The importance of the ‘method Gaspey-Otto-Sauer’ amongst the earliest Portuguese textbooks of the German language

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper explores the role of a grammar-translation based teaching concept known in English as ‘Method Gaspey-Otto-Sauer’ (MGOS) amongst the first textbooks of the German language, published for a specifically Portuguese target audience between 1863 and 1926. Given that the underlying teaching concept by means of ‘conversation grammars’, ‘elementary grammars’ and auxiliary works was put forth as the exclusive product of the ‘Julius Groos Verlag’ in Heidelberg, the most essential information on the publishing house is summarized, as well as on the three authors Thomas William Gaspey (1819–1872), Emil Otto (1813–1878) and Karl Marquard Sauer (1827–1896), to whom the MGOS owes its name. Following a brief presentation of the very first German textbooks for Portuguese learners, the paper focuses on the editions of the ‘conversation grammar’ and the ‘elementary grammars’ of German and their importance in the above context of a corpus of German textbooks for Portuguese learners.