Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-01-21
Chinese Pronunciation Of English.

IT is one of The most curious things to
observe how foreigners pronounce and
syntactically treat our language. Though
it is very easy to discover that there are
differences in pronunciation, it requires at
least some learning and some observation
to find out the exact points of diversity
and their causes, The Chinese, for in
dollars" 1" "fo-te," for forty" "twa. ;"
for q twenty; u. {" hun tab, I" for hundred"
They speak in manner as if they swal-
lowed something between every two syl-
lables, and even those among them who
speak English the best can only be under
stood when the ear of the hearer Is some.
what accustomed to the peculiar manner
of their pronunciation. The uneducated
classes of Germans say "shimeiey" for
Chimney" They have not the sound
"ch," pronounced as "tsh," as in chimney
or chalk In their own language, and the
two consonants "mn"f las In damn,
chimney, omnis Sonan,ts,) do not occur
in the German in words which are
often used by uneducated people. They,
therefore, pronounce the word "chim.
ney '1as near as they can come to 1T
by their own German sounds, without
much troubling themselves whether they
do il correctly or not; whilst any clss
sically educated German very soon pro-
nounces the word correctly, because he
has found the two consonsnts "mR" in
many Latin and French words. Just 30
will every American, who does not under
stand German correctly imitate the Ger
man RIT konnt 'rGus, correct high Ger
man, NIGHTS kOnsnat herdUs), by saying Nir
kOmm rduS, leaving out the Is" in
" "komnlt," because In English the two con-
N 70 N9y1fb oal nF -
the end of a word. In similar manner
the peculiarities of the Chinese language
appear in their pronunciation and self
made syntax of the English. Before every
other, the Chinese is q monoeyllable
language, having no phonetic alphabet at
all. Every Chinese character is word
II has both sound and meaning. II is un-
fitted, therefore, for the adequate repre-
sentation of foreign words. In modern
times the Chinese have invented some
new characters, by which they indicate
the names Of Lord Paimerston, and
some of the foreign sovereigns
with whom they have been in COM
munication. They, moreover, have tnot
such common sounds as those of Q, r, b, d,
in their language, and the short a never
occurs in any of their words. In pro-
Iounoing a polysyllable, therefore, they
first separate IL into monosylables, and
leave hiatus, as It were, between every
two syllables. 1t is precisely, as we have
said, as if they swallowed something be-
tween every two syllables, If an English
word contains one of the letters which
they do have, or if two eOnsonants follow
each other in English words, such as sell
dom follow each other in Chinese, they
try to translate these, sounds by such
oOnuha Of hair Oxrt1 Ia ,, o,t1o mn .oo,.
them to come nearest to the foreign
sound. This they also did in translating
the Holy Scriptures of tho Buddhists.
Theys for instance, translated the name
"Buddha" into "Fo-to," and afterwards,
abbreviated it in the -monosyllable FO,
which now means "the Enlightened" or
"Buddha." 4 Tins was the nearest they
could comein writing the name Buddha.
The "b" they n had not nor had
they any consonants TO rtpresent
the "ddh." In the same manner they
wrote the , Sanscrit word "Anadansh
(paFables) "Po-to,n and they write "a Ho.
kia-lo" for the Sanscrit word "Vyakar-
anza," which means" sermon" 1t re-
quired twenty years of uninterrupted
study for man OF the learning oi NJ.
Stanislaus Julien tofind the method of
deeiphering1 the Chinese Translation OF
banScrlt names.
During the few hours stay OF the Chi
hese who have just passed through this
city, there was, of course, little time for |
the study of the characteristicB Of their
PRONUNCIATION of English in al its fea-
lures. But the remarks we have made
may seryeas 70 key 70 those VINO Ake an
interest in the process of the unidcation
OF Languages, and In the transformaffo
which our own must undergo In the minds
and on the tongues of the Chinese. Those
who may recollect other English words
spoken by them, will in our remarks nDd
at least Some Of the, causes for, their .pe- |
cullaf pronupclation.-&. Louis RepuNi. |
can, .OaG 4 sEfTI1lW .TsaT
stsg f-Ty-,W ~ - -r.l
AT funeral in a Brooklyn church, the
other day, six ladies had their pockets
picked. One of the victims was robbed