Daily national Democrat., 1861-03-30
1ailp slatlonal Qrmutrat
Singular Language.

w translate, says an oAch""S0' '"e iOiiO"
;no interesting notice of the Chinese lam
ouare from French newspaper:
The inhabitante of the different parts of
che Chinese Empire, although speaking the
same language, do not understand one an
othar or understand each other with diff
ouItv The first obstacle consists in the enor-
.,,ons number of words of which the Chinese
dictionary is composed; the second is the
nluralitv of dialects used in the different
iporovinces These dialects are so diverse in
pronunciation, that the Chinese themselves,
IN neighboring provinces, are obliged, in or
der to comprehend each other, to translate
,boir thoughts in writing upon the tablets
'"I .nI,;ob tbey always carry with them,a or to
Jes;onate the meaning by sounds, like deaf
Tho literary language, or that of the Man
a,r;us. spoken very purely by the people Of
p'I,;nl Is the only one which is understood
-, ,,a1sons of the best class of society through
~ r,he Chinese Empire; but this class, it
U "st he remembered, is very small, compared
60 tbe enormous population of the Celestial
Tn'nire " the Chinese language is, therefore,
,,nderstood by v cry few individuals; and yet,
% understand it well, the savans consecrate
their whole lives to the study.
The Mantchou language, once spoken at
4be Court of Pekin, is now only dead Ian
guage, rapidly falling into disuse.
The Chinese dictionary contains nearly one
hundred thousand characters, of which each
ooe represents an idea; to express three
hundred thousand thoughts, the spoken Ian
guare has but four hundred monosylables at
its disposition, which infinitely modified by
different ntonations of voice, suffice to an
.ounce a great number of things.
Ic A. Chinese differs essentially
from the European tongues, SO does the writ
Zen language recall, in no respect, the con-
yentional manuscript of Europe. Composed
only Of words which represent ideas. the
writing of the Chinese is the representation
Of the ideas themselves it is composed of
symbolic figures, kind of Arabic cypher,
to which are added certain conventional signs
to connect them with each other.
The Chinese grammar divides the charac-
ters of the written tongue into six classes,
containing two thousand five hundred differ
ent figures, by the aid of which one is to
comprehend usual language
The first class is composed of COS figures,
representing ideas.
The second class of TAO compound figures,
expressing compound ideas.
The third class of 740 figures, expressing
the relation of position, and the nouns O
number
The fourth class of sos figures, already
understood, bvt written back wards to ex
press the contrary ideas.
The fifth class Of 372 compound figures of
simple compound ideas, expressing abstract
ideas
The sixth class of rs figures, expressing
ideas of different sounds.
The two thousand five hundred hieroglpyh
ic figures chosen from the hundred thousand
words of the Chinese dictionary, suffice for
the explanation and understanding of the
usual language. In order to render the study
more facle ther are chosen from the six
classes of the grammar Il certain quantity OF
the figures most used, to the number of tive
hundred and fourteen; these serve to facli-
tate the location Of the secondary figures,
which group themselves around the primary
idea, to complete it and render it tangible.
Certainly this system of writing seems b-
zarre. The great number of figures of which
i. is composed, excludes the idea of simph-
fication but it must be seen that it is not
destitute of logic since its principle is to rep
resent the idea 10y the figure of the idea it
self few months of earnest study sullices
to find the key of the language, and to make
oneself understood in all the provinces of the
empire where, nevertheless, people speak
different dialects
The spoken Chinese language is monosyi'
Sable, like all the Oriental languages each syl-
liable expressing an idea. In spite of the
considerable number of syllables, each word,
which Is pronounced very distinctly, with a
different inleXion of the voice, has another
Specification. But to avoid confusion of diff
frrent thoughts, Of which the diverse char
aeters are pronounced by the same syllable,
the Chinese are nearly always obliged to join
two synonyms to express one and the same
thing