called * Holiday courses' in which
lectures in the language of the country are given, opportunities
for the constant use of the foreign language offered, practice in
phonetic drill arranged, and illustrations in method (often
4 direct method' courses) given. Such summer meetings are
being held in July and August at the German Universities
of Greifswald (on the Baltic Sea), Marburg (on the Lahn),
and Jena (near Weimar and the Wartburg). The French
meetings are arranged at Paris by the Alliance Franchise
(apply to the Secretary, 45 Rue de Grenelle) and (at Caen
and Tours) by the Modern Language Holiday Courses Com-
mittee (apply to the Secretary of the Teachers' Guild, 74,
Gower Street, London, W.C.). These meetings are being
attended by an increasing number of English teachers and
students, and many of my own students have derived the
28 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
greatest benefit from attending them. Moreover the Ferien-
kurse are cheap, part of them specially devised for the
needs of foreigners and, from all I have heard of them from
a number of students of both sexes, are most enjoyable1. I
have no doubt that our students and teachers of Modern
Languages will very largely benefit by repeated visits abroad in
the congenial society of fellow-teachers and in daily practice of
the foreign idiom. They should live, if possible, in a German
or French family where they could be the only foreigners,
and not go to one of the large boarding-houses, which are
obviously the most unsuitable places to go to if one wants to
learn a foreign language. There is a growing conviction that
the teaching of Modern Languages in our Secondary schools
should henceforth as a rule not be entrusted to foreigners but
to duly qualified English men and women. I believe that this
is a very sound and well justified view — I cannot discuss it
here at length — and the only advice I have to give to intending
teachers no less than to those who have entered the profession,
is : Go abroad as much as you can, improve and deepen your
knowledge of the language and of the people as much as is in
your power2. Here at Cambridge we have now (1898) for
fourteen years past been training teachers of Modern Lan-
guages, and there have been among them very few indeed
who did not manage to go abroad at least once, during the
1 See also the Modern Language Quarterly, I. (July, 1897), p. 37;
II. (November, 1897), p. 89; the Mod. Q. of Lang, and Lit. n. (July, 1898),
PP- J53~ 60; and also several notices in T'he Journal of Education and
other educational papers.
2 Books such as Kron's * Le petit Parisien ' and Hamann's ' Echo der
deutschen Umgangssprache ' will be found extremely useful. Students and
teachers should be provided with Jaschke's little pocket dictionaries of
French and German, with the Baedekers of Paris (or Northern France, in
French) or Berlin (or Norddeutschland, Rhein, etc. in German); Langen-
scheidt's * Notworterbuch der franz. Sprache' in. ('Land und Leute in
Frankreich ') ; Mahrenholz, 'Frankreich' (Leipzig, 1897); and consult
Klopper's 'Franzosisches Real-Lexikon' (Leipzig: in course of preparation).
in our Secondary Schools. 29
three or four years they were reading for their Modern Lan-
guages Tripos. Most of them went abroad two or three times
during their residence. In order to derive real benefit from
their stay abroad, students and teachers should very carefully
prepare themselves for it. The way in which they should
proceed to study abroad is indicated in my lecture on the
training of Modern Language Teachers.
Reading.
As the object of Modern Language teaching is in my
opinion to teach not only the foreign language, but at the same
time by means of it the principal features of the life and
character of a foreign nation, it follows that the material for
reading should be chosen so as to promote this aim.
A most careful selection of suitable material should be made,
and a systematic gradation of Reading should be devised.
After a good many object lessons in which the common
objects of the foreign country are called by their foreign names
and discussed in a variety of sentences, there might follow a
Primer containing a number of well-chosen characteristic
illustrations. From the very beginning the Reading should be
connected with the history and geography of the foreign
country. A good clear map of Germany (or France) with
German (or French) names should be hung up in the Modern
Language class room during all German or French lessons.
German names of German places should be taught throughout
(why are they usually given in French spelling and in English
pronunciation?), e.g. Aachen, Koln, Mainz, Wiirzburg, Miin-
chen, Braunschweig, Wien, Donau, Weichsel, Vogesen, etc.
In the middle classes a well compiled Reader should form
the centre of all Modern Language teaching. It would be a
graduated continuation of the Primer used in the lower forms.
The ideal Reader for English Schools has so far not yet been
written. E. Hausknecht's 'The English Student/ perhaps
also W. Victor's and F. Dorr's ' Englisches Lesebuch,' or
30 TJie Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
O. Jespersen's and Chr. Sarauw's ' Engelsk Begynderbog'
(Kj^benhavn, 1896) are the books which I should set up as
models to be followed.
In the upper forms the Reader should be replaced by the
study of some of the best classical works.
Nature of the proposed ' Reader'
Our model ' Reader ' — which is as yet unwritten — should
contain only pieces illustrating the life and thought of foreign
nations in olden and, still more, in our own times. The
selection should be made by an experienced teacher with skill
and tact, and above all in a spirit of sympathy with foreign
excellence and of interest in foreign peculiarities. Its aim
must obviously be to make the children understand foreign
ways of thinking, but not to encourage in them a spirit of
immature and self-asserting criticism. The texts should as
far as possible be accompanied by a series of illustrations.
A complete vocabulary at the end, carefully compiled, with easy
phonetic transcriptions of especially difficult words : and short
references to obvious etymological comparisons with English,
would much enhance the usefulness of such a Reader.
Anything not in harmony with these principles should be
strictly excluded from the Modern Language reading books.
From a model Reader of French and German I should for
instance unhesitatingly exclude a description, however brilliant,
of the l battle of Marathon/ or ' a trip to the Isle of Wight/ or
' a sunset in the desert/ or ' the character of the Chinese/ or
' Warren Hastings.' I should also discard general anecdotes
such as 'remarkable cleverness of a fox-terrier/ or 'the boy
and the serpent/ etc. On the other hand I should gladly
admit 'a trip from London to Paris/ 'a visit to the South of
France/ or ' to the Rhine/ or ' to the Black Forest/ a ' visit to
the Louvre/ or 'to the Castle at Heidelberg/ or 'to Cologne
Cathedral/ 'a reception into the Academic Frangaise/ 'a
speech by Bismarck in the Reichstag/ ' a German school-treat/
in our Secondary Schools. 31
* a Turnfahrt,' 'a Sangerfest/ etc. Or subjects such as ' Henri IV.
and the foreign ambassadors/ ' the Emperor Max and his fool
Kunz von Rosen,' * Frederick II. and the miller of Sanssouci,'
' Bismarck and the Austrian Ambassador/ or ' Goethe's corre-
spondence with Carry] e/ or some letters of Lessing or Schiller
or of Moltke or Bismarck.
Pieces such as these would be just as useful to the pupils
learning the German language as those contained in the present
books, and they would — each of them — in addition illustrate
some point of German history, geography, life and thought, and
would furnish excellent material for comparison and discussion.
In addition to the selected pieces in prose and verse I
should put into the Reader :
(1) Good clear maps, not too small, of Germany and
France ; rivers and places to be given with their foreign
names. Special maps of Berlin and Vienna (or Paris) and
surroundings should be included.
(2) Tables of foreign measures, weights, and moneys (the
latter perhaps with coloured illustrations — few English children
realise the size and value of a German Pfennig or have seen
German nickel money) together with their English equivalents.
(3) Pictures of the flags and ensigns of foreign nations,
also the German spread-eagle (as seen on all official docu-
ments), the emblem of the French Republic, and similar
illustrations of importance and interest which can easily be
procured.
(4) Enumerations of the principal ranks and titles, together
with the proper forms of address.
(5) Letters of various kinds, ordinary letters (social and
commercial) as well as some of a higher and of the highest type.
Some of the German letters should be in German handwriting.
(6) A list of all the most common abbreviations used in
the foreign languages.
A Reader containing all these items could most profitably
be made the basis of instruction in the foreign tongues.
32 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
Study of the Classics.
For the use of the highest forms of schools a charac-
teristic selection of truly representative works should be made,
beginning with some rather easy works. A sort of 4 canon ' of
all that is really first-rate and at the same time suitable for
school-reading should be devised. This again would be a
really useful subject for discussion among the members of the
Modern Language Association, and the columns of the new
Modern Language Quarterly would be at the disposal of
persons of experience anxious to discuss this most importanjt
problem. As but little time can be allotted to Modern Lan-
guages in the curricula of our High Schools, it is of paramount
importance that no book but the very best, the most suitable
and the most characteristic, should be set for school-reading.
This is so far very frequently not the case ; a number of the
books prescribed and edited with English notes do not deserve
to be studied in schools to the neglect of other works, which
are no more difficult and far more attractive and important
than the books actually studied.
The ' canon' of works to be read should of course be
sufficiently comprehensive to admit of frequent changes, viz.
at one time one of Lessing's plays, at another one of Goethe's or
Schiller's or Grillparzer' s or some other great dramatist might be
set, the same standard of difficulty being kept. But nothing that
is not of real literary excellence should be read, and for this
reason for instance Kotzebue's old-fashioned and one-sided farce,
' Die deutschen Kleinstadter,' which is at present much read
in France and of which there is, unfortunately, also an English
edition, should be sternly rejected. School-children would get
nothing but wrong notions about German life from the reading
of this farce, while a more modern and infinitely superior play,
Gustav Freytag's comedy, ' Die Journalisten,' is not read half as
much as it deserves to be.
in our Secondary Schools. 33
A ' canon' of poems to be learned by heart — after due
explanation and recitation by the master — should also be
devised. There should be a gradation from the easier to the
harder, and the older poems should be repeated from time to
time in later terms.
. Some prose pieces (fables, parts of speeches) might also
occasionally be committed to memory and recited with proper
intonation before the class. If properly treated this is really a
most useful exercise, but of course the master must take care j
that the piece is well learned, well understood, and recited j
with the proper expression. The pieces thus learned should be *
models of style and need not be at all long. Here is a large
field for really useful investigation and much wanted reform.
These exercises will be found to ' pay ' all the better when the
necessary changes in Modern Language examinations are
made and due importance is attached to the spoken language.
It is to be hoped and it is indeed probable that this change for
the better — an all important change for the proper teaching and
study of the modern living tongues — will soon take place.
I sincerely hope that before long all the better schools in
this country will allow more time to the study of Modern
Languages, which is the first and foremost condition of success
in teaching. In the meantime find out
(1) How many hours for how many terms and years you
will have at present at your school ; then
(2) Make a general plan of work on a clearly conceived
system.
(3) Endeavour to bring about a fruitful interchange of
ideas with your fellow-teachers, especially with your colleagues
at the same school, as to what should be read.
The study of foreign classics should be less dependent
upon ' set books ' appointed for examinations. The draw-
backs of getting up 'set books' are well known. They may
be too hard or they may be too easy for a great number of
pupils. They are often merely learned by rote — completely
B. i
34 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
spoiling the child's pleasure in the book — and at all events a
disproportionate amount of time is given in most schools to
the getting up of one or two books, while four or five of the
same size might have been read and enjoyed within the same
space of time. Sometimes, of course, prescribed books may
fit in well and be just the thing to study. But it cannot be
denied that they often disturb the harmonious development of
the subject, coming in at the wrong time for individual forms
and taking the place of books which should be read by
preference. The following is a true though rather an extreme
case of the neglect of the classics. Some time ago I had to
examine a candidate orally who told me that he had done
German for more than three years. When I asked him what
authors he had read in this time he answered ' I have only
read one set book, but I have worked through many — exami-
nation papers' !
More than once I have been asked by teachers : Do you
think that the French and German iyth and i8th century
classics should still be read in English schools ? This question
is most frequently asked by teachers who know only of
utilitarian and commercial, but not of educational ends in the
study of modern foreign literature. We should here beware of
our friends. There is no doubt a decided increase in. the in-
terest taken in Modern Languages all over the country, but
unfortunately this interest is in many cases not educational but
purely commercial. These advocates of ' Moderns versus
Ancients ' forget that education and culture are the ends of
all study, and that the very best is just good enough for the
education of our children. That kind of education which the
better schools should give cannot be got from the trashy stuff
which some utilitarian pedagogues propose to substitute for the
great works of the noblest minds. It is true that the study of
Moliere's Misanthrope does not always help us to read the
poems of Paul Verlaine, still less is Schiller's * Wallenstein '
the most suitable preparation for the study of the ' Berliner
in our Secondary Schools. 35
Borsenkurier ' — but I trust that you will all agree with me that,
practical as the teaching of Modern Languages must be,
teachers have no right to withhold from their more advanced
pupils the knowledge of some of the greatest works of modern /
literary art, works full of beauty and of noble ideas expressed inj
choice language. It is a privilege of teachers to shew to their
pupils how these great works of art should be appreciated and
enjoyed. Their zeal and enthusiasm should fire that of their (
pupils. Above all, in schools in which the ancient classical
writers are but little read or not read at all, all the more stress
should be laid on the careful study of a number of foreign
masterpieces of the lyth and i8th centuries. S These con-
victions do not in the least prevent me from admitting that
some suitable thoroughly modern texts should be read from
time to time by the side of the great classics, especially in the
lower forms or in a specially short term. There will be ample
time for reading a considerable amount of good literature on the
modern sides of good boys' schools and in all the high schools
for girls, as teachers in the future will devote less time to
teaching of grammar pure and simple, and very little to the
mechanical manufacturing of colourless mosaic translations
from English into the foreign language.
The method of reading with a class.
The most careful preparation on the part of the teacher —
and not only of the young teacher — is absolutely necessary for
success. He has not merely to consider what is to De said,
but what is not to be said, and in the case of what he says how
it should be said and impressed upon the minds of the young.
A good teacher will of course never be content with
walking into his class room and saying on the subject he is
to teach just what happens to occur to him — he will carefully
sift his material, reduce and simplify, dwell on the important
3—2
36 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
points, in short, work according to a well-conceived plan and
without omission of any point of importance for the children.
The fact that everything has been thought out beforehand
need not make his delivery dry and dull, either to himself or
to his class. In order to make his lesson interesting and
fruitful I would advise a young teacher as follows : Find out,
as far as possible by question and answer, with the class the
facts which you propose to teach. Draw out together with
them everything that is of importance in the text you are
studying, encouraging every child to help in the work. Be
careful not to talk above the understanding of the children,
especially of the average children, in the discussion of a great
play or of a difficult poem — do not talk about what will interest
you most, but about what the children want and have a right
to learn. Great care and tact, also great self-abnegation, is
necessary in the teaching of poetry and literature. The very
best and deepest thoughts of the greatest minds are naturally
beyond the reach of children — yet fortunately there remains
a very great deal that can be taught and will, if imparted
carefully and pleasantly, be sure to bear fruit in later life.
The children should be early accustomed to look upon a poem
or a play not as an exercise or as something to be crammed
1 for an examination, but as a work of art to be appreciated and
| enjoyed. A good teacher will not use many words about it,
but he will let this feeling arise naturally from the way in which
he approaches and treats the poem. Before he begins to read
Ia poem or a passage with the class he will be careful to create,
as it were, the proper atmosphere for it. A few introductory
words will prepare the minds of the young, and then the poem
will not fail to produce the desired effect upon them. But if
you begin the reading of a poem by saying in a business-like
tone : ' Smith, will you read the first stanza of the poem No. 42
on page 96 of the Reader' — of course the Muse of Poetry will
have left the room long before Smith has opened his mouth.
All will be different if the teacher says a few simple words
in our Secondary Schools. 37
of introduction to prepare the minds of the children before-
hand, and then proceeds to reading the poem aloud with
proper pronunciation, intonation and expression. Poems such
as Goethe's * Erlkonig ' or Schiller's ' Graf von Habsburg '
require very careful reading in order to produce the fullest
effect. After the master has read the poem he will have itr
repeated by the pupils, the better ones being first called upon,)
and will insist on a good, careful and spirited reproduction/
Sometimes a short poem may be advantageously read by the
whole class together. The teacher should explain any real
difficulties and ask questions concerning passages which requir^
explanation — but he should not <rr<«&_diffietilties. In the case
of poems it is often advantageous to give and to require a
paraphrase of difficult lines in ordinary prose, or to give before
the actual reading of a more difficult poem a brief summary of
its contents. Two poems which I have found to be hard to
render well and which are not easily understood even by
pupils of good ability are Schiller's ' Kampf mit dem Drachen'
and still more Goethe's so-called ' Ballade' ('vom vertriebenen
und zuriickkehrenden Grafen '). Never give a poem to the class
to be learned by heart without having first read and fully!
explained the whole of it. Avoid setting very long poems in(
the lower and middle classes.
With the highest forms you will be able to read pretty
rapidly, making the pupils invariably read out the German
or French texts and only requiring an English rendering in the
case of rather difficult passages. If you attempt at that stage
some of the great foreign dramas you will find that your pupils
really enjoy them, when not obliged to take line by line
and scene by scene in homoeopathic doses — the safest way
of making them detest Racine and Schiller for many years
to come. Many mistakes are made by teachers in giving
superfluous information or requiring the pupils to learn by
rote all the notes contained in their editions of the classic. A
great play is too good to be treated as a storehouse full of
38 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
grammatical curiosities. These should be explained in the
notes where they occur, but their importance should not be
exaggerated and no disproportionate amount of time should be
allowed for them. Of course I do not intend to recommend
that the teacher should pass over unnoticed any real difficulty
of language or thought or allow any opportunity for awakening
literary taste to slip by.
In dealing with a great play, if it be written in verse,
the teacher should consider it his duty briefly to discuss the
metrical form, of which nearly all school-children and even a
number of students of Modern Languages are entirely ignorant.
They should know the elements of poetic form — it is by no
means a matter of no importance in what form the poet has
chosen to express his thoughts. Certain forms suit the poetic
genius of certain languages — the iambic trimeter is the national
tragic metre for the Greeks as is the alexandrine for the
French and blank verse for the English. Lessing and Schiller
deliberately adopted in their later plays the English blank
verse, Goethe's metre in * Iphigenie ' is more closely connected
with the Italian endecasillabo^ all three modified the adopted ,
metre to suit their own taste and genius. Even school-boys
and school-girls may fairly be expected to have some general
notions on such points — which, if properly brought before '
them, would be sure to interest them. What is the state of
things at present ? Some years ago I had to examine a great
number of schools in Schiller's ' Wilhelm Tell,' a play con-
sisting of 3,290 lines. I ventured to ask the question: * In
what metre is this play written ? Give a brief description of it.'
Here are some of the answers which I read with a shudder
I can still recall : ' This play is written in the old Italian
ballad metre, that is, the metre of Virgil's ^neid,' or 'The
metre of this play is called Alexandrine,' 'Schiller's Tell is
written in didactic hexameters.' Such were the extraordinary
statements to which they committed themselves after having
read over 3,200 lines of blank verse ! It was disheartening,
in our Secondary Schools. 39
and the worst was that children writing such absolute nonsense
did actually pass the examination with credit if their grammar
and translation were correct. Who was to blame? Not the
children, but the teachers who had plainly neglected to pay
any attention whatsoever to form.
Another point at which the teacher ought to work with his
class is the making clear to every child the plan of the poet — f
the arrangement of thought — the connection of the scenes —
the development of the action — the climax, perirjeteia^-aadj
the catastrophe — in short what we may fitly call the 'inner
form ' of the drama, the moulding of the great mass of material
in the mind of the poet so as to assume a higher artistic form.
Think of the masterly structure of Schiller's ' Wallenstein. '
Here the master can do very much to develop the taste, the
judgment, and the general culture of his pupils. These lessonsf
should be the finest fruit of all his teaching, they should never]
be forgotten. How much can be done in this respect by the
right man for a whole form, I know from experience, gratefully
recollecting a series of stimulating lessons on the German
classics given during my last year at school by my own old
head-master Dr Wiedasch of Hanover. But where is the
corresponding teaching of English literature in our secondary
schools? Great reforms in the teaching of English seem to
me to be most urgently required in the immediate future in
many schools.
If you read great plays with your best pupils — they should
only be read with good pupils — sum up after each scene, after
each act. Discuss the development of the action, see how far;
it has advanced (and by what means), what is still expected
(hoped or feared?). Discuss the characters and their motives,
group them, see in what way they develop (if they develop at
all), and let some advanced pupils attempt to write very briefly (
in the foreign language about such of the characters as specially
interest them. ' Maria Stuart' and 'Wilhelm Tell* are easy
plays in this respect, 'Minna von Barnhelm,' ' Iphigenie,'
40 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages
'Tasso,' 'Die Jungfrau von Orleans' and ' Wallenstein' present
greater difficulties1.
A teacher is very considerably helped in his task of
explaining a play and the chief characters occurring in it if
he has seen it acted abroad by good actors. This is one
among many other reasons why teachers of foreign languages
in going abroad should go to large towns, to great intellectual
centres where there are good theatres. Paris, Berlin, Vienna and
many large German towns will in this respect be all that can
be desired. It is a great pity that there are still some students
and teachers who are disinclined to go to the theatres — they
certainly miss a great opportunity for better understanding the
noble plays which they are called upon to explain to their
pupils. It is a great mistake to ignore the obvious fact that
plays are written to be seen on the stage and not to be read in
an easy-chair. I cannot help feeling that he who allows 'moral '
scruples to prevent him from attending first-rate performances
of the great modern masterpieces of dramatic art by the best
actors and actresses of our own times may be a most estimable
person but will be wholly unsuitable for the office of teacher
of Modern Languages. He would probably never care to do
justice to Schiller's fine essay 'Die Schaubtihne als moralische
Anstalt betrachtet' and to numerous similar utterances by him,
Lessing, and Goethe. A teacher of Modern Languages and
Literatures should do his best to cultivate and develop a
taste for literary art for his own benefit no less than for that of
his pupils. Teachers who wish to succeed should be infinitely
more than mere mditres de langue. As to books for the
proper explanation of plays, those by G. Freytag, Bulthaupt,
Bellermann, Franz, and others enumerated in my ' Handy
Guide' pp. 75 and 103 will be found most useful.
One more remark before I leave this subject. If a play
should happen to be historical, do not dwell on all the points
1 Compare my article ' How to study a masterpiece of literature ' in the
National Home Reading Union Magazine, Special Course, October, 1895.
in our Secondary Schools. 41
in which a poet has purposely or unconsciously deviated from
history, still less allow them to be crammed for examination
purposes, but shew by one or two really striking instances in
what manner a great tragedy-writer has treated and transformed
the facts of history. Goethe's ' Egmont ' and Schiller's ' Maria
Stuart' or 'Jungfrau von Orleans' afford good examples.
Again, if the play should happen to be Goethe's * Iphigenie,'
do not waste much valuable time in pointing out conscien-
tiously— if conscience has any part in such a proceeding — all
the numerous cases in which Goethe differs from Euripides, but
be careful to discuss fully and forcibly the great difference of
the spirit pervading the whole and the all-important alteration
of the ending.
The last question connected with Modern Language
teaching with which I propose to deal in these lectures is
Should Foreign Literature as such be taught in Schools ? ^
I think not ! It cannot and it should not ! It will be found
difficult enough to give the children in the highest forms some
general notions concerning the development of their own ,
national literature, a subject hitherto far too much neglected.
But a short biographical account of some of the most
prominent modern authors — carefully prepared by the teacher
and told in an attractive manner — may very well be given.
The children should know something about the greatest modern
foreign writers, they should know about their lives, aims, and
lasting merits — they should have seen pictures of them and
take a real interest in them. But these must only be the stars
of the first magnitude. We must not attempt to do too many
things, but whatever we undertake to teach, let us teach well.
This is what I wished to say about the teaching of Modern
Languages generally. I have an ideal before me of the manner
in which a Modern Language teacher should set to work and
of the success which he may reasonably hope for with children
42 The Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages.
of ordinary ability and not extraordinary industry who get
Oftly a few hours of German and French a week while all the
otner subjects are taught by means of the English language.
Under existing conditions they can never, as it were, learn to
swim freely in the foreign element, but they may and should
take a great deal of interest in their work, lay a good and
solid foundation at school, and— as the languages are modern
and living — go on in later life extending their knowledge of
the foreign tongues and the great nations who speak them.
The stimulus and taste for this study must needs be given in
the first instance by the school teachers— what a great and
noble task is theirs if only they will approach it in the proper
spirit ! Eve*n those whose interests are chiefly directed to the
promotion of technical or commercial education and who
realise the great importance of Modern Languages for these
branches of human activity, even these should remember that
all special training in technical and commercial subjects if it is
to be sound must needs rest on a satisfactory basis of thorough
general information. The teaching of Modern Languages, if
properly promoted and improved, will no doubt produce much
better results than now for the benefit of those who merely
need them for technical or commercial pursuits — but the study
and teaching of Modern Languages has a much higher aim
and a much more important duty to fulfil in the secondary
education curriculum of the twentieth century. At the close
of our century I think I foresee a great future for Modern
Language study in our schools — let us then all do our best to
make the most of our great opportunities and never forget
that, in spite of all the pressure from without, we must not
degrade the study of Modern Languages to a successful
analysis of the various types of business letters or newspaper
articles or an acquisition of a certain amount of everyday
prattle on some trivial topics, but that it is our duty to teach
Modern Languages in secondary schools as one of the most
valuable elements in a truly liberal education.
THE TEACHING OF GERMAN IN OUR
SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
IN this supplementary lecture my aim is to throw out some
hints as to the special objects and the special difficulties of the
teaching of German. I also propose to give you my own
opinion as to some much discussed points of spelling, pro-
nunciation and reading, as it is of the greatest importance that
intending teachers should start with definite views on such
vexed points.
But before entering into details I am anxious once more to
say most emphatically that to teach German in the highest
sense, even in middle-class schools and to children of ordinary
ability, does not merely mean to teach Grammar and Com-
position, but above all to teach the spirit of the language, the
ready understanding and use of it, and by means of language
and literature to spread a just understanding of the spirit of the
German nation, and to produce a sympathetic appreciation of
a people so nearly related to the English. The close con-
nection of the two greatest Germanic peoples in language,
literature and feeling should from time to time be pointed
out. The interest in the study of a tongue so nearly akin to
the English will thus be kept up and intensified.
On the other hand it will be the task of a good teacher to
find out the chief and characteristic differences between English
and German. He will do well to note down all the main
44 The Teaching of German
difficulties experienced by English children in learning German,
to tabulate them for his own use, to keep them continually in
view and to make the children pay special attention to them.
By doing this he will bring it about that the chief and most
annoying mistakes will disappear one by one, and that the
children will leave school with as fair a knowledge of German
as can be reasonably expected — a knowledge much superior to
that now possessed by most children and by not a few students
coming up to the Universities.
German Letters.
In a previous lecture I have discussed the relation of
letters and sounds in a general way, reminding students of the
facts that words consist of sounds and not of letters, and also
that the pronunciation changes more rapidly than the spelling,
which on this account never quite accurately represents the
actual pronunciation. To-day I have to deal with the German
letters, the peculiar German (Austrian and Swiss) alphabet.
The question arises : Should the use of German small and
capital letters, two new alphabets to English children, still be
taught in our English schools? This is a question which is
frequently asked. I have no hesitation in answering that they
should certainly be taught from the beginning, the new letter
in connection with the foreign sound1. The initial trouble is,
after all, but small, and the reason for incurring it is, that
whatever the absolute or the scientific value of the German
alphabet may be, yet as long as the great majority of Germans
use the German letters exclusively, it would be absolutely
wrong in English teachers to withhold from their pupils
familiarity with these characters and not to train them in their
use while they are young and can easily acquire them. It may
hamper some of them very considerably in later life — I know
it from experience — if they cannot read or write German
characters with ease and fluency. Books from which the
1 This is called in German Schreiblesen.
/;/ our Secondary Schools. 45
reading of the German handwriting can be learned are not
wanting, see p. 70 \ Clerks, officers, secretaries, persons
travelling abroad, let alone scholars, will one day be glad to
be able to read German writing and German print. Even those
who in later life do not actually need to read or to write the
German handwriting may like to be able to write the language
as the Germans do it — they will look upon it as an accomplish-
ment. It is true that in * Local' and other Examinations
candidates are ' not required ' to use the German handwriting,
but this does not mean that those who write German really
well are forbidden to write it. Only the examiners have found
by experience that in most cases up to now the handwriting of
the candidates has been too bad to encourage its use in
examinations. Writing against time does not tend to improve
any handwriting, and many pupils seem only to be able to
draw German words letter by letter in a medieval monkish
handwriting and cannot possibly hope to finish their task in
time if they use German characters.
The same remarks apply with still greater force to the use
of German characters in German books printed in this country,
especially in English school editions of German classics. I
think we are bound to keep them, and that teachers are bound
to teach them. As long as most German books and all the
newspapers are printed in German type we cannot afford to
neglect it. Knowing the history of the so-called Gothic or
black-letter type in Germany and elsewhere, I am of course far
from seeing in its use something specially German which it
would be a patriotic duty for the Germans to retain. I even
wish the German type were replaced by the common round
type which for various reasons deserves to be recommended —
still I think we teachers of German in England have no right
to initiate so great a change and to deny to our pupils that
proper training in the use of the German letters which cannot
1 Exercise books for writing German letters can be obtained from
Mr Nutt, 270, Strand, London.
46 The Teaching of German
anywhere be given with more facility and success than at
school. Why do we not first abolish the use of Greek and
Hebrew letters in the grammar schools ? They are certainly at
least as hard — or not more easy — and not more practically
useful to most students of these languages. There are but few
German letters which present any difficulty.
In reading German letters teach the distinctions between
te and et, 6 and t>, f and f, r and r, 33 and 93, 9R and 2B,
% and 3, SJ{ and ft. All the others are perfectly easy1. In
writing German characters insist on your pupils marking the
modification of vowels, the u hooks, and the difference between
«, f. ff, *
As to the Modern Spelling^ 1880) I believe that it should
be adopted. It can very easily be taught, and it prevails now
in all schools and is used by most publishers and newspapers.
It is decidedly the spelling of the future, being a moderate
reform on the right lines but no revolution of the traditional
spelling. It is not ideal, but it is without doubt better than
anything to be met with in the seventies of this century, and
certainly much better than the previous anarchy in spelling.
There is, moreover, no reason why the present official ortho-
graphy should not be revised again and somewhat improved in
the course of the next century. The best books of reference for
teachers are named on pp. 66, 70 and in my 'Guide/ pp. 34, 51.
German Pronunciation.
Even the most elementary teaching — the laying of a good
foundation — should be given by a carefully trained and duly
qualified master. He should be well acquainted with the ele-
ments of phonetics and should have a really good pronunciation ;
he should have been abroad and should go again from time to
time. He should know the principal differences of pronuncia-
tion in different parts of the country and should be acquainted
1 Cp. the useful word-lists in O. Siepmann's excellent ' Public School
German Primer,' pp. xxvii. — xxx., which afford ample reading practice.
in our Secondary Schools. 47
with the chief shortcomings of the ordinary Hanoverian, Saxon,
Swabian and Berlin pronunciation. He should have carefully
considered what pronunciation he is to teach and what the
standard of refined German speech requires1.
The present standard pronunciation of Modern German is
the pronunciation of the best actors on the stage2. Here a
common pronunciation is absolutely necessary. A play like
'IphigemV would be completely spoilt if Orestes was to speak
Swabian, Pylades Westphalian, Iphigenia Saxon, and King
Thoas East- Prussian. While the forms of the literary language
are a compromise between South and Middle German, their
pronunciation should be in the main North German. The
pronunciation of refined Berlin ladies can also be recommended.
The Hanoverian pronunciation — excellent as it is in many
respects — is not free from a number of very marked provin-
cialisms which should not be imitated. Being myself a native
of the town of Hanover I can speak from personal experience.
A teacher should invariably read out the German text to be
explained to his pupils once or twice before they read it to
him. He should prepare this reading most carefully. In
reading or reciting he should not only pronounce the individual
words correctly, but give to the sentences their proper accen-
tuation and modulation. Professor W. Victor's little book on
'German Pronunciation' (pp. 112 — 133, Leipzig, 1890) will
help him to catch the proper accent of the sentence. In some
cases of special difficulty he may well resort to a simple method
of phonetic transcription of German words and sentences, such
as is used by Prof. Victor in his < Deutsche Lauttafel ' (which
should be hung up in the class room during German lessons)
or in Dr Passy's periodical publication 'Le maitre phone'tique."
The following is a short tabulated summary of the chief
difficulties experienced by children in pronouncing German.
1 See * German as she is spoke' (Journal of Education, September,
1897* PP- 533 sqq.
2 See the books and pamphlets enumerated in my ' Guide ' on p. 35.
48 The Teaching of German
The chief difficulties of German pronunciation for English
children \
1. ci as in Mann, Hals, Anfang.
The pupils should be accustomed to open their mouths wide
in pronouncing this sound, which is the a in father quite short.
2. 1, e, o, u, especially before r, as in ihr, Lehm, rot,fuhr.
Here the difficulty lies in the necessity of producing a long
clear vowel without sounding a second element after it, e.g.
vier is not to be pronounced like our fear, Lehm not like
lame, rot not like wrote, pur not like poor.
3. o, 3, ii, fi, § as in Holle, Hohle ; fiille,fuhle ; ware.
The modified vowels o, ii, a (short and open — long and
closed) do not exist in English and require special practice.
Teachers should not allow pupils to say fu(h)r instead of fur,
or funf instead offimf, etc., but they should at the outset give
the class a brief and clear phonetic explanation of the position
of the speech organs in sounding u and o, and should practise
these sounds whenever an opportunity offers. They should
also point out the difference in sound between ware and were,
Kdfer and cave, and so forth.
4. au as in rauschen, heraus.
The mouth should be opened sufficiently for the a element
of the diphthong (see under i). The second element resembles
more an o than a //.
5. e in unaccented syllables is nearly always reduced to a
dull 9, e.g. behende should be pronounced bahenda; nehmen
is nenwn. In familiar pronunciation it often disappears alto-
gether, e.g. leben becomes lebm,geben becomes gebm, etc.
6. The glottal stop before the initial vowel of the
second part of a compound should be carefully noticed, e.g.
verirren should be pronounced fdr'irdn, Verein is for' am, etc.
7. h is now absolutely silent between vowels, as in sahen.
1 The symbols used are those of Victor's ' German Pronunciation.'
in our Secondary Schools. 49
It is sometimes sounded in artificial school pronuncia-
tion. The verb wehen is to be pronounced vedn, ziehen is
tsim.
8. Final b, d as in Weib, Held, Gold are to be pro-
nounced as voiceless sounds (/, /), hence vaip, he It, golt; b and
d after a consonant do not lengthen the preceding vowel in
German as they do in some cases (after /) in English : e.g.
milt * mild.' An exception to this general rule is Mond.
9. w has never the sound of an English w but that of an
English v, e.g. wichsen 'to black (boots)' is vixen ; after sch a
w is bilabial in German, e.g. schwarz is sv farts (NOT sudrts).
10. u after q has likewise the sound of bilabial v, qu = kv,
e.g. Quell is kvel, Qual is kvdl, quer is kver.
11. The guttural n before g and k when it is followed
by a syllable. A g following n is not sounded in German.
The guttural n is as a rule transcribed by n, #, or g. The
German Finger is to be pronounced findr, singen is 3119211,
while sinken is stnkdn. The pronunciation of words such as
Engel, Enkel ; Range, Ranke, etc. should be practised.
1 2. The peculiar German ch with its twofold pronunciation
after front and back vowels, e.g. Idcheln and lachen; ich, doch;
Friichte, Frucht ; brdche, brach. Professor Victor would tran-
scribe Idcheln by lepln, but lachen by lacdn.
As ch may be sounded differently in forms of the same
word, great care is necessary in practising the pronunciation.
13. z in German words is a consonant diphthong denoting
ts. Pupils should be early accustomed to pronounce it well
and distinguish between Seiten and Zeiten, sauber and Zauber,
sog and zog, Sehne, Zdhne, Szene ( = stsenz\ and pronounce
zwanzig (tsvdntsif), Zwergzwiebel (tsverktsvtbzl).
14. Initial sp and st should be pronounced sp, st as on
the stage and in the greater part of Germany. The rounding
of s before/ and / should take place just, as it has taken place
before /, m, n, w all over the country. The Hanoverian
pronunciation is in this case archaic, and obviously influenced
B. 4
50 The Teaching of German
by Low German. Hence sprechen should be sprepn, stehen
should be stedn.
A number of smaller points might still be touched upon,
such as the difference between the (thinner) German and the
(fuller) English final //, compare voll and full, but the time at
my disposal does not admit a discussion of them, and these
hints must not become a treatise. The books by Prof. Victor
and by Miss Soames will give teachers all the necessary informa-
tion as to particular points. A teacher of German in this
country cannot afford to leave them unread.
Open Questions.
The pronunciation of initial r (dental or guttural) and of
medial and final g are still moot points with the Germans
themselves. I should allow a good deal of latitude in the
teaching of them, that is to say I should not force the children
to learn the guttural r if it gives them a great deal of trouble,
and I should advocate the teaching of medial g between vowels
as a voiced mute and not as a spirant. Hence I should
transcribe Wege not veJ9 but vegd. . About final g I do not
feel so sure and should (at present) admit the pronunciation
v ek and vef for Weg. The latter (yec) is the more familiar one
and the one more generally heard, it seems to be the pronun-
ciation of the future — hence perhaps the best plan for the
present is to pronounce final g like k in high style and in
poetry, but like / in ordinary prose and in conversation.
Grammar.
The few words I propose to say under this head are of
course entirely dictated by the practical considerations of school
teaching. The general principles have been discussed in a
previous lecture, e.g. that only the chief facts of grammar
should be taught and everything exceptional at first be care-
fully eliminated — that grammar should not be taught at school
in our Secondary Schools. 51
for its own sake and that everything should be deduced from
carefully chosen examples of good modern German.
What is the standard ? I think the usage of first-rate
modern writers such as Heyse, Spielhagen, Wildenbruch,
Storm, Geibel, Bodenstedt, Freiligrath, Fulda and others. But
teachers should be careful in the use of examples from Freytag,
Scheffel, Keller, Raabe, Rosegger, Sudermann, Hauptmann and
others whose writings are not free from archaisms, mannerism,
dialectic usages and even a good deal of slang. These
writings may of course be great works of art, but they cannot
be used for school purposes or invariably as models of refined
modern prose.
The existing Grammars of German compiled for the use of
English schools have nearly all serious defects in addition to
those general shortcomings noted in a previous lecture :
(1) They do not sufficiently distinguish between familiar,
ordinary and historical, and elevated modern prose.
(2) They do not distinguish between modern language
and the language of the great i8th century classics. In
many cases we cannot say and write now what Lessing,
Goethe and Schiller could and attempted.
(3) They do not as a rule distinguish carefully enough
between prose and poetry.
Hence the instances from the German classics in most of
our Grammars require a very thorough overhauling. A teacher
should know German very well himself so as not to be hope-
lessly dependent on the grammar he happens to use.
(4) Another prevalent fault is the failure to distinguish
between the cases used in connection with certain verbs, e.g.
geniessen, entbehren, rufen^ etc. It is absolutely misleading to
say, as most grammars and dictionaries do, ' entbehren takes
either the gen. or 'the ace.' It is true that Hermann (in
* Hermann und Dorothea') says: Ich entbehre der Gattin, but
it is archaic and cannot be said now. In good modern prose
we use the accusative exclusively. Again in the case of rufen
4—2
52 The Teaching of German
the accusative is now the only possible case, e.g. er ruft mich.
The dative which occurs sometimes in elevated style is very
expressive, e.g. when the Spirit of the Earth says to Faust
Wer ruft mir ? l Who calls for me ?' But such rare and poetic
constructions should be briefly explained when they occur in
the text before the pupils and not before.
A good teacher should not only teach the dry facts of
grammar, but sometimes in appropriate cases give an explana-
tion. In my previous lecture I have cautioned teachers not
to go too far; but they may well here and there give some
colour to their teaching by supplying an easy explanation, e.g.
on the origin of many German prepositions, kraft — laut — wegen
(why do they take the genitive ?) or of adverbs : flugs — rings —
spornstreichs — aller dings , etc. A word on the nouns in -ei and
the ending -ieren in verbs would interest many of the older
boys, also on doublets such as Kerker and Karzer, Bursch and
Borse, dichten and diktieren. Even the inorganic / in eigentlich,
geflissentlich after the analogy of hoffentlich^ flehentlich (for
flehend-lich Mike one imploring') might be occasionally ex-
plained to more advanced pupils. They will thus get a
glimpse of the life of the language. There is no lack of
handy books of reference for the teacher of German who is
anxious to obtain fuller information1.
But be very careful that your pupils do not use any
scientific terms without properly understanding their exact
meaning and their full bearing. Do not allow them to explain
away difficulties by one of the three ever-recurring phrases :
1 for the sake of euphony/
* by false analogy ' (with what ? why false ?),
or * for the sake of the metre,'
as if Goethe or Schiller could not have managed their versifi-
cation properly !
I have said that a teacher will find out the chief difficulties
1 See my essay: 'The Reference- Library of a School Teacher of
German,5 printed on pp. 63 — 82 of this book.
in our Secondary Schools. 53
of his pupils and will work hard at these while he will pass
quickly over things which are naturally easy to English children.
The principal difficulties of German Grammar seem to me
to be especially the following (I must of course in a lecture
like this restrict myself to some typical cases) :
(1) The right use of the prepositions and of the case
required in connection with them. The grammars are not
quite sufficient in this respect, e.g. the short rule as to ' rest '
and * motion' does not suffice in the case of auf and iiber.
The right use of the prepositions is a great difficulty.
(2) The inflexion of the adjectives. The threefold use of
the adjective (strong and weak inflexion and uninflected form)
is characteristic of the German language. This point is
really easy — a number of typical instances will suffice to teach
it. These examples should be dictated and learned by heart.
(3) The modifications of root-vowels in plurals, comparisons,
and derivatives. Here a good and careful pronunciation will
be of great help — but much must simply be learned by heart,
e.g. Tag, Tage but Schlag, Schldge.
(4) The strong verbs ; the separable verbs.
The principal ones must be committed to memory ; com-
parison with English (singe, sang, gesungen — sing, sang, sung)
will in many cases be helpful, and at all events remind pupils
that a verb may be strong. In the case of the separable and
inseparable verbs the principal ones, but only the principal
ones, should be learned early, and a good pronunciation
should be insisted upon. Instead of giving the infinitives
(ubersetzen and ubersetzen) it will be preferable to teach the
ist persons ich seize iiber, *I put across' and ich ilber seize, 'I
translate.'
Pupils should be told that as a rule in cases where the
force of the preposition is still felt and a local meaning prevails
the verb is separable, but it is inseparable where the English
equivalent is not a true English verb plus a preposition but a
compound borrowed from the Latin and where the meaning is
54 The Teaching of German
abstract and metaphorical. Thus iibersetzen ' put across/
ilbersetzen ' translate'; wiederholen 'fetch back,' wiederhblen
* repeat'; diirchgehen 'go through,' durchgehen 'pervade'; um-
gehen ' go round about,' umgehen ' circumvent,' etc.
(5) The order of words in a sentence. This is of the very
greatest importance and causes a great deal of difficulty at
first, but it can be learnt fully during the time the children are
at school. Begin very early with very simple sentences-
enlarge them— alter them and turn them about — gradually
introduce the various kinds of dependent clauses. Make your
own examples if necessary, let the children copy them, refer at
first invariably to the same examples until the Sprachgefuhl
of the children is sufficiently well developed. Begin with a
number of sentences such as :
Das Mddchen findet das Buch
The girl finds the book.
Das Mddchen hat das Buch gefunden
The girl has found the book.
Many instances of a similar kind should be given before you
go on, always adding a little :
Das schone Madchen, welches wir heute gesehen haben,
hat seinen guten Vater verloren, etc. etc.
Invent a story or a fable, and embody in it the chief things
you are anxious to illustrate, e.g. the principal differences
between English and German syntax.
Genders.
The German genders are indeed very troublesome to
foreigners, more especially to English girls, who as a rule do
not do Latin and Greek and are therefore more apt to forget
about the genders. There are hardly any good rules about
them. I wish there were. I cannot say more than the
grammars. I freely admit that children, while at school,
in our Secondary Schools. 55
can hardly be expected to acquire an absolutely correct
knowledge of genders. But on the other hand I do not
think that the genders are quite as hard as they are sometimes
made out to be. In the amusing chapter 'On the awful
German language' added to his delightful < Tramp abroad'
Mark Twain has with a great deal of humour exaggerated the
difficulties. I think that the children may very well be
expected to know the genders of all the principal and really
important German words. Here the { systematic vocabulary '
referred to in a previous lecture should be useful.
Die Sonne — der Mond — der Stern — die Wo Ike — etc. Of
course in learning words children should not say Sonne — sun
but die Sonne — the sun, always adding the definite article.
A story might be made up by the teacher which he should
first tell and then dictate to the class. The pupils would
learn it by heart and could, in case of subsequent doubts or
mistakes, be referred back to it. An account of a ramble
in the country might end as follows : ' Der Gipfel des Berges
war bald erstiegen. Von ihm sahen wir die Sonne unter-
gehen und bald nachher den Mond und den Abendstern
am Himmel aufgehen. Eine diistre Wolke verdeckte den
schonen Stern auf kurze Zeit, ein starkes Gewitter zog
herauf, ein greller Blitz folgte dem andern, der Donner rollte,
der Regen floss in Stromen ; bald aber war das schwere
Wetter vorbei gezogen und das Licht des freundlichen
Sternes leuchtete wieder zu uns herab.'
Word Formation.
Only the most important facts of German word-formation
(derivation and composition and the old formation by vowel
gradation) should be taught, but word formation will naturally
play an important part in the construing lessons and will be
sure to interest the children if properly brought before them.
A well-informed teacher may well now and then explain the
56 The Teaching of German.
formation of a word with the view of giving the pupils a glimpse
of old German life, customs, and beliefs. The discussion of
the names of the days of the week, words such as O stern,
Weihnachten, Fastnacht, Hochzeit, Brautlauf (in Schiller's
'Tell'), would be sure to interest and instruct the children.
In saying this I am of course far from advocating a display
of etymological information which would be beyond the under-
standing of the children and out of place in school-teaching.
Again an occasional word as to family names such as Baumann,
Agricola, Jacobi, Jacobssohn, Jacobs, or of German and foreign
proper names such as Dietrich, Leopold, Ludwig, Wolfram,
Rudolf, Minna, Adelheid, Gertrud — Andreas, Philipp, Moses,
Ludovica, Louise — Dietrich Kraft and Ludovica Jacobi, could
be made most interesting and valuable even to children. Such
instruction should, however, not be given systematically but
only as occasion offers.
I should be much pleased if in these lectures I should
have succeeded in throwing out some hints which will prove
useful in your teaching, and in firing your enthusiasm for a
subject, the study and teaching of which grows more attractive
and more important with every year. The way is long, the
aim is high — let us make a resolute attempt to reach the goal
or at least not fall too far short of it !
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
PERIODICALS1.
1. The Modern Language Quarterly (now The Modern Quarterly
for Language and Literature}. Edited by H. Frank Heath,
with the assistance of E. G. W. Braunholtz, Karl Breul,
I. Gollancz, A. W. Pollard, W. Rippmann, and V. Spiers.
Since 1897. London. Dent & Co. (2^. 6d. each part.)
2. Modern Language Notes. Edited by A. Marshall Elliott,
James W. Bright, Hans C. G. v. Jagemann, Henry Alfred
Todd. Baltimore. Since 1886. Eight numbers a year.
(Subscription in advance, js. a year.)
3. Archiv fur das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Littera-
turen, begriindet von Ludwig Herrig, herausgegeben von Aloys
Brandl und Adolf Tobler. The looth vol. has just appeared.
Braunschweig. 1898. Yearly 4 Hefte. (8s. a year.)
4. Die Neueren Sprachen, Zeitschrift fur den Neusprachlichen
Unterricht. Mit dem Beiblatt "Phonetische Studien." In
Verbindung mit Franz Dorr und Adolf Rambeau herausgegeben
von Wilhelm Victor. Marburg. Yearly ten parts. Since 1893.
(I2J. a year.)
5. Zeitschrift fur den deutschen Unterricht, begriindet unter
Mitwirkung von Rudolf Hildebrand, herausgegeben von Otto
Lyon. Leipzig. Since 1887. Monthly. (i2s. a year.)
1 The full titles of most of the above mentioned and of many other
important periodicals are given in the first chapter of my 'Handy Guide.'
The Journal of Education should also be referred to. With regard to the
prices mentioned see note 2 on p. 64.
f-
58 Bibliographical Appendix.
6. Zeitschrift fur neufranzosische Sprache nnd Litteratur, mit
besonderer Beriicksichtigungdes Unterrichts im Franzosischen
auf den deutschen Schulen, herausgegeben von G. Korting und
E. Koschwitz. The present general editor is D. Behrens.
Oppeln and Leipzig. (Now Berlin.) Since 1879. Tne
periodical is no longer exclusively devoted to Modern French,
and the present title is Zeitschrift fiir franzosische Sprache und
Litter atur. (i$s. a year.)
7. Revue de Venseignement des langues vivantes, edited by
A. Wolfromm. Paris. Since 1883. (15^. a year.)
8. Le maitre phonetique, organe de 1'association phone'tique inter-
nationale, edited by Paul Passy. Paris. (Bourg-la-Reine.)
Since 1885. (y. a year.)
9. Litteraturblatt fiir Gennanische und Romanische Philologie,
herausgegeben von Otto Behaghel und Fritz Neumann.
Leipzig. Since 1880. Monthly, (us. a year.)
10. Verhandlungen der deutschen Neuphilologentage. Every second
year one volume of proceedings.
BOOKS, PAMPHLETS AND ESSAYS1.
1. Allcock (A. E.}. The teaching of Modern Languages (in
"Essays on Secondary Education by various contributors,"
ed. Chr. Cookson, pp. 149 sqq.). Oxford. 1898. (4^. 6d. cloth.)
2. Atkinson (H. IV.). An Experiment in Modern Language
Teaching (Journal of Education, May 1897). On the articles
by F. B. Kirkman. His reply is contained in the Jotirn. of
Educ. June, 1897.
1 The books, pamphlets and essays enumerated are unequal in value
and not invariably written from the same point of view, but they will all be
found suggestive and helpful. These lists do not comprise all that is worth
reading on the subject, their aim being simply to point out a certain
number of recent contributions to the study of Methods of Modern Language
Teaching which teachers will find it useful to refer to. Several articles
contained in the Journal of Education (October 1896 and the following
months) are very suggestive. For further information see Miinch's and
Glauning's book (described under 18) which gives very valuable biblio-
graphical lists. The books most useful for the teacher of German are
discussed on pp. 64 — 82.
Bibliographical Appendix. 59
3. Bahlsen (L.\ Der franzosische Sprachunterricht im neuen
Kurs. Berlin. 1892. (is. 6d. unbound.)
4. Brfal (Michel}. De 1'enseignement des langues vivantes.
Paris. 1893. (is. Sd. unbound.)
5. Brebner (Mary}. The Method of Teaching Modern Languages
in Germany. London. 1898. (is. 6d. cloth.)
6. Colbeck (C.). On the teaching of Modern Languages in Theory
and Practice. Two Lectures. Cambridge. 1887. (2s. cloth.)
7. Findlay (7.). An Experiment in Modern Language Teaching
(Journal of Education, October, November, December (with
A. E. Twentyman), 1896). See Kirkman.
8. Franke (F.). Die praktische Spracherlernung auf Grund der
Psychologic und der Physiologic der Sprache dargestellt.
Leipzig. 1890. (8d. unbound.)
9. Hartmann (K. A. M.\ Die Anschauung im neusprachlichen
Unterricht. Wien. 1895. (&£ unbound.)
10. Hartmann (K. A. M.). Reiseeindriicke und Beobachtungen
eines deutschen Neuphilologen in der Schweiz und in Frank-
reich. Leipzig. 1897. (3^. unbound, 43. cloth.)
11. Jeffrey (P. Shaw). How shall we learn French ? (Journal of
Education, October, 1897.)
12. Kirkman (F. B.). An Experiment in Modern Language
Teaching (Journal of Education, February, April, 1897). See
Findlay; Atkinson.
13. Klinghardt (//".). Ein Jahr Erfahrungen mit der neuen
Methode. Marburg. 1888. (is. Sd. unbound.)
14. Klinghardt (//".). Drei weitere Jahre Erfahrungen mit der
imitativen Methode. Marburg. 1892. (zs. 6d. unbound.)
15. Kiihu (V. K.). Entwurf eines Lehrplans. Marburg. 1889.
(is. unbound.)
16. Mangold (W.). Geloste und ungeloste Fragen der Methodik.
Berlin. 1892. (&d. unbound.)
17. Munch (W.). Zur Forderung des franzosischen Unterrichts.
Heilbronn. 1883. 2nd improved ed. Leipzig. 1895. (zs.6d.
unbound.)
60 Bibliographical Appendix.
18. Munch (W.) und Claiming (Fr.). Didaktik und Methodik
des franzosischen und englischen Unterrichts. Munchen.
1895 (from Dr A. Baumeister's 'Handbuch der Erziehungs-
und Unterrichtslehre fiir hohere Schulen3). This book contains
a most valuable up to date bibliography. (4^. 6d. unbound.)
19. Roden (A. v.). In wiefern muss der Sprachunterricht um-
kehren? Marburg. 1890. (i^. 8^. unbound.)
20. Spencer (Fr.). Chapters on the aims and practice of teaching.
Chapter III. (French and German, by the general editor).
Cambridge. 1897. (6s. cloth.)
21. Storr (Fr.). The Teaching of Modern Languages (French and
German) in "Teaching and Organisation, with special reference
to Secondary Schools. A manual of practice, edited by P. A.
Barnett." London. 1897. pp. 261 — 280. At the end of this
essay some other contributions by Mr Storr to the question of
Modern Language Teaching are enumerated. See also A. T.
Pollard's remarks on pp. 24 — 26 of the same volume. (6s. 6d.
cloth.)
22. Tanger (£.). Muss der Sprachunterricht umkehren ? Berlin.
1888. (gd. unbound.)
23. Victor (W.). (Quousque tandem.) Der Sprachunterricht muss
umkehren. Heilbronn. 1882. Reprint 1886. (Sd. un-
bound.)
24. Waetzoldt (St.). Die Aufgabe des Neusprachlichen Unter-
richts und die Vorbildung der Lehrer. Berlin. 1892. (is.
unbound.) (Compare the " Verhandlungen des fiinften allge-
meinen deutschen Neuphilologentages zu Berlin (1892).)
Hannover. 1893. PP- 25 sqq- and the reviews of Waetzoldt's
lecture in ' Die Neueren Sprachen' i. 48 sqq. (Victor);
" Mitteilungen zur Anglia" in. 361 sqq. (Wendt); uZeitschr.
f. franz. Spr." xiv. i sqq. (Stengel); "Englische Studien"
xix. 137 sqq. (Kolbing); " Litteraturblatt f. germ, und roman.
Philologie " XV. 130 sqq. (Koschwitz).
25. Walther (Max). Der franzosische Klassenunterricht. Mar-
burg. 1888, 2i895. (is. $d. unbound.)
Bibliographical Appendix. 61
26. Ware (F.). Phonetics and Modern Language Teaching
(Journal of Education, August, 1897). See Kirkman.
27. Widgery ( W. //".). The teaching of languages in Schools.
London. 1888. (With a very full bibliography.) This pamphlet
is now unfortunately out of print.
28. Methods of teaching Modern Languages. By A. Marshall
Elliott, Calvin Thomes, W. Stuart Macgowan, and others.
Boston, U. S. A. 1894. (Essays and speeches very unequal
in value and importance.) ($s. 6d. cloth.)
29. Breymann (//.). Die neusprachliche Reform- Litteratur von
1876 — 93. Leipzig. 1895. (3^. unbound.)
SPECIAL BOOKS ON THE TEACHING OF GERMAN1.
30. Hildebrand (JR.). Vom deutschen Sprachunterricht in der
Schule. Leipzig. 4i89o. (3^. unbound.)
31. Laas (E.\ Der deutsche Unterricht auf hoheren Lehran-
stalten. Berlin. 1872. 2i886 (edited by I. Imelmann).
(8j. unbound.)
32. Lehmann (Rud.). Der deutsche Unterricht. Eine Methodik
fur hohere Lehranstalten. Berlin. 1890. (8^. unbound.)
33. Wendt (Gustav}. Der deutsche Unterricht und die philo-
sophische Propadeutik (from Baumeister's 'Handbuch' Vol.
III.). Munchen. 1896. With useful bibliographical lists.
($s. unbound.)
1 Those books which are specially intended for the use of German
teachers in German schools contain much more than an English teacher
can possibly expect to get through; but as the smaller is contained in the
greater, English teachers of German will in many cases find such works of
the utmost service — except in the cases of the special conditions and special
difficulties of the English learner. With regard to these and to the right
methods of teaching German in English schools the standard book has still
to be written.
62 Bibliographical Appendix.
PHONETICS1.
34. Klinghardt (//".)• Artikulations- und Horiibungen. Cothen.
1897. (55-. 6df. unbound.)
35. Passy (Paul). Les sons du Frangais. Paris. 3i892. (is. 6d.
unbound.)
36. Victor (W.\ German Pronunciation, Practice and Theory.
Leipzig. 21890. (zs. cloth.)
37. Breymann (//".). Die Phonetische Litteratur von 1876—1895.
Eine bibliographisch-kritische Ubersicht. Leipzig. 1897.
(3^. unbound.)
1 For more detailed information see my 'Handy Bibliographical Guide'
pp. 8, 24 — 26, and 35, and also pp. 70 — 71 of this book. For French
see: Miinch, in his 'Methodik und Didaktik des franzosischen Unterrichts,'
pp. 95 — 96. Here the titles of the important books by Beyer, Koschwitz,
and others are given in full. See also Miss Brebner's pamphlet (No. 5),
pp. 70 — 72, and Le maitre phonttique (January, 1897), pp. 39 — 41
(ouvrages recommandes pour 1'etude de la phonetique et de la pedagogic
linguistique).
THE REFERENCE LIBRARY OF A SCHOOL
TEACHER OF GERMAN1.
THERE are no doubt many difficulties which beset a teacher
of German in this country, such as — want of time allotted to
his subject in the school curriculum, necessity of preparing his
pupils for a host of examinations, want of a clearly defined
and methodically arranged curriculum, lack of encouragement
of the subject in the vast majority of schools, distinct dis-
couragement in the present regulations for the army exami-
nations, shyness of the pupils in dealing with the living and
spoken idiom, uncertainty concerning the best method to be
adopted in teaching, and doubt as to what books should be
used with the classes, and more especially in preparing for
his work.
It can, however, not be urged that there is not now a great
number of really good, scientific, as well as practical books
available for a teacher to refer to in all cases of difficulty and
doubt, such as may arise at any moment in the various
departments of his every-day teaching. On the contrary, there
are, at least in some cases, so many books on the same subject
that a real difficulty is experienced by teachers as to which
should be used by preference. The school reference-libraries
are, as a rule, very poor as far as German is concerned;
moreover, most teachers will probably wish, as far as may be,
1 Revised and enlarged Reprint from the Modern Language Quarterly
for November 1897.
64 The Reference Library of
to purchase gradually all the necessary books of reference for
themselves. The choice of tools will, of course, largely depend
on the kind of work which the teacher will have to do, but a
well-equipped reference library will be found by every teacher
of the very greatest importance for the success of his teaching
and for necessary self-improvement. It is the object of this
article to assist younger teachers to some extent in making
their choice. New books of value and interest will henceforth
be regularly noticed in the Modern Quarterly of Language and
Literature. (London : Dent and Co. Single numbers, 2s. 6d.)
Such ordinary grammars, composition-books, school -dic-
tionaries, and the like, as are in daily use in schools, and
with which every teacher is naturally familiar, have all, or
nearly all, been excluded from the following lists. I shall,
in the subsequent paragraphs, freely refer readers to my
1 Handy Guide1,' where a much greater number of books of
reference is given.
Dictionaries. — A number of dictionaries of different
kinds should be found on the shelves of a well-equipped
reference library. Apart from the ordinary small school-
dictionaries, a teacher will be in constant need of at least
one large dictionary of the first order. The last edition of
Fliigel's well-known and time-honoured dictionary is at present
the largest English-German and German-English dictionary
which is complete. Its full title is Felix Fliigel, ' Allgemeines
Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Worterbuch.'
Fourth, entirely remodelled, edition. 2 parts in 3 vols.
Braunschweig, 1891. (Price, bd., £2. $s.)2 The English-
1 Karl Breul, 'A Handy Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the
German Language and Literature for the use of Students and Teachers of
German.' London: Hachette £ Co., 1895, 8vo. Bound, is. 6d. Some
books enumerated in this article are of more recent date than the * Guide.'
2 The prices quoted in this article are those for which the books may
be obtained from Mr Th. Wohlleben, 45, Great Russell Street, London,
W.C. (opposite the British Museum). The prices are liable to a discount
of jo°/0 for foreign and 25% for English books to bona fide teachers.
a School Teacher of German. 65
German part is by far the better of the two ; the German-
English part, which is really the more important one for
English students, leaves a good deal to be desired. A smaller
dictionary, partly based on the large Fliigel (the English-German
part only), is the one called — Fliigel-Schmidt-Tanger, 'A
Dictionary of the English and German Languages for Home
and School.' Two vols. Braunschweig, 1896 (125-. 6d. bound).
It is excellently printed, very full, and most useful for all
ordinary purposes.
A work which will surpass in completeness even the big
Fliigel is now in course of publication. It will ultimately
consist of four large volumes. The first two volumes, con-
taining the English and German part (compiled by G. Muret,
with the help of many specialists), are completed (half bound,
£2. 2s.). The publication of the second part has been begun
by the Langenscheidt'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin, 1897. The
editor of the first number was the late well-known lexicographer
Daniel Sanders. The work is being continued under the
general editorship of Immanuel Schmidt. An abridged school-
edition of this work (in 2 volumes) is also in course of
publication. Vol. i. (the English-German part) has appeared.
The smaller books by Grieb, Thieme-Preusser, Kohler
(all of which have been, or are being, completely re-edited),
and the still smaller books by Whitney, Krummacher, and
Weir (of which I am preparing a thoroughly revised edition)
are certainly useful in many respects, but do not always
afford all the information a teacher of German may desire
to obtain.
Apart from German-English and English-German dic-
tionaries, a teacher will often desire to consult a German
dictionary with German explanations, and, if possible, with
well-chosen German instances. The very big works of the
brothers Grimm and their successors, and of Daniel Sanders
(see my * Guide,' pp. 48-49), are too bulky and expensive for
B. <;
66 The Reference Library of
ordinary purposes. Two recent dictionaries of smaller size
will probably be very welcome to many teachers of German.
One is by Moriz Heyne, 'Deutsches Worterbuch,' 3 vols.
Leipzig, 1890-95 (;£i. 105. unbound, £i. igs. half calf).
It contains numerous well-chosen instances, and is most handy
for reference. An abridgment of it in one vol. has recently
(1897) been published (135. half calf). Another most useful
dictionary, in which no instances are given, but the develop-
ment of meaning of the words very carefully elaborated, is the
'Deutsches Worterbuch/ by Hermann Paul. Halle, 1897 (8s.
unbd. ; 105. half calf). Both books strictly exclude all foreign
words of recent importation. Every teacher should endeavour
to get Paul's dictionary and the large Heyne — both will be of
daily use to him. English teachers of German will sometimes
be in doubt as to the inflexion or pronunciation of foreign
words in German. They will find all desirable information in
the 'Fremdworterbuch,' by Daniel Sanders, in 2 vols. Leipzig,
1871, 2i8<)i-2 (i2S. unbound, 145. 6d. half calf). There is
now, however, a strong tendency in Germany to avoid, if
possible, the use of foreign words, and several dictionaries
have been compiled in which German equivalents of foreign
words are given. Perhaps the best of these is the following —
Hermann Dunger, * Worterbuch von Verdeutschungen ent-
behrlicher Fremdworter.' Leipzig, 1882 (2*. boards). A
short and very interesting account of the history of foreign
words in German has been recently given by Rud. Kleinpaul,
under the title 'Das Fremdwort im Deutschen,' Leipzig, 1896.
(Sammlung Goeschen No. 55, i od. boards). Many teachers will
be glad of a very complete and useful dictionary giving every
ordinary modern German word, whether of German or of
foreign origin, according to the so-called new spelling. One
of the greatest authorities on moderate spelling reform,
Konrad Duden, has compiled a ' Vollstandiges orthographisches
Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache mit etymologischen An-
gaben, kurzen Sacherklarungen und Verdeutschungen der
a School Teacher of German. 67
Fremdworter. Nach den neuen amtlichen Regeln.' Leipzig,
4th ed., 189-. (is. 6d). The most handy dictionary of synonyms
is Eberhard's ' Synonymisches Handworterbuch der deutschen
Sprache' (the latest, i5th ed., by Otto Lyon) with well-chosen
German instances and translations of the German synonyms
into English, French, Italian, and Russian. Leipzig, 1896
(half bound, 135. 6d.}. The etymology of words of German
origin has been admirably treated by Fr. Kluge in his
1 Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache.' A
new enlarged edition (the 6th) is now in course of publication
and will be ready in December (in 8 parts at is. each, or
complete, bound in leather, at ios.). A short, but useful,
etymological German dictionary is the one by Ferd. Better.
Leipzig, 1897. (Sammlung Goeschen, No. 64, lod. boards.)
A very good systematical English- German vocabulary (parts of
which will be found useful for class-teaching) has been compiled
by Gustav Krliger, ' Englisch-Deutsches Worterbuch nach
StorTen geordnet fur Studierende, Schulen und Selbstunterricht.'
Berlin, 2i895 (4^.). A most useful and handy little pocket-
dictionary for travelling purposes is the ' English-German
Conversation Dictionary,' by Richard Jaschke. London, 1893
(2s. 6d.).
Many other dictionaries, including older German dic-
tionaries, special glossaries, dialect dictionaries, dictionaries
of technical and commercial words and phrases, etc., which
are of less importance for ordinary teaching, must be passed
over in this article. Their full titles are given in my ' Guide,'
chapter vi., pp. 45-54. I will only mention F. W. Eitzen's
1 Worterbuch der Handelssprache.' German-English. Leipzig,
1893 (us. 6d. bound), which seems to be very full, and is not
mentioned in the l Guide.'
Grammars, etc. — Such books as are very widely known
and extensively used in class-teaching, e.g., the grammars by
Kuno Meyer, Macgowan, Fiedler, Aue, Eve, Weisse, Baumann,
Meissner, Siepmann, and others, need not be discussed here.
5—2
68 The Reference Library of
I wish to call attention to some books which seem to be less
known, and which, if consulted, would often be found very
helpful. Among the smaller grammars of German for English
students there is the American book by H. C. G. Brandt, 'A
Grammar of the German language for High Schools and
Colleges, designed for beginners and advanced students.' Sixth
ed. Boston, 1893 (6.r. net, cloth), which is far too little known
in this country, and will be found extremely useful on account
of its brief but accurate explanations of grammatical pheno-
mena. The small but practical ' Deutsche Grammatik und
Geschichte der deutschen Sprache ' by Otto Lyon. Stuttgart,
2 1 89 2 (Sammlung Goeschen, No. 20, \vd. boards), will be
found useful in many cases where brief and reliable information
is wanted. Among the more bulky works on German grammar,
written in German and intended for teachers and students, the
following deserves special recommendation : F. Blatz, ' Neu-
hochdeutsche Grammatik mit Beriicksichtigung der historischen
Entwickelung der deutschen Sprache.' Third ed., entirely
rewritten in two vols. Karlsruhe, 1895-6 (unbound, 22^.,
half bound, 26^.). This is a most useful book for study and
for reference. Of the older books, I. Ch. Aug. Heyse's
1 Deutsche Grammatik,' 25th ed., completely rewritten by
Otto Lyon. Hannover, 1893 (5^.), may, in spite of some
shortcomings, still be used with advantage in many cases.
The ' Deutsche Grammatik' (Gotisch, Alt- Mittel- und Neu-
hochdeutsch), by W. Wilmanns, which is now in course of
publication, will probably be of too strictly philological a
character to meet the practical needs of most teachers. So
far vol. I. (phonology), Strassburg, 1893 (8s. unbound, los.
half bound), and vol. n. (word-formation), Strassburg, 1896
(i2s. 6d. unbound, 15^. half bound), have appeared. Two,
or possibly three, more volumes are to follow. It is an
admirable piece of work.
An excellent short book for repetition of the principal facts
of old and modern phonology and accidence is Fr. KaufTmann,
a School Teacher of German. 69
' Deutsche Grammatik.' Marburg, second edition, 1895 (25. 6d.
cloth). The book is only for teachers and students, it cannot
be used for class-teaching.
With regard to syntax alone, the works by Vernaleken,
Erdmann, Kern, and Wunderlich, give much useful infor-
mation. (See my ' Guide,' p. 32.) Erdmann's work (in two
volumes), which is now completed (vol. n. by Otto Mensing,
Stuttgart, 1898), deserves special recommendation. (135-. un-
bound.)
There are a number of German books in which doubtful
points of grammar and the 'best German' are discussed at
length. Three of these will be especially serviceable to
English teachers (for others, see my ' Guide/ pp. 29-30).
K. G. Andresen, * Sprachgebrauch und Sprachrichtigkeit im
Deutschen.' Seventh edition, Leipzig, 1892 (6s. or cloth 7^.).
This is the most conservative book of the three. Th. Matthias,
in his 'Sprachleben und Sprachschaden.' Leipzig, 1892 (6s.
cloth), of which an abridged edition has recently been pub-
lished, is inclined to make greater concessions to recent
usage. Both books are well indexed. The third book is much
shorter, but also very useful — A. Heintze, ' Gut Deutsch.' Sixth
edition, Berlin, 1895 (is. 6d. cloth). These books will often be
found useful in cases where the ordinary school-grammars do
not give sufficient information. Wustmann's often quoted
1 Sprachdummheiten ' should only be used with the very greatest
caution.
Teachers who are anxious to have a brief survey of the
history of the German language should refer to the following
books — O. Weise, 'Unsere Muttersprache; ihr Werden und ihr
Wesen.' Third ed., Leipzig, 1895 (2$. 6d. cloth). An English
translation of this work which, in spite of a number of
minor mistakes, is useful and suggestive, is being prepared in
America. A somewhat older book of a similar character and
more reliable with regard to strictly philological information is
O. Behaghel, 'Die deutsche Sprache,' Leipzig, 1886 (15-.), an
/O The Reference Library of
English adaptation of which, by E. Trechmann, was published
in London, 1891, under the title, 'A Short Historical Grammar
of the German Language.' (45. 6d.} A small pamphlet con-
taining a few short and popular articles on the German
language, such as boys preparing for scholarships may like
to read, is the one by E. Wasserzieher, ' Aus dem Leben der
deutschen Sprache.' Leipzig, no date (3^.). A. W. F. Cerf
has begun a ' Short Historical Grammar of the German Lan-
guage' (Part I. : Introduction and Phonology. London, 1894.
45.), the second part of which has not yet appeared. A
somewhat larger book is the one by Henri Lichtenberger,
'Histoire de la langue allemande,' Paris, 1895 (&s. 6d.}.
Another useful French book, treating of the mutual relation
of English and German grammar, is a book by V. Henry,
which was translated by the author himself, under the title,
'A Short Comparative Grammar of English and German, as
traced back to their Common Origin and contrasted with the
Classical Languages.' London, 1894 (js. 6d.}. All desirable
information with regard to the new spelling is given by
W. Wilmanns in his valuable book, ' Die Orthographic in den
Schulen Deutschlands.' Berlin, 1887 (35. 6d. unbound). A
short guide to modern punctuation is the book by O. Glode,
'Die deutsche Interpunktionslehre.' Leipzig, 1893 (6d.}.
Teachers who have to prepare boys for examinations in which
they must shew proficiency in reading German handwriting
should use C. F. A. Kolb, 'Lesebuch in Handschriften.' 8th ed.
Stuttgart, 1895 (is. $d. boards), or B. Levy, ' Recueil de lettres
allemandes reproduites en ecritures autographiques pour exercer
a la lecture des manuscrits allemands.' Paris. Sixth edition,
1892 (25. 8d.). The subject of the best German pronunciation
is still a very vexed question, even among the Germans them-
selves. I do not propose to treat it in full in the present
article, still I should like to refer teachers to the various books
by W. Victor (see my ' Guide,' pp. 35, 47). Those which will
be most helpful for English teachers are his ' German Pronun-
a School Teacher of German. 71
ciation : Practice and Theory.' Leipzig, 1890 (2^.), and the
reprint of his lecture, ' Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen
zu lehren?' Marburg, 1893 (is.). A < Deutsche Lauttafel/
illustrating this lecture, was published at the same time (is. 6d.).
The same can be had on a large scale and mounted to be hung
up on the wall of the class room (2^. 6d.). Teachers who are
anxious to consult handy books on phonetics may refer either
to Laura Soames, lAn Introduction to Phonetics/ London,
1891 (2S. 6d.)j which is now out of print, to some extent
replaced by Soames' ' Phonetic Method.' Part I.: 'Sounds of
English.' (2s. 6d.) Part II. : 'The Teacher's Method with
Word-lists' (25-. 6d.) ; or to W. Victor's ' Elemente der Phonetik
und Orthoepie des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen,
mit Riicksicht auf die Bediirfnisse der Lehrpraxis.' Leipzig.
Third edition (with useful bibliography), 1894 ('js. unbound,
8s. cloth). An abridged edition of this work has just been
issued. Leipzig, 1897 (35.). It is called 'Kleine Phonetik
des Deutschen, Englischen und Franzosischen ' (3^. 6d. cloth).
An English translation and adaptation of it is being prepared
by W. Rippmann. London, Dent.
There are several books devoted to the teaching of conver-
sation (see my ' Guide,' p. 38). Perhaps the most serviceable
of them is A. Hamann's ' Echo of Spoken German.' Leipzig,
1892 (2^-. 6d. cloth), a series of excellent dialogues which
afford, at the same time, a useful introduction to the study of
German life and manners.
For the explanation of German idiomatic phrases, no better
books could be desired than those by Wilh. Borchardt, 'Die
sprichwortlichen Redensarten im deutschen Volksmund nach
Sinn und Ursprung erlautert.' Leipzig. Fourth ed., 1894
(>js. cloth), and by H. Schrader, ' Der Bilderschrnuck der
deutschen Sprache.' Berlin. Second edition, 1889 (7^. cloth).
For other similar books, familiar quotations, slang, etc., see my
' Guide/ p. 39.
Teachers who make their advanced pupils write free essays
72 The Reference Library of
on German classical works or characters occurring in great plays
should use among others the books of Victor Kiy, l Themata
und Dispositionen zu deutschen Aufsatzen und Vortragen im
Anschluss an die deutsche Schullektiire fiir die oberen Klassen
hoherer Lehranstalten.' Three parts. Berlin, 1895-1897. (Parts
I. and III. 35., Part II. 3*. 6d. cloth.)
Histories of Literature. — There is not as yet a really
satisfactory History of German Literature written in English
and based on a first-hand acquaintance of the author with the
German works of literature of old and modern times. The
English translations and adaptations of German works are
none of them free from very serious shortcomings. Hence a
teacher will very likely prefer to possess one or more German
works of moderate size on the subject. The following will, in
my opinion, best serve his purpose — Wilhelm Scherer, l Ge-
schichte der deutschen Litteratur.' Berlin, ;th ed., 1895 (IQJ.
cloth, i2s. half bound), perhaps the most brilliant book of its
kind, written by a ripe scholar, who was endowed with a refined
taste for literary beauty. A new edition (apparently unaltered)
is just being issued in parts at is. each. A book of similar
compass is that by the late poet and professor Otto Roquette,
4 Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung von den altesten Denk-
malern bis auf die Neuzeit.' Frankfurt-on-the-Main. 3rd ed.,
1882 (*js. 6d. unbound). The last book of this kind deserving
warm recommendation has only quite recently appeared. It is
the * Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur von den altesten Zeiten
bis zur Gegenwart,' by Friedrich Vogt and Max Koch.
Leipzig and Wien, 1897 (bound, 16^.). This book is pro-
fusely illustrated with very carefully selected and splendidly
executed illustrations, giving facsimiles of old and modern
manuscripts and handwritings, and numerous portraits of
famous authors, etc. The scientific value of this book is
incomparably higher than that of another well-illustrated history
of literature by Robert Konig (25th revised ed. in two vols.
Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1895 (£i half bound), which has had
a School Teacher of German. 73
a wide circulation in Germany. A fine and suggestive book
giving a full account of the development of German literature
as influenced by social forces hails from America. It is
called ' Social forces in German literature. A study in the
history of Civilization' by Kuno Francke. New York, 2i897.
(los. cloth.) A splendid work, merely illustrating German "•
literature from the earliest times to the present day by over
2200 pictures and illustrations, is Gust. Koennecke's 'Bilder-
atlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur. Er-
ganzung zu jeder deutschen Litteraturgeschichte.' 2nd ed.
Marburg, 1895 (£i. 8^. half calf). For the eighteenth
century the great work by H. Hettner, 'Geschichte der
deutschen Litteratur im achtzehnten Jahrhundert/ 4th ed.
(revised by O. Harnack), Braunschweig, 1894 (;£i. 15^. 6d.
unbound, or bound in 2 vols. (leather) £i. 19.$*. 6^.), will be
found as useful as it is interesting.
There are several books from which information as to y M
German literature in our own century can be obtained. It
is hardly necessary to say that they differ a great deal in
character and judgment, but in all of them there is plenty of
interesting matter and valuable information. The following
may be mentioned in the first instance — R. v. Gottschall, 'Die
deutsche Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.
Litterarhistorisch und kritisch dargestellt,' 6th ed., 4 parts.
Breslau, 1892 (£i unbound). Fr. Kirchner, ' Die deutsche
Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts/ Heidelberg,
1894 (js. 6d. unbound, los. half calf). L. Salomon, 'Ge-
schichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur des neunzehnten
Jahrhunderts/ 2nd ed. (with thirty portraits of poets). Stuttgart,
1887 (i2s. cloth). Ad. Stern, 'Studien zur Litteratur der
Gegenwart ' (with portraits of authors). Dresden and Leipzig,
2 1898 (los. 6d. unbound, I2S. 6d. cloth). A short and somewhat
one-sided work is the ' Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur in
der Gegenwart,' by Eugen Wolff. Leipzig, 1896 (6s. 6d. cloth).
In many ways preferable is the still shorter book by A. Bartels, --
74 The Reference Library of
( Die deutsche Dichtung der Gegenwart.' Leipzig, 1897 (2^.
boards). The short account of nineteenth century literature
by Adolf Stern, ' Die deutsche National-litteratur vom Tode
Goethes bis zur Gegenwart ' (originally intended to form a
supplement to Vilmar's * History of German Literature'),
Marburg, 2i89o, is also not without value (25. $d. cloth).
The modern German drama has been treated with much
interest by Berthold Litzmann. Hamburg and Leipzig,
2i894 (55-.). From a great number of German primers of
literature for schools only those by H. Kluge, G. Egelhaaf,
Max Koch, G. Botticher and K. Kinzel, and Gotthold Klee
(Dresden and Berlin, 2nd ed. 1897) need be mentioned. See
my ' Guide/ pp. 63-64. Each has its own advantages. Klee's
book (2s. cloth) is perhaps the best for school purposes. Brief
and reliable information concerning all living modern German
authors (not only poets, but men of letters generally), authors'
societies, periodicals and newspapers, etc. is given in Joseph
Kiirschner's annual publication (somewhat corresponding to
our * Who's who') called 'Deutscher Litteratur-Kalender.' The
2oth volume appeared at Leipzig, 1898 (bound, 6s. 6d.}.
Metre. — A short but useful survey of the history of German
metre, with good specimens and due consideration of modern
forms, is given by Fr. Kauffmann in his * Deutsche Metrik nach
ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung.' Marburg, 1897 (4^. 6d.).
A more detailed account of modern German metre — a subject
which apparently is hardly ever touched upon in school teaching,
while the outlines of it deserve to be just as well known as
the metrical art of the ancient classical writers— is given in
F. Minor's ' Neuhochdeutsche Metrik.' Strassburg, 1893 (ics.
unbound ; T 2s. half calf). Most teachers will probably find
the book too elaborate for their purpose in spite of its being
extremely readable and suggestive. The metre of a play in
blank verse and in the Old German free metre of four accents
is fully discussed in my edition of Schiller's ' Wallenstein i.
Cambridge, 2i896 (3*. 6d. cloth); blank verse alone in my
a School Teacher of German. 75
edition of ' Wilhelm Tell.' Cambridge, 2 1897 (25. 6d.)> and in
my forthcoming edition of Goethe's ' Iphigenie.'
Theory of Poetry, etc. — A number of 'Poetiken' of very
different size and character are enumerated in my ' Guide' on
pp. 74-75. There will be little time, and perhaps little need,
for systematic instruction in our school teaching, but teachers
will probably like to possess and use at least the following two
small and cheap hand-books : C. F. A. Schuster, * Lehrbuch
der Poetik fur hohere Lehranstalten.' Halle, 3rd ed. 1890
(2s. cloth), and the still smaller ' Deutsche Poetik' by Karl
Borinski. Stuttgart, 1895 (lod. cloth). In this connection I
should like to mention and to recommend very strongly three
books which teachers will find helpful in discussing German
dramas with more advanced pupils, or in preparing for scholar-
ship examinations : Gustav Freytag, 'Die Technik des Dramas/
4th ed. Leipzig, 1881 ($s. unbound, 6s. 6d. bound). The
American translation of this book by E. J. Mac Ewan, Chicago,
1895 (js. 6d. cloth), does not seem to be very well done.
R. Franz, 'Der Aufbau der Handlung in den klassischen
Dramen.' Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1892 (4^. 6d. unbound, 6s.
half bound), and H. Bulthaupt, ' Dramaturgic des Schauspiels.'
Vol. i. (Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist). Oldenburg and
Leipzig, 5th ed., 1893 (6^. cloth).
German Classics. — A great number of school editions of
German classics with English, German, and French Notes are
enumerated in my ' Guide,' pp. 94-96. For particulars as to
English editions of German Classics available in 1893 see my
article in Lyon's 'Zeitschrift fiir den deutschen Unterricht,'
Vol. VIIT. (1894), pp. 167 sqq. Of English editions without
notes Max Miiller's ' German Classics ' in 2 vols., Oxford,
1886 (;£i. is.), deserves to be mentioned. Professor Schiid-
dekopf is preparing a comprehensive modern anthology ; and
I am preparing a selection of the best and most characteristic
of Goethe's collected works in one volume for the Clarendon
Press. Of German editions : the Hempel editions of Lessing,
76 The Reference Library of
Goethe and Schiller, the new Schiller edition by Bellerman for
the Leipzig Bibliographical Institute, the editions of Burger,
Uhland, Riickert, Heine (in 7 volumes) and others by the same
publishers, and most of the volumes of Kiirschner's ' Deutsche
National- Litteratur' and of Brockhaus" Bibliothek der deutschen
Nationallitteratur des achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahr-
hunderts,' deserve to be recommended. Of the cheap series
the volumes of Cotta's ' Bibliothek der Weltlitteratur ' (bound),
and those of the ' Collection Spemann ' (bound), uniformly
printed in excellent type on excellent paper, can be had for is.
each; the Hendel editions (Halle, unbound) for $d. per
volume; Reclam's texts, ' Universal Bibliothek' (Leipzig), 3^.
per volume ; and the texts of the series called ' Meyer's
Volksbiicher' (Leipzig) for 2d. per volume.
Some other excellent sets of classics of a more scientific
character are enumerated in my 'Guide' on pp. 81-82, and a
number of commentaries mentioned on pp. 100-104. English
teachers of German will find M. W. Gotzinger's 'Deutsche
Dichter,' 5th ed. (partly rewritten by E. Gotzinger), 2 vols.
Aarau, 1876-7 (iSs. unbound, and ;£i cloth), very useful.
Old German. — Few teachers will feel inclined to give
much time and attention to Old German, and will therefore
hardly be in need of advice as to what books to use for the
study of the older German classics. Still many teachers may
in a not very distant future wish to prepare boys for scholar-
ships at the Universities, and although Old German is with
very good reason no longer an indispensable condition for
success in an Entrance Scholarship, a teacher may occasionally
like to give promising pupils a start and teach them the
elements of Middle High German and sixteenth century
German1. Some teachers may also like to continue their own
reading and extend their knowledge of Older German literature.
I shall not, in the following list of books, include any works
1 On the whole question see The Educational Times of May i, 1894.
a School Teacher of German. 77
of an advanced character, being strongly of opinion that Old
German as such is not a school subject, and should not, unless
in very exceptional cases, be begun before the University
course. Moreover, a smattering of Old German and German
philology, if not very well and carefully taught by an ex-
perienced teacher, is sure to do far more harm than good.
The basis of the modern literary language is sixteenth
century German. A teacher might first use Raphael Meyer's
' Einflihrung in das altere Neuhochdeutsche.' Leipzig, 1894
(2.$-.), in which the first fifty-five stanzas of the poem of ' Huernen
Seyfrid; are commented on, and then proceed to reading some
of the small volumes in 'Goeschen's' or 'Botticher and KinzelV
sets (see 'Guide,' pp. 79-80). In the 'Sammlung Goeschen,'
Vol. xxiv. might be selected for this purpose. It contains a
selection (by L. Pariser) of passages from ' Seb. Brant, Luther,
Hans Sachs and Fischart.' Stuttgart, 1893 (lod. cloth). In
' Botticher and Kinzel's ' ' Denkmaler der alteren deutschen
Litteratur,' the volumes 'Hans Sachs' (by K. Kinzel). Halle,
1893 (is. unbound), and ' Kunst- und Volkslied in der Re-
formationszeit ' (by K. Kinzel). Halle, 1892 (is. unbound),
will be found useful.
If teachers should desire to give their pupils some specimens
of the actual text of Luther's first translation of the Bible
('Septemberbibel') and briefly to discuss the principal changes
from sixteenth to nineteenth century German they cannot do
better than use the excellent and handy book by A. Reiffer-
scheid, ' Marcus Evangelion Martin Luthers nach der Sep-
temberbibel, mit den Lesarten aller Originalausgaben, etc.'
Heilbronn, 1888 (4^. 6d. unbound). For other sixteenth
century texts nothing can be better than Braune's cheap and
reliable ' Neudrucke.' (See ' Guide,' p. 81.)
The best introduction to the study of Middle High
German is Jul. Zupitza's ' Einfiihrung in das Studium des
Mittelhochdeutschen.' Oppeln, 1868. 4th ed., 1891 (2^. 6d.
unbound, 3^. cloth). Many scholars have been first initiated
78 The Reference Library of
into a serious study of Middle High German by this most
excellent little book. After having gone through Zupitza's
introduction, teachers might rapidly read through Jos. Wright's
< Middle High German Primer.' Oxford, 1888 (>. 6d.\ and
then study Hartman von Ouwe's ' Der arme Heinrich ' in
J. G. Robertson's edition. London, 1895 (4^. 6d.), or
W. Golther's selections from * Der Nibelunge Not ' (Sammlung
Goeschen, ioa). Stuttgart, 1895 (lod. cloth), or some other
volumes from Goeschen's series. English editions of the
Nibelungenlied and of a selection from the Minnesinger are
being prepared by Professor Fiedler. The small Middle High
German grammar by H. Paul (Halle, 3i889, $s. 6d.\ and the
small dictionary by M. Lexer (Leipzig, 3i885, 6s.), are much
to be recommended.
Mythology, Sagas. — A teacher who is desirous of ob-
taining a rapid survey of German Mythology and 'Heldensage'
without being able to devote much time to the study of the
more comprehensive books might read two handy volumes
(lod. each) of the very useful * Sammlung Goeschen.' The
one on * Deutsche Mythologie' is by Fr. Kauffmann. 2nd ed.
Stuttgart, 1893; the booklet on ' Die deutsche Heldensage'
is by O. L. Jiriczek. Stuttgart, 1894. The larger books
on those subjects are enumerated in my ' Guide' on pp.
110-112. To these should now be added W. Golther,
'Handbuch der germanischen Mythologie.' Leipzig, 1895
(125. unbound, 145. half calf).
History and Geography. — Although German history
and geography as such will hardly ever be taught in ordinary
schools, a teacher of German should make it a point to be
well informed as to either subject, and should possess German
books with German names of places and events in his private
library. The histories and atlases of this kind need not be
very bulky and expensive; some really good German school
and family books will amply suffice for his purpose. There
are a good many works which would do very well, but German
a School Teacher of German. 79
books on German Realien do not seem to be as yet very
familiar to English teachers of German1. A book on Germany
similar to Wendt's * England ' has still to be written — a very
useful but by no means an easy task. I can recommend
the following : David Miiller, ' Leitfaden zur Geschichte des
deutschen Volkes.' loth ed. Berlin, 1897, 2s. 6d. cloth. A
larger book by the same author is called ' Geschichte des
deutschen Volkes in kurzgefasster iibersichtlicher Darstellung.'
i5th ed. Berlin, 1894 (bound 6s.). The * Deutsche Ge-
schichte ' by Kammel is also largely used in Germany. Some
consider it to be now the best work of its kind (Ss.). A shorter
work by Otto Kammel also deserves to be recommended. It
is called 'Der Werdegang des deutschen Volkes. Historische
Richtlinien fur gebildete Leser.' Vol. i. Das Mittelalter.
Leipzig, 1896 (2S. 6d. cloth). Vol. n. Die Neuzeit. Leipzig.
1898 (3$. cfoth). K. Biedermann's Deutsche Volks- und
Kulturgeschichte fiir Schule und Haus. 3 Parts in i Volume.
Wiesbaden, 2i89i (75. 6d. cloth), is much to be recom-
mended. Teachers may also like to read through J. Jastrow's
interesting book called ' Geschichte des deutschen Einheits-
traumes und seiner Erfiillung.' Berlin, 4i89i (6s. unbound,
75-. half bound). A most excellent * Atlas fiir Mittel-
und Oberklassen hoherer Lehranstalten ' was published this
year at Bielefeld and Leipzig under the editorship of
R. Lehmann and W. Petzold (5^.)- Teachers of German will
find it extremely useful. The small Atlas by E. Debes
'Schulatlas fiir die mittlere Unterrichtsstufe/ Leipzig (is. 6d.},
deserves to be mentioned in this connection, and will suffice
for ordinary purposes. A useful little book is also A. L. Hick-
mann, ' Geographisch-statistischer Taschen-Atlas des deutschen
Reiches.' 3 Parts. Leipzig-Wien (2$. each part cloth,
1 In Germany an acquaintance with the principal English and French
Realien is required by the present regulations of the Oberlehrerprufung^
and new regulations which will be published within a few weeks are said
to go still further in this direction.
8o The Reference Library of
or the three in one volume, 3^. cloth). Very cheap and
useful for class teaching is P. Knotel's ' Bilderatlas zur
deutschen Geschichte' (with explanatory notes). Bielefeld
and Leipzig, 1895 (3s-)- A number of valuable and interesting
books on German History and on German Life and Customs
are enumerated in my ' Guide' on pp. 116 sqq. Concerning
the rights and duties of German citizens teachers will find
reliable information in the book by A. Giese, * Die deutsche
Biirgerkunde.' Leipzig, 1894 (is. 3^.), and in G. Hoffmann
and E. Groth, f Deutsche Biirgerkunde. Kleines Handbuch des
politisch Wissenswertesten fur jedermann.' Leipzig (2^. bound).
General Information. — Succinct and reliable informa-
tion on all matters connected with German history and
biography, life and thought, may be obtained from Meyer's
' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon ' in 3 volumes. 5th ed.
Leipzig, 1893 (half bound, £i. 4^.), which will prove of the
greatest use in many questions, and which every teacher of
German should endeavour to get. The 6th edition is just
being published in parts. A very concise book giving brief
information concerning German affairs, institutions, customs
etc. is J. Kiirschner's Jahrbuch. Berlin-Leipzig-Eisenach, 1898.
(is. unbound). Some good English books on Germany are
W. H. Dawson, ' Germany and the Germans.' London,
1894, 2 vols. (26^.), and S. Whitman, 'Imperial Germany.7
London, 1889 (new ed. 1895, 2s. 6d.}. An interesting book,
written from the French point of view by a man of culture
and broad views, is ' Les Allemands ' by Le Pere Didon.
Paris, 1884 (6s. unbound).
Method of Teaching. — However well informed a teacher
may be, he will have to adapt himself in his teaching to the
school curriculum, to the aims to be attained by his pupils,
and he will have to give his most serious attention to the
study and consideration of the methods to be followed in his
teaching. No school teacher who takes the slightest interest
in his subject can at the present time afford to keep aloof
a School Teacher of German. Si
from the discussions as to the best method of teaching
modern foreign languages, and every one will be able to learn
a great deal from the books written on the subject of the
teaching of German. A number of the most suggestive books
have been enumerated on pp. 58-62 of this book. Some of
these works a Modern Language teacher will no doubt wish to
possess for himself, so as to be able to refer to them from time
to time as occasion arises. The following books appear to
me to be especially useful — W. H. Widgery, ' The teaching of
languages in schools.' London, 1888 (2^.), is now out of print,
but a reprint would be very desirable. Michel Breal, ' De
1'enseignement des langues vivantes, Conferences faites aux
etudiants en lettres de la Sorbonne.' Paris, 1893 (2^.). Fr.
Spencer, 'Aims and Practice of Teaching.7 Cambridge, 1897
(6s.). A brief and reliable account of the present state of
Modern Language teaching in Germany was recently given by
Miss M. Brebner in her pamphlet called 'The Method of
teaching Modern Languages in Germany.' London, 1898
(is. 6d. cloth). All of these books advocate more or less the
so-called ' Neuere Richtung,' and are written for teachers
whose native tongue is not German. But much that is useful
can also be learned from some German books for German
teachers, if one bears in mind that the standards set up in
them require modification and abatement, as German is a
foreign language in this country. Teachers can still learn
a great deal from a careful study of the books by E. Laas and
R. Hildebrand (see my ' Guide/ pp. 37 and 119, 120), but
generally speaking they will derive most benefit from the
works by R. Lehmann, ' Der deutsche Unterricht. Eine
Methodik fiir hohere Lehranstalten.' Berlin, 2i897 (qs. cloth);
and by G. Wendt, ' Der deutsche Unterricht.' Miinchen,
1896 ($s. unbound). The latter contains also an admirable
bibliography.
I trust that the recommendations and hints given above
may enable teachers to make a good choice of books of
B. 6
82 Reference Library of a School Teacher of German.
reference in the various departments of their teaching and
private study. More than once I have been privately asked
by practical teachers for information of this kind ; may the
suggestions and recommendations now given be found useful
to a wider circle of readers, and thus render some service
to the cause of the study and teaching of German in Great
Britain !
INDEX.
abbreviations, the chief foreign ab-
breviations, 31
aims of modern language teaching
in secondary schools, 8, 10, 29,
34-35, 42-43
analytic method, 2
answers in complete sentences, 24
books on modern language teaching,
58-61
books on the study and teaching of
German, 64-82
Cambridge Medieval and Modern
Languages Tripos, 28-29
classics, 1 8, 32, 36; German classics,
75-76
'canon' to be elaborated, 32
annotated editions, 18, 32, 37,
75
French and German iyth and
1 8th century classics, 34
English renderings of foreign clas-
sics, u, 37
foreign texts always to be read
out in class, 37
archaisms in classics, 51-52
rimes in classics, 16
biographical accounts of classics,
41
composition, ordinary, n, 35; free,
11-12, 71-72
conversation, 24-26, 71
correspondence, international, 12
dictation, 15
dictionaries : German dictionaries,
64-6*
arl-E
ction
-
Germarl-Enflish, 64-65
German-Germfen, 65-66
foreign words in Gyman, 66
German equivalent of foreign
words, 66
orthographical, 66
etymological, 67
synonymical, 67
systematical (English-German), 67
travelling (English- German), 67
commercial, 67
miscellaneous, 67
differences between German and
English, 43
difficulties, chief difficulties of Ger-
man grammar, 53
direct method, 2, 25-26
English, too much neglected in
many schools, 39
essays, books on German essay
writing, 71-72
84
Index.
etymological comparisons, 21, 23
examinations
neglect of the spoken language,
4» 33
prescribed books, 33-34
foreign examinations for modern
language teachers, 25
form-association, 20, 52
form, metrical form of foreign poetry,
38-39
foreign words in German, books
on, 66
French, first teaching of, 24
German :
aim of teaching German, 43
books on the teaching of German,
61, 64-82
classics, books on, 75-76
conversation, 24-26, 71
dictionaries, 64-67
difficulties of German, 53, 69
essays, 71-72
genders, 54-55
geography, 79-80
grammar teaching, 50-55 ; gram-
mars, 67-69
handwriting, 70 ; in examinations,
45
history, 78-79
history of the German language,
books on, 69-70
history of German literature,
books on, 72-74
idioms, 71
letters, 44-46, 70
Middle High German, 77-78
mythology, 78
names, 56
Old German, 76-78
pronunciation, 46-49, /
German :
punctuation, 70
'Realien,' 78-80
sagas, 78
sixteenth century German, 77
spelling, 46, 70
syntax, books on, 69
word-formation, 55
glottal stop, 14-15, 48
gradation of reading, 29
,, - of poems to be learnt, 33
grammar, teaching of grammar,
17-21
German grammar, 50-56 ; defects
of many school grammars of
German, 51
historical grammar, 20, 52
holiday courses abroad, 27-28
idioms, 9, 21-22; German idioms
explained, 71
illustrated Primer, 29; illustrated
Reader, 30
international correspondence, 12
Latin words in German, French
and English, 20
learning by heart, poetry and prose,
33
leave of absence for modern language
teachers, 27
letters in German Reader, 31
literature, books on German litera-
ture, 72-74
should foreign literature as such
be taught in schools?, 41
maps of the foreign country, 29, 31
method, new, direct, analytic, 2
method of reading with a class,
35
Index.
method,
methods (various) of teaching
modern languages, 5
books on methods of teaching
modern languages, 58-61, of
teaching German, 80-82
methodical preparation for a reading
lesson, 35-37
metre, 38-39, 52 ; books on German
metre, 74-75
Modern Language Association, 27,
32
Modern (Language) Quarterly, 5, 13,
16, 28, 32, 57, 64
Modern Languages at Cambridge,
25, 28-29
Modern Languages:
educational value, 3, 34
not to be taught like dead
tongues, 8
to be connected with English, 8 ;
with history and geography, 8
increased interest in, 34
opportunities for teachers, 3, 42
not to be degraded, 42
mots populaires and mots savants,
20, 52
names, German geographical, 29
proper names and family names
in German, 56
Neuere Richtung, 2, 81
new method, 2
object lessons, 29
oral test necessary in examinations,
4, 33
orthography, German, 46, 66, 70
periodicals, 57-58
phonetics, 13-14, 62, 71
phonetic transcription, 15-16
phrases, idiomatic, 9
pictures in 'Reader,' 31
picture-books, discussions of pictures
in lower forms, 22, 24, 26
plays: discussion of great plays,
38-41; historical plays, 40-41 ;
acted abroad, 40 ; books on
classical German plays, 75
poems to be learned by heart, 33, 37
reading in school, 37
prepositions, right use of German
prepositions, and case after
them, 53
prescribed books for examinations,
33-34
punctuation, book on German, 70
Reader, centre of modern language
teaching, 29
constitution of model Reader, 30-
3i
reading, 29; what should be rejected,
30» 32
reciting, 15
residence abroad, 26-29, 40
results of teaching modern languages,
42
rimes of the classics, 16
self-abnegation of modern language
teacher, 36
series-method, 23
sound-tables, 13, 71
spelling, 17; German spelling, 46
spoken language neglected in our
examinations, 4, 33
Sprachgefiihl, 20, 54
structure of dramas, explanation, 39
tables of foreign measures, weights
and moneys, 31 ; of foreign
sounds, 31
86
Index.
teacher : only duly qualified teachers
to be appointed, 4, 18; teachers,
qualifications, 25-26, 39-40
training of modern language
teachers, 4, 7
modern language teachers to be
mainly English, 28 ; reference
library of a teacher of German,
63-82
theatre, visits to foreign theatres,
40
theory of poetry, books on, 75
time, all important question for
success in modern language
teaching, 3-4
translation, n, 37
travelling scholarships for modern
language students and teachers
urgently wanted, 27 ; at Bir-
mingham, 27
utilitarian views on modern lan-
guage study, 34
verbs, strong and separable verbs in
German, 53-54
vocabulary, 9, 22-24
wall-pictures, 22, 24-25
word-formation, 23, 55-56
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