On Language Teaching by Antonia Ruppel nyone can teach Latin, while The author’s own experience is different ways of expressing one and the ‘A teaching Greek is hard’. mainly with teaching three languages same concept (such as the roles nouns ‘Introductory language courses are easier (Latin, Greek and Sanskrit) to speakers of play in a sentence, or the notion of ‘past’ to teach than intermediate/text-based two modern languages (English and vs. ‘present’). Most languages have more courses’. These are views that the author German), and so most examples will be than one way of expressing what is of this article has heard voiced in Classics taken from these. Nevertheless, the basic factually the same thing, again sometimes departments on both sides of the thoughts outlined here can be applied just with different nuances. In many instances, Atlantic. They reflect underlying as easily to most other languages. We will for example, there is little difference assumptions about language teaching that start with the basics and look at what between saying ‘I’m going to do it’ and ‘I often have very practical effects on who is language is, and continue with some will do it’. Some languages have words for assigned what kinds of teaching, and how thoughts on what makes a particular specific concepts that other languages are those instructors approach their task. language difficult to learn. This will lead missing, leading to the ‘they have a word This article would like to look at and us to some general thoughts on what it for it’ type of list so popular on social challenge these assumptions. Given how means to teach a language, which are media. The speakers of those other long ancient languages have been taught followed by a focus on teaching ancient languages have to describe or paraphrase in the occident, it is unlikely to say languages. what they mean: to reuse a well-known anything profoundly new. Yet given how A language is a way to pass on example, Germans can simply talk about important good language teaching is to information. Any natural language is able Schadenfreude, while English speakers have any field whose evidence is mostly to pass on any idea that a speaker wants to to resort to more analytic expressions text-based, and given that many of those pass on; yet there are differences in how such as ‘malicious glee’ or ‘pleasure in tasked with teaching an ancient language different languages achieve this. Some other people’s discomfort’; and while any do not have that language as their main languages can express some ideas or traveller will likely have encountered the interest, but mostly consider it as a nuances more succinctly than other ideas oddness of unexpected things being other means to an end, it may be worth and other languages can: German, for than what one is used to while being re-examining what we do when we teach example, can and regularly does form abroad, not many have a simple word those languages. We hope that this article compound nouns ad hoc; English has such as French dépaysement to refer to this will provide guidance to those new to simple and continuous verb forms for oddness. Furthermore, words that on the language teaching, but perhaps also offer every tense. When a language can surface refer to one and the same thing some new impulses to those who have conveniently express certain details, it will can have completely different long been involved in language do so more frequently. Some languages connotations in different languages, instruction as ‘service teaching’, parallel obligatorily express nuances that are depending on how what they refer to is to the teaching that reflects their actual entirely optional in others: in any language used in different cultures. Take Dutch fiets areas of interest. We also hope this that has formal vs familiar forms of and English bike (in the non-motorised article will be challenged by those whose address (such as French vous and tu, sense): they describe the same man-made main interest and task is language German Sie and Du etc.), speakers are object; yet while a Dutch speaker likely teaching but who are taking approaches forced to choose one option any time they thinks of a fiets as something every-day, different from the rather analytical one talk to someone. Between languages, practical, basic and omnipresent, an outlined here. there is a variety of fundamentally American may associate a bike with The Journal of Classics Teaching 19 (37) p.53–57 © The Classical Association 2018. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits Downloaded non-commercialfrom https://www.cambridge.org/core re-use, distribution,. IP andaddress: reproduction 170.106.40.139 in any, on medium, 28 Sep 2021 provided at 16:41:07 the original, subject workto the isCambridge unaltered Core and terms is properly of use, availablecited. The at written 53 https://www.cambridge.org/core/termspermission of Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631018000077 University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work. fitness, leisure, perhaps with their to follow the mainstream way of express an already familiar concept is one childhood experiences or a friend’s pluralisation (fishes); yet others (so far) thing, learning a new concept is another. midlife crisis. have remained exceptional: the plural of Thus Polish speakers will have problems To learn a new language means to mouse seems to still always be just mice, keeping apart German long and short learn which of any variety of ways that never mouses. The less prescriptive the vowels (Polish does not have long language uses to express the various environment is that a speaker lives in, the vowels), German speakers will have concepts its speakers want to convey (be more likely they are to hear talk of cactuses trouble correctly using English simple and they lexical ones such as words for things and the like. Often, whether a word will progressive verb forms (German verbs and actions, or grammatical ones such as change depends on how frequently it is just have the simple form), and both noun case or verbal tense, or the idea of used and on how easy it is to even out its German and English speakers will have possibility rather than certainty), and also particular irregularity; but some words (or trouble remembering to mark verbs as which concepts it chooses to express grammatical structures) just hang on atelic or telic, that is to indicate whether explicitly and which not (such as the unexpectedly and unpredictably. an action is seen as open-ended (he’s contrast of simple versus ongoing Learning the grammar of a language reading) or finite (he’s reading this article), a systematically present in English, but not thus means learning its systems on the difference which Polish makes in most other Germanic languages, for one hand and its irregularities and systematically. example). exceptions on the other. Some languages So much for grammar. To learn a Languages are systematic, which are more difficult to learn because they language, one also needs to study its makes them easier to acquire. If I learn have more exceptions; others are vocabulary and its usage and idioms. The first (a) the word for an action, then (b) the challenging because their regular systems challenge here is that what needs to be notion that not just I, but also someone are complex in themselves. For example, memorised is mostly unsystematic. In else, can carry out that action, and finally all languages have the ability to mark many languages, words can be built from (c) the formal way of expressing that notion, nouns for the roles they play in a clause, one another (and thus we can get from the it is useful if I can apply the same notion that is, to express the grammatical verb establish to the noun establishment, for and the same way of expressing it to category of Case. English mostly does example, and, if we choose to, further to another word: I sing, he sings leads this with prepositions (this is for her, for you, the oft-quoted antidisestablishmentarianism); seamlessly to I run, he runs. Once I have for the cat; I see with my eyes, he cuts the cake and to this limited extent a language’s then also realised (consciously or not) that with a knife and so on), but uses different vocabulary may be seen as ‘systematic’. Yet the third-person marker appears as forms/endings in pronouns (he vs. him, she given that, as linguists put it, the relation voiceless [s] after voiceless sounds (sinks), vs. her) and marks the difference between between the signifier (the word, or rather: as voiced [z] after voiced sounds (sings), subject and object by means of word its sound) and the signified (the thing the and as [ez] after sibilants (hisses), I then am order: Bob sees Alice and Alice sees Bob thus word represents) is arbitrary (see, for able to express this notion for any full (i.e. do not mean the same thing. Yet in spite example de Saussure 1971, pp. 97ff.), most non-modal) verb in the English language. of this mix of methods (prepositions, of a language’s basic vocabulary is random Yet languages change over time, and case endings, word order), one might and needs to be approached through old systems hang on while new ones are argue English case usage on the whole is straightforward memorisation.