Histoire Épistémologie Langage

Renaissance Methodologies for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign

Language
Aquilino Sanchez

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Sanchez Aquilino. Renaissance Methodologies for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. In: Histoire Épistémologie
Langage, tome 9, fascicule 2, 1987. La tradition espagnole d'analyse linguistique. pp. 41-60;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/hel.1987.2424

https://www.persee.fr/doc/hel_0750-8069_1987_num_9_2_2424

Fichier pdf généré le 09/05/2018

Abstract
ABSTRACT : The history of Spanish teaching is not only limited to the teaching of grammar in the xvi
Century, as we might.be tempted to believe in our days. Brilliant scholars such as Erasmus and Vives
were in favour of a "degrammaticalized" pedagogy. And materials for teaching Spanish following a
conversational, learn-through-practice approach are printed and used quite extensively from the first
part of the century. Materials of that kind are recorded much earlier (xiii C), for teaching other "vulgar"
languages (French, Flemish, English). Spanish is incorporated into this methodology rather late, almost
two centuries afterwards, exactly when the «Spanish Empire» reaches the Low Countries and the need
for learning Spanish is felt abroad. Books and manuals for teaching Spanish are rare in Spain, except
grammars (more specifically "theoretical grammars"). Books of dialogues, representative of a non-
grammatical methodology, appear only in foreign countries, where the need for this kind of materials
increases. The conclusion is that the elaboration- of materials by Spaniards in Spain will not influence
the teaching of their language to foreigners, in spite of the fact that famous grammarians (Nebrija,
Villalôn) refer in their works to the expansion of Spanish outside Spain. The reason might be that the
feeling and understanding of the methodological requirements for teaching Spanish to non-native
speakers of the language were notoriously absent. Very much as it was going to be the case until
nowadays.

Résumé
RÉSUMÉ : L'histoire de l'enseignement de l'espagnol n'est pas limitée à l'apprentissage grammatical,
durant le xvie siècle. De brillants érudits comme Erasme ou Vives optaient pour une pédagogie «
dégrammaticali- sée». Des guides pédagogiques utilisant une méthode active ont été imprimés et
fréquemment utilisés. L'espagnol n'a été intégré à ce type de pédagogie que deux siècles après les
autres vernaculaires européens, lorsque l'empire a atteint les Pays-Bas. Cependant seules des
grammaires ont été fréquemment publiées en Espagne même. Il faut en conclure que l'élaboration d'un
matériel pédagogique par les Espagnols n'a aucunement influencé l'enseignement de leur langue aux
étrangers. La raison en tient peut-être à l'absence de compréhension des exigences méthodologiques
requises pour un enseignement aux étrangers.
 Histoire Épistémologie Langage IX-2 (1987) 41

RENAISSANCE METHODOLOGIES FOR

TEACHING SPANISH AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE

Aquilino SANCHEZ

ABSTRACT : The history of Spanish teaching is not only limited to the

teaching of grammar in the xvi Century, as we might.be tempted to believe
in our days. Brilliant scholars such as Erasmus and Vives were in favour
of a "degrammaticalized" pedagogy. And materials for teaching Spanish
following a conversational, learn-through-practice approach are printed
and used quite extensively from the first part of the century. Materials
of that kind are recorded much earlier (xiii C), for teaching other "vulgar"
languages (French, Flemish, English). Spanish is incorporated into this
methodology rather late, almost two centuries afterwards, exactly when
the «Spanish Empire» reaches the Low Countries and the need for
learning Spanish is felt abroad. Books and manuals for teaching Spanish
are rare in Spain, except grammars (more specifically "theoretical
grammars"). Books of dialogues, representative of a non-grammatical
methodology, appear only in foreign countries, where the need for this
kind of materials increases. The conclusion is that the elaboration- of
materials by Spaniards in Spain will not influence the teaching of their
language to foreigners, in spite of the fact that famous grammarians
(Nebrija, Villalôn) refer in their works to the expansion of Spanish outside
Spain. The reason might be that the feeling and understanding of the
methodological requirements for teaching Spanish to non-native speakers
of the language were notoriously absent. Very much as it was going to
be the case until nowadays.

RÉSUMÉ : L'histoire de l'enseignement de l'espagnol n'est pas limitée à

l'apprentissage grammatical, durant le xvie siècle. De brillants érudits
42 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

comme Erasme ou Vives optaient pour une pédagogie « dégrammaticali-

sée». Des guides pédagogiques utilisant une méthode active ont été
imprimés et fréquemment utilisés. L'espagnol n'a été intégré à ce type de
pédagogie que deux siècles après les autres vernaculaires européens,
lorsque l'empire a atteint les Pays-Bas. Cependant seules des grammaires
ont été fréquemment publiées en Espagne même. Il faut en conclure que
l'élaboration d'un matériel pédagogique par les Espagnols n'a aucunement
influencé l'enseignement de leur langue aux étrangers. La raison en tient
peut-être à l'absence de compréhension des exigences méthodologiques
requises pour un enseignement aux étrangers.

The expansion and teaching of Spanish as a foreign language

begins together with the expansion of the Spanish Empire, in the
xvie century. The already «popular» quotation attributed to
Charles the Fifth before the Genoa Senate illustrates the fact :

Aunque pudiera hablaros en Latin, toscano, francés y tedesco,

he querido preferir la lengua castellana porque me entiendan
todos.

Which proves that at that time Spanish is not only a respected

language in Europe but also widely studied abroad. The same
meaning might be given to the fact that Charles V addresses Pope
Paul III in Spanish and not in Latin, as was usual. The bishop of
Maçon, France, complains that he does not understand Spanish ;
and he is given the following answer by the King :

Serior Obispo, entiéndame si quiere, y no espère de mi otras

palabras que de mi lengua espanola, la cual es tan noble, que
merece ser sabida y entendida de toda la gente cristiana (1).

This was in 1536. Since 1492, Spanish has the first and one
of the most scientific and solid grammars, written by Nebrija. Spain
also has a powerful army that reaches Germany, the Low
Countries, Italy, France. The language of the conquerors is in the
best conditions to be considered, respected, needed and therefore
learned outside Spain. And so it was. Anybody wanting to approach
the Emperor and his Administration had to learn Spanish if he
wanted his business to be solved quickly and more efficiently. It
seems that Spanish becomes « de facto » the most widely spread
official language throughout Europe. Teachers of Spanish appear
soon, particularly in the Low Countries, the center of business at
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 43

the moment and a kind of crossroads of the different countries

under Spanish rule. Printers, also flourishing in Antwerp, Brussels
or Louvain, reflected immediately such an atmosphere by
publishing books for teaching/learning the language of the emerging
Empire. This reality regarding Spanish demanded not only the
acquisition of the language as was usually done in schools
(memorization of grammatical rules, reading of literature), but
more often the learning of it in order to communicate orally. The
need to speak the language and speak it in a rather colloquial way
is going to be the motive for incorporating Spanish into an already
existing stream and tradition for teaching languages in a « direct,
conversational way ».

From a methodological point of view, the teaching of Spanish

as a foreign language follows two well defined models, even if it
is true that sometimes those two models might be more or less
mixed in real practice, mainly complementing each other,
depending on individual situations, practical requirements and
personal learning strategies :
- grammar based teaching (deductive method),
- teaching based on the reading and memorization of colloquial
texts, speaking, learning of vocabulary, understanding of
proverbes, sentences... ; that is, learning through practice (inductive
method).

GRAMMAR BASED TEACHING : « THEORETICAL » AND

« PRACTICAL GRAMMARS »

Nebrija, the author of the first grammar of Spanish, puts it

clearly in the « Prôlogo » of his book :

Y con el vencimiento aquellos tenian necesidad de recebir las

leies quel vencedor pone al vencido, y con ellas nuestra lengua,
entonces, por esta mi Arte, podrïan venir en el conocimiento
della, como agora nos otros deprendemos el arte de la
gramâtica latina para deprender el latin. Y cierto assi es que...
todos los otros que tienen algun trato y conversaciôn en Espafia
y necesidad de nuestra lengua, si no vienen desde nifios a la
deprender por uso, podrân la mas aina saber por esta mi
obra (2).
44 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

It seems that Nebrija bases his Grammar on two assumptions :

that there is a need to systematize the language, through rules, as
has been done with Latin and other classical languages; and in
so doing, we make it both possible and easy to learn and teach
it. Nebrija takes for granted, therefore, that the language be learnt
using a grammatical method. It is doubtful however, that Nebrija's
Grammar was an adequate and useful manual for learners of
Spanish. Villalôn, 68 years later, advanced more or less the same
idea in the « Prôlogo » of his book :

Y ansi agora yo como siempre procuré engrandecer las cosas

de mi naciôn : porque en ningun tiempo esta nuestra lengua
se pudiese perder de la memoria de los hombres, ni aun faltar
de su perfecciôn, pero que a la contina fuese colocândose y
adelantândose a todas las otras y también porque la pudiesen
todas las naciones aprender : ... por estas razones intenté sujetar
la arte con reglas y leyes (3).

These two grammars reflect the purpose of contributing to

the teaching of Spanish, particularly in the regions or countries
recently incorporated into the Spanish Empire. The « Gramâtica
castellana » was more often used than Nebrija's, certainly by
authors and teachers, perhaps also by some learners. If it was
difficult to have Nebrija's Grammar as a textbook for foreigners,
it was not easy either to adopt Villalon's with the same purpose
in mind. In both cases the reason is that both books are not so
much pedagogical as theoretical grammars. And that in spite of
the fact that they are not only the first but also excellent reference
and source manuals for both the speakers and learners of Spanish ;
the content of any other pedagogical grammar written in the xvi
century is also to be found in Villalôn or Nebrija's works. What
is more, both give a much better and more exhaustive account of
the grammar of Spanish. But they follow a rather "theoretical"
scheme, as was done with Latin and Greek grammars, which they
tried to imitate. Classical languages could not, however, be equated
to the situation of vulgar languages. Classical languages were dead
languages, spoken by scholars and learned people in a formal and
"pure" way. The rest of society (most people therefore) did not
speak Latin. Latin could be learned in and through grammars
because it was used (written and/or spoken) in a quasi-
grammatical, highly artificial way. Spanish, like other "vulgar"
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 45

languages, was the language of the people, with its « ungrammatica-

lities », dialectal, « corrupted » and changing forms. Something else
was needed, at least as a complement to the grammar. The need
for pedagogical grammars was there. And the first of them appears
in 1555, printed in Louvain by an anonymous author (4). That this
book proved useful for foreigners is testified by the fact that only
four years later, in 1559, De Grave himself published another
practical grammar, Gramatica de la lengua vulgar de Espana (5).
The aim of this Grammar is clearly expressed by the unknown
author :

Desta (la lengua vulgar de Espana) quiero dar al présente tales

reglas y preceptos, que todo nombre de qualquier naciôn que
fuere, pueda muy fâcilmente, y en brève tiempo hablarla, y
escribirla mas que medianamente : lo cual, para bien y
perfectamente hacerse, debia tratarse en cuatro maneras
dichas Ortografia, Etimologia, Sintaxis y Prosodia... Pero... esta
obra sera dividida en dos libros... Ortografia y Etimologia (6).

The author does not attempt to give a full description of the

language; he rather concentrates on what is necessary for
beginners learning Spanish. In both grammars there is to be found
not a consistent theoretical basis, but a practical exposition and
description of Spanish. Authors transmit the reality of the spoken
language, they do not make a theory about it.
They find the way to make the intricacies of Spanish easily
understood and digestible for foreigners. They do not claim to be
normative ; they might be so interpreted by the learners, but
explicitly they are only « descriptive ». Villalôn's Grammar is
sometimes close to a pedagogical grammar ; in such cases he is
usually more or less plainly prescriptive or normative ; he comes
to state rules, useful both for foreigners and native speakers (as
when he states the 7 rules for the gender of nouns ; or the 25 rules
for the gender of nouns attending to their ending or their final
letter). He probably feels more authoritative in the knowledge he
has of the language, with a more serious theoretical basis for its
understanding. In so doing, however, he departs from those
characteristics which make both anonymous grammars easier to
understand by foreign learners. The anonymous grammars of
Louvain must be, therefore, approached not as books which might
establish a sound, sharp and advanced knowledge and doctrine
46 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

of grammatical theory applied to Spanish, but rather as a first

project that attempts at presenting Spanish grammar to foreign
learners, beginners. In this respect they succeed and are adequate
and valuable materials.
A famous teacher of languages in Antwerp, Gabriel Meurier,
follows this trend, and he publishes a resume of Spanish grammar
under the title : Coniugaisons, regies et instructions moût propres
et nécessairement requises pour ceux qui désirent apprendre
français, italien, espagnol et flatnen, Anvers 1558. The book was
printed ten years later, reduced to Spanish and French (Coniuga-
ciones, arte y reglas muy proprias y necessarias para los que
quisieren deprender, Espahol y Frances, (Anvers, 1568), together
with his Breve instruction contenante la manière pour naiuement
prononcer, lire et parler l'espagnol (already published in 1558,
including French, Spanish, Italian and Flemish). Some of these
materials appear also with his Coloquios familiares (to which we
will refer later), printed in 1568 for the first time (7).
Meurier proved with his publications that grammar was an
important tool in his teaching ; and later on the complemented it
with the conversational method of his Coloquios familiares. This
was the procedure of a teacher conscious of the limitations derived
from an exclusive use of grammatical elements in the classroom,
particularly when the learners had to face the reality of the spoken
language.
The teaching of Spanish in Italy makes a breakthrough with
a grammatical treatise by M. Alessandri d'Urbino in 1560 : //
parangone della lingua toscana et castigliana, Nâpoles, 1560. The
book is a typical grammatical description written from a practical
point of view, with an introduction on the pronunciation and about
one hundred pages more on the nouns, pronouns, verbs and
undeclined words. Only five years afterwards, Giovanni Miranda
publishes in Venice one of the best and more influential
pedagogical grammars : Osservationi della lingua castigliana (8).
Miranda's grammar is by far the best and most complete book
for teaching Spanish to foreigners within the grammatical
methodology. It will be hardly surpassed by following manuals,
grammars or handbooks ; in fact, some of the best and most famous
grammar writers (Oudin, Franciosini, Sobrino...) in the xvi and
xvii centuries were heavily indebted to Miranda. The Osservationi
constitute an exhaustive and solid manual, written in Italian and
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 47

explained from the point of view of a foreigner who knows the

language he wants to describe, as well as his own native language.
Besides, he is well aware of the problems that Italians have when
learning Spanish. His explanations are often contrasted to the
characteristics of "toscano", in such a way that the learner can
easily understand the Spanish variants, properties or similarities :

Et tutti gli altri ; e questi nomi, come significant) abondanza,

cosi s'usano piu, nel uocatiuo, che in altro caso, quasi come
merauigliandosi, et allhora si suole mettere un, que, che in
Toscano é, che ; et cosi si proferisce, come si dicessimo, o que
ualeroso hombre, o que caualleroso, o que marauilloso ; che
questo si direbbe in lode sua, merauigliandosi del suo
ualore... » (9).

Examples are always given together with their corresponding

Italian translation or equivalent ; sometimes, those examples are
not only words or sentences, but also whole paragraphs, as in the
case of the relative QUE (p. 1 13) or negation (p. 301), among others.
Compared to the first grammars printed in Louvain, the Osservatio-
ni reaches a high degree of perfection within their own field.
The Spanish Grammar, appears in 1590, in England and in
English. It is a book by Antonio del Corro, a Spanish monk who
migrated to London in 1569. This work was the translation into
English, by John Thorie, of the Réglas gramaticales para aprender
la lengua espahola y francesa, by Del Corro, published in Oxford in
1586. These same Réglas had been written in France, apparently for
the future king Henry IV, at about 1560. The adaptation into English
was rather poor. Throughout the book the reader finds chapters
devoted to French : Rules of the nouns in French (6 pages) ; Rules
for the French pronounes (1 page), etc. The author himself mentions
this in the « Epistle to the Reader ». The adaptation consisted
basically of a translation into English. A dictionary Spanish-English
is appended at the end. Methodologically, del Corro is fully
integrated into the grammatical tradition of language teaching.
Also a grammatical methodology is implied by the Bibliotheca
Hispanica containing a grammar, with a dictionarie in Spanish,
English and Latine, gathered out of divers good authors : very
profitable for the studious of the Spanish Toong, by Richard
Percivall, Gent. The Dictionarie being inlarged with the Latine by
the advise and conference of Master Thomas Doiyley, Doctor in
48 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

Physicke. London 1591. The grammar is very short, only 21 pages.

The dictionary amounts to 60 pages, including about 2.000 words,
for the most part taken from Cristobal de las Casas {Vocabulario
de las dos lenguas toscana y castellana, Sevilla 1570) and Nebrija's
Vocabulario Espanol-Latino (1495). And the dictionary was more
successful than the grammar ; Minsheu published it again in 1599.
In the last years of the century, appears the first Spanish
grammar written in France : La parfaicte Méthode pour entendre,
escrire, et parler la langue espagnole, divisée en deux parties (Paris
1596). The book was overshadowed by the publication in 1597 of
one of the grammars and manuals which were going to become
famous for many decades : Grammaire et observations de la langue
espagnole, by Caesar Oudin, Lyon 1597. This grammar was a real
success and kept being published after Oudin's death by his brother
Antoine Oudin. Reading Oudin's grammar one comes back
inmediately to Mirand's Osservationi. It follows the same style, the
same structure, and sometimes has a similar content. Oudin, no
doubt found his model in Miranda. As a foreigner, he writes his
grammar looking at Spanish from outside arid taking into account
the learners : French native speakers. Clear explanations of
language usage, abundant examples with the French translation
or equivalent, frequent comparison to the characteristics of the
French language, relevant remarks on particular subjects that
might easily induce the French into errors or mistakes :

II se dit bien un ciento de ducados, mais alors il y a ce nombre

un, devant, ceste proposition de, après le dit ciento ; ne se dira
pas immédiatement ciento ducados (10).

With Oudin, the century comes to an end ; from the point of

view of the printing of grammars, we have reached the peak of
activity. Immediately afterwards, important grammars will
appear : Aldrete, Saulnier, Alemân, Vittori, Sanford, Doerganck,
Jimenez Paton, Salazar, Luna, Franciosini, Correas, Fabre, Zu-
marân, Mulerio... The grammatical methodology was well rooted.
Spanish kept being learned through the memorization of
inflections, rules, lists of vocabulary and pronunciation. Authors do not
question the methodology which had been reinforced in the
xvi century in manuals for teaching Spanish. The study of classical
languages had transmitted the assumption that languages had to
be learned through grammar.
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 49

Practical grammars surpass in number the theoretical ones.

The abundance of pedagogical grammars reveals how the
grammatical approach used for teaching classical languages, has been
applied for teaching Spanish. The needs and demands of the
learners has a conclusive influence in this process ; and no doubt
the existence of another way (say, method) for teaching/learning
Spanish also contributed to the development of a more useful
grammatical material, transforming grammars more and more
into a tool for learning instead of speculating and discussing
theoretical linguistic principles.

THE PRACTICAL METHODOLOY FOR TEACHING

SPANISH : THE « CONVERSATIONAL METHOD »

There is a tendency to believe that the history of language

teaching has been the history of grammar teaching. As I have
commented above, learning a language through grammar alone
did not fulfill the expectancies that many learners had when
starting with Spanish. The gap in that century, as it often happens
today, was felt rather in the field of the spoken language. And it
had been felt exactly in the same way many centuries ago. Hence
the practice, if not the principle of learning to speak through
speaking.
Of course grammarians and the teaching establishment have
often tended to stress the importance of grammar to reach
correctness and propriety ; even « to sharpen our wits » when
learning the language in such a manner. Moreover, if a language
without a grammar was not a well formed language, learning
without grammar could not be a good and profitable learning
either.
Still, the history of language can call on numerous manuals,
manuscripts and printed books, or testimonies, that refer or
represent a different way of teaching/learning a language (14).
Grammarians, in fact, looked rather for correctness, not for
fluency. How to reach the fluency needed to communicate orally
in a language ?
50 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

MANUALS FOR CONVERSATION

Many teachers have written their books on the subject they

taught, according not only to what predominated in the « official »
educational spheres, but following their own experience, their
beliefs and feelings and the demand and needs of the learners. In
language teaching, they did not only pay attention to what
grammarians said ; they also noticed how languages were actually
learned in daily life when circunstances required particular goals
not met in the school system.
This is the dichotomy that has always distinguished language
teaching : the insistence on grammar on the part of most teachers
is not matched by an effective acquisition of the language on the
part of the learners, particularly regarding spoken fluency and
comprehension.
This dichotomy will be felt more powerfully when « vulgar »
languages emerge in different European countries. They first grow
within the educational patterns marked for classical languages. But
the differences are pronounced : classical languages (particularly
Latin) are spoken by learned people or scholars.
« Vulgar » languages are spoken by everybody in daily life,
including the great amount of uncultivated people, at home, in the
streets, in the market place, for doing business, in towns and
villages. Such speakers did not usually care about grammar ; they
were not even prepared to accept or understand grammatical
reasonings... Among these people we find many in the nobility,
merchants, businessmen, soldiers... All those did often need
desperately to communicate in other languages ; business contracts
in Italy and the Low Countries, and the fact that the Spanish Army
occupied a good part of Europe, gave rise to important linguistic
needs that surpassed what Latin could offer. Language learning
was not only a theoretical but a vital requirement.
Huarte Morton (15) gives notice of a Spanish Vocabulary in the
xv century. It might have been useful for learning Spanish. Nebrija's
Diccionario Latino Espanol and Vocabulario Espanol-Latino (16),
might also have been useful for learning both Latin and/or Spanish :
as well as Palencia's Universal vocabulario en latin y romance,
(1490). But vocabularies are only a help when learning a language.
The first important variant away from grammar in the
teaching of Spanish as a foreign language is the Vocabulare or
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 51

Diâlogos (Colloquia). A school teacher of Antwerp had published

in 1530 or somewhat earlier a Vocabulaire « para aprender a leer
y escribir el francés y el flamenco », of which we only have an
edition dated from 1536, by Berlainmont. Not much later, in
1551, the official printer of the university of Louvain, Bartolomé
De Grave, publishes the first multilingual Vocabulare : Vocabulario
de quatro lenguas, Tudesco, Frances, Latino y Espanol, muy
prouechoso para los que quisieren aprender estas lengas, Louvain
1551. The teaching of Spanish is so incorporated into a rather old
and well rooted methodology in Europe.
The Nominalia or vocabularies arranged by areas of interest
or topics are known to us from the Middle Ages. They consisted
of lists of words which the students had normally to learn by heart,
probably in order to use them for building sentences applying
grammatical rules. It is important to notice that these words were
of frequent use, and therefore closed to daily, colloquial language.
Merchants and travellers might have used Latin sometimes ; that
was the international language. But not many could make business
in that language. When «vulgar» languages (French, Spanish,
English, Italian...) are consolidated as the official languages of some
countries in Europe, those same travellers and businessmen
needed more and more to speak the language of daily life.
Owen (17) refers to another type of work for learning French :
the Manières. One of them dates back to the xin century {Traité
sur la langue françoise, de Walter de Bibbesworth). There are more
in the xiii and xiv centuries. The « Manières » were manuals of
conversation, mainly for businessmen and travellers. Some of
them were written specifically for teaching languages in school,
as is the case with Le livre des metières, dialogues French-Flemish
from the xiv century, written by a teacher in Brugges(18).
These manuals were used for learning the spoken language
through materials representative of colloquial speech. They appear
more often in the Low Countries, where the need for communi
cation was strongly felt, particularly for business. Testimonies
abound in which it is reported that many people speak the
language (French, English, Flemish) (« sçavent parler... ») (19). «
Dialogues» in fact are already quite popular in the xvi century. And
some scholars take them as a complement to teaching languages.
Among them Erasmus and Luis Vives are the most outstanding
figures.
52 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

Erasmus did not only acknowledge the existence of this

tradition, but wrote Colloquia puerilia, 1518. Luis Vives, a
contemporary of Erasmus, stressed practical reading, writing and
conversation in the teaching of languages. The grammatical
method was strongly criticized. As Erasmus had done, he also
wrote his dialogues (Exercitatio linguae Latinae, 1538),
incorporating into his pedagogy a practice already usual in the teaching of
languages : conversation. When Vives published his Exercitatio
linguae Latinae, the first book of dialogues for teaching Spanish
and French had already been printed. According to Morel-
Fatio (20) such a book had been published in 1520 : Vocabulario
para aprender franees, espanol y flamini, Antwerp, 1520. Following
the description we have, the book gives sentences first in French,
then in Flemish and finally in Spanish.

The first copy of printed vocabularies available to us dates

back to 1536 : Vocabulaire... pour aprendre legierement a bien lire,
escripre parler francois et Flameng, lequel est mis tout la plus part
par personnaiges. These vocabularies became extremely popular.
Twenty years after Berlainmont's death, other polyglot editions are
printed, which take Berlainmont's one as a model and add other
languages to French and Flemish. In 1551 the printer B. De Grave
publishes a quadrilingual vocabulary : Vocabulario de quatro
lenguas, Tudesco, Frances, Latino y Espanol, muy prouechoso para
los que quisieren aprender estas lenguas, Louvain 1551. Other
editions appear in 1556, 1558 and 1560.
These vocabularies were later on called Colloquia, a title that
fits better the content of these manuals. As a way of example, the
one published by Berlainmont includes :
- a glossary of usual words.
- numbers and days of the week.
- three dialogues.
- model letters and documents related to business.
- a religious section with the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, etc.
- a short treatise on the pronunciation of French.
No doubt these « Dialogues » were needed, at least as a
complement, if not as a substitute, for the more widespread
learning through grammar. If we think of those that learnt Spanish
with the purpose of communication (politics, business,
travelling...) the Vocabularies were much more adequate, useful and
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 53

practical. Quadrilingual editions were progressively enlarged with

other languages. Spanish is the most consistently present in all of
them, after French (21). The number of editions is very high. The
last edition we know of these Colloquia, in 1692, is printed in
Bologna. But the tradition of the Dialogues does not come to an
end. We find books with dialogues for teaching Spanish up till the
20th century (22).
Besides the manuals by Berlainmont, De Grave and others
(basically founded on Berlainmont's Vocabulare), several other
publications appear in the xvi century for teaching Spanish in a
conversational way. In 1554, only three years after the first edition
by De Grave, including Spanish, appears A very profitable boke to
lerne the maner of redying, writing speaking English & Spanish,
1554. The book contains three dialogues, a chapter « en el que se
declaran reglas de escrevir cartas y letras de obligaciones, pagas,
y contratos », and a second part with « vocablos necessarios para
communmente hablar, puestos por el orden del ABC. Allende desto,
la oraçion del Senor, la Salutaçion Angelica, Articulos de la fe. Los
diez Mandamientos ». The contents are a rather faithful copy of
Berlainmont's Vocabulare, the English deriving from the Latin of
the original. The publication might have been urged by the
expected marriage of Queen Mary and Philip II in 1554.
The teaching of Spanish abroad had another important
exponent in Gabriel Meurier, professor of languages (Spanish,
Italian, French) in Antwerp.
In 1558 he published The Conuigaisons... (See footnote 7). Ten
years later, in 1568, he completed his works with Coloquios
familiares, muy convenientes y mas prouechosos de quantos
salieron hasta agora, para qualquier qualidad de personas desseosas
de saber hablar y escribir espanol y franees, Antwerp 1568. The
Coloquios have been written with a practical purpose in mind :
« In order to serve at any time in every kind of business, travelling,
making deals, talking, selling as well as buying... » They are
centered around business, for those that do business or those that
have anything to do with businessmen. The dialogues are shorter
than the ones derived from Berlainmont, more practical and
covering a large index of subjects.
At the end of the xvi century Spanish becomes an important
subject in England if we take into account the abundant materials
printed in the period. William Stepney publishes in 1591 the
54 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

Spanish Schoole-Master, printed in London « containing seven

dialogues, according to every day in the weeke, and what is
necessary every day to be done, wherein is also most plainly
shewed the true and perfect pronunciation of the Spanish tongue,
toward the furtherance of all those which are desirous to learne
the said tongue within this our Realme of England ».
The book offers no originality. Berlainmont's Vocabulare and
other Colloquia derived from him have been abundantly copied
by Stepney. The author must only adapt the contents to the English
setting ; apart from doing that, he interpolates one of the seven
dialogues (number 7) and adds the original number 7 as an extra
text to his dialogues, entitled « Aqui se siguen diversos propositos
de mercancias de plateros, y del trueco de dinero ».
It also contains 6 pages on the pronunciation of the Spanish
letters, the Pater Noster, Credo, 10 commandemants and
thanksgiving at the table, everything with the English translation ; numbers,
days of the week, sentences and sayings only in Spanish. We find
at the end an English-Spanish glossary grouped by topics (earth,
God, virtues...). Quite a complete manual according to the
standards of the time and no doubt the best to be printed in
England for teaching Spanish. Only eight years afterwards,
J. Minsheu publishes his Pleasant and delightful dialogues in
Spanish and English, London 1599. Twenty seven editions are
known of this book up till the middle of the 18th century.
M. Foulché-Delbosc, in his reprinting of some of those
dialogues (23) praises in an extraordinary manner the quality of
Minsheu's dialogues and he points out that several authors
reproduced them in the following centuries with little or no
additions (Oudin, Franciosini, Sobrino). Amado Alonso,
however (24) criticizes the author because he copies everybody and
everything without even quoting the sources ; in other words,
Minsheu is a plagiarist. The hypothesis advanced is that the
dialogues were written by a prisoner of the Spanish Armada and
appropriated by Minsheu as his own (25).
This is not the place to discuss the nature of the dialogues
written by different authors. Regarding methodology of language
teaching, we can only say that it is at the very end of the xvi century
when books of dialogues for learning Spanish increase
significantly. That tendency will be emphasized in the 17th century and will
last well into the 18 and 19th centuries (26).
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 55

It would be presumptuous to conclude that in the xvi century

there were two well defined methods for teaching Spanish as a
foreign language ; but we can safely affirm that materials
representative of two different or complementary ways to focus
the teaching of the language were used, one based on the learning
of grammar, another based on practice and the use of the language.
We must therefore conclude that at least in one respect the xvi
century was not different from today : discussion and different
views were already there regarding the teaching of foreign
languages. And people tried to solve the problem by recourse to
a grammatical or a conversational method as representative of two
different and extreme procedures or methodologies.

NOTES

(1) Buceta, Erasmo (1937), « El juicio de Carlos V acerca del espafiol », RFE, XXIV,
1937, p. 11-23.
(2) Nebrija, A. de (1492), Gramâtica de la lengua espanola (Edit, by A. Quilis,
Editora Nacional, Madrid, 1980).
(3) Villalon (1558), Gramâtica castellana (Edit, by C. Garcia, CSIC 1971), p. 8.
(4) Util y brève institution para aprender los principios y fundamentos de la lengua
hespanola, Louvain 1555 (Edit. A. Roldân, CSIC, Madrid 1977).
(5) Edition by A. Roldân, Madrid, CSIC, 1966.
(6) Prologo, pâg. 9.
(7) See Bourland C, « Algo sobre Gabriel Meurier », Hispanic Review, VI, 1938,
p. 139 ss. Bourland gives details on Meurier as a teacher of languages in
Antwerp and his publications. Meurier's publications may be found in the
Bibliothèque Royale Albert, Brussels.
(8) My own edition dates from 1566. The « Dedicatoria » is also from 1566. A.
Alonso refers to a 1565 edition.
(9) P. 70-71.
(10) I quote according to the Grammaire Espagnole, a reprinting of Oudin's
grammar by his brother Antoine, Rouen 1651.
(11) P. 101.
(12) P. 221-223.
(13) Grammatica castellana, 1558, p. 36.
56 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

(14) Kelly, L. (1969), Twenty five centuries of language teaching, Newbury House.
(15) RFE, XXXV, p. 310 ss.
(16) Nebrija, A. de (1492), Diccionario Latino Espanol, Salamanca. Nebrija (1495 ?),
Vocabulario Espahol-Latino, Salamanca (Facsimile edition by the Real
Academia Espanola, Madrid, 1951).
(17) See Owen, A. (1929), Le traité de Walter de Bibbesworth, Paris, Les Presses
Universitaires de France.

(18) Pirenne, H. (1948), Histoire de Belgique, I, Bruxelles, p. 483 ss. See also
Maréchal, R. (1972), Histoire de l'enseignement et de la méthodologie des
langues vivantes en Belgique, Didier, p. 18 ss.

(19) Lebon, L. (1872), Histoire de l'enseignement populaire, Bruxelles, p. 59 ss.

(20) Morel-Fatio (1900), L'étude de l'espagnol en France sous Louis XIII, Paris, p. 88
ss. He quotes the Bibliophile Ferdinand Colomb in this respect, but the book
has apparently been lost.
(21) Bourland affirms that Spanish is present in 60 out of the 77 editions quoted
by Verdeyen and in all but one of the editions given by her in this article.
Regarding polyglot editions, in 1576, H. Heyndrickx, from Antwerp, publishes
a six languages edition. J. Trognaesius, also in Antwerp, prints Colloquia et
Dictionariolum in seven languages, in 1586. The languages included are :
Flemish, French, Spanish, German, Italian, English and Latin. Another edition
by B. Schinkel, in 1598, adds Portuguese, enlarging to eight the languages
included in the Colloquia. Substituting one or more languages for others, the
Colloquia become quite versatile. Up to ten languages are recorded in different
editions, adding Bohemian and Polish to those already mentioned.
(22) Books of dialogues have been printed quite recently : in Denmark, in 1892,
by Oscar Juergensen (Didlogos espanoles-daneses) ; circa 1900, in London, by
Eduardo Tolra (New Spanish-English dialogues for travellers and students...) ;
in 1926, in London, by Fernando de Arteaga y Pereyra {Practical Spanish...
with materials for conversation), etc.

(23) Revue Hispanique, XLV, 1919.

(24) Alonso, A. (1969), De la pronunciaciôn medieval a la moderna en espanol,
Gredos, Madrid, p. 203.
(25) See Ungerer, G. (1956), Anglo-Spanish relations in Tudor Literature, Berna,
p. 61.

(26) See Revue Hispanique, XLV, 1919, p. 76 ss. Many editions derived from
Minsheu are quoted.
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 57

REFERENCES

ALESSANDRI D'URBINO, M. (1560). // parangone della lingua toscana

et castigliana. Napoles.

ANONIMO (1554). A very profitable boke to lerne the maner of redyng,

writing & speakyn English & Spanish. London (Facs. Scholar Press).

ANONIMO (1589). Colloquia et dictionariolum septem linguarum, Belgicae,

Anglicae, Teutonicae, Latinae, Italicae, Hispanicae, Gallicae. Leod II.
Apud Henricum Houium, Cum privilegio.

ANONIMO DE LOVAINA (1555). Util y breve institution para aprender los

principios y fundamentos de la lengua hespanola. Lovaina (Edicion
de A. Roldan, CSIC, Madrid 1977).

ANONIMO DE LOVAINA (1559). Gramatica de la lengua vulgar de Espana.

Lovaina (Ed. de Balbin/Roldan, CSIC, Madrid 1966).

BACHILLER THAMARA (1550). Suma y erudicion en metro castellano

muy elegante y necesario para los nihos que oyen grammatica o la
han de oyr. Amberes.

BROWNE, J. (1589). The merchants avizo or instructions very necessary

for their sonnes and servants when they first send them beyond âe Sea,
as to Spaine and Portingale, or other Countries. London.

CHARPENTIER, N. (1596). La parfaicte méthode pour entendre, escrire

et parler la langue espagnole, diuisee en deux parties. La première
contient briefuement les reigles de grammaire. La seconde, les
recherches des plus beaux enrichissemens de la langue qui servent
à la composition et traduction. A Paris, chez Lucas Breyel au Pallais,
en la gallerie par où on va à la Chancellerie.

CORRO, Antonio del (1586). Reglas gramaticales para aprender la lengua

espanola y francesa. .Oxford.

CORRO, Antonio del (1590).' The Spanish Grammer, with certeine Rules
teaching both the Spanish and the French tongues. By which they that
haue some knowledge in the French tongue, may the easier, uttaine
to the Spanish, and likewise they that haue the Spanish, with more
facilitie learne the French : and they that are acquainted with neither
of them, lerne either or both. Made in Spanish by M. Anthonie del
Corro. With a Dictionarie adioyned to it with all the Spanish wo^des
cited in the Booke : and other more wordes most necessarie fbr all
such a desire the knowledge of the same tongue. By John Thorius,
graduate in Oxenford, Imprinted at London by Iohn Wolfe.

ERASMO, D. (1523). Colloquia.

58 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

GARCIA DE LOAISA (1587). Memoriales presentados al rey Felipe II sobre

algunos vicios introducidos en la lengua y escritura castellana.

JUNIUS, Adrianus (1567). Vocabulario poligloto en latin, griego, flamenco,

frances, italiano y espanol. Leyden.

DE LA CUESTA, Juan (1589). Libro y tratado para ensenara leery escriuir...

todo romance castellano.

DE LAS CASAS, Christobal (1570). Vocabulario de las dos lenguas toscana

y castellana... con una introduccion para leer y pronunciar bien
entrambas lenguas. Sevilla.

LAURENTIUS A VILLAVICENTIO, F. (1550). Util y breve institucion para

aprender los principios de la lengua hespanola.

MATHURIN DE CORDIER (1564). Dialogues.

DE MEDINA, Francesco (1580). Discurso sobre la lengua castellana.

MEURIER, G. (1558). Coniugaisons, regies et instructions moût propres et

nécessairement requises pour ceux qui désirent apprendre français,
italien, espagnol et flamen. Anvers (Slatkine reprints, 1973).

MEURIER, Gabriel (1558). Brève instruction contenante la manière de bien

prononcer & lire le françois, italien, espagnol & flamen.

MEURIER, G. (1568). Coloquios familiares, muy convenientes y mas

provechosos de quantos salieron hasta agora, para qualquiera calidad
de personas desseo sas de saber hablar y escribir espanol y frances.
Anvers.

MEURIER, G. (1568). Coniugaciones, arte y reglas muy propias y necesarias

para los que quisieren deprender espanol y frances. Amberes.

MEURIER, G. (1568). Recueil de sentences notables, diets et dictons comuns

ne (sic) adages, proverbes & refrans, traduits la plus part de Latin,
Italien & Espanol, & réduit selon l'ordre alphabétique. Anvers, Jean
Waesberghe.

MEURIER, G. (1568). Brève instruction contenante les règles... pour

naiuement prononcer et parler l'espagnol. Anvers.

MINSHEU, John (1599). Pleasant and delightful dialogues in Spanish and

English, profitable to the learner and not vnpleasant to any other
Reader. London.

MINSHEU, John (1599). Spanish Grammar. London.

MIRANDA, Giovanni (1566). Osservationi delta lingua castigliana, di

Giovanni Miranda, divise in quatro libri : ne quali s'insegna con gran
 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language 59

facilita la perfetta lingua Spagnuola. Con due tavole : l'una de capi

essentiali, & l'altra dette cose notabilL Con Privilegio. In Venegia
appresso Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari.

MOLINA, Alonso de (1944). Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana.

Obra impresa en Mexico por Antonio de Spinola en 1571 y ahora
editada en facsimil. Madrid, Ed. Cultura Hispânica.

DE NAVARRA, Pedro (1590). Dialogos de la diferencia del hablar al

escreuir.

NEBRIJA, A. de (1492). Dicdonario Latino Espanol. Salamanca.

NEBRIJA, A. de (1495). Vocabulario Espanol-Latino. Salamanca.

NEBRIJA, A. de (1980). Gramatica de la lengua castellana. 1492. (Edition

de A. Quilis, Editora Nacional, Madrid.)

OUDIN, Cesar (1597). Grammaire et observations de la langue espagnolle,

recueillies et mises en François by Cesar Oudin. Secrétaire Interprète
du Roy ez langues Germanique, Italienne et Espagnolle. A Paris chez
Marc Orry.

PALENCIA, A. de (1490). Universal vocabulario en latin y en romance.

PERCYVALL, R. (1591). Bibliotheca Hispânica containing a grammar, with

a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, gathered out of divers
good authors ; very profitable for the studious of the Spanish toong,
by Richard Percyvall, Gent, the Dictionarie being inlarged with the
Latine by the advise and conference of Master Thomas Doyley, Doctor
in Physicke. London.

ROBLES, Francisco (1531). Reglas de Ortografia. Alcalâ.

SANCHEZ, Alonso (1587). Dicdonario de vocablos castellanos aplicados

a la propiedad latina. En el quai se déclara gran copia de refranes
vulgares. Salamanca.

SANCHEZ, Juan (1586). Principios de gramatica latina. Sevilla.

SANCHEZ DE LAS BROZAS, F. (1587). Minerva seu de Latinae linguae

causis et elegantia. Salamanca (éd. de E. del Estai Fuentes, Universi-
dad de Salamanca, 1975).

SIMON ABRIL, Pedro (1590). Introduccion para ensenar a los ninos

facilmente el leer y el escrivir. Zaragoza.

SOTOMAYOR, Baltazar (1565). Grammatica con réglas muy provechosas

y necesarias para aprender a leery escriuir la lengua francesa conferida
con la castellana. Alcalâ de Henares.
60 Sanchez : Teaching Spanish as a foreign language

STEPNEY, W. (1591). The Spanish Schoole-master. Containing seven

Dialogues, according to eueryday in the weeke, and what is necessarie
euerie day to be done, wherein is also most plainly shewed in the true
and perfect pronunciation of the Spanish tongue, toward the
furtherance of all those which are desirous to learne the said tongue
within this our Realme of England. Wherein, besides seven Dialogues,
are annexed most fine Prouerbs and sentences as also the Lord prayer,
the Articles of our beliefe, the ten Commandements and a Vocabularie,
with divers other things necessarie to be knowne in the said tongue.
Newly collected and set forth by W. Stepney, professor of the said tongue
in the famous Citie of London. Imprinted at London by R. Field for
Iohn Harison.

VALDES, Juan de (1535). Dialogo de la lengua. (Ediciôn de A. Quilis, Plaza

& Janes, Barcelona 1984).

VANEGAS, Alexo (1531). Tractado de orthographia y acentos en las très

lenguas principales.

VICIANA, Martin de (1574). Libro de alabancas d' las lenguas hebrea,

griega, latina, castellana y valenciana. Valencia.

VILLALON, Licenciado. Gramatica castellana. Arte breve y compendiosa

para saber hablar y escrevir en la lengua Castellana congrua y
decentemente. En Anvers, en casa de Guillermo Simon, a la ensena
del Abestruz.

VIVES, J. L. (1538). Exercitatio Linguae Latinae.

reçu octobre 1987 Universidad de Murcia

Dpto. de Inglès
Murcia
Espana