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Show LA^K C va \ \ © €\ LA 'i * ^ C VA A V ^ V O ^ ¿ y-\ o - ^ " > ^ v ^ y ^ "H ev i l | e A There is an idea generally prevalent that only the genius { ^\ ¿LiüL with a lifetime of leisure can afford to devoto himseif to ^ the study of the Chínese language. Tt is, however, a matter of experience that while the Written Style is un-doubtedly the most difñcult study in the world-so diífkult, indeed, that no European has so far succeeded in producing a composition therein which could earn the approbation of a native-yet the Colloquial Styie may he learned by any one with ordinary acumen and perseverance in the same period that one devotes to the study of the elementary Latin, Greek, or French Classics. Naturally, the genius of this tongue being totally differcnt from that of English, many students invest their task with exaggerated difñculties and with bogies of ail descriptions. At the outset the peculiar script used scares the would-be sinologue. The seemingly-endless iists of characters with the same sound and tone--the utter dissimilarity of Chinese, by virtue of which it stands in a class by itself from among all other languages, the peculiar rhythmic stress of each sentence as it slips from the tongue of a Celestial, the absolute precisión of utterance demanded in order that one should be understood, all seem to be insur-mountable obstacles in the path of the beginner. Let him, however, take comfort from this fact ; that many men of ordinary ability who found it impossible to acquire even the slightest knowledge of the written tongue have been fluent speakers of the colloquial. The object of this work is to crystallise the writer's teaching experience toward the end that the acquisition of Chinese Colloquial may lose many of its terrors. In its preparation, use lias been made of the foliowing works :- TzuErhCki. Sir T. Wade. Student's Four Thousand Tzu. Gratnm. d. 1. Langue Chin, Paul W. E. Soothill. Perny (Tome premier, Langue Mandarín Lessons. Mateer. Órale). Tke Chineíe Language and How to Learn It. Sir W. Hillier. Eng -Chin. Dict. of Peking CrJlojUtal. Sir W. Hillier. Chin.-Eng. Dict. Prof. H. A. Giles. i ¡ •V Script. Sin. M F. Systema Phon Callery. La Lingua Ciñese Paríala. Magnasco. Chinesische Grar.imatik. Seidel. Notitia Ling. Sinicae. Le Pere Premare. PREFACE Cuide d. 1. Conversa. Franc- Syntaxe Nouv. d. 1. Langue Angl.-Chin. Le Pére Couv- Chinoise. Startislas Julien. reur, S.J. Colloquial }apáñese. Dr. W. Pocket Chin.-Eng. Dic. C. Goodrich. M. McGovern. The written character is undersitood throughout the eighteen provinces and in other parts of the Chinese Empire beyond such well-defined limits. There are, however, many colloquial variations, differing so widely from each other that it is no exaggeration to proclaim tiiem distinct languages. A Northener, attempting to make himseif understood purely by means of the Colloquial among Southern Chinese, would encounter the samo difficulty as a Briton, knowing nothing but Iris mother-tongue, in the heart of Russia. This fact notwithstanding, Pekingese, or rather the tongue erroneously but general:y known as Mandarín, is the lingua franca of the whole of the Northern provinces, and with but slight variations, of those of Mid-China. The substitution of " K " for initial " CH," and " TS," for initial " CH," are indications of the change which takes place. It is for this reason that the dialect of the North is that generally taught, as its sphere of utility is much lárger than that of any other of the Indo-Chinese languages. I have to express my gratitude to my colleague, Dr. W. Montgomery McGovern, for permission to use some of the vocabularies in his Colloquial Japanese as a framework for several similar word-lists in the following pages, and my very best thanks are due to the Director of the School of Oriental Studies, Sir E. Denison Ross, for valued sug-gestions made during the preparation of the work. Very specialiy have I to thank the Rev. Hopkyn Rees, D.D., Reader in Chinese in the University of London, for the very valuable and expert help he has given me. On the eve of my departure for China, I had the load of prooí-reading liíted from my shoulders by reason of his generosity. He has helped in other directions also, these latter too numerous to mention. A. NEVILLE J. WHYMANT. School of Oriental Studies, {London Institiition), University of London. |