Heinrich Schliemann and His Innovative Language Learning Techn | Learn German with Leo🦁

Heinrich Schliemann and His Innovative Language Learning Techniques

Heinrich Schliemann, a renowned archaeologist and polyglot, was proficient in 14 languages and possessed reading knowledge in several others. While he admitted that his pursuit of ancient Greek was driven by a genuine passion for archaeology and uncovering the mysteries of Troy, he primarily learned the other languages to excel in his business ventures.

Schliemann's first foreign languages were Dutch and English. In his autobiographical book, "The Adventures of My Life," he outlined the unique methods he employed while learning these languages:

"My straightforward approach involved reading extensively aloud without translating, dedicating an hour each day to practice, writing texts on subjects that intrigued me, memorizing them, and then reciting them aloud. To quickly develop good pronunciation, I attended Anglican church services on Sundays, silently repeating each word of the sermon to myself."

By employing these techniques, Schliemann was able to acquire a solid foundation in English and Dutch within six months. He then promptly switched to studying French, which he mastered with relative ease using the same approach.

Although Schliemann's memoirs contain some inconsistencies, the main principles of his language learning method can be distilled into the following steps:

Start with reading parallel texts, enabling immersion in authentic language without constant reliance on dictionaries.

Once a text is understood, commit a selected passage to memory.

Write a brief composition on a topic of interest, incorporating the newly learned words and expressions to reinforce them in the memory. Submit this composition to a native speaker for review (in Schliemann's case, Dutch sailors). Memorize the corrected text and recite it to a language teacher for pronunciation feedback.

Attend events where the target language is spoken, such as sermons, to enhance listening comprehension and fine-tune pronunciation.

What language learning methods have you found to be most effective in your own studies?