ay to the
_simultaneous fourfold acquirement_ of a language.

With a Grammar like that of Otto an expeditious mode of learning words is
desirable. Perhaps the quickest, is to transcribe the words to be
learnt, into parallel columns and covering up each column in turn, to run
down them ten or more times. Whilst doing this the foreign words should
always be pronounced aloud. The transcription impresses the spelling on
the memory, and where the written alphabet differs from the English
affords valuable practice. Arminius Vambery thought it a matter for
congratulation when having begun by learning ten words daily, he was able
to reach sixty. The column of twenty foreign words can be mastered in
about one quarter of an hour, and I have myself done over 200 at this
rate on some days, though I do not say they can be retained without
repetition.

Lord Dufferin says that in a work of about 600 pages, there will probably
be three thousand words of which the meaning will be unknown to the
student. A list should be made of them, and they can be conveniently
mastered at the rate of forty daily and thus all learnt in three months.
With each successive work, the process should be repeated, until it
becomes unnecessary. He adds that this has the advantage that, if
necessary, after a long interval, by preserving such lists, the words can
be relearnt with little trouble.

An able Swiss authority recommends the pupil to learn from 10,000 to
12,000 words of each language, dividing them into three or four classes
according to their usefulness or frequency of occurrence. He recommends
their periodical repetition.

Asher's German Correspondent and Booch-Arkossy in the "Eco de Madrid"
recommend the translation of a good idiomatic work into English and its
translation into the language of the original, carefully comparing such
retranslation with the original and noting mistakes. With the teacher,
such translation may be made by word of mouth, the teacher translating
into English and the pupil retranslating each sentence when uttered into
the language of the original.

Another method is to read and translate some idiomatic foreign work. At
the end of the paragraph, the teacher forms questions from each sentence,
to which the pupil replies. So soon as able, the pupil, in turn,
questions. This is I believe substantially the old "Robertsonian
method." The pupil can prepare his lesson by framing both question and
answer himself.