3 Ancient Foreign Language Teaching Methods that Still Work Today

Unlike how the ancient people acquired a new language which were usually through daily interaction and immersion, people now master foreign languages by studying them. In other words, teaching a language can be said to be a modern concept.

Perhaps you are curious about how ancient people learn foreign languages or you want to know if there are any similarities or differences between ancient time methods and modern methods, your search is over as you are on the right page.

How people in ancient Roman learn?

Learning the language of a foreign land was a necessity mostly for the traders in the ancient Rome. Many Romans admired Greek and Latin. Greek was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean and more Greek was probably spoken in Rome than the local lingo. There were manuscripts which consist of vocabulary lists, basic grammars, and texts. The texts appear in two columns, similar to the texts used today to teach modern foreign languages. With these texts, learners were introduced to the foreign language culture like how to use the public bath, how to greet a friend, and so on. The learner then writes and master them in order to practice them in their day to day conversations. This is similar to the grammar-translation method today.

How did people in Olden China learn?

After China suffered successive severe setbacks in its relationship with other nations, the Qing Dynasty of China was awakened to the Western civilization. The last emperor of China, Pu’yi, is widely regarded as the only one with any reasonably high level of English-language proficiency. But he was not the only emperors of Qing Dynasty who had learned English in their lifetimes. Qianlong and Guang’xu are another two ancient kings of China that were known for their passion in learning English.

Hundreds of years ago, the English learners in China started using the Chinese characters to help them pronounce the English language. According to an old textbook owned by a collector in Chengdu, southwestern Sichuan province, the English sentences have the traditional Chinese words as phonetic notations which is not a good way to learn English.

In addition, the book also instructs learners to read from left to right which is against the direction of reading ancient Chinese texts. Among the many books translated into Chinese are The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and Evolution and Ethics by Thomas Henry Huxley. The traditional Chinese characters put the English pronunciation as “Lei Si, Wang, Ha Fu, Ya Fu, You, Pu Luan Si”.

How do we learn today?

These are some of these ancient foreign teaching methods that are still being employed in learning today. Some of which are discussed below.

Language Immersion

Language immersion is one of the ancient foreign teaching methods that still work quite well today. Although programs differ by country and context, it is basically a method developed to teach people a second language and has been rated as the most successful way of learning a second language. In language immersion, teachers make sure students continually develop their language proficiency by consistently weaving together familiar language with new words and information. Language immersion focuses more on the second language as a means to immerse the student completely within the subject, unlike the traditional language teaching programs where the language is taught simply as a subject to be learned. The overall goal of language immersion is to promote bilingualism between the two different sets of language speakers. It is worthy to note that the first language immersion program in which target language was taught as an instructional language started in Quebec, Canada, in the 1960’s when middle-class English speaking parents campaigned for their children to be taught French.

Translation

Translation, also known as the classical method is one of the oldest teaching methods which was used in teaching Latin and Greek for several centuries in Europe. Translation helps the learner to have a better understanding as the influence of the mother tongue on one’s speech repertoire is at a higher level. Instruction is given in the native language of the students and there is little use of the target language. While translating, students notice the differences in structure and vocabulary which helps in shaping their way of thinking and in correcting habitual errors that could remain unnoticed. This is possible because the learner is an active participant in the learning process and thus can make learning meaningful. When translation is employed in teaching grammar, it enables the teachers to show students equivalent and non-equivalent structures between L1 and L2 which is a good way to learn the grammar of any language. Today, this method has continued to be widely accepted and used in many parts of the world.

The Direct Method

The direct method, sometimes called as the ‘reform’ method, ‘natural’ method, ‘psychological’ method, ‘phonetic’ method, and ‘anti- grammatical’ method, was established in France and Germany around 1900, and introduced in India in the early 20th century as a reform which was needed in the methods of teaching English. It is often used in teaching foreign languages. It employs the use of only the target language and does not use the learner’s native language which is in opposition to the grammar-translation method. It stresses the need for a direct association between experience and expression in the foreign language with the aim of enabling the learner to think in the foreign language and to cultivate an unerring language sense, therefore enabling the students to communicate in the target language. This method enjoys popularity in the private school circles, and it was one of the foundations upon which the well-known “Audiolingual Method” expanded, starting halfway through the 20th century.

So as you can see, although we have many powerful and innovative tools today that can assist us to learn new languages, some methods our ancestors employed in their time are still in use today!