If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of the multimedia language course, then some newly published archive material might surprise and intrigue you. The British Newspaper Archive recently added the early 20th-century title Sound Wave magazine to its growing catalogue. This record review title served phonographic fans from 1907 to 1933, and it’s surprisingly full of language learning history.
In those days, of course, it was the gramophone that reigned supreme. Recordings on the new flat disc format had been around since the late 1880s, but by the first decade of the 20th century, gramophones had become affordable enough for middle-class households. Sound Wave dates from that early tech spread, the publishers no doubt spotting a gap in the market for listening recommendations.
Only it wasn’t just music. What we’d now recognise as audiobooks was already in circulation – outfits like The Talking-Book Corporation were pumping out gramophone literature for adults and kids. There were elocution resources for improving one’s spoken English, too. One particularly enticing release was this special set of discs with the voice of Bernard Shaw himself (life imitating art – his own art!).
And language learning was there from the start too, in the form of regular ads from the Linguaphone Institute.
A 1907 advert from the Linguaphone Institute in the magazine Sound Wave
Linguaphone – a brand built on gramophone
Linguaphone is a real heritage brand for language learners, and pops up all over the newspaper archives. It started up in 1901, and is still going today – you may have come across their language training centres. Competition may have widened since then, but for over half a century they were the first word in audio course materials.
Testimonials in this 1927 edition vouch for their success. One C.B. of London reports that the Spanish course made travels “much easier and cheaper than they would otherwise have been”. A reviewer in 1929 praised the “French as it is really spoken” in a dialogue set in a hairdresser’s, on record no. 21 of that set. Yes, record 21 – these sets could run into dozens of discs, and usually shipped in a hefty, solid case.
No wonder they came with an equally solid price tag. In 1907, a box would set you back £3 and three shillings, easily several hundred pounds in today’s money. You can still pick them up second-hand today, and for much less – a lovely bit of language learning history.
Proto Language Lab
Beyond the well-heeled turntable owner, the gramophonic method wasn’t just for individuals; it was used in classrooms too. In 1914, a Leicester teacher, Mr. Cunfliffe, introduced records into his lessons at the Working Men’s College, to great success. One particularly modern-seeming innovation of Mr. Cunliffe’s was the provision of “24 pairs of hearing tubes” for the students! In this way, one element of language teaching that seems so late 20th-century, so proto language lab, had its roots decades before tape reels and CDs.
The BNA‘s inclusion of Sound Wave offers some lovely insights into the history of language learning and teaching. There’s doubtless much more to find in there. Let me know in the comments if you come across any other gems!