THE STUDY OF CHINESE.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 26 May 1904, Page 6

THE STUDY OF CHINESE.

Agent la tl}* J^Tterects •£ .-*•' J American Trad*. 'V ; Mr» eontjlar agetrtaat-,GfTa:in an officir.l •onvmunication to the slate depaittnem> advocates the stur.y rf the Cl.i&e«elanguage as a mean; of extending American trade in the Chinese eropir.% s*ys*iihe Washington Star. "Whj!e China, is?COßsld%red-ifl«' land of promise fpr l dlir firmer*-and manufacturers," mys JSe, "the" irapect-ance of tfce of the Chine'sieJanguapc ?3 greatly undervalued. I submit the details H*f a recent irife'rrse .>* with a finfu:<hf«t)Dp ass. giwmi»j«cial»aU'«mion. to srti»jse>t>-Jfris we 3 troderstqi'd that in order to anter into perman•nt aommercial relations with a foreign cotrntry it is indispensable, to knotf its language. When RuE.&.ian industries began to develop the Germans recoynized that in order to engagejn profitable trade in. that country it was necessary to learn Russian, and there it now no country where the Russian language is so much taught as in Germany. . . .• - • "The Chinese language is ideographic. It conveys the idea and not the word for the thing, as the figure '6' represents the idea and not the word. The Ch'.nere have invented more than 40,-jte-3 mark* for their writing. In the 'opinion oi vaj informant it will require only about 3,000 marks for mercantile correspondence, and it will be easier lo learn them than the words of as ordinary foreign language. "Russian: is more difficult for Americans thin Chinese. It takes much longer to barn-the spoken language, bee's r?e <;f tbe..Tarieiy of,dialect?; hut »ny one who can learn enough of the writings to, answer/jrdinary purpose* in a 4,<rw oyinths an<| have his knowP-•djrej-.jw&rf-ected by a• linguist within •bout a year. An exact instruction in one ut tb* Chinese languages can only fee n*v»n by-a Chinaman* -j : • "This method hat been adopted in Germany. Besides the professor for the theory of language, ijjere are four Chtn*-«* linguists in the Oriental seminary of Berlin teaching th« business style and the laneuage of Feking, nnd Canton. It is noting endad to fit pupils diplomatic terries, but for oomme- -ii work." i #