The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-18
IT IS A HARD STUDY
ONE of the Diff ulties in Learning
to Speak Chinese.
A SERMON IN THAT TONGUE
Months of Constant Drill Required
Before the Vocal Organs Get Ac-
customed to hose Uncouth
Sounds Queer Habits.
From the Northwestern Christian Ad.
NOcate.

saying the Chinese language was al
invention of the devil to keep the mis-
sionarfes out of China. The words may
be apocryphal. but they exactly ex
press the feelings of every student o.
/ Chinese, at least for the first six
months of study. Chinese is the old
est spoken language; il contains NOR,
/ symbols OF expression than any other
and is unquestionably the most diff.
cult for foreigner to acquire. Their
standard dictionary, the work of the
Emperor Kang Hi, contains "A, 700 diff
ferent characters, and IL is said that
among the old debris OF the Language
there are at least $4,000 more 1t Is
consoling to the missionary to be in
formed that the great mass of them
are archaic and obsolete forms. and II
he is able to master only 1000 OF these
characters he will have a fair working
knowledge OF the Chinese language.
Everyday knows that a Chinese
books begins where our books end. and
that 1T is read in perpendicular col
umns from top to bottom and from
right to left of the page. On opening
his book the student sees a mass OF
hieroglyphics, with no clue whatever
TO their pronunciation, sound or tone.
In their simple primitive form they
were rude pictures of objects. Man is
IL L, uOT1Ent
stroke and two legs. a mountain by
three peaks, a tree by strokes repre-
senting branches, trunk and roots, a
forest by two trees. a field by a square
divided into four parts. the sun by a
circle and dot in the center, a door by
picture of a double gate. and 50 on
Little by little the ideographs become
more complex. An arrow piercing a
target becomes the symbol for the
mi IWn~A n.
the center aptly signify union A
mouth in door means to ask. An ear
at door means to listen. A woman
with broom expresses the Chinese
idea OF wife. One woman under one
roof means peace, two women under
one roof means a quarrel, while one
woman between two men. as can cas-
lily be guessed, is a symbol for an
ger.
These are a few Illustrations Of the
more simple characters. The great
mass are vastly more complex and
their parts so abbreviated and en-
tangled that ii is almost impossible
at this day to trace their derivation.
Thus Ii will be seen that I'm Chinese
we have no alphabet, no infections,
no conjugations. and no distinction of
mood, gender, tense or person. Stand
ing alone and divorced from it's con-
text. the student cannot tell whether n
single character is a noun or a verb
He turns to his dictionary and is often
bewildered by score of diverse mean
ings that have gathered around the
word during 5000 years of service in
Chinese literature. 1t is worthy of re-
mark that a Chinaman living i'm Cam
ton will pronounce these characters al
together different to the Chinaman, for
instance. in Foo Chow; yet the mean
ing of the characters and construction
Of sentences is the same all over China.
The spoken language differs according
to the locality. and yet a Chinese
scholar will sit down and write poetry
and prose compositions in a classical
style that are ineligible to every edu-
Gated man in China, Corea and Japan.
have often seen two Cinnamon who
could not understand a word OF each
others speech sitting down and hold
ing a conversation in writing much as
The monks OF different European coun-
tries used to correspond with each 9TH
sr in Latin. In England we write very
much as we speak. The Chinese spok-
N and written language, on the other
land, differs as much as modern Greek
rom the Greek of Homer. Few for
signers are able to write Chinese with
he elegance of the native scholar
Some cannot read even a single char
lcter. and yet are able to speak a To-
al dialect with as much fiuency ard
Is perfect idiom as a Chinaman.
The great difficulty In acquiring the
spoken language is in the tones, the
nter-syllabic aspirates and the utter
awlessness of its idiom There are /
My about 200 distinct sounds IN the I
language. and a few months practice /
viii easily master their pronunciation, I
tut 1t must be remembered that to /
ach of these sounds there Is attached
sort of metrical scale ranging from
IN octave to an octave and a half
irving a variety of tones watch only a
musical ear can detect. In Cantonese
here are from eight to twelve of these
ones, and some microphonic ears have 4
ven detected as many as l6 In
English a tone may denote anger. sur
rise or inquiry. but does not alter the
meaning Of the word. In Chinese the
one is all important. Take the sound
seung. This may mean grasshopper.
ar, elephant. mechanic or pickles. ac-
ofding to the tone. Put an aspirato
nto the middle Of the word and IL may
nean examine, good luck. wall. spear
r gun and a variety of other mean
ngs, depending on the tone given. A
nan is a man only when the correct
one is given. Change the tone and
nan becomes a nightingale, a carrot.
M many other ridiculous things. No
Tritten signs ever invented can enable
he student TO acquire by himself these
ocular jerks and twists so essential
D correct speech. They can only be ac-
uired by ear from a good teacher. II
equires constant drill for many
lonths before the vocal organs get
10 these uncouth sounds
he beginner often makes the most
ldicrOus mistakes. l had been study
X few weeks with my teacher and
as advised TO go among the Chinese
nd try my linguistic powers. / met
hinese plOughman. evidently return
IL home. and ventured 10 remark:
Nee fan hue kwai" I intended 20
~. Il suppose you are going home"
~ pronunciation and idiom were all
GIT, but / had given wrong tone TO
he last word. The effect was disap-
ointing. The man did not receive my