11 Murray Street, New York.
A METHOD FOR THE
IDIOMATIC STUDY OF GERMAN
BY
OTTO KUPHAL, Ph. D.
—PART ONE—
LESSONS, EXERCISES, AND VOCABULARY.
Large 12mo.—536 pages. Price $2.25.
This Method is based on the principles of modern philosophy. Gradual progress and spontaneous development are its leading features. The sentence is the unit. Natural language precedes literary language. The example teaches the rule; language teaches grammar.
The work is printed entirely in the Roman character.
“Spoken language is to written language what the real object is to its description.
“The knowledge of language is based on sound. Sound is the soul of language; without it language is dead. Sound imparts life; vividly and forcibly it impresses facts upon the mind, and facts are the absolute basis of all knowledge. No true, no real knowledge of language has ever been attained, unless it was founded on this solid basis which the living voice alone has the power to create.
“The study of language must conform to the process of nature. Language was spoken many ages before letters or books were even thought of, and no one ever attempted to read or write his mother-tongue before he was able to understand and to speak it. To go counter to the sequence in which the faculties naturally and spontaneously develop, is to oppose the precepts of nature. We must understand a language before we can speak it; we must speak a language before we can read it. Reading is indirect hearing. In reading we mentally pronounce the author’s words and these mental sounds are reported to the brain. If we cannot pronounce, we cannot read. When we begin to read our mother-tongue, we recall to our mind known sounds and known ideas. Must the process not be the same when we begin to read a foreign tongue? To make reading the starting-point in the acquisition of a foreign language is contrary to reason and the student, after fruitless efforts, invariably abandons his task.”—Extract from Author’s Preface.