Part 2 of 2
Trubner’s Colloquial ManualsRecently, while in the process of putting together an order for a couple of vintage textbooks, I took the opportunity to add a copy of “Colloquial German”, by P.F. Doring, to my order, a vintage book which I understood to be a
previous generation of the current Routledge Colloquial German self-instruction course. I received the book today and was surprised that, in addition to the indication that Routledge & Paul Kegan were the publishers, the back of the dust jacket referred to the series as “Trubner’s Colloquial Manuals” (see below).
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Nicholas TrübnerA quick search of the internet yielded a brief history of the originator and of one of his most well-known series …
Nicholas Trübner -- Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Tr%C3%BCbnerTrübner's Oriental Series (Trübner & Co.; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.) - Book Series Listhttps://www.publishinghistory.com/trubners-oriental-series.htmlTrubner's Oriental Series.JPG
Trubner’s ColloquialsFrom the information on the dust jacket of my copy of “Colloquial German” augmented by my search of the major online booksellers’ websites, it would seem that the most recent editions of these books were published/revised through the period from the late 1940’s through the 1950’s after which they reprinted without further revisions. Exactly "which generation” this series of books represents is open to speculation. Languages covered in the series included at least the following:
Arabic (Levantine), Chinese (Northern), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hindustani, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Persian, Rumanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish.
Approach to TeachingAs is evidenced by the “Table of Contents” of my copy of Colloquial German, by P.F. Doring, this series seems to have placed considerable
emphasis on the acquisition of the structure of the target language, a matter which is not surprising given the period when these courses were published. I have not come across any evidence of audio recordings for this series. In the Preface, the student is advised: “Take every opportunity for talking to natives, listen to the German lessons on the B.B.C., and study German gramophone records (Linguaphone: German Intonation and Verse-Speaking series)."
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Part One of the course book includes the lessons which are comprised of a series of basic sentences accompanied by translations, example texts and narratives without translations, very clear statements of the points of grammar under discussion, along with a very abbreviated (incomplete) glossary which the authors suggested should be augmented with a good bilingual dictionary.
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Part Two of the course book contains a selection of Bilingual Reading Matter drawn from the target language’s literature, and three sections of untranslated Prose, Poetry, and Folk Songs.
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AssessmentAs is understandable, there are but a handful of reviews of these courses on Amazon; nevertheless, they are, for the most part, quite positive. My quick survey of “Colloquial German”, by P.F. Doring, left me rather surprised by the sheer mass of information contained in the 220-odd pages of this small volume.
The apparent absence of audio recordings, the heavy emphasis on grammar, the limited use of translations in the lessons, and the incompleteness of the lesson glossaries almost suggest the need of an instructor. Nevertheless, a self-motivated, determined, independent learner could, indeed, complete one of these courses and, having done so, would have acquired a lower-intermediate level of reading skill.
Developing good aural/oral skills would require contact with the spoken language which could have been achieved by combining a Colloquial course with the corresponding Assimil, Cortina, or Linguaphone course of the period, creating a very strong home-study programme which, despite the changes in the target languages, would still be viable today.
I am quite impressed by my copy of the previous generation of Colloquial German. Nevertheless, in today’s context, these courses would be of greatest interest to collectors and perhaps to those few students who would be interested in the aforementioned combination.
EDITED:
Tinkering.
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