Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-08-18
LEARNING CHINESE
1t Is Task Which Few Have Ever
Been Able ia Accomplish.

The Oldest spoken language now ex-
istent upon the earth is the Chinese.
II has an enormous list OF wo.ds-.he
estimate OF the number of characters
ranging from $4,000 10 100000 The
language has nc alphabet. Each char
acter represents a complete idea and
corresponds practically TO the English
wCrd II is written in columns from
top 20 bottom OF the page and from
right % left 4 Chinese book ends
where IN English book bsg,ns. W.T.
ing IS done with a fine c2msrs hair
brush and india ink
The lnck CT an alphabet and the
number of characters make the labor
Of learning 10 read Chinese burden
some Each character must be learn
ed by itself When the student has
mastered 5000 characters the succeed
.4g thousands must be le9rle / in the
-ame way. Those Which h has mas
tered furnish no assistance TO learning
the others, save IS practice may have
gwen him Z certain quicA2ess n per
ceiving the peculiar form which dis
ti1gr.shes zach character from its
fellows
The grammar of the language IS 50
simple as 10 BE- almost non-exizIent
The same word serves iadiferentIy as
j noun, verb, adverb or adjective
Moods, tenses, pessC1. gender and
number are lacking; there are neither
co1jugatIcEs nor declensi0as nor aux
fEary verbs. The few Chinese who
hive attempted to master. the English
tongue regard its grammatical coz
~'ructio1 IS clumsy and full Of pitfalls
r.E,,,-
tc the pronunciation, and No amour.
of book study viii enable a foreigner
to speak the language That ability
must be acquired from the Fps of liv-
ing teacher. assisted by months Of
drill, quick ca md great fiexibil.ty
g the vocal organs. Even Ehs NEST
faithful efforts fail to enable many
foTCi-g-5rs 10 speak Chinese correctly.
CHESTER Holc0mbe f3r many years
interprete4 to the United States lega-
Iicn at Pekil. from whose Interesting
book, TIE Reas Ch-lam2n we have
copied, relates several Gnecdotes illus
trative Of fore. g1e-'s almost newt
able bluaders in speaking Chinese.
Nj. Holcombe once heard a vener-
able missionary address the Deity in
prayer, before a crowded Chinese sud-
e1ce, as 20. thou omnivosous God
He meant 10 say OmliScient" bat used
an aspir2ted in-Ised of an unaspirated
en- Another missionary saw WITH
the audience hurriedIy
leave his chapel, in response to what
be thought was IN Invitation from his
lips to be seated. An aspirated It
had turned the supposed speech Of
welcome into tbs Information that
they had made { mistake n enter. ng
the chapel
In Chinese the tone ia which a word
5 spoken determines its meaning as
much rs the Sould does. For IN
stance, in Chinese 3 man ceases TO be
man If you change The tone of the
roice in uttering the word. and may
disease. d nightingale or a
7a-roc- Cle tone, ard only one. ex-
presses man. There are four OF these
ones n Standard o. mandarin dialect /
"a high cuTving infection and a fail |
ng infection.
The sound man" if uttered in the !
lTst '-one means "bIazeR-f-ced, . IN the /
.acond tone TO hide, il the third full |
nd n ths fourth slow. These four |
ores are tEs occasions OF absurd I
,lunders
e1ce that the Savior, when on earth. /
weLr about eating cake" He intend /
d 10 say healing the sick but an |
sT'Iute wrongly placed changed thu /
lea.ing into eating, while an error il /
che made cal.ss cut Of tie sick-
On one Ccca=-on MI Holcombe'S /
ook was told % buy 100 ladies in /
,a-s" for AZ evening party Two /
lours LATER hs entered the court yard I
f tbs American Legation. riding upon |
he Shaft Ct a Chi-sse cart AID re- +
'crtad that he lid been able &c buy IN /
II Pellia only sixty-four ladies fin-
'eIs-" Why Cd you hire a cart9.
le was asked. To bring them home
they weigh i've or six pounds sach'
Instead Of tiny strips Of sponge cake.
c be served with ice cream. he had
icrgat six.y-four fresh OK tongues. 3
V-cng tone Ct his masters voice had
enc the n:sch.ef.-You,h's C0mra2-
Oh.