t not only of a
fair but of a perfect pronunciation--not so much as the independent
aim, but as an indispensable condition for the development of
_Sprachgefuehl_. It is immeasurably easier to obtain good pronunciation
from the start than to improve bad pronunciation by later efforts. In
the teaching of pronunciation a slight difference in the treatment of
children of twelve years and of college students might be granted:
young children are generally able to learn the sounds of a foreign
language by imitation; students of college age can hardly ever do this
well, and careful phonetic instruction is absolutely necessary with
them. Whoever wishes to keep aloof from phonetic _terms_ may do so;
but not to know or not to apply phonetic _principles_ is bad teaching
pure and simple. The use of phonetic _transcription_, however, is a
moot question. Its advantages are obvious enough: it insures a clear
consciousness of correct pronunciation; it takes up the difficulties
one by one: first pronunciation, then spelling; it safeguards greater
care in matters of pronunciation in general. The objections are
chiefly two: economy of time, and the fear of confusion between the
two ways of spelling. The writer admits that until a few years ago he
was skeptical as to the value of phonetic transcription in the
teaching of German. But the nearly general recognition of its value by
the foremost educators of European countries and the good results
achieved with it by teachers of French in this country caused him to
give it a trial, under conditions that afforded not more than an
average chance of success. The result was greatly beyond his
expectations. Neither he nor, as far as he knows, any of his
colleagues would contemplate abandoning phonetic script again. Without
wishing to be dogmatic, I believe that this at least can be asserted
with safety: on purely theoretical grounds, no teacher has a right to
condemn phonetic transcription; those who doubt its value should try
it before they judge.

In the writer's opinion it is best not to use any historical spelling
at all during the first six or eight weeks of college German. If the
confusing features of traditional orthography are eliminated during
this period, it will be found that there results not a loss, but an
actual _gain in time_ from the use of phonetic script. Nor does the
transition to common spelling cause any confusion. The less ado made
about it, the better. It is a fact of experie