. By translating the exercises aloud, from five to
twenty times, they should become as familiar to him as English. But
whether translating into or from English, the foreign sentences should
always be uttered _aloud_ clearly and distinctly. It is, of course, a
drawback, that in this translation aloud and alone of the exercises, the
eye should anticipate the ear in conveying the words to the brain, but,
when full allowance has been made for this, the gain for the pupil is
still immense as compared with the silent method of study.

The learner should not be satisfied with being able to translate the
exercises, he should aim at being able to use his new tongue with the
same ease, readiness and fluency, as his native language. At each
successive translation, he gains in this respect whilst engraving his
newly acquired knowledge more deeply on his memory. The exercise which
the first time required fifteen minutes to translate, the fifth time will
probably take but three.

A chief difficulty being the education of the ear, and the time spent
with the teacher being the pupil's best opportunity for this, the lesson
for the pupil so far as possible should be aural, the exercises being
spoken by the teacher to the pupil for translation and the pupil's
translations likewise being spoken. The pupil's book should be kept
closed during the translation.

Supposing the pupil to be studying French. The teacher should first
speak the French exercise in French, the pupil translating each sentence
as spoken, into English.

2. Then taking the English exercise, the teacher should translate it
aloud into French, the pupil retranslating each sentence, when spoken,
into English.

3. The teacher should then speak each sentence of the English exercise
in English; the pupil translating each sentence in a distinct voice into
French.

4. The teacher should then translate aloud sentence by sentence, the
French exercise into English; the pupil retranslating each sentence into
French.

This will double the exercises, which are usually rather scanty. As we
see, this part of the lesson is for the pupil exclusively aural and oral;
he works through the ear and tongue only, his book being kept closed.

In working alone at the preparation of his lesson, there is the
disadvantage for the ear, that, before the sound reaches it, the eye has
conveyed the meaning to the brain, but when working with the teacher as
above, this drawback is obviat