In teaching a course on the history of the German language, it is preferable to use the linguistic approach, which deals with the structure of language and those linguistic events which characterize the development of contemporary German from Proto-Indo-European, rather than the cultural approach, with emphasis on extralinguistic data. The main arguments in favor of this viewpoint are: (1) in most German major or graduate programs the students will have little other opportunity to experience a linguistics course and should therefore be given as heavy a dose of linguistics as possible; and (2) the cultural aspects of the history of German can be picked up much more easily by the students as an adjunct to their other classes, or on their own. Such language history courses should also give attention to contrasting German and English. The students taking such courses will be mostly Americans who plan to teach German in America. Knowledge of the historical bases for irregularities in German and of the main linguistic features which distinguish it from English should make language teaching easier for them. Many examples are given from phonology and some from grammar where such knowledge would be useful in explaining language phenomena. (Author/TL)