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LINGUAPHONECONV ERSAT IONAL COURSE
STUDENTS’
INSTRUCT IONS
LEINGUAPHONE INSTITUTE
LINGUAPHONECONV ER SAT IONAL COUR SE
STUDENTS’
INSTRUCT IONS
LINGUAPHONE INSTITUTE
L INGUAPHONE INST ITUTE, LTD . ,
207-209 , Regent Street, L ondon, W. x ,
30, Pla( a, New ( ork,
and tbrouglwut the world
INDE ( .
Introduction
How to make the most of the L inguaphone Course
Instructions for Adu lt Students
Preliminary Advice
General Instructions and Exercises
Summary of Exercises
Independen t Self-Expression
General Advice
The Sounds Record and Pronunciation Generally
Final Note
Instructions for Ch i ldren
E x ercises for Ch i ldren under 12
E x ercises for Ch i ldren unable to read
Introduction
How to make the ( OST of the L inguaphone
Course
You have now in your hands the finest means yet devisedfor the teaching of Modern Languages . Many years of ex perimental work with every known me thod of language teachinghave gone into the preparation of this L inguaphone Course .
You can now command the services of the finest Ian ageteachers in the world— men and women who combine l thees sential elements of the ideal teacher . For the language theyare waiting to teach you is their own language
,as familiar to
them as your own language is to you . They are acknowledgedexperts in their language
,understanding every aspect of it,
widely read and widely versed in the culture of their own nation .
And,most important perhaps of all
,they are ex rt
teachers , with the skill born of long experience in imparting tliEirknowledge to others
, and in understanding and smoothing outall the difficul ties that m ight impede your progress .
You are waiting to learn— they are waiting to teach . Thisbook has only one purpo se , to introduce you to each other, andto help you over the early stages of your acquaintance
,until you
know each other so well that you can get on by yourselves .You may think that you do not need to be told how to
listen . But Wh en to listen and when to speak , what to listenfor, how many times to listen, and how to absorb all that thereis to listen to—o n all these po ints these Instruction s will guideyou
6
They will even tell you how you can carry on a conversationwith your teachers
,or with their recorded voices ( They will
show you at every point of your developing knowledge,how
your ear, eye, lips and memory can best and most effectivelyco-operate— as they did automatical ly when you learned as a babyto speak your own language— so as to enable you to master andmake your own every sound and every idiom of the foreignlanguage you have chosen .
If you follow these instructions carefully,even though at
the momen t you may not see the value of them— if you are prepared to begin at the beginning and go on till you come to theend — you will find that at every step of your progress
,as on a
path that climbs from a valley to the shou lder of a hill,you
are offered an ever wider and more fascinating prospect,but,
unlike the hill—c limber,you will find that the nearer you ap
proach the summit the easier and more attractive the climbbecomes . And when you reach the summit a new world liesat your feet.
7
Instructions for Adult StudentsPreliminary Advice.
These instructions are applicable both to those students whoalready have some knowledge of the foreign language
, and tothose who have no knowledge of it at all
,whom we may call
Beginners . (
The obj ect of these instructions is to help you to learn, not
only how to speak the language,but also how to write it and
understand it .A word of advice to those who already possess a smat
tering of the spoken language and have taken up the Linguaphone Course in order to become more fluent
If you have no previous knowledge and follow the se instructions conscientiously
,you must inevitably speak the foreign
language with the same accent and intonation as the speakers towhose voices you have been listening on the records . If, however, you already possess a certain knowledge of the spokenlanguage, your accent may not be perfect, and experience showsthat it i s very difficu lt to eradicate a wrong accent once acquired .
Therefore,if you already possess some knowledge of the
spoken language, we advise you to try and forge t as far as possible what you have learned before
,following the instructions
even more carefully than if you were a Beginner .If you are 3 Beginner it may seem to you , because your ear
is as yet un trained to the sounds of the foreign language, thatthe speakers speak rather quickly . That is not so . On the contrary, the firs t few records are spoken very slowly and deliberately
,so as to enable the beginner to catch every word. The
more your ear gets accustomed to the foreign language, theclearer and more distinct the foreign words become to you , and
what at fi rst may have seemed to you a j umble of strange andincomprehensible sounds gradually assumes the shape of distinctand intelligible speech .
8
The rate of speech advances with every lesson as the courseprogresses, unti l in the later lessons it reaches the normal rate .By then, you will have no difficulty in following the text, becausein the meantime your car will have become thoroughly trainedand attuned to the foreign language .
At the outset you may find the different turns of speech and
idioms strange,but j ust take these peculiari ties (pre sent in every
languagefi including English (( for granted at first. Later on ,
when you have the feel of the language,( they will all become
perfectly clear to you,and you will be able to express your
thoughts in this new medium j ust as spontaneously as you doin Engli sh .
I( PORTANT.
D o not attempt to pronounce the sentences aloud until
instructed to do so.
9
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS .
( eep your records in the case in serial order . Always seethat the record you are using is free from dust. Fluff or dustcollected by the needle as it travels round the grooves may distortthe sound . Never use worn needles . Find out how often youshould change the type of needle you use , and be sure to keepwithin the limit. Before beginning the exercises, see that yourtext-books are at hand
,together with a note—book and pencil .
Decide how much you can assimilate in the time you haveallowed for your study, and work to that plan . Experienceshows that 8410 lines is the average amount the beginner can dealwith successfully . The exercises 1 -8 given below should beworked through for each portion of every lesson , and the lessonsshould, of course , be studied consecutively .
Prelim inary Ear-training.
Taking the first sentence,work as follows
I . Listen to the sentence once,at the same time following
the text in the book .
2 . Listen to the same sentence four times wi thout the book .
3. Listen to it twice more,following the text.
If necessary, repeat this exerci se several times more . Then playthe next sentence in the same way, and so on ti ll the end of theportion you are studying .
Do not try at this s tage to understand the meaning of thetex t. Your principal obj ect should be to di stinguish each syllableand each word and to identify the spoken word with the prm tedtext.
I O
2.
Understanding.
Without l istening to the record. Read ( through the portionof the text you are s tudying and refer to the p i ctures . Theywil l help to make the meaning of the sentences clear to you andto fix the words 1n your mind . Wherever a number 15 attachedto a word in the text
,refer to the large picture illustrating the
lesson,there you will see the same number attached to the obj ect
which the word represents . If there are small pictures as well ,the words that represent them will be indicated by a letter initalics . H aving done this, make quite sure you understand thewhole of the portion by consul ting the V ocabu lary .
( Silently. At this stage do not attemp t to pronounce theforeign words .
3.
Ear-training in conjunction with Tex t and Pictures.
Play the record several times,firs t following the tex t in the
book and then concentrating on the pictures and looking at thevarious obj ects as they are mentioned . By now you should havequite a good idea of the meaning of the sentences as you hearthem .
Ear-training combined with Sp el ling—Writing.
Listen again , while following the text in the book , this timepaying special attention to the spelling of the words . Repeatthree or four times .
Copy out the tex t . (If yon are studying a language that hasa special script, practi se first with the alphabet and indiv idualwords .(
i i
Detailed Ear-training.
Listen to the firs t sentence while following it in the book .
Do you understand every word ? If so, go on to the nex tsentence . If not
,underline in pencil the words ou do not
understand . Look up the meaning of the words underlined andlisten to that sentence again and again without the book , untilyou are able to understand it all . Proceed in the same way to theend of the portion allotted . Then listen to the whole portionagain
,and if there are still words you do not understand, repeat
the procedure,first with the book and then without it, until you
are able to understand every word .
Sp eaking.
You are now ready to start speaking the words and sentencesyou have heard . If you are to be understood easily, you mustspeak the language in the same wa as the native . This meansimitating the speaker on the record
,
in the matter of intonationas well as pronunciation
,so do not be afraid to copy the rise and
fall of the voice exactly . Practise as follows ( Listen to the firstsentence withou t the book
,s top the record and say the sentence
aloud . Compare your pronunciation with the speaker’s and see
wheth er you can detect any difference . Repeat until you arequite satisfied that your pronunciation and intonation correctl
reproduce those of the record . Proceed in the same way withthe whole portion , sentence by sentence .
12
Dictation.
D ictation from the record gives excellent practice in eartraining
,spelling and writing at the same time . Play a few
words a t a time, stop the record and write down the words youhave heard . When the whole portion has been written down inthis way
,compare it with the printed text and correct any m is
takes you may have made .
Reading.
Listen to the whole portion,at the same time following
the text in the book . Then listen to i t once or twice withou tlooking at the book . Finally read i t aloud to yourself severaltimes . Read slowly at first . Fluency will come of its ownaccord . Reading aloud is an excellent ex erci se for acquiring( uency in speaking, but should only be practi sed when one issure of one’s pronunciation .
NOTE ( The foregoing Exerci ses 1 -8 should be workedthrough for each portion of the lesson .
The following four Exercises apply to the tex t of the complete lesson studied as a whole .
Without looking at the book , l isten to the whole of the tex tto sati sfy yourself that you understand every word you hear .
I 3
10.
Sp ontaneous Conversion of Images into Sp okenWords.
Look at the large picture . Take No . 1 . Besides giving thename of the person or obj ect represented, give a description of itand convey the whole idea represented . In case of doubt referto the text. Always say the words aloud . Now take anothernumber, and another, until a mere glance at one instan tly bringsto your lips i ts e( uivalent in the foreign language .
A similar exercise can be practi sed whenever there are smallpictures in the text. Look at the firs t one and describe it asindicated above . In the case of nouns
,always add the article .
This will help you to memori ( e the gender .
Detai led Understanding of the Tex t.
Copy out from the V ocabulary the meanings of the wordsand phrases ln your own language . Close the book and add theforeign equivalents . Check from the V ocabulary .
At this stage you should consult the grammatical handbookto make quite sure you understand the grammatical constructionof the sentences .
12.
( inal Test.
Listen to the whole lesson,without the book
,two or three
times . Can you understand and follow i t all? Do you knowit so well that you do not need to think of the English meaning of
14
it ? If’
so, you are beginningto think in the foreign language
and have really mastered the esson .
Go through the lesson again,this time reading it aloud and
making a final check on the correctness of your pronunciation andintonation .
SUPPLE ( ENTAR( E ( ERCISES .
The additional exercises given below should be workedthrough for every portion of text consisting of conversation in theform of questions and answers .
13.
Answering ( uestions h eard on th e Record.
Play the first question and then stop the record . Repeat thequestion aloud and then give the answer from memory . Thenlisten to the answer on the record and make sure your ownanswer was correct . Continue in the same way with theremaining questions .
14 .
Asking ( uestions and Hearing Answers on theRecord.
Imagine that you are the speaker who is asking the questions and let the record give you the answer . Ask the firstquestion, then listen to the same ( uestion to see whether yourversion was correct . Follow on by letting the record give youthe answer . As soon as you hear the answer
,stop the record and
ask the next question , and so on to the end of the text.
16
INDEPENDENT SEL( E ( PRESSION.
When you have come to the end of your study of a completelesson
,you will have acquired quite a considerable vocabulary .
The material thus learned will not only enable you toformulate
.
such sentences as appear in the book, but you willfind by degrees that with the words and expression s you haveacquired
,you will also be able to formulate correctly your
own independent sentences and phrases as occasion arises . Themore lessons you master
,the easier you will find the art of
self—expression in the foreign language . Of course,it is impos
sible to compress a whole language into one book,but you will
find in the end that, within the limits of this book, your masteryof the new language is complete .
The material i s there,the means of acquiring it are there (
it i s for you to make it your own by a little perseverance and alitt le work .
17
GENERAL ADV ICE— I( PORTANT.
Never take any sound for granted . Make sure always thatou have grasped the correct pronunciation of the foreign soundsbefore attempting to pronounce them yourself.
Be especial ly careful with words which, in the foreignlanguage
,are spelled in the same way, or in practically the same
way, as in English . The French word table i s NOT pronouncedin the same way as the English table, nor does premiere soundat all like our premier . The word piano is not pronounced inthe same way in French , I talian , Spanish or Portuguese as i tsEnglish equivalent. The French legon doe s not sound the sameas the English lesson. The stress in the French word visiteur
is on the end syllable and not on the first,as in the Engl ish
visitor . The sound of a in Spanish fam ilia or Itali an famigliais not the same as in the English word fam ily( the I talian gentileis not pronounced in the same way as the En lish gentile, nordoes the Spani sh general correspond in soun to the Engli sh
The German words Hand and Wort differ considerablyin pronunciation from their English relatives band and word.
Instances of this kind are very numerous .
Never overtire yourself ( j ust stop as soon as you feel youare not giving your full and proper attention to the lesson .
Never let a day pass, if you can possibly help i t, wi thoutdoing some s tudy . If you can manage only a few minutes
,that
i s be tter than nothing. Even listening to half a lesson (whiledoing some thing else( is better than not listening at all . (By theway, why not listen to a record whilst dressing or brushing yourhair ? (
I t is better to do a little at a time at regular intervals thana great deal at irregular intervals .
Sei ( e every opportunity of listening to natives,and after the
first few lessons , of talking to them . Much valuable practice can
18
be obtained by lis tening to the radio , etc . , and it is very gratifyingto note the increasing amount you can understand .
Always play over the last lesson you have learned beforetaking up fresh work . You can then tune in on materialyou know
,so that the new material will not sound as unfamiliar
as i t might otherwise do.
THE SOUNDS RECORD .
When a Sounds Record is provided,the tex t of this record
will be found in the main tex t-book . This record should be usedfor reference purposes throughout the Course . It wil l enable youto identify and classify any particular sound which troubles you ,and youwill be interested to see the grouping of sounds . Thereis no set way or time to use this record— j ust u se it when you feelit necessary .
REGARDING PRONUNCIATION GENERALL( .
Too much s tress cannot be laid on correct pronunciation .
You may feel sure that you can repeat the first lesson correctly ,but i f you go back to Lesson I
,after you have finished Lessons
2 and 3, your ear will have become sharper in picking upnuances of tone— and you will find many little poin ts to correct .( eep on referring, therefore, to Lesson 1 at intervals as a pronunciation test— you can always learn from Lesson I in th i srespect .
I 9
( INAL NOTE .
And now that you have come to the end of this Course,you
will,if you have
‘
followed the instructions carefully, have acquireda lasting knowledge of the language you have chosen . You cannow make yourself easily understood when you speak it ( youraccent is irreproachable and you have a suffi cien t vocabulary(1
forall the ordinary needs of everyday life . Moreover, you will aveno difficul ty in understanding the language when others Speakit, and can converse fluently with natives and enj oy the broadcasts from foreign stations . Most thrilling of all , perhaps , youare well-fitted to set out on a voyage of exploration in the literature of the language you have mastered . When you do so, makea habit of reading aloud a short passage for half an hour
,or even
less, repeating the same passage from five to ten times . If, after
you have done this,there are still some words in the passage
which you do not understand,look them up in a dictionary ,
and when you have completely ascertained the meaning of thewhole passage read it aloud again . You will find that in thisway you increase your knowledge while you are making use ofit.
Even after you have completed the Course,it i s a good
plan to l isten occasionally to one or other of the records in orderto keep your ear attuned to the language and to maintain the
puri ty of your accent . The Course i s particularly valuable forenabling the student to maintain his knowledge of the languageat a high level at all times
,especially in the important matter of
the intonation to be used in conversation on everyday topics .
A further means of extending our vocabulary and onewhich will give you another aspect of the language i s to be foundin the L inguaphone Travel Courses (published in French , Italian ,and English for forei n students( . Such a course will not onlyincrease your knowletfge of the language, but will also give youmuch useful information about the country itself and about its
20
people . The value of such a course to anyone who has travelledor intends to travel abroad is obvious .
There are also L inguaphone L 1terary Courses (in French ,German
,Italian and Spanish( which form an indispensable
and fascinating introduction to the inexhaustible literarytreasures of each of these languages . The passages selected arein each case the finest and most representative examples of thenation’s l iterature
,and are most beauti fully and sympathetically
recorded by the foremost speakers and elocutionists of thecountry .
It is an interesting fact that it is possible by the Linguaphone Method to learn two
,or even three different languages
simultaneou sly and with an expenditure of very little more timeand effort than i s needed to learn a single language . Moreover,it i s fascinating to compare the forms of expression given to thesame idea in different languages . This added interest, again,
enables rapid progress to be made without strain and almost withou t conscious effort
,because a task which gives pleasure in i tself
is always easier of accomplishment— in fact,it ceases to be a task
and becomes a pastime .Each language has its own advantages . For business pur
poses , French , Spanish and German will be found the mostuseful . Esperanto, a very easy language to acquire , i s becomingmore and more popular as an International language . Italianoffers you a magnificent l iterature and ( a fu ller understanding ofmany beautifu l operas . Russian
,too
,a language not nearly so
difficult to acquire as some people imagine,will give you access
to some of the great novels of the world .
In any case, the hardest part of the work is behind you . Inacquiring the language that you have already mastered you haveprepared the ground for a great harvest of real and las ting en
joyment— that you will now be ready to reap . But you havedone more . You have prepared and trained ourself, so thatwhen next you set out into new fields
,your labour will be the
l ighter, and even more abundant and satisfying the reward.
2 1
Instructions for Children
Children of twelve and over should in most case s be ableto follow the same instructions as for adults . Children undertwelve who are able to read may take the exercises given below .
It should be borne in mind, however, that the younger the childthe less material should be covered in every lesson . The adult
who is supervi sing the lessons should,of course
,be thoroughly
acquainted with each part of the text before taking the childthrou b it. Those who already understand the language willfind is presents no difficul ty
,while those who have no prev ious
knowledge will be agreeably surprised at the progress they themselves will make by running through each lesson once or twice,in accordance with the Instructions for Adults
,before giving the
child his or her lesson.
GENERAL E ( ERCISES.
1 .
Prelim inary Ear-training.
Havm decided how much the child can assimilate in thelesson , let im li sten to that passage, sentence by sentence,several times
I . without looking at the book ,2 . while following it in the book
,
3. without looking at the book .
2.
Understanding.
the child the meaning of the passage or help him tothe meaning for himself from the V ocabulary . Letat the pictures to fix the words in his m ind .
22
3.
Ear-training in conjunction with Tex t and Pictures.
Let the child listen to the record several times,first follow
ing the text in the book , then concentrating on the pictures andpointing out the various obj ects as he hears them referred to .
4 .
Ear-training and Sp eaking.
The child should now be able to pronounce the passagecorrectly . Let him listen to the first sentence and then say italoud himself. Let him do this two or three times unti l he isable to copy the speaker exactly . He should proceed in the sameway with the rest of the passage , sentence by sentence .
5.
Reading.
the passage aloud
6.
Writing and Ear-training.
Let the child copy the passage in an exercise book, the
adult seeing that there are no m istakes . Afterwards the childshould listen to the passage again while looking at what he haswri tten.
24
SUPPLE ( ENTAR( E ( ERCISES.
The same exercises can betaken as for adults (Nos . 13
CONV ERSATION PRACTICE .
After the first few lessons of the Course have been completed ,conversation practice should be developed in the following way .
While the child 13 looking at the large picture, ask him the following six basic questi ons in the foreign language .
How many people are there in the picture ?I
2 Who is on the left ?
3. Who is on the right ?
4 . What is on the left ?
5 What i s on the righ t ?6 What is doing ?
These questions can be applied to any Linguaphone picture .At first the child’s answers will be short and simple , but withpractice they will become longer and more interesting.
25
Instructions for Children unable to
read
1.
Let the child listen to two or three sentences about five orsix times for three or four days .
2.
By then the child will probably start asking the meaningof some of the words or phrases which have impressed themselves ou his mind . The adult will then ex plain what each ofthese words means .
3.
Whenever the sentences contain obj ects or situations shownin the picture
,they should be pointed out, so that the child may
learn to associate the spoken word with what he sees in the
4 .
Taking sentence by sentence, let the child first li sten to therecord and then repeat the sentence he has heard. If his pronunciation or intonation is faulty, let him l isten two or three timesagain unti l he is able to copy the record exactly.
5.
Make sure that the child understands the full meaning ofwhat he has heard on the record . Give him the English of eachsentence and let him say what the equivalent is in the foreignlanguage .
26
6
H aving gone through the whole of the text as indicated above ,let the child pick out the various obj ects in the picture and givetheir foreign equivalents .
Finally let him listen to the whole text once more .
SUPPLE ( ENTAR( E ( ERCISES
on Conversation consisting of ( uestions and Answers.
1
Le t the child lis ten to the first question and make himselfthoroughly familiar with it.
2.
Explain the meaning of the question .
3.
Le t the child listen again to the question a few times, re
peating each time the question aloud .
Let the child l isten to the answer in the same way .
5
Le t the child listen to the ques tion again and give the
answer from memory . Continue in the same way with all thequestions and answers .
6
Ask the questions , first in their proper order and then atrandom , the child giv ing the answers .
Published by
L INGUAPHONE INST ITUTE ,LTD . ,
209 , Regent Street,L ondon, W. x .
Copyr ignt . All riglxts reserved .
P rinted in Great ( ritain for International Catalogues, L td . , 207-209 ,Regent Street
,London, W . r , b Th e Woodb ridge P ress, L td . ,
Gu il ord .
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Thi s book is due on the last date stamp ed below, or
on th e date to which renewed.
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