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An excerpt from the Introduction: Some Things Worth Remembering The Chinese language is spoken by 400,000,000 of human beings, and in its written form is understood by still more since many educated Japanese, Koreans, Annamese, etc., are able to read it. Each character is a sort of picture of a thought or idea. The language is therefore called ideographic. Some 40,000 characters are known, but only about 6,000 are in common use, and a knowledge of a much smaller number than this, if well selected, is extremely useful. Mandarin in some form may be said to be the dialect of the whole of China, with the exception of the coast provinces south of the Yangtze. There are a good many characters that have two distinct pronunciations. Chinese is said to be mono-syllabic, but this statement needs some little modification. Mandarin is distinguished by the fact that nearly all its syllables end with a vowel. Its only consonantal endings are n and ng. - (Mateer). Remember that the tone considerably modifies the pronunciation of syllables sometimes. Pekinese recognises four tones only. In Southern Mandarin there are five.... * * * * * 1. As in other languages, there is a right and wrong way of arranging words and clauses in a sentence. Sometimes the right way exactly reverses that of English. This is a matter of prime importance in which practice only will bring success. 2. It is quite possible to use the exactly correct words in exactly the right order, and yet not be understood. In that case rhythm or emphasis, perhaps both, have been at fault. Pronounce the word imperturbability to any Englishman so that the accents fall on the syllables per and li and see if he understands it. Here again the ear is the great teacher. 3. There are single syllables that are apt to trouble the foreigner in conversation. Some have vowel sounds not common in English; some, other difficulties. Without correct articulation these are not easy to be understood. One foreigner can, however, frequently understand another foreigner's Chinese better than that of the natives, because of the more exact articulation. 4. The question of tones has already been referred to. There are aspirates as well. These need to be mastered before perfection is attained. A good ear and careful attention will usually be sufficient.

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