As the saving of time is highly important to the master, he will, as soon as a lesson is recited, make the pupil pronounce the following one, before he proceeds to the second lesson for recitation, &c.; but, previously to the new lesson of each part being read, he must repeat, in an audible voice, each English phrase, of the lesson just recited, and the pupil write down the Spanish phrase, which he should read as soon as written, to inform the master that he may proceed to read the next English phrase. The reason why the English is to be read by the master instead of the Spanish is, that spelling is learned by the eye, and not by the ear; and by this mode he obliges his pupil to recollect the letters which he has seen in the composition of the words. Should the master, on the contrary, read the Spanish phrase instead of the English, the pupil, relying on his ear, which is not the proper organ on this occasion, will necessarily commit blunders. Should the Spanish teacher be unacquainted with the English language, as in the case stated in the note, he would be under the necessity of reading the Spanish phrase. When the scholar has well furnished his memory with a considerable stock of words and phrases, the auxiliary verbs haber and ser, and a few others that serve as a model in the Spanish conjugation, and has acquired a complete knowledge of the irregular verbs, together with the essential particulars explained in the analysis of the parts of speech, and which must keep pace with the scholar committing phrases to memory, he will absolutely understand Spanish when spoken to him, and be able to express his ideas in that language, &c. It will then be proper to introduce the learner to the selection of pieces contained in the Spanish Reader, which will be readily understood from the vast quanity of words and modes of expression stored in his memory*, and give him, at the same time, a the process of instruction without understanding that language: a very extraordinary advantage, peculiar to this method. (See the Introduction just cited, page xxii). There is no necessity for beginnning to read authors very early; for, by learning the vocabularies, &c. in the manner we have proposed, we learn the three things which constitute the knowledge of a language, to understand, new lesson in that part of the work entitled "Syntax made Easy," the rule of which, with the exemplifications, should also be acquired by the memory. We shall observe concerning this syntax, that many of the rules which Mr. Dufief gives in his "Nature Displayed applied to the French" have been of service to us, as the French and Spanish syntax agree in many respects. We acknowledge it with so much the more pleasure, as several of those rules being original, and explained with great perspicuity, it cannot fail to stamp a value on our volume. We earnestly recommend the learner to peruse (and he will be qualified for doing it from his progress in the Spanish language) "La Gramática Inglesa," to the rules of which he should pay much attention, and, by comparing together the Spanish and English examples which exemplify them, he will be enabled to observe how the two languages differ, a discovery which cannot fail to initiate him into the peculiarities of the Spanish. This comparative mode of learning syntax, supported by the reading of the best authors, appears to us to be both philosophical and effectual, as it is calculated to make a very lasting impression on the mind. We have but a few words to say to those who, having gone through the course of the Spanish which we have laid before the reader, and which we deem sufficient for every social purpose whatever, feel ambitious of excelling in that language, and rivalling the most enlightened natives in the knowledge thereof. To such we point out the necessity of studying the graces of style, and the best models of composition, as the works of Calderon, Lopez de Vega, Cervantes, Garcilaso, Yriarte, Feijoo, Mariana, Solis, Don Juan de Ulloa, Don Jorge Juan, Muños de Castizo, Melendez Valdes, d'Iglesias, Noroña, Gaspard de Jovellanos, Antonio Moratin, Diego de Mendoza,, Martin de Roa, Antonio de Fuentemayor, &c., which embrace every department of literature; whence they will speedily acquire a purity of style wholly free from Anglicisms. speak, and read or write it. Application to books suited to the taste of a pupil will divide his attention (which should be wholly devoted to committing to memory the practical part), and, from the trouble of learning the phrases, especially in the beginning, will create a distaste to them. When that perfection has been attained, the scholar may venture upon translating into Spanish some of the most interesting pieces of the English Reader. We feel happy in having shown, that even the parts of the first volume which seemed exclusively designed for the Spaniards, are of essential service to the English or Americans. We cannot do better than conclude this introduction in the words of the discoverer of the Method of Nature. "Having, I trust, fully satisfied the reader respecting this mode of instruction, I will venture, no longer able to resist the powerful voice of reason and experience, to say, that it is the most simple, expeditious, philosophical, and infallible method that can possibly be made use of; and, to avoid the unmerited charge of prejudice or prepossession in favour of it, I ingenuously acknowledge, that it is not my own, but NATURE'S, suited to grown persons or children, who are capable of speaking and reading their mother tongue. I have no merit but in discovering that which others might have hit upon, and in applying this method of instruction to a particular language; showing, at the same time, that it is applicable to all others. "Learning French by the shortest method possible is not the only advantage derived from the method of Nature. It also facilitates the acquisition of every other language, by the establishment of a universal mode: and often renovates the memory, by exercising, in a simple yet subtle manner, that noble faculty of the mind, while the judgment is improved and invigorated by a method founded on analogy and analysis, our unerring guides in the art of thinking. Observation has fully proved, that those who have learned French by the new mode have obtained much facility in their other studies." |