Page:The beginner's first book in the Chinese language.pdf/14

Rh Preface.

When the compiler of this work first arrived in China, he found no book sufficiently simple and at the same time so easy of access as to meet his first wants in the study of the Canton Dialect. Being obliged, therefore, to frame something which might meet the case, and being peculiarly aided in the attempt by an experienced colleague, he drew up the following pages. They are now presented to the public with the sincere hope that they will aid the beginner in his first steps to acquire the language.

Children, when learning their mother tongue, are first taught words, or the simple names of objects&mdash;sentences or phrases being wholly subsequent in order. So, in the compilation of this work it was judged more pleasant for the student, and certainly more philosophical, to lead him to acquire the knowledge of words, it being supposed that sentences will very soon and indeed almost spontaneously follow. By a reference to the table of Contents it will be seen that, commencing at one of the most important subjects&mdash;that of number&mdash;the work proceeds to give a Vocabulary of time, occupations, and the personal necessaries of life. The beginner being thus in possession of the names of the more immediately useful objects, is introduced in somewhat of a grammatical order to a knowledge of those words which are in daily use in ordinary conversation. It must not be understood by the allusion to grammatical order that the compiler implies any thing else than that, for the convenience of the learner, the English words are arranged somewhat grammatically as they stand in the English language.

After the words, there follow a few pages of phrases adapted to the housekeeper or the merchant: they may serve as examples by which to model such sentences as the beginner may wish to express.

An attempt has been made to meet the wants of the Physician as well as of the Missionary on the same principle. Each is primarily led into the knowledge of the names of the simple objects or ideas ordinarily employed in their respective professions, after which a few