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Tous las autras axamplairas originaux sent filmAs an commandant par la prami*ra paga qui compona una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la darniira paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Un daa symbola* luivant* apparaitra sur la darnitra imaga i'^ shaqua microficha. salon la caa: la symbola — ^ signifia "A SUIVBE". la aymbolo V aignifia "FIN". La* cartaa. planchas. tableaux, ate. pauvant atra film** * da* taux da rlduclion difttrants. Loraqua la document aat trop grand pour atra raproduit an un aaul clich*. il aat film* * partir da I'angia *up*riaur gauche, da gauche * droite. at da haut en baa. an prenant la nombre d'imagaa n*ce**aire. Le* diagrammea suivants illuatrant la methode. 1 2 3 1 4 2 5 Miaocon RESOIUIION TBI CH*,T 'ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No 21 i2 JL 1.25 i 1.8 1.4 1.6 J dPe=!§DJM^GE Inc THE ROYAL ROAD FRENCH AN INTRODUCTION TO "THEDE BRISAY ANALYTICAL METHOD OF LEARNING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE." Pflict fivi Cknts. 1-1 21: ACADfeMIE DE BRISAY T^ WA, CANADA ■■&•.. OGDBNSBU/iG, N. K 1901 THE ROYAL ROAD FRENCH AN INTRODUCTION TO "THEDE BRISAY ANALYTICAL METHOD OF LEARNING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE." PRICI Five CtNTS. ACADfiMIE DE BRISAY TOROHTO, CANADA ■■&■■. KOCHESTEK, U.S.A. 1901 THE ROYAL ROAD TO FKENCH. JS .t not ,tr.„ge th.t in the l«t hundnxl yeam-which h»» J_ witne«ed .uch tremendous .trides in nearly .11 the r t. and «!,enc«i-«, little ha. been done toward, f«;i|.t.t. ing the .,-,airen,ent oi l.ng«.ge8? It i, ,t„nge. e,peci.lly when ,e conader the m.ny atten,pt. that have been ™de ii that d.r3ct,on Book, by the «ore have been w.-itten on the «.b,eot L.t.n. O^ek, F,.nch and German gramme, have been publ,,hed. until now there are .lm„.t „ many different text-book, on te«:hing langu,"e._new method, « caUed-a, there are .tudentt of language. Nearly every college can boa.v. of a prof««or who i. the author of a oi^eek or Latin grao-mar. And yet . I»t i. the excu« for .11 the«, work. . They are one and all ^»e . pie, of the first grammar wntte„tw„thou«„dy. ,.,.,. . Greek named D^nyriu. Thrax. One author will pre«,„ - '^ the noun first and the vtrb last. oxperiment that if a noun si„l they may be more easily mastf rately, imagine, he has made . new work on Latin grammar. of Greek and Latin grammars, .,. large second-hand book store, will Oft that the most important differ™, to be found on their covera. And what I have just said in re^an, He w„rlr, „„ Utin < verb first; another A thiid, having found by "li -«>,ive are pla< ■d together, »an bv taking each sepa- whica co'la for a ■jugh the long lowt »ri> to be found at any •ufficienlr to convince '1 all these works are 4 THE KOYAL ROAR TO PIIENCH. and Onwk applim, with «ome modiflcation, to the worki which have lieen coming from the prpiM for the latt fifty or liily ye«n on French, Oerraan, Spaniih, etc. Since Ollendorff flrst pub- liMhed his " K«w arriioD o» i.siABiima to rud, wrii and "PEAK A LAKciUAoi! iM BIX iioitTin," booka upon books have bivn publishifl on exactly the same plan, which might all be labelled Ollendnrf. Some authors have even gone so far as to steal his sentences ; and we wonder gr y at this, for Ol- lendorff's exercises contain the most nonsensical sentences that were ever constructed or imagined by the human mind. Thus, page after page does he treat us to composition like the following : " Have you my ass's hay or yours I I have that whiih i y brother has. Has anyone my good letters t No one has ■ r good letters. Has the tailor's son my good knives or my ^ ^ thimbles ? He has neither your good knives nor your good thimbles, but the ugly coats of the stranger's big boys." How can we account for anyo..e supposing that trash of this kind would ever acquaint one with a language T The answer is simple enough. Ollendorff and his slavish imitalors, like the numerous writers on latin and Greek grammar, labored under the mistaken idea that to know the principles of a language i.e., its grammar — was to know the language itself, and as the meaningless sentences above noticed illustrate principles of grammar just as well as though they were the utterances of divine wisdom, it is not difficult to understand why they should have been invented by Ollendorff, and later copied by authors who can do nothing original — not even improve on such a sentence as " Have you your ugly iron button t " ♦ * The following passage ia from Mr. DuMaurier's famous "Trilby." — " It was Lambert, a youth with a singularly facetious face, who THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. < But even ihould we change every one of Ollendorff's sen- tenci'H, and introduci- in their place wnnible matter (and this ha» be^n done), we would 1 fail to learn a lanpiago by "uch a method without upending at leant half a life-timo at the work. French is a language which i> taught in most of the English schools of America. In the English colleges of this country cerUinly a great deal of tim'^ is spi'nt on the language. Yet how many of that largo number who graduate yearly trora these institutions of learning have even a fair grasp of French ? If we except those students who have lived fur some time among French people, and thus learned to speak the language, the number is indeed small. But it is not necessary to press further this matter. Many writers within the last ten years have demonstiated the ab- surdity of attempting to learn a language from precepts. Nay, more, they have not only torn to pieces the absurd system noticed above, but have introduced new methods so called, now generally known as " The Natural Method," " The Objei^t Method," "The Conversational Methisl," or by the names of the authors who claim to have invented them. Tliese new first woke the stillness with the following unciiUed-for remarks in English, very badly pronounced ; " ' Av you sef n my fahzere's ole shoes ? ' " * I av not seen your fahzere's ole shoes ! ' " Then, after a pause, " ' Av you seen my fahzere's ole 'at ! ' " ' I av not seen your fahzere's ole 'at ! * " The meoning ond humor of this jmssage will not l,o lost to those who have studied even a page of Ollendorfi' or his imitators. O THE ROVAL ROAD TO FKKNCIl. methods, though differing in minor details, are one and the same system of teaching a language, and the correct name for that system— if indeed it can be called a system— is " The Natural Method." But what is this " Natural Method ? " The reader has probably heard of it at least, if he has not studied it ; for of late it has boon much advertised, not only by its many authors (for many claim it as their own discovery), but by a host of illiterate men and women who, finding themselves unable to make a Hving at anything else, have suddenly de- veloped into " professors of languages." All that is required to be a successful teacher of French by the " Natural Method " is to be able to speak the language fluently, and the less one knows about English, the more cap- able and wonderful a teacher is he considered to be. Here is one profession in which ignorance counts for much, and in which learning is at a discount. Tlie ambitious student never seems at all puzzled to understand why a method, which is to acquaint him so easily with French, should have failed to ac- quaint his teacher with English. But let us glance for a moment at the method itself, ilie professor points to a chair and says, " C'eat la chaim ;" to the door, and says, " C'V»« Ir pork." He then puts the question, "Qu'eat-ce que c'est I " and the pupil replies, if he can. ••Cent la chaise," or " C'est la parte." The professor opens the door and says, " J'oum-e la parte." Then to the question, "Qu'est-ce q,ie je/ais ? " the pupil replies, " Vous otwrez la parte ;" and so on in this way, using no English at all, the meanings of words are conveyed to the student through objects and actions. We see, then, why the method has been called the " Object Me- thod." It is certainly more or less in this way that a child THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. 7 leams its mother tongue, and that, indeed, is the boast that is made for the method by its authors and teachers. But how does a child learn its mother tongue ? Did the reader ever ask himself how long it took him to learn his mother tongue ! He did not learn it in six months. In six years he learned it very imperfectly ; and, perhaps even now he may not know it any too well. And yet he followed faithfully all along the " Natural Method." He devoted, not two hours a week for six months to the method, but ten hours every day of his life for years. Look at the child in your own home. From early morning till late at night he hears nothing but English spoken around him. Such sounds as " Don't do that," " Come here, dear," " 111 whip you now," he perhaps hears fifty times a day. It is not to be wondered at that at last he becomes able, not only to understand these sounds, but to utter them himself. He hears also many other phrases of a diiferent kind, such as " a strange notion," " a terrible acci- dent," "it's only human nature," etc., but these sounds fall without effect upon his little ears, for though he may repeat many of them, he does so after the manner of a parrot — without the least conception of what the phrases mean. These words repre «nt abstract idxas. They are not the names of objects which the child sees and hears about him ; they do not indicate the relation of these objects to one another ; they are not the language of the child, but of the matured mind. What is the language of the child t The names of common objects (man, room, door, etc.), the names of some of the patent qualities of these objects (biy, small, red), and the names of the common actions of these objects (cries, falls, swings). No one thinks of saying to a child, " What is your idea of jus- tice ! " or " Is consistency a virtue ! " although many such I* THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. phrases as these children sometimes hear and learn, but which they cannot understand. Language is then o{ two kinds— (1) the language which the child learns and speaks, and which even horses, dogs, etc., learn more or less to understand, and (2) the abstract language used by adults, whether educated or not, and, of course, still more by literary men and women. If then we are asked by what method does a chUd learn his mother tongue, we reply that a chUd m a child, learns but one portion of his mother tongue, and that portion is drilled and drummed into him from morning till night for weeks and months and years. Were a child allowed to hear the human voice but two or three hours a week, it is probable he would know little of his mother tongue at the age of seven or eight. Does it not seem strange, therefore, that an imperfect imita- tion of this natural jn«k grammar, he never intended that Greek was to be studied through it alone It was meant to contain simply the guiding principles to aid the student in the study of the Greek language. And tho same may be said of the grammars which followed his. Modern teachers seem to have mistaken the meaning and intention of the ancient grammarians, and instead of following up the teaching of a language by a reference to its principle;*, they have confined themselves to the teaching of these principles, using only the language as a means of illustrating them. When a student is taken through long lists of sentences like, Avez-vous I'M le vieux chapeau de mon pere ? Non^ je n'at pas vu le vieux chapeau devotre pere, etc., it is principles of French grammar he is studying, and not the French language. It will be understood then how natural is the recent move- ment against the study of grammar, and how easy it is to imagine that grammar is a hindrance ra -her than a help to one in the study of a language. To study a language without its grammar is certainly a great deal better than to study grammar without the language to which it belongs ; and so, while the " Object Method " cannot be regarded as suitable lOr any but Kindergarten classes, it must be acknowledged to be much superior to the absurd system which for so long a time has held a place in our schools. The books used in the schools of France for the study of English follow the old sys- tem, and students are made to decline English nouns, naming '= THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. their cases as in Latin. English persons may smile at such an absurdity provided they have not been guUty of similar folly in their attempts to master Latin and French. The way in which my " Analytical Latin Method " has been received by students and teachers and the gratifying results which have invariably followed the study of Latin by this method is a proof, I think, that the principles of a language to be understood and appreciated must be uncovered and teen in the language itself. Since the publication of that work I have not found a single student following the method who did not express both appreciation of the beauty and logic of the Latin language, as well as surprise at the short time in which the language could be learned. 1 do not hesitate, therefore, to adopt this same Analytical Method ir teaching the scientific principles of Freqch. A method for French, however, would not meet the needs of the present day, if it did not, above all else, enable one to speak the language. And now, what constitutes the difference between speaking and writing a language J It is this : in writing we have time to think out and compose the constructions we use ; when we speak we make use of constructions that are ready-made. When you say " Good morning ! It's a nice day ! " it must be evident that you do not weave this sentence out of the several ideas — good, day, morning, nice, etc The construction was made for you long before yon were bom, and handed down to you by your parents, and you now use it as a unified expretsion, no more thinking of its component parts than you think of the letters m-a-n when you utter the word man. Now speaking a language is little more than uttering these ready-made expressions. If we say it is the intellectual act of THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. connecting together two or more of these stereotyped fxpres- sionH, we shall have given a fair definition of what ordinary conversation is. Listen but for a few minutes to any English person and you will hear expressions like these : " Its-juBt-a-qitestionrwhether,'' " rd-like-to-knoiv-whj/," *'He'8-ktre" " Jle-did-it," etc. Now. the intellectual element in conversation consists not in uttering any one of these expressions, but in connecting two or more of them together. And hence it is that we never see a person pause and scratch his head in the middle of one of these I jady-made constructions. Never do we hear — " It's just — a -questiwi — whether — he^-did i(,'* though we might hear every day, " It^a-just-a-queation-tcJtether — ah — whether — ah — he-did-it." The mind is exercised in connec ing together the two ideas, but not in foi^ng together either of the construc- tions which express those ideas. The two constructions are ready-made, and the mind selects them with as little effort as though they were single words. But where are these constructions stored ] How are they preserved since they have so little in common with the intellect ? They are preserved in exactly the same way as any combinations of movements, such as the movements in walfiing, dancing, playing the piano, juggling, etc., are remem- bered. The motor nerves and the muscles of the body are capable of being impressed in such a manner that movements which they have once set up, they reproduce with greater ease a second time, and with each reproduction, jhe habit becomes more fixed and stable, until at last the movements are per- formed automatically (or with the slightest provocation) and oncoDsciously. It is for this reason that we often recite M THE KOYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. verses without knowing M^hat we are saying ; it is for this reaaon that we can uae long combinations of worda grammatically constructed, without the slightest effort ; in short, it is for this reason that we can speak a language ; and fluency of speech varies in proportion as the motor nerves have or have not been firmly impressed with and accustomed to th' ae combinations of movements.* N' ff, there is but one way to train the motor nerves to these combinations of movements, and that is by practice — by frequent i-epetitiuns of the same combinations. Before the student may utter with fluency and ease such expressions as EatHX que vous avez /raid aux pieds 7 (^a me fait de la peinct etc., he will require to repeat them several times. But with such practice fluency and ease will certainly result.! Here, then, is the second principle which we must follow if we wish to master a language— repetition of its fixed eonstf" tions. Bui there is a third principle, not less important than the two preceding. We have seen how the grammar of a language must be learned, and we have seen how we can speak c language, provided we have the vocabulary. And now, how can we acquire that vocabulary ? How are we to remember all these new sounds for objects, actions and qualities 1 Can they too be handed over to the motor nerves 1 No ; they must be grasped by the intellect. * 1 have gone more fully into thia subject in the introductory pam- phlet on my ** Analytical Latin Method." See chapter on " Motor Memory." t It is probable that the lingual nerves are more easily impressed by Bxed combinations of movements than the motor ner\-es of any other part of the body. THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. The Mquiriug of a vocabulary haa always oeen a aeriouH task for the student of languages. What student has not wished that there might be such a thing as sugar-coatad language-pills, to be taken in doses of ten or twenty every night before retiring, and which would leave his mind enriched with aa many new words in the morning 1 If we had but some such invention as that, this nation would soon be a nation of linguists. A^ far as I know, words cannot be got into the mind by any uuch process aa that just suggested. I have, however, another method to nffer the student, which will prove little more of a tax on the memory, and which certainly will be less hard on the stomach. What are words ] \Vhen a new invention is brought out, and the inventor desires to give it a name, does he make a leap in the air, give utterance to some strange sound unheard of before, and adopt this sound as the name ^f hia invention 1 Of course not ; because such a name would convey no meaning to anyone. If no appropriate name exists to describe the invention, a new name is manufactured by means of one or more words already existing, and we say a new word has been coined. Now this process of making words out of words, which we see going on to-day in English and French, has been going on since the very birth of these languages. French did not always possess the vocabulary it has to-day. And yet it haa created no new words. New words have grown, have evolved naturally, or have been consciously manufactured out of old ones, but nu new eUmenU have been created. Such words aa brassard {armor for the arm)^ brassde (armful), brause {fathom), er.ibrasser {to embrace), embrassaie {en^racement], etc.. are all from the one word brast and would not exist had the parent braa not first existed. I6 TH« (OVAL KOAD TO nttlfCH. with both French .„d E.,gli,h, b«»„« too ».„y per«,„. ™«ld u„der,t.nd the« I.„gu.g«, «K,lTed to invent . Un- py of the>r own. Ttu.y created . few worf^ but did not get much further, for .1 y «on found out they could not re- member the,r own , ,„.<«,. And why w« thi. ) Becu« the ,»und, they «iopted « the mune. of thing,, «tion, „d quahf.™ were b«Ten lifele» «und. without me«iing. H«l nation, .tu^mpted to make new language, on thU ^incipl., they would have failed just a. certainly. *^ What i, the meaning of the wo«i embracer > To infold in theJro.. And whatdoe,4r««me«,J Th. length of two fr*~''V^ """• ■*"''*'•'"«■'•'" A piece of armor for the i™. So the word »«,,„*, mean, the ir«or arm cf a tree • and from thi. word we m^keira^Au (•■ branchy ») branch^, and bramMrd (a Urrow nade of two branches).* What a beautiful thing is language I Ar i yet how simple ! Out of a smgle form what a family of words 1 How full of life and meamng «,« these words, und Low easily remembered 1 But cunos,ty wUl lead the reader toanother question. Where did the« root-words Kke bra, come from 1 Did French create them I No, they were transmitted to the Oauls by the Ro- mans. French i, simply a development of popular Latin. In fact, ,t 1. difficult to «y at what period in the history of its development it should cease to be called Latin and termed Frer^h Out of about 4,000 Latin words, the every^y vocabulary of the Roman soldiers and the common people of the Roman Empire, have grown and evolved, by the proces. ■ ^'""'y "» "■« meaning, of the word, thus leaned e-ily r.. memb,«d. but «, also are their pronunciation and orthogr.^^ 't'!-. in ■he .lu- in THE gOYAl ROAD TO rMNCH. ,j tlntily described, aemrlj 8,000 French wnrrf. Ti, . • 4 oon r^ti_ 1 , i"^^" "entn word«. Thatutoav. 4,000 Uf n word, have grown to 1 3,000 in French But .t ,. not „eoe«.ry to know tl.e^e 4,000 Utin , order to appreoate fully the 12,000 word, whi, i b..« of popular French. And now let u, «-■ > hv tio^of'^h'T '°''^' "•" ^""' " "•« ""«' o' ' tionof the Ronan Empire, wa, a fully develope,, j».t a, French i, today, and that the proleir' w„^, from word, ha.1 been going on for «,ve,.l „ P«/J«. (/ootmare), which gave in turn i„p,dic ■„ , To-r'n""'"' ■'-"''-e.goto n.a'Te up . „ ^Z 4^00 word, before mentioned. Buta, we have Ii„ ,„ Lr, e or .ix hundred. uJT I, portant to the philologi,t to know that ceru , wo„i. Z bir^h of the French lar.uage, but for ordinary purp«, , matter, httle whether ,„ch a wori a,^.^ i, fhe d^ „tf Bpnng of j^ or whether the UtinV*™ i^M P"'""'- f<" P'h' is pedica mispronounced/^ Latin ; in such cii.iea we can rti.r-~_l .v. V, ™' '" take the allied Utir^„^ Th^ 'T, , "" '^'"•""" ""««"•", and Origin, but the Ge,:lrroot t n T» ■^'"''''^°'°'™'" i8 THE ROVAL ItOAD TO FIIKCH. But thew 800 or 600 n»U which form the buii of Latin have given ua mora than the 4,000 French wordi, which have now grown to 13,000. For the nranta of the 16th (.entuiy, finding the French language too poor to expren their idea>, rushed headlong into Latin, and Uking from that language hundreds upon hundre What a dead thing is English compared with this language, whose words reveal so beautifully their living elements? It would be an exaggeration to say that the student, after studying our lessons, would Hnd himself thinking in French when attempting to speak English ; but we can safely say at least, that he will, on completing his course, have a scientific knowledge of French, a grander conception of what language is, and a truer appreciation of his mother tongue. SOME FEATURES OF THE DeBrisay French Method. THIS method has nothing in common with the many superficial conversational method* which have lately appeared, except that its exercises are conversational rather than Uterary in character, the study of French litera- ture being reserved for the Utter part of the course. The mode of expression in theK exercises is simple and natural, instead of being in that strained and affected drawing-room style of French which goes to make up so much of tTie so- called "na^uroi" systems, and which sounds so out of place when coming from foreigners. In a drawing-room it is per- missible to indulge in semi-literary speech, but this mode of speech is entirely unsuitable for ordinary every-day life. Vocabulary.— The course embraces a vocabulary of about 7,000 words, which are presented in such a manner that a dozen words are almost as readily learned as one. Words learned in this way are rarely forgotten, because they are learned, not as mere sounds, but as synthetic expressions whose elements are easily recognized. It would be very diffi- cult to read a language if each word were recognized only by its form (i.e., length, shape, etc.), and for this reason the alphabet was invented. When a chUd spells a word he ana- »J THE ROYAL ROAD TO FRENCH. lyzea it and arrives at its proper sound, so tliat in the case of the Spanish language, whose orthography is almost phonetic, a child can learn to read in a few months. Similarly, etymo- logy enables us to tpett a word for its meaning, so that by this means we can learn a vocabulary of 7,000 French words in a few months. Moreover, when once we ' learned how words are formed we can form new words ft ourselves, which is perfectly legitimate, p vided the woras are formed in accordance with established laws. riui Vocabulary Learned in Sentences. — In spite of the fact that our course comprises so many words, the student is not called upon to memorize a single list. All the words are learned in sentences, which is the only true method of learning them. The sentences are so arranged as to form an interesting and connected discourse, so that the student never suspects that he is studying etymology. The Conjuyatum of Verbs. — Our system, while paying great attention to the verbs — since the verb is the soul of speech, and without which it is impossible to say anything — does not ■olerate rote-learning, partly because such work is tedious, out chiefly because it is of no practical advantage whutever to be able to conjugate a verb by rote. By the etym. ^cal method the learning of the verb is simplified tenfold. The student after learning the root-verb knows its derivatives also, which follow the same mode of conjugation as the root. Hence in the oir conj. there are scarcely a dozen verbs to be learned. Our table or scheme showing how the different tenses are formed is easily understoofl and serves as a key for the conjugation of any verb. When we consider that there THE ROYAL ROAn TO FRENCH. »3 are in the active voice alone of a single French verb no less than 90 diiTerent forms, and that each of these forms, if learned at hap-hazard by the natural method, would have to be heard at least 10 times, we will readily see the absurdity of expecting a student to become acquainted with French by simply hearing it spoken a few hours a week, unassisted by any system. All students of the so^ialled natural methods are most deficient in their verbs. Crainmar.— Our system dispenses entirely with abstract rules, it being found that they are of little or no advantage in speaking or writing a language. We do not, honever, neglect the grammar, which is taught analytically, i.e., from the language itself— the reasons historical and logical being given for the principles noted. In this way French grammar, instead of being a mass of arbitrary rules, is made logical, consistent, and full of interest. We use grammar as a means of teaching French : many systems use French as a means of teaching grammar. Grammar SimpliHed.— Within the past few months many of the horrors of French grammar have been removed by reforms introduced by the Minister of Public Instruction in France, these reforms having been first suggested by a com- mission appointed by the Council of Superior Instruction. There need no longer be any difficulty in the u.ie of the past participUa, the Mlenoive of Frenchmen as well as of all foreign students of French. The plural of compound nouns may now be formed regularly, instead of according to an infinite number of rules as formerly Many other important grammatical reforms have been recently introduced, and such are indicated 24 THE ROVAL ROAD TO FRENCH. in the new edition of our French Method. There is little that 18 really difficult in French grammar as modified by these recent reforms. Students will save themselves an im- mense amount of needless work by avoiding out-of-date grammars filled with obsolete rules. Prominciatim. — We have given much attention to the subject of pronunciation in our course. The final consonants when silt-* are written in italics. But what is of more im- portance tike natural pronunciation of phrases — especially of those containing a number of small words — is given in full. The reason why English persons so often fail to understand spoken French is that they have never learned to pronounce its phrases properly. Thus pas de mid (not of ill) is pto- nounced pdd mal (not pd de mat), tout ce cafi is pronounced tou,i cafi (not to« ce cafi), etc. To indicate the pronunciation we do not resort to new symbols — for to leam new symbols is like learning another language — but use the characters and marks that are already in use in French, that is, we use them consistently and phonetically. The values of these characters are carefully given and explained in our " Key to French Sounds," a special work on French pronunciation which is in- cluded in the course. Fre'u^h Accent. — There is but one way for an adult foreigner to acquire the French accent, and that is by learning how each letter is produced. Thus, for the French t, d, I, n, the tongue must come against the upper teeth, so that its tip can be seen between the two rows. For the English (, d, n or I the tongue strikes the palate. This subject is fully dealt with in our " Key to French Sounds." THE ROVAL ROAD TO FRENCH. 25 7%« Phonograph. — By means of the Phonograph, the stu- dent may become very familiar with all the conversational exercises in our course. It offers an excellent means of train- ing the ear to the French sounds, and is especially valuable to students taking our courses by correspondence. See annouii e- ment on another page. The above are some of the features of our French course, which comprises in reality : a courae in French conversation, a course in French grammar, a course in French etymology, a course in French pronunciation, and a course in French litera- ture. These courses are all combined in one for the simple reason that they are inseparable. Grammar cannot be learned apart from the language to which it belongs, nor can that language be properly learned without a study of its grammar. Etymology is a dry and useless study except when it is made the means of learning words. Kor can the literature of a language be appreciated by one who has not first learned its colloquial expressions.* * To enable every student to form his own opinion of tho system, we sell the First Part for 2S cents. Part I. of our " Analytical Latin Method " may be obtained for the same price. The " Kkt to FasHCU SocHDS," 86oenta. AN EXPLANATION. ts intrinsic ir„.h vt ■ "'"" '""" "' "= expression as by above „L.Xionl,'h? T T"'"^ «=■«"»>-"». and .h^ grow wise r« • iCon a oucT ' V " r"f' "'"' •""' "' "■"«« -'aH.crHirxir:^Sa„^^°rx:v::i-r!^^^^ ^'^r^„r.s^zft;^ir''^v'-^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *i.h.hepropo iS !hYnisr[ ?""" -.hod of dealing a few minme's. X .he subs. Zl?f ""/ " °"" ■"""" " mounuinoflaborfsreduced o a nl ";""" "'™'"^- » 1. no. ,hi. a "royal road" "^ "^ '"" '""'•" ""^i"' wort'lntslVordf,:":, T '" '"™ 'O"" "•■'"""'" »' "" so'^rii.^:s::::.t^:r:;^';;"ch .a„,„a,e .av. ^„ s^^^:^t^a^r^^-:"'^:™s <— o...^r^-:::i"-r--:;^^a.a„d Tm " AoutmdiA. Di Bbuat ' offen to itadaats ia aD Mrta of Ih* world u> opportunity of •tudyir - kii|;ing«« in a adentifle manner. ConnM BUk7 b« taken by mail or by ai wdiag elaas. Among th« •ztra-moral student* of the Academy art persona redding in all parts of Canada, and tb* United States. These studente reeeire by mail all the assiatanee neeeasary to enable them to fully understand the Analy- tioil Lasaoni. The exercises of eveiy atudent are renewed and aorraoted, and ntumad, with obeervatiotu, elo., by return of post. TEKM8 iBtra-mual Omm $ 10. per ««t» of tea weeks Extra-maral Coarse (by mail) $ 10. tor fuU oootm. Tin UokM far Uu •itnunuml Muiw it good for OB* yoM, ud «»y U i«MV«l for • iMoad yow on piyment of 11. ltltr»-iim™J •UiUsto u* aaUUxl W a oompleU nt of booka. u wdl u taiuoo by BAiL Wa pay pwUga oq all axeroiaaa rataroed. Twaof mora n«aoaa, by iMuiiiig ia thair faaa togatkar, My ob- taia Uia aiUa-muial couraa for »».M «»:b. A atoaaak takio, twa UuKuaecs AT oHci can alao obtain tha wma for $17. All >aaaan u.yaUS is ady.nca. Poat OfEoa ordara nhould ba laade payaUa to lla |iritiei|ial, C. T. Ds BavaT. Cbequea ibould ba mada payabla at par at Ottawa. ICrtra-maral itudanta may bagia at asyUma. Wa haja •sdaajj m ladia, Barmada, NawfoundUnd, Alaaka and all patU al tba varid ' '-''ganr oonraaa by ■aaiL ACAD^HIE Db BRIBAT Oahadiait BsAiioa OttAWA, Oasasa. kmuaoks mxaa, Oonmisiraa, H. T,. <7. B. A. 344 i.:J OTTAW ill uj I ■ rx,. The First Step IN FRENCH. This is the title of a new lxx>k which we have lately added to our French course, and which is intended chiefly fur those who are absolute bc^,'inners in French. How- ever, as it deals largely with the pronunciation and ortho- graphy, every stmient, whether advanced or beginning, will be benefited by its study. Usually the first few lessons in French are the most difficult and discouraging, and for this reason great pains have been taken in this little book to make the beginning as easy as possible, so that persons without the least ability for languages may be able to obtain a foundation in French. A fuol can learn French by the aid of tftit buok. All students who propose taking our regular course should first devote a little time to this book, and thus lay a solid foundation for a more serious study of the language. There is no better book than this for children (whetl er French or English) who are learning to read French. PRICE Si, CENTS. "HABLA" Th* (jiinu ut " Hiibl«"( pronouno«d aJUiUk), or "oonTim- t'on", it pUy«d with otrdi timilar to thora uMd is lb* will Viiown (ams ol "Author»", on which "H»bl»"i. baasd. Tliu ga.ua of "Author«" ii imonHwl to impart a oertala Uiwwlodga of literary pe-jpl« incidoiitally, whila affording ■laownieiit. It ocoured to Prof. D« Briaay, whila watching tliia gama, that a Mmowhat umilar jame would be an excell- «it and rery riaotloal rae.aiiii of faciliUting the acquirement of an elementary knowkdgo of foreign languagea and mora particularly of Spanish, which ia phonetically written and containt no difficult loundi to pronounce. He therefora de- riaed the gamo of "Habla" which ii a Bpaniih word meaning »p^ech or oonixraation, Thi> gnme ia not intended as a aubltitttta for Mrious lan- guage study, but it will be a means of imparting a knowledge of the more commonly used forms of Spanish speech, to thouiands of pursons, young ond old, who would otherwise rjoTer study from a book or take lessons from a teacher. II ••ill also help those who are already studying the language to s«quii'e greater familiarity with its coloquial oipresslonM. P'.renta may sit round a table with their odildren and play this game, with the consciousness that they are not wasting their time nor that of their children. Clergymen and others who object to ordinary cards will have no objection to "Habla" which is to be recommended, not on the ground that it harmUtt, but on the ground that Ik is beneiuial to those playing it No knowledge of Spanish is necessary in order to play this game. Price par set, 60 cents. r 3 3-, ,6'o'267>«5 5 THE UE BRISAY Analytical Spanish Method Spanish is the easiest and most regular of the modern languages, and the most satisfactory to study from a book. The successful features of our French and Latin system are repeated in this work. The student could desire no easier t."k than to learn Spanish by this method. Part I, one dollar.