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6/24/1961 - On Learning Chinese by C. H. G. Oldham

NOT FOR PUBL CATION NSTTUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS CHGO The Fines Nuns Walk On Learnln Virginia Water Surrey England June Mr R H Nolte Institute O rrent World Affairs Madlson Avenue New York NoT Dear Dick Fou start learning Chinese Chinese surely Everest languages learn We exploration vithin three months These Just typical comments greeted known I about embark study Chinese They represent I commonly notion Chinese difficult language learn Just notion How about learning language obviously different European How likely scientist learn enough Chinese translate Chinese scientific paper Let answerer these questions light eight months study Ch language The metho learning Chinese depends objectives study One epproach needed learn speak language nother another required learn classical Chinese which medium nearly written Chinese until recent years For prime interest learn current Chinese scientific literature secondary interest learnin spoken language This meant studying three phases spoken ritten lesser extent classical A glance language variety dialects spoken Oina These dialects really different languages first necesssry decide which I going learn The choice simple The Mandarin dialect spoken about thirds Cnlnese about three quarters Country Also Oo nmunists intent unifying China trying Mand official lingua franca This extending Chinese practised ruling class Peking Mandarin known unhuah language officials So unless there special reasons doing otherwise Mandarin choice After prelimLnary decision I ready begin study spoken language The first shock I person spesking Mandarin Al2 sounds disposal express entire Chinese vocabulary Actually TUNGUSIC M0NG0 LIAN MONGOLIAN TIBETAN MODERN LINGUISTIC MAP OF EAST ASIA Country boundaries Sinitic Languages Austr Asiatic Languages Altaic Languages Indo European Languages The Great Tradition From Reischauer Fairbank East Asia George Allen Unwin Limited sounds increased about using different tones about moment realized there approximately characters large Chinese dietionaries evident sound about forty diferent meanings However everyday speech things quite Many characters longer knowledge thousand characters quite adequate purposes Also although majority words syllabic number stringing three basic sounds together Still remains characteristics Chln language large number Of homonyms possesses We quite familiar homonyms Engllsh language rarely confused words The context always makes meaning clear The Chinese little trouble distinguish which homonym using frequently revert Sayin thins C meaning occurs huooche meanin since occurs carriage locomotive They distinEuish between homonyms talking sketching correct character immediately makes their meaning expllclt Those speak EnElish frequently pronounce words different tones order express different emotions On other Chinese common speakers other Sinitic languages different tonal pronunciations indicate different meanings The Mandarin dialect makes tones risin6 falllng rising falling these approximated reasonably pronouncing Eglish certain different emotions For example supposing monotonous sli6htly plaintive pitched voice Dead A second repeats first interrogatively incredulously Dead Dead which first decisive voice Dead These saying pretty indication sound If pronounced Chinese sound these would affectionate mother horse curse In order learnin6 process students chinese system writlnE Chinese sounds Latin alphabet Unfortunately whole problem romanization highly controversial subject multitude different systems exist confuse beginner The first attempts romanize Chinese began Jesuit missions visited China latter Sixteenth Century widely modern system devised Wade later modified Giles For beginner method suffers defect tones indicated numeral suffixes extremely diffi memorize spelling number Other systems signs indicate tones first rising second third fourth Still another ystem varies spellin6 indicate sXsem which School Oriental African Sudles which I In addition French German hlnese themselves their systems A intensive effort sufficient master romanlzatone crutch which discarded after about study Havens learnt I Oalnese sounds I ready learn lantuage proper The simpllcty Oalnese grammar pleasant surprise Verbs require conJugatlng nouns declinable Most 6rammatlcal rules relate order there exceptions complicate matters It Is course numerous exceptions rules which grammar languages complex Once basic grammatical rules known learning colloquial Chinese Is learnln5 other lantuate Cons repetition exposure Chinese speaking people requirements There languages number little sayings which literal translation which learnt heart They represent Chinese proverbs feature Chinese thinking They almost always occur group characters special dictionaries Four character phrases publshe So student should encounter difficulty Colloquial hinese difficult learn European Z resoects simpler The chief source trouble beginner tones serious actual spgech because emphasized words pronounced which instructors lothe admit students When I first learned Oalnese tonal language I lttle apprehensive frequently uncertain terms I However person difficul determinln5 absolute pitch frequency Of sound should dlffculty dlstln uishin change pitch which occurs Qinese tones So experience homonyms confusion expected Possibly I exposed I might chane opinion You noted I haven mentioned anythin6 about Chinese characters It course quite possible learn speik langua6e without learnin5 write certainly Chinese But order really understand Chinese culture essential hlnese characters It 5enerally thoutht difficult learn characters Once underetandln characters obtained Just memory It Interesting speculate possible influence emphase memory rather creative thought might elopment Chinese civiliza pocess learnir basic thousand characters difficult I admit tired rather really I turned learnlnE characters It relaxing comfortable chair front hundred character cards Just memorize I would explain llttle about Chinese characters I afraid I original Somethin6 similar occurs introductory Chinese texts about approach examples appears approach examples illustrative different points A thousand years before Christ Chinese already foundations written lsnEuage Oracle bones found ancient Shan Dynasty capital AnyanE which characters inscribed The remarkable thinE these characters gnized expert being those today newspapers The first characters almost certainly pictures concrete objects animals heavenly bodies plants tools Althouh drawinss these chaned three thousand years clearly recognizable Examples these pictoraphs shown Ren carriage picture ancient chariot mountain fairly clear pictures objects represent Others although reasonable facsimiles different objects archaic times longer recosnizable Amongst these woman child Some these pictographs proved valuable history noloEy For example character Jou meanin found oracle bones Second Millenlum B C Needham pointed picture stern Europeans magine transom bulkheads square construction Pictographs proved insufficient needs abstract words character evolved These ideographs simplest characters three above below These illustrated following The stage development ideographs occurred simple pictographs combined often ingenious compounds Thus woman child together represent spoken which means A woman broom character meaning pictograph strength under plctograph field implying strength field means One ingenious class thirst which shows imprisoned enclosure beating overhead splash water outside A woman under Is character peace under character Not unexpectedly together character bright But I think favourite character believe truth In Chinese showed their CHGO Examples _0ainese_ haracters woman child Jou Ideographs thirst sbmnq above peace shiah below Jia ruing brlght shinn believe truth Det rminitlve Phonetic Compound Using square phonetic woman square hinder earth square street region I grass square fragrant square Jan P square inquire belief goodness human nature putting stsndlng There several hundred these ideographs constitute entertaining group characters The development written language marks first phonetic concept The early Chinese scrlpt writers actually borrowed characte which sound wanted write For example there which today____is pronounced which means There another meanin6 wheat pictosram Inventedl So Chinese wanted write slm__ply borrowed char_acter which sound whleh meant wheat Thus sentence The palace would The King wheat oalace assumed reader would sufficiently intelligent realize trick Ths provided substitutions number identical sounds substitutions sounds which slmilsr obvious confusion would In order avoid confusion clever device To phonetic character added second which indicated general category within which meaning sought This second called determinative Or siniflc using device whole series words having sound could written wlthout fusion example clear There twenty thirty words pronoced Theynmean street resembling hnder guard against The character emmeanmg sothenesetookthisand It phonetic other ehsracters Thus character earth pronounced combined character pronoced makes character street region pronoeed Silarly grass square frsgrant square Jan square Inqulre woman square hinder Almost characters today group characters determinative phonetic The terminatives formed basis method classifying cbmracters which Chinese diction aries characters determnatlves selected called radicals Since least these radicals occurs every Chinese character characters could grouped subdivisions these subdivisions further broken arranging characters according number strokes needed write So character dictionary first decides radical counts number remalnln strokes searches through characters dictionary which occur under radical number strokes The English scientist sinologist Joseph Needham chemical analogy which should scientists pointed learn characters He Eests characters molec permutations combinations different kinds Bf atoms radicals This because nearly phonetic parts characters subdivided radicals There seven atoms atoms repeat forming crystal three identical character The characters chemical formula remembered equation For example Hao I woman child Sen uaeowth Hn rejoice mouth short tailed I money This example illustrates quite there nothing lo6ical about characters analysed manner But since there radicals remember I found equation technique helpful I discussed characters eocom strokes thatepec uninitiated Their often entertalnin radicals first hundred basic characters learned problem remembering little equations A Oqinese adult should learn about thousand characters since thousand characters adequate purposes these acquired about three years study If colloquial hinese characters difficult learn generally concept Chinese difficult lansuae Unfortunately student answer The difficulty written language elasslcal Chinese One important things about Chinese characters understood literate Chinese whatever their dialect They course pronounce different sounds their meaning Not written style roughly during three thousand years Chinese educated style writing works Confucius Confucius wrote Research Swedish sinologist Karlgren shown Chinese ancient times richer sounds present There fewer homonyms result language terse As sounds became fewer homonyms became frequent spoken style changed order clarity The written style change because meanin characters unambiguous Krlgren illustrates following example Consider sentence written This means I pronounced present Mandarin dialect Woo Jiann leang The meaning shown characters quite exollclt spoken Woo leans either Isee I threads In order distinguish which meant colloquial phrase would Woo Jiann I mouth It diverged The dlffculty literary style 18rgely extreme terseness There problem knowlns which speech particular character represents example character sentence another adjective In addition there frequent proverbs stated writers expectin6 educated eader conclusion It though English writing phrases A Too cooks writer assuming everyone knows complete proverb Therefore order understand classical Chinese think Chinese The student School Oriental African Studies really learn subject memorize complete passages generally recognlsed takes years intensive study obtain complete understanding Fortunately scientist interested reading current Chinese periodicals there occurred event which profound effect style writing This event start literary revolution which writing colloquial style promulgated The caught slowly about scientific publications written colloquial style The Communists further promulgated majority scientific writing style Much depends author If educated literary style vogue likely write style younger likely write colloquial style The prestige value using classical Chinese slowly every again scientific writing comes across young including classical phrases There other points I would mention The first relates vocabulary scientific Chinese other recent language reforms introduce Communists Both bearing scientist learning Chinese Many words coined recent years How these words rendered Chinese particularly science New characters invented chemical elements words rendered For example strln5in6 slnle known acters together barometer indicator motor motlon machine torpedo thunder guess lightnlng partlcle revealln inflnlteslmal thin6 mlrror The answer electon microscope The problem scientific translato scarcity technical dictionaries these glossaries The Chinese published unobtainable England except specialized llbraries There exist recent Chinese Russian technlcal dictionary suffice being Another problem translator nslitera Names people places witten using For example characters which sound similar original Ohm electrical rended characters pronounced Ou Muu which translated literally would Eueopean mother Usually there indication given combination characters transliteration solution compile exhaustive teansllteratlons New refoems Communist GoveFent Chinese language students Job complex They simplified flfty commonly adicals about hundred character The simplified characters fewer strokes easier write But since reforms publishing houses characters still This means student learn versions therefore doubled Other language reforms include teachin6 Mandarin lingua introduction twenty letter phonetic alphabet It interestln6 Chinese chosen Latin alphabet rather Russian cyrallic alphabet The purpose alphabet appears teaching illiterate Chinese sounds characters 81though beEinnin sendln6 telegrams trans literation There indication present Communists intend replace character thei2 omanizatlon prospective student written Chinese alternative learn acters Just conclude I think first should conclude Chinese insuperably difficult language learn True there problems first novelty tones characters homonyms leaves beginner somewhat bewildered If I tried wFite letter Christmas after weeks study I I would pessi mistic The difficult mastering classical Chinese The scientist interested current Chinese scientific writing should knowledge subject complete mastery required It would quite different story flfty years anyone intent studying history science fully cognizant literary style I estimate years intensive study scientist should Chinese scientific material reasonably Sincerely C H G Oldham Received New York June