Modern Institute / E.P.I. Language Courses (1960’s)

[Speakeasy]

Copy/Paste?
Reviewing the “Modern Institute” Italian-based self-study language courses of the 1960’s would be (almost) as simple as effecting a copy/paste operation of my appraisal of the “Sound” language courses by the Italian publisher, Industria Italiana Lingue Vive Nel Mondo of the same period. Still, some collectors of vintage language-learning materials might come across offers of the “Modern Institute / E.P.I.” courses on the internet and might be hesitant about making a purchase. Hopefully, prospective buyers will find this separate review reassuring.

Edizioni EPI / Edizioni Modern Institute
It is not clear to me who the real publisher of these series of language courses was. The publisher of my copy of “Corso di lingua Tedesca” was “Edizioni Modern Institute.” However, I have come across an offer for the textbook for this course, having the same name, attributed to the same author, having the same book cover, and displaying the physical appearance by the publisher “Edizioni EPI.” In addition, I have come across a couple of offers for a “Corso di lingua Ingelese” by the publisher Edizioni EPI which are identical in appearance to my German course. As my searches of the internet have not revealed any other publications by “Edizioni Modern Institute”, but have uncovered several thousand examples of publications by “Edizioni EPI”, I conclude that the former was an imprint of the latter (it continues to escape me “why” so many publishers of print and audio media choose to sell identical products under multiple, different imprints). I have not been able to find any information on “Edizioni EPI” other than they seem to have been an Italian publisher having a varied catalogue and that, based on the dates of publication of some used books online, they were active at least up until the end of the 1990’s.

Modern Institute / E.P.I. Language Courses
Based on the offers for used copies online, the publisher of the “Modern Institute / E.P.I.” language courses seems to have been active during the late 1960’s. I have not come any offers showing the usual transition from vinyl records to cassettes, thence to compact disks, and have been unable to find a website offering more current editions.

Languages
I have come across two courses, from an Italian base, one for the instruction of German and the other for the instruction of English. While I have not come across any courses for the instruction of either French or Spanish, I would not be surprised to learn that such courses existed, particularly as there is ample evidence that the market for such courses was quite robust.

Materials 1
The materials of my copy of “Corso di lingua Tedesca” comprised: (a) one hard-bound course book, measuring 6-3/4 inches x 9-1/4 inches, some 560 pages in length, (b) a set of 30 x 7-inch x 33-1/3 rpm EP vinyl records (for which, rather curiously, the center hole is large as for 45 rpm records, having a total duration of approximately 7-1/2 hours, housed in two very sturdy binders, and (c) (presumably) a storage case which has since been lost.

Corso di lingua tedesca (Modern Institute).jpg

Materials 2
There are two offers on the internet for “Corso di lingua Inglese” comprising (a) one hard-bound course book, presumably measuring 6-3/4 inches x 9-1/4 inches, for some 560-odd pages in length, (b) a set of 45 x 7-inch x 33-1/3 rpm EP vinyl records (for which, rather curiously, the center hole is large as for 45 rpm records, having a presumed total duration of approximately 11-1/4 hours, housed in three very sturdy binders, and (c) a storage case.

Corso di langua Inglese (Modern Institute).jpg

Methodology
Forum members would likely recognize the approach to teaching as a variant of the “Direct Method” whereby the target language was introduced through a series of scripted dialogues which took place in what-have-become predictable scenes from daily life that a short-to-medium-term visitor would likely encounter in the region with the language predominates. The line-by-line non-literal translations appear in smaller font beneath that of the target language with is in bold-face. Although not specified in the brief introduction to the course, the emphasis was on the “spoken language” for conversational purposes; there were no reading passages, narratives, or dictation exercises.

Modern Institute 1 Dialogue.JPG

Clear, succinct, but easily understandable notes on grammar accompanied each lesson, as did lists of vocabulary and a selection of short L1-L2 translation exercises. Although there was no summary of the L2 grammar in the appendices, nor was there a grammatical index, I would imagine that the diligent student would have been able to locate and review the notes on grammar without much difficulty. The appendices included a tabular list of verb conjugations, a similar list of strong/irregular verbs, and a 3,600 word bilingual glossary.

Modern Institute 2 Notes on Grammar.JPG

One feature which struck me immediately was the relative complexity of the scripted dialogues when compared to those of many competing courses, such as those by Assimil, Linguaphone. Although the dialogues (particularly the initial ones) suffered from the customary-for-the-genre problem of not representing natural speech, the authors apparently decided to hit the student with some pretty challenging material (for the novice student) from the outset. My survey of the textbook suggests to me that the target language’s structure and basic grammar were well-covered up to and including the intermediate level, or CEFR B1-B2 in terms of exposure. While the ample-for-the-period 7-1/2 hours of audio recordings (11-1/4 hours for the English course) would have provided good aural/oral practice, I suspect that the actual level upon completion would have been CEFR B1 and no better (yah, I know, I have a reputation of being harsh in this area).

Audio Recordings
All of the “bold face” texts in the course book (dialogues, lists of vocabulary, examples included in the notes on grammar, et cetera) were recorded. The audio recordings were prepared with assistance of voiced-trained native-speakers. Whereas their speech was clear and quite articulate (but not to the exaggerated extent of that of the Cortina courses), the cadence resembled that of a leisurely “dictation exercise” from the initial lessons right through to the very end of the course. While this would have assisted in the development of aural/oral skills, in my opinion, the student would have been better served had the speakers increased their cadence of speech to that of normal conversation between native speakers during the last third of the course. As for the German speakers (one male, one female) I am convinced that they contributed their talents to other courses of the period which I have in my collection (hidden somewhere in the basement).

Appraisal: Excellent!
Readers of my vintage language course reviews should not be surprised that my evaluation of the “Modern Institute / E.P.I.” language courses is “excellent”. The editors developed a very solid variant of the Direct Method of self-study language instruction covering the basic structure and vocabulary of the “spoken language”, for conversational purposes, up to the intermediate level (CEFR B2 in terms of coverage, but CEFR B1 in practical use). The 7-1/2 hours (or 11-1/4 hours in the case of the English course) were quite ample for the period, greatly exceeding the duration of the audio recordings of Assimil and Linguaphone at the time, and provided substantial practice for developing good aural/oral skills. The only drawback would have been the maintenance of a leisurely dictation-exercise cadence of speech throughout the entire course. These materials were, in my opinion, somewhat superior to those of Assimil, Linguaphone, and many other publishers of the period. It is a pity that, most likely in response to market conditions, the publisher chose not to continue the series. Collectors, start your engines!

EDITED:
Typos, tinkering.