Page:Easy sentences in the Hakka dialect.pdf/16

 "Ow is to be pronounced throughout as in how; never as in low which would be expressed by lo.

"Ch must be pronounced as in church.

"All other vowels and consonants, separate or combined, to be pronounced strictly according to the requirements of the English Alphabet."

Letters appearing in brackets are not to be pronounced. The word is to be sounded as if that letter were dropped out.

Each word must be pronounced distinctly in Chinese, and in the exact tone in which the Chinese say it.

No breaks in the voice should be made between the words joined by hyphens, or at the best but little,—the pauses of the voice being made between those which are not joined thus. This pamphlet, of course, has no intention of doing away with a living instructor; for if it is of importance in the acquisition of French, German, Italian, and the other European languages, that one, who desires to have a correct pronunciation, should learn from the living voice, much more is it absurd to suppose that one can learn Chinese simply from books. And unskilled as the Chinese are in the art of imparting a knowledge of their own language to Foreigners, it is almost a sine qua non that the learner should have certain lines on which to work with his teacher, else the scholar has "a potentiality," to use one of Dr. Johnson's big words, of acquiring knowledge in the person of the teacher, but without a phrase book, or other help, it cannot be utilised. In other words, a Chinese sen sahng is like a deep well of water, and the student has to weary himself out with the labour of drawing out the knowledge, from a well of Chinese undefiled. The learner will therefore find it necessary to check his pronunciation by some Chinese, and he must not be surprised to find that many Hakkas pronounce many of the words in this book differently to the spelling given here, nor are the tones, in which each word is uttered, the same in different parts of the country; for, unfortunately, the wave of confusion which swept from the tower of Babel seems to be still dashing and roaring with all its pristine force in Eastern Asia. It is said there are as many different dialects, sub-dialects and local patois in China as there are days in the year. Be this as it may, there is a sufficient number to add to the difficulties of the acquisition of any dialect.