XV.-MODERN LANGUAGES. A.-GERMAN. To the President: Sir: In teaching the modern languages, the Department aims to give such training as will enable the student to read readily at sight, without recourse to translation for the meaning, to understand the language when it is either read or spoken to him, to write it correctly, to converse in simple language, and to the point, and to give him such philological training as the limits of the time will permit. While all of these objects are kept in view from start to finish, each receives special attention at certain stages of the course. The first of these, namely, to read readily at sight, is by far the most important, since it alone is of any direct use to the very large majority of our students. To this end a thorough mastery of the essentials of grammar is indispensable. This is accomplished during the first two terms of the course. The various mood, tense and case forms must be known, with their exact meaning, or they will cause endless trouble. Then, too, what may be termed a grammatical vocabulary is also essential. This comprises the articles, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions and especially the strong and irregular verbs, which form the backbone of the language. In the words of a colleague in this work, "you might as well try to swim without a spinal column as to read German (or French, for that matter) without knowing the strong verbs," for two reasons: in the first place they occur in almost every line of the literature, and, in the second place, they form the basis of the formation of other words many times multiplied. A special effort is, therefore, made to reduce dictionary work to a minimum, by encouraging the student to fix the root meanings thoroughly in mind, and from them, with the aid of the context, to determine the meaning of the derivative. In regard to the limited possibilities of acquiring a speaking knowl edge of a foreign language, I should only be repeating what was discussed at some length in my report of 1896. The work of the freshman year consists chiefly in familiarizing the student with the sounds of the spoken laguage, with the essentials of grammatical forms and constructions, and, strange as with a knowledge of his own vernacular. The selections for reading during the first half of the year are of such an elementary character that they can be read intelligently and translated easily at sight from the very first day, with but few helpful suggestions from the desk. The most natural and logical method for mastering a foreign tongue is that used by the child. Hence, the effort is made to have the student imitate the processes by which children acquire their language: to have him picture to his mind the objects, qualities and actions which the words represent, and to combine them into simple expressions of thought. This kind of drill is kept up until the peculiar position of the verb in the inverted and transposed order is familar. The work is approached from every possible side. Short sentences are freely used to illustrate every grammatical principle. These are thoughtfully pronounced in German and then translated. The sense of hearing is thus brought into play quite as much as that of mere sight. Short English sentences illustrating the same grammatical points are translated into German in writing, corrected in class and then reviewed orally and in writing. The assigned extracts for translation are frequently translated from dictation, and made the theme for conversation. By the close of the winter term the student is quite well equipped to enter a course of rapid reading in German literature. Selections are then read, chiefly from the novelists, Baumbach, Heyse, Seidel, Stöckl, Werner, Weisner, Juncker, Storm, Leander and others. During the sophomore year composition and philological training are emphasized. To the technical student, who receives no training whatever in the ancient classics, German offers peculiar advantages for philological drill, quite superior to those presented in any other modern language. W. D. Whitney, late Professor of Philology, at Yale, and editor-in-chief of the Century Dictionary, says: "In words, forms and constructions, it is enough unlike English to call forth and exercise all the pupil's powers of discrimination, to sharpen his attention to the niceties of word and phrase, and to train his philological insight, while, at the same time, the fundamental relation of German to the most central and intimate part of English makes the study instinct with practical bearings on our own tongue, and equivalent to a historical and comparative study of English itself; and, both on the aesthetic and on the practical side, there is no modern literature so rich in attraction and so liberal of reward to us as the German." Attention is called to words akin to the English in origin and formation, such as weich, weak; brechen, break; tag, day; macht, might; rippe, rib; teuer, dear; dass, that; annehmen, accept; zusammenfallen, coincide; ausnahmsfälle, cases of exception; äusserst, extremely; entgeg ensetzen, oppose; einleitung, introduction; übergewicht, preponderance; unabhängigkeit, independence. Every page teems with analogies like the above. It is evident that a faithful use of this exercise will lead to the mastery of about half of the German vocabulary with the least possible expenditure of time and effort. While this par ticular feature is emphasized at this stage, it is by no means overlooked during any part of the course. The composition work is continued throughout the year, in connection with all the important elements of German syntax. Sight reading continues to occupy a considerable portion of the recitation hour. It is to be regretted that students in the Latin scientific course who omit modern languages in the Fall Term of this year cannot complete their course without this serious interruption. The German classics constitute the field of work for the junior year. The whole of Part I of Goethe's Faust, nearly five thousand lines, was read and critically considered as a work of art during the Fall Term. About half of it was read at sight with ease. During the Winter Term Lessing and one of his masterpieces were studied, while the rest of the year was devoted to Schiller. I herewith submit a tabulated statement, indicating the number of students examined and conditioned, and the ratio of the conditioned to the examined, for the past three years. This shows conclusively what our coaching system has accomplished for the freshmen during the sessions since the College year 1895-'96. The freshmen's difficulties during their first term in college are, as a rule, attributable to a lack of suitable training, and to the distractions of their new environment. Owing to their failure to settle down to concentrated effort, many soon fall hopelessly behind in their work, unless assisted privately. For such is organized a coaching class, the object of which is to review the work already covered, and to recover standing in class. This method has prevented many fail ures. Thanking you for your many kindnesses, I am, CARL D. FEHR, Assistant Professor of German. State College, Pa., June 1, 1899. |