19. Yüzyılda Almanlara Türkçe Öğretmek Amacıyla Yazılmış Bir Kitap: Mürşid-i Lisân-ı Osmanî

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the work Lehrbuch der Modernen Osmanischen Sprache or Mürşid-i Lisân-ı Osmânî in Turkish written by Johannes Jacob Manisacıyan in 1893 and reprinted in 1902. This particular analysis focuses on Turkish language teaching during the period the book was written, and it also elaborates on its contribution to teaching Turkish as a foreign language in terms of its content features. The very significance of this work lies in the fact that its author worked as a Turkish language teacher at Berlin University and added his experience of that time while writing it. Moreover, the fact that Manisacıyan worked as a Science –not Turkish- teacher in a Protestant school in Merzifon, that he established a botanic and zoology museum, and also that he wrote a book on a field which was not his main field of study make it an outstanding work. The analyses reveal that in the book, the alphabet and grammar translation method were utilized in teaching Turkish, and learning was reinforced through the provision of exercises, reading texts and vocabulary lists. That grammar teaching is attained by a thorough analysis of Turkish grammar as well as of the Arabic and Persian (Farsi) linguistic elements in Turkish; the presence of reading and writing, yet the absence of listening and speaking activities reflect the notion of language teaching in that period.