THE STUDY OF CHINESE.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 415, 28 April 1904, Page 8

THE STUDY OF CHINESE.

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Mr. Charles Never, United State* consular agent at Oera, in. ah official communication to the state department adTocatea the study of the Chinese language aa a means of extending American trade in the Chinese empire. says the Washington Star. "While China is considered the lend of pronv iee for our farmera and manufacturers," says he, "the importance of the knowledge of the Chinese language ii greatly undervalued. I submit the details of a recent interview with a li»guist who has given special attention to this subject. It ia well understood that in order to enter into permanent commercial relatione with a foreign country it is indispensable to know its language. When Ruseian industries began to develop the Germans recognised that ia order to engage in profitable trade in that country it was necessary to learn Russian, and there la now no country where the Bus dan language ia so much taught as in Germany.

"The Chinese language is ideographic It conreys the idea and not the word for the thing, aa the figure *B'repr reseat* the idea and not the word. The Chineae hare invented more than 40,000 marks for their writing. In the opinion of my informant it will require only about 3,000 marks form sroeh tils correspondence, and it will be easier to learn them than the word* ef an ordinary foreign language. "Busesan fa more difficult for American* than Chinese. It takf* raueh longer to learn the spoken laagnaf •, because of the variety of dfajeeteVbut eny one who can learn enough of the writfaje to anawer ordinary purpoaes ia a few months and here hia knowledge perfected by a linguist within about a year. An exeat instructive in one of the Chinee* languages can only be given by a Chinaman. "Thfa method baa been adopted in Germany. Besides the profeeeor for the theory of language, there ere four Chineae linguist* in the Oriental seminary of Berlin teaching the bneinees style and the language of "-Peking, Shanghai and Canton. It is not intended to it pupils for the diplomatic .serrfae, but for commercial work**- d