Page:First lessons in Chinese (1871).djvu/9



Those who have attempted to acquire a working knowledge of any of the spoken dialects of China by picking up isolated words from a vocabulary or dictionary, (like picking pebbles from the sea shore), know full well the necessity of a beginner's book; one that is practical, and yet so simple that the learner will be encouraged, by being able to use his acquirements from the first lesson.

The design of the author of this manual is to supply, to some extent, this long-felt want; and he is confident that any one who will take the trouble to master these lessons (the work of only a few months), will be in possession of the key to the spoken language, not only of this district, but, with a slight change in the sound of some words (which can be easily acquired), of other districts also; for the general structure of the language (barring a few localisms), is the same everywhere.

An attempt has also been made to render the work available to the Chinese who wish to learn English. Under each word will be found Chinese characters representing, as nearly as practicable, the sound of the English word. Of course, it is far from a perfect representation; but it will be of service to the Chinese who are trying to learn English. They will find the meaning of words and sentences by looking to the right on the same line, where the English sentence is rendered into Chinese for the benefit of foreigners. The importance of a thorough knowledge of the classifiers cannot be too strongly urged; for it is impossible to speak of any visible object without using one of them, and it is important to a clear understanding of the matter under consideration, that the correct classifier be used.

A careful study of the inflected verbs will save months, if not years, of perplexing uncertainty; for the same forms will be found applicable to most other verbs.

— The system of orthography adopted in these lessons is that which seems best adapted to meet the wants of a beginner. No combination of English letters has yet been devised that will express all the Chinese sounds; not even when recourse has been had to an elaborate system of diacritical marks; and as these usually confuse and discourage, but few are used in this manual. A final, and ä in composition, are sounded as a in far; as, 賣 ma, to buy; 買 ma꜄ , to sell; 麥 mäh wheat; and 浜 päng, a creek.

Ă short, as in hat; as, 殺 săh, to kill; 三 săn, three.

Long a is expressed by the French é, as, 來 lé, to come; 煤 mé, coals.