England, Eastbourne, 22 August 1883 
4 Cavendish Place 

Dear Citizen, 

Please excuse my delay in replying to your letter of 25/6 and your 
postcard of 30/7.°”7 The need to finish in a short time the text of the 
3rd German edition of Capital* forced me to suspend all correspond- 
ence. 

I do not know much about Ahn’s method, and the dictionary you 
mention is entirely unknown to me. In order to learn a language the 
method I have always followed is this: I do not bother with grammar 
(except for declensions and conjugations, and pronouns) and I read, 
with a dictionary, the most difficult classical author I can find. Thus 
I began Italian with Dante, Petrarch and Ariosto, Spanish with 
Cervantes and Calderon, Russian with Pushkin. Then I read newspa- 
pers, etc. For German, I think the first part of Goethe’s Faust might 
be suitable; it is written, for the most part, in a popular style, and the 
things which would seem difficult to you would also be difficult, with- 
out a commentary, for a German reader. 

* the first volume 

For the works of Marx, etc., you could approach the offices of the 
Sozialdemokrat, Hottingen-Zurich, Switzerland; it is the official organ 
of the German workers’ party. 

Thank you for the copies of the translation, which reached me in 
good condition, and also for kindly sending your photograph, in re- 
turn for which I enclose mine. 

Yours with regards, 
F. Engels 

The normal London address is fine; I am here at the seaside for 
a few weeks.