A MODERN TOUCH

The statement has often been justly made that language courses fail to give a student a sufficiently up-to-date knowledge of a tongue. All such a course does is teach grammar, prescribe a number of books, and include some conversation in the daily lesson. Of course, the grammar taught is standard and the books read are classics. The argument is that if one is to learn a language, he might as well know it in its perfect form. However, this method of teaching deprives the student of much of the color and life of a language. The classical prose and poetry is, in spite of its sometimes artificial form, usually worth reading for its beauty. But, by confinement to such works, the student may get an unnatural view of the language as a whole.

For courses such as French 2 and German 1a, it seems entirely possible to include in prescribed outside reading a few modern novels or plays, presenting a picture of foreign people as they live and talk today. Such works will not only show along what lines literature has recently developed, but will tend to illustrate the ability of a language to assimilate new terms and to express the ever-changing ideas of a modern race. They need not be given too great emphasis by instructors, but should merely serve to bring out the colloquial side of a foreign language.