The Teaching of Scientific German

Abstract

SOME time ago a teacher of German told me that it was his conviction that it would be better to entrust the teaching of Scientific German to a member of a Science department who knew German well. In practice this might work out exceedingly well. In theory, however, the statement is a condemnation of teachers of Scientific German, either of their mentality, of their willingness to help their students, or of their understanding of the purpose of such a course. article on The Scientific German Course by Curtis C. D. Vail1 makes it clear that this course is generally felt to be a utilitarian course, the object of which is solely to enable the student to read accurately and easily the German passage with which he is confronted. It is also shown in this article that translation is the general, if not the exclusive, method of instruction employed. There is quite frequently an apologetic air connected with the admission that translation is the method employed. It seems to me to be present in the questionnaire replies discussed in the article just mentioned,2 and I have observed it in conversation and oral discussion. When the prerequisite for a course in Scientific German is the equivalent of two or more years of college German, there is, perhaps, justification for this apologetic feeling. By the time they have advanced that far, the students should know how to read German. Their need is to obtain and work with a scientific vocabulary, and translation is certainly not the most stimulating way to achieve this.