Sinopsis:
Excerpt from Lecture on the Best Methods of Teaching the Living Languages: Delivered Before the American Institute, August 24, 1832
Only a few persons however are able or willing to avail themselves of it. Lf we wish to instruct our children in a foreign language, we find it inconvenient and unwise to send them among strangers, in a strange land to learn it: and, if we undertake to teach them at home, we shall hardly be disposed, like Montaigne's father, to sur round them only with those who speak no other than the one we wish them to acquire. In the vast majority of cases, therefore, we must resort to means somewhat more artificial and indirect; and, while still endeavoring to teach it as a living and a spoken lan guage, use the best method within our power at home.
What, then, is this best method? For this is precisely the question you have done me the honor to propose to me; and as it is entirely plain and practical in its nature and objects, I shall not venture, in the reply I may endeavor to make to it, to go in any respect beyond the limits of my personal experience and observa tion, or wish to say anything which is not as perfectly plain and practical as the question itself.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Reseña del editor:
Excerpt from Lecture on the Best Methods of Teaching the Living Languages: Delivered Before the American Institute, August 24, 1832
Mr President and Gentlemen:
The most important characteristic of a living language, - the attribute in which resides its essential power and value, - is, that it is a spoken one; that it serves for that constant and principal bond of union between the different individuals of a whole nation, without which, they could not, for a moment, be kept together as a community. This great and prevalent characteristic is, therefore, everywhere visible in its structure, arrangements and expression; hardly less so in books, than in conversation. The main object, indeed, to which every other is sacrificed, in the formation of a language is, to facilitate personal intercourse; to enable one human being, in the easiest and most direct manner, to communicate to another his thoughts and his wants, his feelings and his passions; and to this great object every living language is essentially, and, it may almost be said, is exclusively adapted in its vocabulary, its forms, its inflexions, idioms and pronunciation.
The easiest and best method, therefore, for persons of all ages and all classes to learn a living language is undoubtedly to learn it as a spoken one; since this is not only its paramount characteristic, but is the only foundation on which the written language has been built or can rest. Persons, then, who have the opportunity, should learn the living language they wish to possess, as it is learnt by those to whom it is native. They should reside where it is constantly spoken, and use it, as it is used around them.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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