 Idiomatic translation and mother tongue mirroring combined provide immediate access to a complete meaning of foreign language constructions, often making further explanations superfluous.By contrast, the currently accepted approach seems to see the mother tongue as an intruder only, and a persistent temptation for pupils and (tired) teachers to fall back on, more of a hindrance than a help.The advice commonly given is to use it as little as possible, as a last resort in meaning-conveyance or for grammatical explanations (which themselves must be kept to a minimum).