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FOLLOWING NATURE STEP BY STEP,

TO LEARN HOW TO

READ, HEAR, SPEAK, AND WRITE

FRENCH.

BY CLAUDE MARCEL,

LATE FRENCH CONSUL, MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF
ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION, ETC.

"La nature a fait ce système elle-même; elle pouvait seule le faire."

CONDILLAO.

FIRST BOOK.

FIRST AMERICAN FROM THE SECOND PARIS EDITION.

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.

1884.

SUIVANT PAS À PAS LA MARCHE
DE LA NATURE,

POUR APPRENDRE

À LIRE, À ENTENDRE, À PARLER ET À ÉCRIRE

L'ANGLAIS.

PAR CLAUDE MARCEL,

ANCIEN CONSUL DE FRANCE, MEMBRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ POUR L'INSTRUCTION
ÉLÉMENTAIRE, ETC.

The nature has mad this sys.

tem herself;

"La nature a fait ce système elle-même; elle pouvait seule le faire."

she ought alone it todo.

PREMIER LIVRE.

CONDILLAC.

PREMIÈRE ÉDITION AMÉRICAINE D'APRÈS LA DEUXIÈME DE PARIS.

.

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON ET COMPAGNIE,

1, 3, ET 5, BOND STREET.

1884.

EducT 50.550.15

HARVARD COLLE
faw,15,1926

LIBRARY

Miss J. F. Curtis.

INTRODUCTION.

CLASSIFICATION.

As, in our Method, we lay aside established principles and ideas hitherto adopted, the explanation we now give of our views and mode of proceeding is indispensable. Children under thirteen or fourteen years of age, who cannot acquire a foreign language alone, might not enter thoroughly into the spirit of this Introduction, and most probably would not read it-we therefore address ourselves to their professors; upon them will devolve the duty of explaining and developing its points to their young pupils. To adult students who can dispense with the assistance of a teacher, and are anxious to understand fully the reasons of our principles, we earnestly recommend its perusal. The ultimate success of their studies will depend upon it.

Rejecting traditionary routine, and following Nature step by step, this Method, based upon the constitution of man and that of language, dispenses at the outset with grammar, exercises, versions, dictations, mnemonics, and in a great measure with the

INTRODUCTION

À LIRE.

CLASSIFICATION wh

me

as ide as in Lay Comme dans notre Méthode nous nous écartons dés procédés en vogue, des idées reçues jusqu'à ce jour, l'explication que nous donnons ici de nos vues et de la manière de procéder est indispensable. Les enfants au-dessous de treize à quatorze ans, qui ne peuvent apprendre seuls une langue étrangère, pourraient ne pas entrer complètement dans l'esprit de cette Introduction, ou, ce qui est plus probable, pourraient ne pas la lire; c'est donc à leurs professeurs que nous nous adressons, c'est à eux qu'il appartient de l'expliquer, de la développer à leurs jeunes élèves. Quant aux étudiants adultes, qui peuvent se dispenser des services d'un maître, et veulent se bien pénétrer de la raison des procédés que nous proposons, nous la leur recommandons sérieusement le succès de l'étude en depend.

S'affranchissant des traditions routinières et suivant pas à pas la marche de la nature, cette Méthode, basée sur la constitution de l'homme et sur celle du langage, dispense, au début, de grammaire, de thèmes, de versions, de dictées, de leçons mnémoniques, et, en

use of a dictionary and the advice of a teacher. It is composed of two simple operations: familiarizing the ear and the eye with a language; then imitating correct examples, in order to learn how to speak and write it.

This mode of proceeding is strictly conformable to the laws of Nature. In fact, man, being born perfectible and communicative, is consequently endowed with two powerful instincts-curiosity and imitation -which fulfill these conditions, and are the origin of every improvement of which he is susceptible. To listen and to read are, to follow the first of these instincts; to speak and to write are, to follow the second. These are the only incentives, as example and practice are the only means to which Nature has recourse to lead all the members of a nation to an exchange of ideas.

It is also to curiosity and imitation, to example and practice, that our Method has recourse to lead the student to that intimate knowledge of a foreign idiom which renders the use of it almost as familiar as that of his native tongue. A thorough exchange of thought can only take place when words present themselves to the mind as direct signs of impressions; when, alternately the cause and the effect, they spontaneously recall each other; in other words, when one can think in a language. This is the principal object to which the rational Method tends, and which it always has in view.

There are four modes of thinking in a language,

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