Gustav Langenscheidt
Gustav Langenscheidt (born October 21, 1832 in Berlin ; † November 11, 1895 there ) was a German language teacher and publisher .
Life
Langenscheidt was the son of the decorator Johann Ludwig Langenscheidt and his wife Sophie Caroline Schwartze. After successfully completing his schooling in 1850, Langenscheidt completed a commercial apprenticeship, which he also successfully completed after just two years.
Between 1851 and the spring of 1853, Langenscheidt traveled to almost all of Germany's neighboring countries and covered around 7,000 kilometers - on foot and by stagecoach. After returning to Germany, he joined the army in the summer of 1853. During his time in the military, Langenscheidt dealt extensively with the various ways of learning the French language.
Together with Charles Toussaint , he developed a self-learning method , which he published in 1856 under the title Lesson Letters for Learning the French Language . Langenscheidt had copied the idea of such a teaching method and, above all, sales from William Cobbett . Since no publisher showed interest in this educational work, Langenscheidt founded his own publisher with effect from October 1, 1856. These lesson letters enjoyed great popularity and distribution, so that Langenscheidt can still be regarded as the “father of distance learning ” today.
In 1857 Langenscheidt was appointed chief clerk of the 11th Infantry Brigade in Berlin and as such he married Pauline Hartmann in Berlin. With her he had two daughters and four sons; including the writer and publisher Paul Langenscheidt , as well as Carl Gustav Felix Langenscheidt, who later became his successor.
In 1861 Langenscheidt published together with Carl von Dalen and Henry Lloyd "English Lesson Letters" (structured similarly to the French). From 1867 the Langenscheidt publishing house had its own printing works.
From 1869 Langenscheidt worked with Karl Sachs and Césaire Villatte on the encyclopaedic French-German and German-French dictionary and was finally able to publish it in 1880. In 1874 Langenscheidt was awarded the title of professor.
From 1891 the English counterpart, the encyclopaedic English-German and German-English dictionary , was developed in close collaboration with Eduard Muret and Daniel Sanders . Langenscheidt did not live to see the publication, but his successor, his son Carl Georg, managed to do so in 1901.
Gustav Langenscheidt died on November 11, 1895 at the age of almost 63 and was buried in the Old St. Matthew Cemetery in Schöneberg , then received his final resting place in 1939 (reburial due to Germania plans) in the family grave on the south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf . The family's mausoleum is located in the "Alter St. Matthew Cemetery" section. A facade design at the original location before 1939 reminds of him.
The "Toussaint-Langenscheidt" method was based on the language lessons of James Hamilton and Jean Joseph Jacotot . It was revolutionary that the focus was no longer on grammar, but on reading and communication. Langenscheidt and Toussaint created a new phonetic transcription for the representation of the pronunciation to simplify learning . This was valid until the Second World War and was only then replaced by the international phonetic transcription (IPA).
Honors
The Langenscheidtbrücke and Langenscheidtstraße in Berlin are named after Langenscheidt, in 2010 the Riesengebirgs-Oberschule was renamed Gustav-Langenscheidt-Schule .
Works
-
Natural history of the Berliner. At the same time a stroll through old Berlin from 1739. For locals and foreigners. Langenscheidt'sche Verlags-Buchhandlung, Berlin 1878
- New edition with the title Who are the Berliners? Comino, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-945831-12-0
literature
- Walter Voigt: Langenscheidt, Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 587 f. ( Digitized version ).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Langenscheidt, Gustav |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German language teacher and bookseller |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1832 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 11, 1895 |
| Place of death | Berlin |