The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-30
TEACHING cH1vEsE By MACHINE.

..
TEACHING CHINESE BIZ MIGHT'VE.
Instructor II in San Francisco and PupilI
Arc in Philadelphia.
SAN Francisco. Oct. 1o.-The Chinese Ian.
Euage is about to be taught by machine, A
successful start has bcen made. and between
the teacher and the taught intcrvenes The full
width OF the North American Continent. The
teacher is In San Francisco. the pupils IRE In
Philadelphia. The Chinese words and the OK
plantations necessary arc spoken into the graph
ophone by the Rev. John L. Gardner, formerly
n missionary. but for some years Interpreter OF
Chinese at the Cuatom House In San Francisco.
The leader OF the class in Philadelphia is the
Rev. Mr.. Poole. who ia concerned in missionary
work there. The maxims Of Confucius, the
remarkable literary production known as the
Poem of One Thousand Characters" and.
generally speaking, the Chinese classics OF the
many centuries OF Chinas existence. are used
In the teaching.
DIR. Gardner is not over 80 years old. In q
interview yesterday he said:
Il am teaching the Cantonese dialect, which
is the commercial dialect OF China. 1t is spoken
by 10000 900 Chinese in the great province
OF canton. 1t is the dialect employed by the
Chinese commercial colonies of the world, in
the Philippines at Shanghai. at Tientsin. In the
West Indies. in Central and South America,
In the Hawaiian Islands: in short. 1t is
the commercial Chinese language OF the
word. The Regents OF the University of
ago. foreseeins that the eommerciai res
lations OF the United States with China are
they tSeS" have been IN the past, to teach a class Of
university students. Recently the work has
been extended. and a university extension
course has been added, the new class meeting
in the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. which is
connected with the university. Some knowl-
alton. Of the. increasing value of China com
mereially to this country, may have led up to
established in Philadelphia.
"The Cantonese dialectis spoken BY, all the
t Gbhin cesn ,annq f6yS cans ana an ana 9t9 dlp,o Gn1asse of IN
GERS and students probably being the only eX-
e%eptions. The Mandarin dialect has been
and elsewhere. This is called, the Mandarin
China. and is spoken by the official and learned
cla IS: 1t Il; however, spoken a AZ by the people
not the mercantile classes.
Several mouths ago Er: Arthur Rodgers. one
s 81 sss EfsfSn advo oe sas G t6e estabIis 81 Ge1ltS oftRs
College of Commerce In connection with the
university. the purpose OF which Is principally
foreign countries, Soon, after the college had
teach the students in Cantonese or commercial
Chinese. The Collector Of the Port kindly
q the university. several times a week.
Young men and women BECAME willing
H %Sr a TitS s students bH Of cap %ISsnsa T phe
commercial horizon ,appreciably, the existing
situation has inspired lawyers, merchants, and
tonese. Representations to this effect having
been made to the Regents of the university. a
busy professional and business persons are
G GoT,o% d6eSysoting their their ,s sy tSam th to tbs The i, study = Of
they viii be sufficiently we'll eTuipped to carry
on business. independently of an interpreter,
'Of course it is common knowledge that all
to read and, write Chinese win be able to com
dreds Of millions Of CHINESE sci in "a" ali G par ra1 OF Pf the
ancient kingdomi The Chinese language is
$500 characters in II, These are separable
toiled during a period OF years preparing a new
Chinese Dictionary; have pursued his plan in
ished at the TIM u Of his death when was uhnn-
na ahese fnSid has leu | tn ns s9@e rWan1ts udPeHx a3 Sssd
into phonetics and have prepared a chart. Or
posite the Chinese characters I have set down
represented by the phonetics. That this is
entirely feasible and practical has been demon
is to have some person who knows nothing Of
the Chinese language utter the English sounds
ff eTm Sc I 6ns by the &C Chinese I GSiI phoneties in the
knows nothing. OF English. and to receive a
correct answer from the Chinese person. The
ph99netics have successfully passed thai test"
prefer in the Chinese bureau of the Custom |
House. The. greater Part OF his day is passed
In this work. Two afternoons each week,
leaving the city after his duties in the Custom
House are over, he. goes to the University of
California, in Berkeley, to teach a class in Can
tonese.. Three evenings each week he teaches
the university extension class In the Mark
HOPKINS Institute of Art. under the direction
OF the Regents Of the university. The re-
mainder of his time is devoted to missionary
work among the Chinese and to the writing Of
his history Of, China, to which many years
have already been devoted. and to the novel
experiment of teaching the people Of Phil |
adelphia to, speak Cantonese through the
agency OF the graphophone. He agreed to
do the work for the State University class
when the College Of Commerce was new, there
were no funds available. Since then Miss Jen-
ME Flood has donated to the university property
valued at between two and three millions Of
dollars. the income of which will be devoted
especially to the needs of the College of Com
foundation. The Regents believe that this Is
the first institution OF learning to teach. Can
tonese. incidentally they expect that this will
attract students.