Il6 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



if he would probably be able to speak French by the end of the year. 

 These various qualities of mind shall be discussed later. It is first 

 necessary to state in what the study of a modern language consists, 

 as conducted in our modern colleges. To most people the statement 

 of these constituent parts of the study of French will be superfluous and 

 unnecessary. Nevertheless, there are many who do not realize in what 

 proportions they may be profitably studied, or in what relation they 

 stand to one another. 



A beginning course in French lasting one year is broken up into the 

 following three divisions: (i) the translation of French into English; 

 (2) the translation of English into French; (3) pronunciation. 



The translation of French into English is the easiest division of the 

 study. It is the part which would seem to appeal most readily to the 

 so-called average man. It is, on the whole, rather easy for him, as 

 long as it remains simple and direct, as so much French prose is. If 

 it becomes difficult and involved, and requires a minute syntactical 

 analysis, the average student remains more or less helpless in presence 

 of the passage to be translated. It is a common saying that easy French 

 is very easy, and hard French very hard. Nevertheless, for those who 

 are well grounded in French prose composition, no modern French is 

 really beyond their powers, and this brings us to the second division of 

 the study — the translation of English into French. 



This is justly regarded as the most difficult element in the study of 

 French. But, for that matter, it is the most difficult element in the study 

 of any foreign language; and, indeed, prose composition in one's native 

 tongue is not so simple a matter as many imagine. College professors 

 of English will bear witness to this fact. French prose composition is 

 usually a serious stumbling-block to the average man, and his standing 

 suffers severely from the requirements exacted of him. A few students, 

 however, distinguish themselves in French prose composition. They are, 

 I think, without exception those persons who are careful of their own 

 English speech. Those who are slipshod or illiterate in the use of their 

 native tongue — and there is always a considerable number, it would 

 appear, in our higher institutions of learning — can scarcely hope to do 

 more than mediocre work in French prose composition. 



