THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NATIVE LANGUAGE IN TEACHING VOCABULARY

Withinthe time allotted here I will t ry to present and illustrate just one phase of the overall problem of teaching English as a foreign language. I should like to make a few comments on the importance of the native language in teaching vocabulary, using Spanish and English a s the languages involved. When reference is made to the importance of the native language of the learner of English, examples and illustrations most frequently seem to be taken from the phonology or grammar of the native language. In the phonology, we remember the Cantonese speaking Chinese who wanted “flied lice” for dinner, not “fried rice,” and the Chinese who requested a “lewolowel” instead of a “revolver.” These examples point up the differences involving Y and I in Chinese and English. Spanish speakers have no initial sl , s p , or st , hence “Estanley espoke eslowly” frequently results when they are talking English. In grammar, the Spanish speaker is likely to say “Went you to the s tore?” where we would say “Did you go to the s tore?” because there is nothing in Spanish comparable to the English function word do. However, consideration of the lexicon of Spanish is also important in teaching the lexicon of English. We cannot assume that there a r e exact lexical word-for-word equivalents in any two languages. A situation which is described by one word in Spanish may be represented by several in English. Conversely a situation which in English is described by one word may be represented by several in Spanish. A form may have a lexical distribution in Spanish different than i t s partial equivalent in English. To illustrate: Bancoin Spanish is equivalent to English bunk only in hertain situations. Banco‘Establecimiento publico de cr6dito’can be said approximately to equal bank ‘an institution for receiving and lending money: But bunk‘the slope immediately bordering a s t ream course’ does not equal