The Penn's Grove record., 1893-04-21
niNss ENGLISH.
Bone MISTAKES That Are nsds By Wstser'
OF DfaIecs Stories

OF DtateOt storiSh
1t is well known that the Cnihese
eannoaanaster the sound OF the iettef
"r," but this has proved the rock on
which many protested writer's oil tho
Chinese dialect has come TO GRIEF.
They do recognize the fact that WINE
| John Chinarian cannot make the 'r
sound he Is fertile in expedients 10
avoid 1t. Two illustrations Will snow
how easy 1t Is to blunder on luis
point. In an early edition of n OF
Bret Harte's storles-altered We De-
lieve in later editlons-he make a
Chinese servant call himself can H.
which is a manifest im~possibility.
His name would certainly have been
"Ah Ii" for the initial "R' would
not only come trippingly from ms
tongue, but not at all. But In the
same or another story he makes u
Chinaman call his employer me
Fostel," his name being Foster. Now,
no "Chinese person." to quote the re-
striction act, would ever say ''Fostel' y
He would soften the last syllable OF
the name and call it "FOstah,' Just
as the name 'Porter" In his mouth
would become ''Potah," very ike tne
negro pronunciation Of the same
word.
The authoress of "a Summer In a
Canon" has given a very good exam'
pie Of the difficulties Of the Chinese
with the letter ''r.n She makes n
Of heroines, q mischevious girl, select
q reading lesson for the Chinese COOK,
who wants to learn English. The
lesson Is made up OF such sentences as
"The grass is green" "The rose Is
red," and the like. OF course, they
became In Hop Sings mouth ''The
glass Is gleen," 1.-THE lose Is led" and
so on. The whole scene is q excellent
study In broken China, saws the San
Francisco Chronicle, and Is COM
mended to ambitious Eastern writer's
who want to try their hands at En-
glish as she is spoken by the Chinese
In California.
The letter ~" Is another which
presents difficulties to John, which,
however, he usually resolves by max
ing 1t into ''ch." 1t may be slightly
exaggerated to say that Chinese schol.
ars In Sunday-school know the author
and founder OF the Christian faith as
s'Chee City," but it Is not very far out
Of the way. An American OF this
city, an Interpreter Of the Chinese
language, whose given name Is ''Jer"
ome," Is usually known among the
Chinese as 'Chee Loam." they, per-
! haps, imagining that that Is all the
name that belongs TO him.
1t should be noted, too, that the
Chinese In California do not use the
lingua franca called pigeon En-
,glish," which Is employed in China.
Such an expression as my b'long
topside," meaning II live higher up"
is never heard here. The Chinese in
this State try to talk English, and
some of them succeed fairly well, al
though the '.r" and j" are too much
,or them.
This is not an attempt at an eN.
haustiye study Of Chinese English,
but rather a note Of warning to am
bilious dialect from books. II they
will but bear In mind that III" does
not become "a" unless 1t carries the
genuine ST" sound, and that such a
word, for example, as "Berkley" is
not "Be.kley" in the Chinese tongue,
but something nearly resem-
bling "Bahkley." they will be saved
from blunders which make their
sketches and stories rather ludicrous
than humorous to those who are &C
customed to the dialect