When, in accordance with a wish expressed by English and American
friends, I determined to have my _Sprogundervisning_ translated into
English, I found it difficult to decide what to retain and what to
leave out of the original. So much of what I had written appeared to
me to apply more or less exclusively to Danish schools and Danish
methods, and I had too little personal experience of the practice
of English teachers or of English school-books to be quite sure of
the advisability in each case of including or excluding this or that
remark. I have, however, made my choice to the best of my ability, and
if some parts of my criticism are not altogether applicable to English
methods, I hope I may be excused on the plea that what is now the
really important thing is less the destruction of bad old methods than
a positive indication of the new ways to be followed if we are to have
thoroughly efficient teaching in modern languages.