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奏

CANTONESE MADE EASY:

A BOOK OF SIMPLE SENTENCES IN THE CANTONESE DIALECT, WITH FREE AND LITERAL TRANSLATIONS, AND DIRECTIONS FOR THE RENDERING OF ENGLISH GRAM- MATICAL FORMS IN CHINESE. •

SECOND EDITION. REVISED AND ENLARGED.

By

J. DYER BALL, m.r.a.s" etc.,

OF HEB JtAJESXr'S CITIL SERVICE, HOXGKOXG.

Author of " Easy Sentences in the Eakka Dialect with a Vocabulary," " Easy Sentences in iJie Cantonese Dialect with a Foca&w^an/," " The Cantonese-made-Easy Foca&U" lary" and " An Engl}sh-Cantonese Pocket Vocdbidury without the Chinese J^haracters or Tonic Marks" dec.

university; HONGKONG:

PRINTED AT THE ' CHINA MAIL' OFFICE.

18 8 8.

[AUi EIGHTS RESERVED.]

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CONTENTS

PREFACES.

Preface to the First Edition, ，， Second Edition,

INTRODUCTION.

The Cantonese Dialect, . . . . The Correct Pronunciation of Pure Cantonese, The Tone?, • • • •

Methods of Describing Tones,

List of Tones, • •

Division of the Tones, . .

Description of the Tones, . .

Marks to Designate the Tones,

Tonic Exercises, • • A ，- and ？ fern-aspirated Words, Long and Short Vowels, . . Pronunciation, , • Syllabary, • • " "

LESSOiNS.

Abbreviations, . . . The Numerals, . . . Lesson I. 一 Domestic,

„ II. 一 General, .

，， III— ,, .

Page. IX

xriT

XV XVI EI XXII XXIII XXIV XXIV XXVIII XXXII XXXVIII XLII XLVI XLVII

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Page.

Lesson IV. ― General, .. .. ,. ..10

,， v.— ，， 12

，， VI. ― Relationships, ..*... . . • . . . . • . . 14

„ VII. ― Opposites, 16

，， VIII.— Monetary, .. .. 18

" IX. 一 Commercial, . . . . . • . . . . . . . . 20

，， X.— ，， 22

XL— Medical, - .. . . 24

，， XTI. 一 Ecclesiastical, . . . • • • . . . . . . . . 26

，， Xlir.— Nautical, 28

，， XIV.— Judicial, 30

，， XV.— Educational, 32

GRAMMAR.

Nouns, . . 36

Articles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Classifiers, &c., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Adjectives, . . . . . , . . . . . • . . , . . . . . 59

Numeral Adjectives, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Pronouns, , . , , . , . , , , • • • • • • • • . . 68

Adjective Pronouns, • , • • • • • • • • • • • • . . 73

Verbs, 77

Adverbs, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Prepositions, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Conjunctions, . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . , , 109

Interjections, •. .. •• •• •• •• . . Ill

Finals, •• . . . 112

Simple Directions, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Final Directions, .. ..118

APPENDIX.

Excursus 1. Chinese Grammar, •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 1

，， 2. Differences between the Book Language and Colloquial, . . 1

，， 3. Reasons why Europeans speak Cantonese poorlj, . . . . 3

INDEX.

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PREFACE. I

tfNIVERSI-"

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION,

This little book is meant to supply a want* The Author has heard a beginner in Chinese sadly lamenting the difficulty he had in the use of his phrase book to know what the Chinese words really meant. Before him and before many a learner there appear on the opened pages of his book sentences in English and sentences in Chinese. He reads the English and his Chinese teacher reads the Chinese over to him until he learns the sounds. By dint of memory he learns that a certain English sentence is expressed in Chinese by certain Chinese words, which he sup- poses are the equivalents of the English words ； but as soon as he commences to analyse the two sentences ― to place them side by side, he finds that there seems to be very little similarity between the two. The one often has more words by far than the other; there are no numbers, no moods, no tenses, or but halting ex- pedients to represent them, which are well nigh unintelligible to him ； and the use of his dictionary, at first, affords him but little assistance in his attempts to pick asunder the component parts of a Chinese sentence, for either he does not find the word that is given in his phrase book, or he is embarrassed by the multiplicity of renderings for one word.

ARRANGEMENT OF THIS BOOK.

In some of the first books in Cantonese and English by the veteran sinologists this difficulty was in a great measure met by a literal as well as a free translation being given of the Chinese. The Author has resuscitated this old plan and trusts it will be found of service. In some cases it will be found, however, that it has been well nigh impossible, on account of the idiomatic differences of the two languages, to give a perfectly intelligible and literal rendering of the Chinese ； for it sometimes happens, as George MacDonald well remarks, that ：一" It is often curious how a literal rendering, even when it gives quite the meaning, will not do, because of the different ranks of the two words in their respective languages," (Adela Cathcart, p. 34). Yet with the object of pointing out the connection of the different words

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and their respective places in the sentence, even a poor literal translation will assist the learner far better to grasp the construction of the sentence and the real meaning of the words than a free translation, which must necessarily often "be but a paraphrase of the Chinese.

When two or more English words represent one Chinese word the Author has in the literal translation connected them by a hyphen, and the same holds good of the Chinese and English. Any exceptions to this are so plain that there is no necessity to make any note of them.

The fault of most phrase books in Chinese is the multiplying Chinese words in a sentence ； especially do such books delight in a redundancy of particles ； one is almost sickened by a glance through some of the phrase books in use where (koko), 《ni ko\ ke)， and many other particles are brought in at any time and every time to the detriment of the learner's fluency in speaking. The consequence of this fault in that learners pile up the component parts of a sentence until the outcome is some- thing wonderful to hearken to, and more like a foreign language than good Chinese. The Chinese are fonder of expressing themselves in a terse and concise manner than most book-makers represent them as doing. Redundancy of words are cut out of good Chinese colloquial with, an unsparing hand : and it would be a good thing for a learner to lay it down as a general rule that if it is possible to express his meaning with few words he should do so ； for though to his own ear the addition of words may make the meaning plainer, it has probably a directly contrary effect on a Chinese ear*

Compare : ―

"N^i (lai to〉 ^ni sW k(ap〉 （p6i 《ko ko, (shU kwo) 'ugo (t'ai kin* (la,

There is often also no distinction made in phrase books between the colloquial and book language : immediately after a sentence which would be understood by

ears of his erudite teacher, he would find his talk utterly unintelligible to the mass of his hearers. In short a hotchpotch of anything and everything is thrown together, mixed and pure, Cantonese and provincialisms, and the result is a phrase book.

Many of the simplest and commonest forms of expression are entirely omitted even ia books of considerable size where want of space could be no excuse.

There is often also apparent in these books an evident attempt to put the English sentence which the compiler chooses into Chinese, ignoring often to a great extent

Lai (ni sbii》 （p 豸 i ko， （sM "ngo "t*ai ^li

any his

woman or child comes one so bookish that if the learner were to attempt to air newly-acquired knowledge, thus obtained, out of the range of his study or of the

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the simple fact that the idiom is essentially English ； and the result is a sentence composed of Chinese words which is either constructed on an English idiom wholly foreign to the genius of the language, or stilted in order to convey the whole meaning of the English sentence into Chinese ； or else the two sentences are not the counterparts of each other, and the learner is misled.

Knowing these defects, the Author has endeavoured to avoid them. It appeared to him that a compiler should endeavour above everything else to have his Chinese perfect and readable, or shun, as a Chinese would term it, and then, try his best to render the Chinese into English. Under such conditions there is more likelihood of getting good Chinese into our phrase books than when the opposite plan is tried.

Daily intercourse for nearly a quarter of a century with all classes of Chinese in their daily life, and years of daily contact with all grades of Chinese in the course of his official duties, where no attempts, or but few, are made to adapt them- selves to the foreign ear, have placed him, he believes, in an exceptionally &yourable position to hear and note the different idioms of good Cantonese. He has en- deavoured to embody a number of them in this book, which, if it meets with a £iTourabIe reception, might induce him to attempt something more pretentious on a future occasion.

Nothing, he hopes, will be found amongst the fifteen Lessons bat pure good colloquial ； and from the examples given in that part of the book, as well as in the part which follows, the learner will be able to frame other sentences.

In learning Cantonese, the learner should aim first at acquiring such common idioms and such words as to make himself understood by even the illiterate class, for then all classes will understand him. Starting in this manner he will lay a good solid foundation for his colloquial, which will stand him in good st«;ad all through his stay in China. After this foundatioa is laid lie can easily acquire the mixed colloquial, composed principally of what he has already learned, and partly of book terms ； and if he has previously pleased the illiterate ear, qualify himself to please the ikstidious ear of the scholar. Though there is no hard and fast line between these two forms of colloquial, as they merge more or less into each other, there is still a distinction. And the learner should keep this distinction in his mind and ask his teacher whether any new phrase he comes across is colloquial or not. Without this precaation he will find himself talking in a most ridiculous style, at one breath as it were using Johnsonian words and pure Englislu

In most, if not all, phrase books the tones seem to be a thing of secondary importance. If the compiler carefully gives the tones as he finds them in his dic- tionary he congratulates himself on at least stretching a point. As a general rule

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no attempt is ever made to give the tones as they are spoken, or when the attempt has been made the compiler has had so little idea of the frequency of difference between colloquial and book tones that his attempts to point one or two out have not been of the practical use that they might have been. It is one thing to read a book and utter all the tones correctly, but quite another thing to explain to a Chinese the contents of a few pages thereof, and if the speaker sticks to the same tones in speaking as in reading he will not find that all he says is understood. It is, the Author believes, an ignoring of this fact that often spoils foreigners' Chinese. The awkward thing about ignoring these tones in books for the use of those who wish to learn to speak Chinese is that the learner attempts to say the word in the tone that he sees it marked in his book or dictionary, the consequence being that he systematically mispronounces it; while if the tone were marked properly he would at least attempt to pronounce it properly.

The colloquial tones in this book are given instead of those used in the book language ； but an asterisk is placed at such words to show that the word has another tone as well.

It will be noticed that occasionally the tones of one word are different in differ- ent connections.

Learners may at once make up their minds to the belief that there are more tones in the Chinese than many of the old scholars will give credit for. The chung yap is introduced in this phrase book. The man who pretends to doubt its existence may as well confess at once that he knows nothing about differences in tones ； it was well known by one or two of the older sinologists in olden times, but was well-nigh forgotten until unearthed recently. There is more excuse for the scepticism that exists about some of the other tones, though there can be no doubt as to their existence. The Author would call attention to what has never been noticed yet in Cantonese as regards its systematic application to all the tones, and that is what for want of a better term he must call complimental tones. These tones are very distinctly marked in the Swatow dialect, where the latter of two words, the second of which is a repetition of the former, is put in a slightly higher or lower tone according to which series of tones the word occurs in. This, it would almost seem, also happens but to a very infinitesimal degree in Cantonese, though it occurs in conformity to the general rule which differentiates the tones in the Cantonese and Swatow respectively, that is to say that as a certain word in Swatow which is in the lower series of tones, when rendered in Can- tonese rises into the higher series, and vice vers&, so the complimental tone which in Swatow would be lower than the original tone in the Cantonese is higher than the original tone sound, and vice versa. This variation between

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the original and coraplimental tones in Cantonese is about the interval of half a tone in music.* Each tone of the nine can have this secondary tone. This of course will be considered a moot point at present, as even some Chines^ deny their existence. It would appear to be a law of Chinese pronunciation that when two words of identical sound follow each other, the latter of the two falls, or rises into a higher or lower complimental tone. And it is probably the same law or one nearly akin to it that gives rise to the formation of new words in different tones to dis- tinguish them from words of identical sound of which there are not a few in Can- tonese, such as 'ko and ko) &c.

Instead then of only eight tones in Cantonese it is the fact that there are a dozen well-defined tones at least, and possibly otli»*rs which are very indefinite and perhaps are only being formed at present. This however need not trouble the beginner. It is well that he should know at the same time that he must not attempt to fit every Chinese word into a sound corresponding to the eight, nine, or ten tones recognised by the dictionaries. Cantonese will not be confined in that way, and much of the poor pronunciation of Chinese by Europeans is on account of their persistent attempts to pronounce all Chinese words as if they must belong to one or other of the eight or nine tones their dictionaries tell them about. Get a good teacher, then copy him exactly no matter what your dictionary may say about the tone of the word; for it is important that the beginner, who wishes to do more than just run a chance of being partially understood, should pay particular attention to these important tones, though at the same time let him not run into the other extreme of hesitating before he utters a word to think what tone it should be in. If he can manage to get fluent in Chinese idioms, an occasional mistake in the tones is not of such vital importance, though to be deprecated.

GRAMMAB,

The Directions for rendering English Grammatical Forms and Idioms into Chinese and vice versa will, it is hoped, prove of service in enabling the beginner to form a conception of the mode in which English grammatical forms may he rendered in Chinese, a language which at first sight appears to be devoid of all grammar. The construction of the component parts and the building up of the sentence from its component phrases will also appear to a certain extent.

* Note to Second Edition. 一 It will be noted that the Author does not here refer to the CoHoqnial rising tone at all, though one of his critics so misunderstood and consequentljr proceeded, owing to the misunderstanding, to contradict tbe above statement.

XJNIVERSITT

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PREFACE.

The notes are not exhaustive, but it is hoped that they are of sufficient variety and length to give the learner such an idea of the construction of the colloquial, and of many of its idioms, as to enable him to avoid egregious errors.

diffidence one makes the attempt of laying down instructions, when hitherto the learner has generally had to bungle on as well as he could himself.

It is hoped, however, that the experience of one who has made the study of Chinese a life work will not prove useless to the beginner.

The study of Chinese is sufficiently difficult to make every little hint a desideratum.

FINAL PARTICLES.

The Final Particles are most useful little words, quite altering the whole force of the sentence when differently applied. These little particles at the end of a sentence are often put to a dreadful martyrdom in beginners' books. The student must not suppose that because they are so plentifully sprinkled over the pages of his book that he cannot close his mouth without enunciating one or two of them as he would punctuate each of his written sentences. They are in fact often left out with advantage ； but when left out to make up for their absence the voice lingers often on the last word in the sentence longer than it would otherwise do, and with a peculiar intonation and rising inflection.

Too little attention has been paid to them hitherto. Our dictionaries do not contain all that are in use. A list appears of as many as the compiler has been able to discover up to the present time with their tonal variations; but it is not at all improbable that there are more to be discovered. Nearly half of this list is not to be found in the dictionaries. If the finals used in the different dialects and sub- dialects of Cantonese were included, the list might be made of an enormous length, as， for instance, in the Shun-tak dialect, to mention a few instances amongst many, we have the finals, td， te'i, ft; and others besides those in use in pure Cantonese.

This is, however, not the place to go into a dissertation on the finals, but the hint may be of use if taken advantage of, for there are a great many more shades of meaning to be expressed by a proper use of these little words than most Europeans have ever dreamt of.

CHINESE CHARACTERS.

The Chinese characters are given more as a guide to tbe teacher than for use by tbe beginner. If the latter can and will take advice it is this: ― Don't

So little has been attempted in this way hitherto, that it is with considerable

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PREFACE.

trouble yourself with the character, or the book language at first. If you will learn the characters, learn them out of the colloquial books for the first year, and then, when you are tolerably proficient in colloquial, a knowledge of the book way of expressing what you have already acquired in colloquial will not be apt to confuse yoUj or spoil your colloquial.

One thing at a time is enough. If you wish to speak Chinese well, learn to speak it before you learn to read it A Chinese child learns to speak his native tongue before he learus to read it; and yet we, go-ahead Westerners, think we know better than Darae Nature, and insist on learning two languages (the book language and the colloquial) at the same time ~ two languages whicb, be it remembered, are so alike and yet so dissimilar as to create no end of a confusion in the tyro*s brain. The result is that we produce but few good speakers of Chinese.

Above all things let him who would speak Chinese not be ashamed to talk whenever he has a chance. Air his Chinese at all tiroes : it will get musty if lie does not. What does it matter if he does make mistakes at first? If he finds he is not understood when he puts a thing ia one way, then put it in another. He should try to get up a pretty extensive vocabulary of apparent synonyms, and by experience and experiment he will learn what words are best understood by different classes of people, and what are the right words to use. Of course all this implies a great deal of patience ； but if a man has no patience he had better not come to far Cathay-

ORTHOGRAPHY.

The orthography is Williams' with the exception of some slight variations where * necessary.

The classes of variants are given below, so that the scholar may find no difficulty in using Williams' Tonic Dictionary or Eitel's Chinese Dictionary.

In ihu hook. In Williams' md EUets.

ei ， … 1 (or i in Eitel*s.)

o eu

wu li

、vui ui

yii ii

If the beginner would be a good speaker let him not follow the pronunciations given in Dictionaries, if he finds such to clash with that of his teacher, provided he

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bas a good one, but imitate the latter. Let him remember : ―

1st. That the dictionaries have been made by Europeans to whom Chinese was not a native tongue, and that consequently they are not free from errors.

2nd. Also let him remember that at the "best it is but a halting expedient this attempting to represent Chinese sounds by the letters of an alphabet, which, as we are accustomed to use them in our own language, are never in every case capable of producing the identical Chinese sound.

3rd, Let him also remember that some of the Chinese assistants that Dictionary makers have depended on for their pronunciations were not pure Cantonese speakers.

These several reasons will "be sufficient to assure him of the necessity for adhering to the above advice ； and when he becomes a proficient in the use of this beautiful (when spoken in its 'purity) dialect he will see an additional reason in the miserable pronunciation of some Europeans, who have considered their dictionaries wiser then the Chinese themselves, and he may be gratified by being told by the Chinese that his pronunciation is clearer and better in many respects than many a native's.

In conclusion the author may express the hope ― a hope that has actuated him throughout the preparation, that this little "book will prove a help in the study of a tongue which he has known and spoken from his earliest infancy. Should it prove of assistance to those who unlike him have not been able to avail themselves of the easiest and best mode of learning it, he will be proud that these efforts have proved capable of assisting those who desire to acquire a knowledge of this, one of the finest and oldest dialects in China. ，

His thanks are again due to Mr, H. A. Giles of H. M.，s Consular Service for again permitting him to make use of his arrangement of sentences and the plan of his book, as far as the first part of it is concerned, which it will be seen he has con- siderably enlarged upon.

Mr. A. Falconer, of the Government Central School, Hongkong, has also kindly assisted him in correcting proof sheets.

Should mistakes be discovered the author will be obliged by those using the book informing him of them.

After having written out the whole of the lessons and while they were in the press, the compiler's attention -was called to Mr. Parker's orthography as applied to the Cantonese ； and finding that in one instance it supplied a want that he had felt,

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PREFACE.

and that in another instance it represented a sound which had not been brought out clearly, his spelling in both these instances was modified in conformity with. Mr. Parker's system, though he cannot endorse Air. Parker's attempts in their entirety (his attempts to rid the orthography from diacritical marks do not always appear to be the best) ； especially all the conclusions he arrives at as exemplified by his orthography that is to say if he understands what the spelling always refers to, but unfortunately his syllabary is printed without any Chinese characters, so that one scarcely knows what word the new combination of letters always re- presents. Finding that in certain cases Mr. Parker's was an improvement on the current orthography, other cases have also been referred to Mr. Parker's syllabary, and the author must acknowledge occasional assistance he has derived from such a reference while "working by the guidance of his ear to free himself from the, in too many cases, - barbarous and incorrect spellings used by the dictionaries. He has been pleased to find on reference to Mr. Parker's syllabary that he also had arrived in the majority of instances at the same conclusions that the author had. This he trusts "will give more confidence in the accuracy of those sounds represented by Mr. Parker and himself to those who may be inclined to look with suspicion upon and doubt the propriety of any change, however simple, in the admirable adaptation of Sir William Jones' system of spelling made in his younger days by that venerable and learned sinologist, Dr. Williams.

J. DYER BALL.

HOKGKONG, 1883.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

- 丄俨 7^、

NIVERSITY

It is now rather more than four years since the first edition, of five hundred copies, of this book was published. Uncertain of the success of the venture at the time the book 、vas but lituited in its scope. The disposal of the first edition and the approval the book has met with has led the author to now issue a second edition of the same work, which, though running on the same lines as the first edition, has been considerably enlarged. The first part of the book, that containing the fifteen lessons, may at first sight appear to be the same in the two editions, but though

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PREFACE.

the same number of pages are occupied, it will be found that there are many more sentences in this part of the book than formerly, great care has also been exercised in a careful revision of the lessons, and here the author must acknowledge the great assistance rendered to him by Mr. J. H, Stewart Lockhart, who kindly volunteered to assist him.

In the second or Grammatical portion of the book it will be seen that thirty- six pages* are added. A new table of the Classifiers has been drawn up from which it has been attempted to exclude words not rightly entitled to the name of Classifiers, though often so called, and these words have been placed in a list by themselves. A better table of the Personal Pronouns has also been drawn out. An important addition has likewise been the lists of the idiomatic uses of verbs, and other addi- tions it will be seen have been made, all of which the author trusts will make the book more useful. The old matter has also been revised.

A new feature appears in the shape of an Index to the Second part, which will no doubt render reference to passages sought for easier than with the help of the table of contents alone, which is still retained. la the Introduction the tones have been more fully treated.

It has been the author's endeavour in what may be called the Grammatical portion of the book not so much to lay down Grammatical Rules describing the structure of the language irrespective of its analogy to other languages ； but it has been his aim so to word these rules as to show the learner tlie difference between the learner's native language and that he is endeavouring to acquire, for in detecting the points of resemblance and difference between his own language and one foreign to him will the learner be the better able to appreciate the similarity and dis- similarity between the two languages. It is but a waste of time to draw up a Chinese Grammar on the same lines as an English Grammar ； such Grammars are useful to those who wish to learn the structure of their own language, but to those who already know something of the Grammar of one language this knowledge is best utilised by being used as a vantage ground. The knowledge already acquired is compared with what it is desired to acquire. The mind instead of being burdened with going over old ground has its powers left free to tabulate the new knowledge under the two heads of " the same as I learnt before, I do not need to trouble about that," and the other head of "this is different from what I learnt before, I must try and remember this."

Any learner who desires to acquire a new language if he wishes to make any progress must consciously or unconsciously thus tabulate his knowledge. If it is not already done for him in the books he uses, his time is taken up with wading

PREFACE.

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PREFACE.

through a mass of rules and examples to pick out what is new to him. His time is saved and the acquisition of the language rendered easier for him, if it is done before-hand for him.

Exception has been taken by one or two to the use of the literal translation of the Chinese into English on account of its barbarous nature, bat its manifest advantages to the beginner are so obvious, not only theoretically but in actual practice iu the use of this book, that the Author's predilections in its favour are con- firmed. As to its being barbarous, what does barbarous mean ？ Simply that any- thing is outside of our pale of civilization and customary mode of expression, &c. A literal translation of any language into English proves more or less barbarous : this is even true with regard to the classic languages of ancient Greece and ； Rome.

As a hint to the use to which this literal translation may be pat the following passage given from an essay by Proctor with regard to the use of literal trans- lations such as the Hamiltonian method, the literal translation employed by the author of the present work being very like that Mr. Proctor says : ― " Take then first * * a passage * * and go carefully over it, word for word as it stands. * * * Next, read it over several words at a time. After this, read the English through alone, and then turn to the original, and read that through. You 、vill find that by this time you can read the original understandirigly. Take the passage next * * and turn it into English by a free translation ― not too free, but just free enough to be good English. Now follows what in practice I found the most improving part of the whole work. Make a word-for-word translation ia the exact order of the words in the original, and note what this tells you of the character of the idiom and also of the mental peculiarities of the nation who * * own the language you are dealing with." {Miscellaneous Essays, by R. A. Proctor).

J. DYER BALL.

Hongkong, 1887.

INTRODUCTION.

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UNIVERSITY

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introduction:

THE CANTONESE DIALECT OR LANGUAGE.

An impression appears to have got abroad that Mandarin is the language of China, and that Cantonese and the other languages spoken in China are but dialects of it. The impression is an erroneous one. One might as well say that Spanish was the language of the Iberian Peninsula and that Portuguese, as well as the other Komanic languages spoken elsewhere, were dialects of it. There is no doubt, that, as with Spanish in the Peninsula, Mandarin in some one or other of its various dialects is the language of a large portion of China (say of thirteen out of the eighteen provinces), but no less is Cantonese in some one or other of its numerous dialects the language of a great many of the inhabitants of the two provinces of Kwangtung and Kwongsi, (which two provinces have a population roughly stated equal to that of England). It is true that the Mandarin is used as a lingua franca in all official courts and Government offices throughout the whole of China, but though more than five hundred years ago for a considerable time in English history French was the Court language of England, yet there was an English language, though it may have been despised by those who knew nothing but French.

One of the unfortunate things about terming these different languages in China dialects is to lead those who know nothing of the subject to suppose that Cantonese is merely a local patois differentiated from the Mandarin by dialectic peculiarities, and that those who speak it differ as far from a correct method of speaking their native tongue, as a Somerset man or Yorkshireman, who speaks his native dialect does from an educated Englishman, who by virtue of his education and culture has sunk all the peculiarities of pronunciation, whicli inevit- ably point out the illiterate countryman.

In fact the Cantonese is more nearly akin to the ancient language of China spoken about 3,000 years ago than the speech of other parts of China. It is more

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INTRODUCTION.

ancient itself than its younger brethren, the other so-called dialects of China, and to prevent any false ideas of its importance the following extract is given from the Preface to Douglas' Dictionary of the Amoy language, the statements in which are equally applicable to Cantonese. It is as follows, viz.: ―

"But such words as * Dialect* or ^ Colloquial ' give an erroneous conception of its nature. It is not a mere colloquial dialect or patois ； it is spoken by the highest ranks just as "by the common people, by the most learned just as by the most ignorant; learned men indeed add a few polite or pedantic phrases, but these are mere excrescences, (and even they are pronounced according to the" Cantonese sounds), " while the main body and staple of the spoken language of the most refined and learned classes is the same as that of coolies, labourers, and boatmen.

"Nor does the term ' dialect ' convey anything like a correct idea of its distinc- tive character ； it is no mere dialectic variety of some other language ； it is a distinct language, one of the many and widely differing languages which divide among them the soil of China. * * *

"A very considerable number of the spoken languages of China have been already more or less studied by European and American residents in the country, such as the Mandarin, the Hakka, the vernaculars of Canton and Amoy, and several others. These are not dialects of one language ； they are cognate languages, bear- ing to each other a relation similar to that which subsists between the Arabic, the Hebrew, the Syriac, the Ethiopic, and the other members of the Semitic family ； or again between English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, &c.

"There is another serious objection to the use of the term 《 dialect ， as applied to these languages, namely that within each of them there exist real dialects. For instance, the Mandarin, contains within itself three very marked ' dialects/ the Northern, spoken at Peking ； the Southern, spoken at Nanking and Soochow ； and the Western, spoken in. the Provinces of Szechuen, Hoopeh, &c.，，

It may be stated that it is as absurd for any one who intends to reside in Hongkong, Canton, or Macao, and who wishes to learn Chinese to take up the study of Mandarin, as it would be for a German, who was about to settle in London to learn French in order to be able to converse with the English.

Cantonese has its "real dialects " some of which are spoken by tens of thou- sands, or hundreds of thousands of natives, and which if they were spoken by the inhabitants of some insignificant group of islands in the Pacific with only a tithe of the population would be honoured by the name of languages. These "subordinate dialects " of the Cantonese are again subdivided into many little divisions spoken in

INTRODUCTION.

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XV

INTRODUCTION.

different cities or towns, or groups of cities, towns, and villages where peculiar colloquialisms prevail. Some of these dialects of Cantonese are as follows, viz: 一

The San Wui Dialect. San Ning ，, Hong Shan „ ，， Shun Tak ,, ，, Tung Kwiin „

THE CORRECT PRONUNCIATION OF PURE CANTONESE.

So far is this minute sub-division carried that even in the city of Canton itself, the seat and centre of pure Cantonese, more thau one pronunciation of words is used ； the standard, however, being the Sai Kwan wa, or West end speech, to which the learner should endeavour to assimilate his talk. It has been the Author's endeavour to give this pronunciation, or at all events the Cantonese, and the students ot this book may take it as a fact that it is Cantonese and pure Can- tonese that is given in this book; and that where the author has corrected the orthography of Williams and Eitel it is because this orlhogi aphy in such cases does not represent pure Cantonese, such for instance as in the spelling of the whole series of words, such as nutj htu^ &c. which these authors give most un- fortunately as nil, hii, &c.， such a sound as nil being abominable Cantonese ~ not pure Cantonese at all, but SaL Chii'i Dialect or some other wretched dialect, not- withstanding it has the sanction of-such sinologues as Williams, Eitel, and Chalmers ； and those who know Chinese thoroughly will know that the author is throwing no slur on the luasterly scholarship displayed by these men \vhen he says that their pronunciation of Cantonese as shewn by their orthography in many instances is neither pure nor correct.

It is a great pity that Dr. Eitel, in his new Dictionary, has not followed the lead of good speakers of pure Cantonese instead of perpetuating the mistakes of Dr. Williams ― njistakes due partly to the implicit following of a Chinese author's ideas of pronunciation and mistakes more excusable in the olden days than at the present time.

To those who are inclined to be suspicious of any change in an established orthography of Chinese by Europeans the fact that the author is not alone in this changing of the mode of representing another class of sounds may give more confidence to their acceptance of it, and to those "who know Mr. Parker's wonderfully acute ear for Chinese sounds the following extracts may help to confirm their acceptance of such changes. .

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XVI

INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

" The only place where a really short e comes in, * * is in the diphthong ei (as in feint * *), This, sound is * * actually ignored by Williams in favour of {， as in the English t/iee, a Cantonese sound which only exists in one or two colloquial words such as mi, ni, &c.，，， China Review, Vol, 8, p. 364.

And again, " but, unfortunately Williams uses i to represent "both the ee and ei as in feel and feint," China Review^ Vol. 8， p. 365.

He again says in a paper on "the Comparative study of Chinese dialects " published in the transactions of the North China Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society. "In Dr. Williams' dictionary again, several classes of vowels existing in theory, according to the standard in nuhihus encumber the work, when one vowel would have stood in each case for them all. One of the nine regular tones, too, is entirely ignored ； and the whole class of colloquial tones called the pin yam, which form so striking an element of quasi-inflection in the pure Cantonese dialect, has been completely overlooked. Dr. Eitel, in his corrected edition of the same Dic- tionary, has introduced the ninth regular tone, but he likewise, instead of adhering steadfastly, (as did Mr. Wade in the case of the Metropolitan Pekingese) to the Metropolitan Cantonese, has, by overlooking these colloquial tones, once more lost the opportunity of firmly establishing another standard dialect."

The opinion of another enthusiastic student of Cantonese, than whom it is difficult to find one showing greater zeal in all matters connected with the language, (the author refers to Mr. J. H. Stewart-Lockhart) likewise says : ― "It is much to be regretted that Dr. Eitel's . , Dictionary, though excelleut in many ways, has not modified the spelling in Williams', " China Review^ Vol. X., p. 312.

The matter resolves itself into simply this, whether we are to go on perpetra- ting mistakes by accepting the orthography of Williams and Eitel in extenso ― in every minute particular, when it is a well-known fact by those who speak pure Cantonese that this orthography in all its particulars is not pure Cantonese by a long way, but is mixed up with local pronunciations, or whether we are to try to get an English transliteration of Chinese sounds, which shall attempt to approach as near as possible to the standard Cantonese, that spoken in the city of Canton itself. That such attempts may be open to partial failures in some particulars none knows better than the author himself, but because the matter is a difficult one to tackle there is no reason why we