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Excerpt from Chinese Documentary Drafts: Hints for Beginners
The object of this little work is to assist beginners in their study of Documentary Chinese, and to help them to realize that a Chinese despatch or letter is not an insoluble enigma, but simply a plain, straightforward business statement couched in concise and lucid language.
Languages are taught in many ways; the usual methods are two - by memory and by analytical deduction. The first implies a qualification, the absence of which is more common than is generally supposed; 'while the second needs nothing abnormal, either with regard to memory or brains, but merely patience and a moderate amount of intelligent application.
Many books have been written on the way of learning to read Chinese; all entailing a laborious system of memorising; but none has been published in English - as far as I am aware - directing the student how to write the language, and to compose simple Chinese letters and despatches, which, with no claim to literary excellency, would at the same time be intelligible to the average, educated Chinese.
These Hints for Beginners are a modest attempt to fill the gap, which so far has been left empty and the author hopes that an intelligent study of the contents will aid a beginner in translating English documents into Chinese. Also, that some knotty points, which a teacher cannot explain, or which the student's deficiencies in the spoken language have prevented him from understanding, may be made clear.
Memory was evidently intended by nature to assist man in finding his way amidst the pathless, primeval forests, and to protect him from his enemies, by reminding him that they were enemies. Modern English education has rather counteracted this quality, by developing the pupil's reasoning powers at its expense.
It follows, therefore, that if the student attempts the study of Documentary Chinese on somewhat similar lines to those on which he has studied either his own, or foreign languages, his chances of success are greater than if he essays the routine method of memorising, for which he may not be naturally qualified, and in which direction his previous education may hinder more than help his efforts.
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