Ever since people began to engage in trade and commerce and thereby to come into contact with foreigners, they have had to learn the language of the country with which they wished to do business. Because acquiring a foreign language is one of the oldest branches of knowledge, one would think that during the many years which have passed a method could have been found for making the study-process easier and the learning-process more effective. In reality, however, only the last few decades have produced a small number of volumes based on a truly rational method. Most textbooks still prefer to follow the tradition sanctified by long usage.

When we are learning a foreign language, the new words are the most important thing, and before we do anything else we must learn to translate them from our mother tongue to the new language. The farther we progress in the foreign language, the farther into the background this linking of words recedes until finally, when we can really speak the new language well, we think in it naturally, without translating.

The average man applies the method which he uses in learning a vocabulary of foreign words; that is, he repeats the two words one after the other until he thinks he has them fixed in mind. What is the weakness of this method? It does not take long to find it. The human mind is so constituted that it is always looking for something new. If the vocabulary or words to be memorized are repeated one after the other in a more or less mechanical fashion, they offer nothing new for the mind to grasp. It wanders and busies itself with something else while the lips mechanically keep on murmuring the words. What happens is the exact opposite of concentration. It is a direct invitation to woolgathering, for such absent-mindedness really ensues when we try to learn something yet at the same time let our minds be occupied by something else.

Poehlmann points out, quite correctly, that Latin textbooks for beginners usually introduce farmer-agricoía early in the course. The student must keep impressing this word on his mind by the usual process of repetition until it sticks. How much easier it is for the student to learn that acre is ager, aided by the similarity in sound of the two words. If in addition he has learned that to cultivate is colere, no extra time or thought need be spent on the compounded word agri-cola (ager colere).

This example is but one of thousands which could be cited from foreign-language textbooks.

It is more logical and to the point for anyone who wants to learn a foreign tongue to study first of all those words which are spelled the same, or nearly the same, in his own language. In English-German there are, for instance:

rose—Rose
ring—Ring
gold—Gold
grass—Grass
rust—Rost
man—Mann

Then follow the words which, while differing in spelling, yet have a fairly similar sound:

steel—Stahl
moon—Mond
father—Vater
come—kommen

Whether such words are few or many depends upon the degree of relationship between one's own language and the particular foreign one.

If thought-associations like those given above cannot be made, that is, if the foreign word sounds entirely different from the same word in our own language, we can lighten our task of learning it by employing linking words.

Naturally this plan again offers various possibilities. The simplest and most effective is to find a linking word in one's own language, a word which in meaning is similar to the given word but in sound resembles the foreign word to be learned. If we go back to the Latin, we find the following example:

In Latin, hand is manus. In English, we have the word manufacturer, originally someone who made something by hand. If we therefore insert manufacturer as the linking word between hand and manus, we use this chain of thought: I am trying to think of the Latin word for hand. Hand reminds me of the man who makes something by hand or causes it to be made by hand, therefore manufacturer. If I know this word, I can easily recall the Latin word manus.

Another example: To know is cognoscere in Latin. These are entirely different words, and there is apparently no connection between the two. But if I know someone I can say I recognize him. This word is so similar to the Latin term I am trying to think of that memorizing the latter offers no further difficulty.

There is a twofold advantage in learning words in this way: First, stupid, parrotlike repetition is done away with. The habit of endless repetition, as I have pointed out, tends to destroy concentration. Second, terms learned by the method I have outlined make a much deeper impression and remain in the memory much longer, once they are learned. The reader cannot check this assertion offhand; but try to learn foreign terms with the aid of a modern textbook or by inserting your own linking words and you will shortly see how astonishingly well you remember them. Now, of course, there are a great number of terms for which it is impossible to find linking words as closely related in meaning to the words in one's own language as the cited examples. In spite of this fact we need not discard our method. Basing my conclusions on an extensive study of many languages, I have found that in almost all instances it is possible to discover a word in our own language that is similar in sound to the foreign word. Once I know such a word, with a little practice in inserting linking words I can make a connection in my own language whenever a natural connection does not exist. The following examples demonstrate this point: The English word tomb is entirely dissimilar and has no relationship to the German word Grabmal. But it is easy to form a connection between tomb and grave, and the latter word sounds so much like the German word Grab, that remembering it presents no difficulty. Since actual practice is much more instructive than theory, I shall present a series of examples, emphasizing the fact that the etymology of the words is entirely beside the point. I assume that the etymology of the word is unknown to the reader, for if it is known, we can naturally dispense with mnemotechnical aids.

Examples for English-French:

top                                        summit                             sommet
women                                  feminine                           femmes
share                                     part                                 part
danger                                   risk                                  risque
insanity                                  demented                        demence
middle                                   center                              centre
busy                                      occupied                         occupé
death                                     mortal                              mort
house                                    mason                             maison
news                                     novel                               nouvelle
noon                                      midday                            midi
mail                                       post                                 poste
song                                      chant                               chanson
speed                                    rapid                               rapidité
food                                      nourishment                     nourriture
duty                                       function                           fonction
clock                                     hour                                . horloge
shadow                                 umbrella                          ombre
ear                                        aural                                oreille

Examples for English-German:

basement                               cellar                               Keller
cloakroom                             wardrobe                        Garderobe
tomb                                     grave                               Grabmal
merchandise                          ware                                Ware
duty                                       toll                                   Zoll
soft                                        weak                               weich
assist                                     help                                 helfen
boy                                       young                              Junge
dog                                       hound                              Hund
savage                                   barbarian                         Barbar
letter                                      brief                                Brief (a brief letter)
flower                                    bloom                              Blume
flour                                      meal                                Mehl
enemy                                   fiend                                Feind
meat                                      flesh                                Fleisch
Road                                     way                                 Weg
Carpet                                   tapestry                           Teppich
Table                                     dish                                 Tisch
Shave                                    razor                               rasieren

Examples for English-Spanish:

Child                                     infant                               infante
Horse                                    cavalry                            caballo
Door                                     portal                              puerta
Heart                                     core                                corazón
Mind                                     mental                             mente
Neck                                     collar                               cuello
at once                                  prompt                            pronto
prize                                      premium                          premio
table                                      mess                                mesa
knife                                      cut                                   cuchillo
scale                                      balance                            balanza
wages                                    salary                              salario
untruth                                   false                                falsedad
star                                        stellar                              estrella

Examples from English-Latin:

Home                                    domicile                           domus
Big                                        magnify                            magnus
Peace                                    pacts                               pax
Chief                                     principal                          princeps
King                                      reign                                rex
Slave                                     serve                               servus
Life                                       vital                                 vita
Light                                      luminous                          lux
Shelter                                   protection                        tecta

From experience I know that at first glance this method of learning terms will seem odd  to many of my readers. Put it to the test of actual practice, however, before forming an opinion. Just make the following experiment: In the next few days learn one or two hundred foreign words by the method you usually employ: in the following few days learn the same number in the same language (naturally different words) by the method I have outlined, that is, bf the insertion of linking words of your own choosing. Then let the whole thing alone for a week or two, without even thinking about it.

After about two weeks see how many words you remember of those you learned by the old method and how many you learned by the new method of employing linking words.

I can tell you in advance that the latter figure is sure to be 100 or 200 per cent higher, that is, you will have remembered at least twice as many words, perhaps even three or four times as many as you learned by the old method.

If this is not the case, you have made some mistake in studying. If that should happen, write to me and I will help you try to find it.

Do not form a hasty opinion, but wait until you have tried the experiment yourself. Practice is the only sure test of a workable method of study.

Remember that everything new first meets with opposition and that every forward step is apt to be greeted with a headshake. That is only human.

When railroad trains were invented and the first train was to swoop along at the then unheard-of speed of twenty miles an hour, the Prussian Academy of Medicine proclaimed that no one could suffer such speed without going crazy, and in all seriousness demanded that a high wooden fence be erected along the entire length of the track, so that innocent bystanders would not be scared out of their wits by the sight of the madly speeding monster.

It took Gillette many years to convince men that his razor is safer than the old-fashioned blade. Dozens of illustrations come to mind, all proving that the new always meets with opposition. In the present instance, you have a great advantage over Gillette: You need invest no money, build no factories, nor the like. You have only to make an experiment with your own mind before you come to a decision on the matter.

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