THE STUDY OF CHINESE.
Adrnratpd by United State* ConinUr Afieot tn the Inter««t« •< "I American Trad*.
Mr. Charles Neuer, United States consular agent at Gera, in an official coinmunicaiion to the state department advocates the study of the Chinese language as a means of extending American trade in the Chinese empire, says the Washington Star. "While Ciiiua is considered the land of promise for our farmers and manufacturers," says he, "the importance, of the knowledge of the Chinese language is greatly undervalued. I submit the de-i tails of a recent intervir.T with a lin* guist who has given special attention to this subject. It is well understood that in order to enter into permanent commercial relations with a foreign country it is indispensable to know its language. When Russian industries began to develop the Germans recognized that in order to engage in profitable trade in that country it was necessary to learn Kussian, and there ia 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 'B' represents the idea nnd not the word. The Chinese h»TA Invented more <h«n 49.<KIO mtrkt for ii;>ir writing." In (lie opijiion ot my informant it r,i!l require only about 3,000 ujarLi for mercantile correspondence, and it will be tasisr ♦o learn them than the words of as ordinary foreign language.
"Russian is more difficult for Americans than Chinese; It takes much longer to learn the spoken language, because of the variety of dialects; but any one who can learn enough of the writing*-to answer ordinary purposes in a few months and have bis knowledge perfected by a linguist witbin about a year. An exeat instruction in one of the Chinese languages can only be given by a Chinaman. "This method has been adopted in Germany. Besides tie professor for the theory of language, there are four Chinese linguists io the Oriental seminary of Berlin teaching the business style nnd the language of Peking. Shanghai and Canton. Itisnotintended to fit pupils for the diplomatic service, but for commercial work/*
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AHCOG19040421.2.51
Bibliographic details
Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 414, 21 April 1904, Page 8
Word Count
358THE STUDY OF CHINESE. Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 414, 21 April 1904, Page 8
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in