I took German in high school (way back last Century). I have a copy of the textbook somewhere. It started out with dialogues, followed by explanations. The dialogues became longer as the lessons progressed. Here are the first and second dialogues in the book:
Wohin geht Peter? And den See.
Wo ist Monika? Im Boot.
I assume the Spanish textbooks followed the same pattern and method. Do any of you know of any Spanish textbooks like this? Either from the '70s/'80s, or modern ones that use the same approach?
i took Spanish in the 70s. There was some dialogue at the start of the book. There were also a lot of conjugation and gender examples. There were also brief stories of a paragraph or two that contained more advanced language and what were supposed to be real world examples. I remember something like a Spanish speaking woman dressing down a store owner for running out of something. “Donde esta el bano” was more useful than most of that.
Not really. That was 1970 and 1971. Another book in the next year, not much more advanced. Then in 1972 I was in a non-structured class. I couldn’t for the life of me tell you the name or publisher of those books but they were standard public school textbooks, probably several years old already.
I’ve used Spanish outside of a classroom environment exactly twice and both times involved asking where the bathroom was. One time I had a Spanish visitor to the museum I worked at ask where it was and I answered “derecha de la escalara” which I think meant, to the right of the stairs. I was so proud of myself.
In West Germany, the phrase I used most was ‘Sprechen Sie Englisch?’ I was working on a student film on the beach in Malibu in the mid-'90s. Of course we couldn’t have people walking through. A family was ambling our way, and it turned out they were German. I could remember enough from high school and college to let them know we’re making a film, and could the please walk around.
I never made use of the little bit of Spanish I learned in school but later in life Portuguese became a part of my professional and personal life and Spanish served as a sort of language bridge enabling me to sort of communicate in Spanglishguese. I developed Portuguese reading skill over time also.
A lot of people buy baby food. Your anecdote reminded me of a line in Volunteers (1985):
Beth Wexler: [attempting to speak Thai to the village women] Germs make you sick. That is why we give medicine to help kill you.
Mi Esposa bought some ‘early education’ flash cards a couple of weeks ago. I was amazed at how many of the words I know, or could figure out if they were spoken to me or if I read them. The hardest part was the pronunciation. Rolling Rs is not natural for me, and Ts need the tongue behind the teeth instead of on the roof of the mouth. Gs are often pronounced as Hs, like the Js. And other little things.
I have a Spanish degree I haven’t used in fifteen years. The funny thing is I learned a lot of academic Spanish, but not a lot of basic vocabulary. With my newly minted degree I could talk in detail about the impact of NAFTA on Mexico but I couldn’t come up with the word for “spoon.” I later worked as a bilingual rep for a consumer credit counseling agency. That exposed me to all manner of accents. I strongly recommend that for anyone trying to really learn a language. Over the phone you have no visual cues to help you, you get a variety of accents and personalities, it’s a solid move especially for any young person trying to learn a language.
I am way out of practice now. I’ve forgotten how to conjugate a lot of verbs. Sometimes I hear people talking and know what they’re saying. Other times I can’t parse it. I’m always amused by how freely people talk when they think you don’t understand their language.
And yes I recall my Spanish textbooks in high school being structured that way.
I had the same High School German book! I remember those first sentences even after all these years: “Die Post ist sonntags geschlossen”. My teacher shook her head at that one; she said it was to show how complicated grammar could be. At least in German.
I found my post at Mellophant from 2010 [emphasis added to the line you remembered]:
Ah, those dialogues! It’s amazing how they stick in one’s head! Thirty years on, I still remember them. Last night I checked the mailbox, and a copy of my high school German textbook (first year) was there. Anyone else remember these?
Wohin geht Peter?
An den See.
Wo ist Monika?
Im Boot.
Ute, wo ist der Hut?
In der Stube.
Was tust du?
Ich übe Geige.
Bist du müde?
Ja.
Ist die Post offen, Otto? Nein, sie ist am Sonntag geschlossen.
Wie geht’s
Danke, gut.
Wann kommt Benno?
Im Sommer.
Heisst du Annchen?
Nein, ich heisse Lenchen Wichmann.
Kennst du mich?
Nein, ich kenne dich nicht.
Was macht Jochen?
Er spielt Schach.
Mit wem?
Mit Achim.
Fritz, warum bist du so traurig?
Richard ist krank.
I’m hoping that the Spanish textbook is set up the same way.
I still remember a particular dialogue from my French textbook (structured like a newspaper article):
Rome: “Silence, on tourne!” Un phrase tres familiere qu’on n’entend plus a Studio 40 a Cinemondo. C’est la en effet que Guido Bravo, le celebre metteur en scene italien, tourne son dernier film: “Ni avec toi, ni sans toi”
It goes on to talk about the fighting between the stars Lucia Volcano and Jean-Pierre Frisson which is holding up filming.
Thank you. When I saw the OP said “And den See,” I thought “Shouldn’t that be ‘An den See’?” (not because I remembered that particular example—I don’t think I used that book—but just from what I remember of German in general). But it wasn’t worth asking about.
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