Who were the language masters during this time period? And who was the intended audience of these manuals that they created?

Yeah, that is a very interesting question.

And when we ask who the language masters were and who their manuals were intended for, I think we have to keep two things in mind.

As Natalia mentioned it, just their social backgrounds and, of course, the practical purpose of the books.

So the language masters were a fascinating and, as we've heard, a very diverse group of people.

And what makes them particularly interesting is that their personal and as well educational backgrounds could directly influence what they wrote and how they taught.

Yeah, some of them had been soldiers or dancing masters, but some of them even were scholarly trained or even professors.

How do you think these historic foreign language manuals can help us understand contemporary debates, speaking of things like prescriptivism, about language teaching, language policy, or multilingualism?

What have you found so far regarding language attitudes and beliefs within these manuals? And what might these attitudes tell us about the time period that these manuals were created in?

Thank you for this question.

As you said, this project is more than analyzing language from a structural perspective.

Yeah, we are especially focusing on the use of language, as you heard before.

So usage is the most important thing.

Before I go into the details, you should know, as Natalia mentioned before, that German in the 16th century was not yet standardized.

So educated people thought about and reflected on what constituted good and correct German, but there was no binding norm.

And I think showing this project shows, hey, this is not new

Yeah, and this is what I think is super impressive.

impressive.They are so creative, these language, these different la- language masters.

And yeah, they took the opportunity, and they wrote these books, and now we are so lucky to study them.

And, and I think showing this project shows, hey, this is not new, and it's not, it's not scary at all.

There is some little example in some of the language manuals.

There are maxims for travelers, so there you find a lot of stereotypes, but the main goal is to inform learners about the people they will, they, they will meet at some point.

So they, there's a lot of implicit learning about foreign language, but also foreign culture.

And so in the end, the learners are prepared for the life in foreign countries, and misunderstandings can be avoided.

Who were the language masters during this time period? And who was the intended audience of these manuals that they created?

Yeah, that is a very interesting question.

And when we ask who the language masters were and who their manuals were intended for, I think we have to keep two things in mind.

As Natalia mentioned it, just their social backgrounds and, of course, the practical purpose of the books.

So the language masters were a fascinating and, as we've heard, a very diverse group of people.

And what makes them particularly interesting is that their personal and as well educational backgrounds could directly influence what they wrote and how they taught.

Yeah, some of them had been soldiers or dancing masters, but some of them even were scholarly trained or even professors.

How do you think these historic foreign language manuals can help us understand contemporary debates, speaking of things like prescriptivism, about language teaching, language policy, or multilingualism?

Who were the language masters during this time period? And who was the intended audience of these manuals that they created?

Yeah, that is a very interesting question.

And when we ask who the language masters were and who their manuals were intended for, I think we have to keep two things in mind.

As Natalia mentioned it, just their social backgrounds and, of course, the practical purpose of the books.

So the language masters were a fascinating and, as we've heard, a very diverse group of people.

And what makes them particularly interesting is that their personal and as well educational backgrounds could directly influence what they wrote and how they taught.

Yeah, some of them had been soldiers or dancing masters, but some of them even were scholarly trained or even professors.

How do you think these historic foreign language manuals can help us understand contemporary debates, speaking of things like prescriptivism, about language teaching, language policy, or multilingualism?