 Lessons 1 to 19 from A Practical Arabic Cause by E Niamatullah and E Chevalet English text edited by E G Finch Read for the LibriVox Language Learning Collection Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Preface. It is constantly asserted by Europeans that it is impossible for them to gain even a moderate knowledge of Arabic except after infinite toil. There is a considerable grain of truth in this assertion for there exists no satisfactory textbook which a beginner can use with confidence or which is so arranged that the student who has some acquaintance with the language can fix his ideas of the rather intricate Arabic grammar. The existing textbooks are either exhaustive treatises dealing with delicate points of the grammar of classical Arabic or else they are merely phrase books of colloquial Arabic giving often in a faulty transliteration a few common phrases in a particular dialect. The object of the authors of this textbook has been to provide a scientifically arranged grammar of the language of the press and of ordinary business life. The arrangement of the work is as follows. Part one deals with the Arabic alphabet the pronunciation of the letters is explained as far as possible phonetically and reading lessons are given. Parts two and three provide a complete course in all the important grammatical rules with copious vocabularies and exercises. There is an appendix of technical and administrative terms throughout the book. The vowel accents have been carefully inserted in the Arabic script. Perhaps the main difficulty in Arabic is that the vowel accents are hardly ever written and each word has to be learned by ear before it can be properly used. The authors hope that this feature of the book will prove particularly useful to the student. The lessons have been so arranged as to contain no more matter than can be conveniently mastered in a single day. It is hoped that the book will prove useful to government officials and army officers and especially to those officials who are required to pass an examination in the Arabic language. The authors Cairo December 1907 Symbols and abbreviations P page M masculine F feminine S or sing singular D dual PL or plur Plural Brackets in the vocabulary Arabic words enclosed within brackets are only employed in the colloquial language. Apostrophe this symbol which is placed over certain letters denotes a suppressed alif. The following is the scheme of phonetics adopted in this book to indicate the Arabic pronunciation. A with a circumflex English A in father A English First A in away E with a circumflex English AI in pain E English E in men I with a circumflex English I in machine I English I in pity O with a circumflex English O in glory O English O in top U with a circumflex English O U in soup U English double O in look Part one reading lessons exercises First lesson letters of the alphabet alif The Arabic alphabet contains 29 letters E E is the sound of alif B that of B etc B B Pronounced like th in thin vowel accent For the present we shall only consider the alif when it is placed in the middle or at the end of a word. Thus it serves to lengthen the vowel sound of the preceding letter, e.g. bear is pronounced bear and not be. These three columns show the form of the letters when written at the beginning in the middle or at the end of a word. Exercise one Alif cannot be joined to the following letter in a word Second lesson letters of the alphabet jeem pronounced usually like g in good pronounced like ch in the german nacht vowel accent kessre When followed by jeem the letters are usually written. They are also occasionally written thus as will be seen later. Exercise two third lesson letters of the alphabet third lesson letters of the alphabet the pronounced like the in though vowel accent The vowel accents are three in number e, i and u, do, do, del and del cannot be joined to the following letter in a word Exercise three fourth lesson letters of the alphabet fifth lesson letters of the alphabet the sign which adds the sound of n to must be followed by alif which however has no vocalic value zen row and zain cannot be joined to the following letter in a word exercise four ozane to robu rodethu rojihane hajizu zejera rutaben jidaeru chorabu zujejan bedera geraden juzuran 5th lesson. Letters of the alphabet. Sīn. Sīn is pronounced like S in C. Shīn. Shīn. Qesredān. In. Sīn. Shīn. Exercise 5. Shēbēbīn. Jeseden. Khoshebu. Sējin. Sēbīhin. Sīroju. Hēsidan. Derose. Shērobu. Hēsebe. Khodeshe. Hērisin. Shēroren. Sēhābu. Hēbesē. Sēhirin. Tēshējiro. Sēdisu. Shērisin. Sēdebēn. Shēbehū. Sēteirin. Shējiro. Sējidin. Dēse. Hēshērotin. 6th lesson. Letters of the alphabet. Thord. F. Thord has an emphatic pronunciation like that of S in the French song. Bord. Bord has an emphatic pronunciation like that of D in the French don't. D'matēn. Un. Fon. Ton. Exercise 6. Fōbēhun. Hēfodē. Bororun. Fōhebun. Bodjēj. Hēfōrun. Rōfōfō. Kōdō. Hēfōfōn. Hēdōbō. Fūrākhin. Hēfōrā. Fōde. Boriban. Fōderun. Bobēbō. Rōdin. Fōbērun. Bodjērun. Chōsibē. 7th lesson. Letters of the alphabet. Pō. Pō has an emphatic pronunciation like that of T in the French bomb. Wō. W. Wō has an emphatic pronunciation like that of Z in the French orison. Sukūn. A letter over which there is Sukūn is pronounced as a mute letter. Pō. W. Exercise 7. Porbēn. Tōrhun. Hēfōr. Tōrdun. Chētōbun. Shētōtīn. Porzēn. Chubtun. Bēsētō. Chotbun. Tōbkhun. Shotbun. Bobētō. Chētōbun. Sētōhīn. Rēbētun. Hēvōrun. Shētōrun. Chōtōrun. Shētōrun. 8th lesson. Letters of the alphabet. Rēn. Rēn. Rēn and rēn. It is impossible to express these two letters phonetically with any degree of exactitude. Rēn may be represented as guttural short A apostrophe and rēn as a strongly aspirated G. But the learner would do well to learn these sounds by ear from a native. Shēdē. The shēdē indicates that the letter over which it is placed is doubled. Exercise 8. Abedin. T'azzebē. G'odabū. R'ubb'in. A'dzebē. A'thrun. A'rshun. R'g'bē. V'ro'in. G'r'ru. G'r'dē. R'u'd'un. G'oddēru. A'rb'un. F'bē'u. A'zzēb'un. G'u'rabū. T'a'zzēzē. R'u'b'un. T'a'b'un. 9th lesson. Letters of the alphabet. Fē'e. F'e. G'o'f. G'u' pronounced like a guttural Q. Th'in. T'in. Exercise 9. Thech'run. G'otha'ben. J'fē'fu. B'r't'in. T'fē'hun. G'oth'run. Sh'r't'in. B'r'f'un. F'h'f'un. H'q'w'q'u. F'r'r'r'xu. G'o'b'e'd'u. F'e'j'run. Q'r'r'un. F'r'r'q'in. F''t'e'xē. F'e'h'n. F'q'u. G'oddēh'u. kregen, afefu, roqasin, seqfen, firokhun, 10th lesson, letters of the alphabet, kef, lam, kin, lin, exercise 10, kitabun, kulbin, tekaddera, befalun, ketifu, lutrfin, kibarun, leheva, lam followed by alif is written lam alif, bohiku, logatin, shukrun, jildun, hablin, jalalu, shubbaku, halaqin, keselan, kerbun, kaddabin, kelbun, ferdilin, shekku, qala, thikkeke, beqalin. 11th lesson, letters of the alphabet, mim, nun, meh, neh, exercise 11, neh meh, semeni, jennetu, qutahin, nezmun, nejlin, nun is sometimes written, or, malikun, nedimin, mishmishu, nejmun, mirarin, funfin, nibwamu, jamalan, bananu, mesalin, min be'ru, nemlan, mehalan, naferin, minanu, mani'an, almu, niamin, uthmanu. 12th lesson, letters of the alphabet, heh, wew, hinn, this is the form of final heh when alone, win, wew is never joined to a following letter, exercise 12, nehrun, teheddeh, duhur, wew without a vowel sign over it, serves to lengthen the sound of the preceding letter, e.g. duhur, and not duhur, nawuudun, zehrun, wetunun, nawuudetu, final heh bearing two dots is simply a teh and is called teh merbuta, it is almost always the sign of the feminine gender, wehebin, humoomun, kurhin, jamaatan, the teh merbuta bearing fathatan is never followed by the alif which has no vocalic value, jehelun, weroqun, usulun, muhadzebeten, 13th lesson, letters of the alphabet, lehme alif, leh, lehme alif is only the combination of lehme and alif, yeh, leh yeh, like alif and wow, yeh without a vowel sign is used to lengthen the sound of the preceding letter, e.g. fi, and not fi, yeh is sometimes written or exercise 13, final alif without its two dots has no value in pronunciation and is called alif naqfura, thus ala is pronounced ala, yawmin, hilalan, mustofa, aafiyatu, laylan, yaqoutu, abidan, nufreen, yameenun, azeemin, kawreematu, shawreefatan, 14th lesson, letters of the alphabet, alif, medda, the medda is used to lengthen the alif over which it is placed, thus alif medda equals to alif, wehle, the wehle is placed especially on the initial alif of certain words beginning with alif lehme preceded immediately by a vowel accent or by a distinct vowel sound, it renders this alif mute and joins the preceding syllable to the following letter, e.g. minalbebi, must be read as minalbebi and not minalbebi, e'anun bebin'inabin, exercise 14, edemu, biljennati, emelun, methir, when a word ends in an unaccented letter, the letter is pronounced as if it had over it a sacoon, if the letter is temerbuta it is pronounced like he, methir, minalmedrosete, elefen, eleemu, bilkhayri, ekhor, kitébul waladi, when a word ending in a letter over which there is no vowel sign has dependent upon it another beginning with alif madda, the unaccented letter is pronounced with the sound of e, e.g. kitébul waladi, emene, makil, bustenu, ekhothe, thubeh ul khayr, 15th lesson, lengthening letters, alif, well, yeh, hamsa, the hamsa is rarely written alone it usually accompanies the alif and is also written over the wow or the yeh which loses its two dots this sign is placed above these letters except when the alif is written with kesra in which case it is placed beneath thus e. These three letters are called weak or lengthening letters, exercise 15, uhtu, the hamsa renders the letter which it accompanies mute and has only the sound of the vowel by which it is accompanied. If a weak letter is preceded by a similar vowel accent it serves to lengthen this vowel accent. Fatheh is similar to alif, dhamma to wow and kesra to yeh, ikramen, be'r, edebu, shu'unen, ihsan, el-emalu, shay'en, lulu'u, hina'idin, mu'alifan, sherti'in, ira'eh, 16th lesson, revision of the alphabet etc. 1, letters of the alphabet alif, ba'eh, ta'eh, fa'eh, jim, ha'eh, khua'eh, da'ehl, da'ehl, ra'eh, zay'in, sy'in, sh'in, fwad, bwad, pa'eh, wa'eh, ra'in, ra'in, fa'eh, khua'eh, kef, le'em, meem, nun, heh, wew, yeh. 2, vowel accents and signs, a, vowel accents and signs which can be used with all the letters of the alphabet. Feth'eh, kesra, tommeh, feth'et'en, kesrat'en, tommat'en, suk'un, shed'eh, b, signs which can only be placed over the alif, med'eh, weh'ehl, sy'in, sign which can be used with alif, vowel and yeh, or which can be written alone, hemzeh, 17th lesson, solar and lunar letters, alif, le'em, eshems. When the particle alif, le'em is joined to a word beginning with one of the 14 solar letters, the le'em of this particle is not pronounced and has no suk'un over it, but a shed'eh is placed over the solar letter, e.g. eshems, is pronounced eshems and not al-shems. The solar letters are so-called from the word shems, sun, which begins with one of them, elqomer. Before the other letters, which are called lunar, from the word qomer, moon, which begins with one of them, the le'em of alif, le'em is pronounced and carries suk'un, e.g. elqomer and not ekqomer. The solar letters are te, the, del, vel, ro, zayn, sin, shin, fwad, bwad, thwad, mwad, le'em, nun. Exercise 16, eshemsu, elqomer, eltoroura, min al-arqi, al-ummu, biddara'hem, el-zaheb, fiddair, el-inab, el-zohr, haqiqat, el-khabari, mwad ul-qanun, madinat ul-lundun. When a word ending in te merboota, without a vowel sign, has another word dependent on it. The te'e is pronounced, e.g., madinat ul-lundun. The city of London is pronounced madinat ul-lundun. 18th lesson, the numerals, zero, sifr, sifr, zero, sifr, one, wahid, one, wahid, two, ethnan, ethnan, two, ethnan, three, thelete, thelete, three, thelete, four, erbe'e, erbe'e, four, erbe'e, five, khromse, khromse, five, khromse, six, sitte, sitte, six, sitte, seven, sab'e, seven, seven, seven, eight, themania, eight, themania, nine, tis'a, nine, tis'a, ten, a'shera, a'shera, ten, a'shera, eleven, a'shera, eleven, a'shera, eleven, a'shera, 20, 20, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21. From 21 onwards, where, and, is placed between the units and the tens. 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25 50 60 60 70 70 80 80 90 90 97 97 97 99 90 90 100 100 100 1000 1000 1000 1000 200 200 500 500 700 700 900 900 304 304 304 304 685 605 605 605 2000 2000 3000 3000 The word elf, preceded by a number from 3 to 10 inclusive, is put in the plural elf, preceded by a higher number, it remains in the singular. 4000 4000 4000 6000 6000 6000 6000 8100 800 8100 900 9600 6000 9600 10,000 10,000 10,000 We shall consider later the special rules which govern the use of the numerals. Exercise 17, write in letters the following numbers. End of part one. End of lessons one to nineteen from a practical Arabic course English text edited by E.G. Finch English text edited by E.G. Finch Pronunciation from First Steps in Anglo-Saxon by Henry Sweet. Read for the LibriVox Language Learning Collection, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Translation 1. When the stress or accent falls on the first syllable of a word of more than one syllable, it is not marked. Thus, Answer. Has the stress on the same syllable as in modern English? If the stress falls on any other than the first syllable, it is marked by a dot preceding the letter on which the stress begins. Thus, Bissettan has the same stress as Bissettin, but we omit the dot after the prefixes Be and Ye, as they never take the stress. Bissettan, Yehiran, vowels. Two. The vowels are either short or long. The short vowels are left unmarked. The long vowels are marked with a macron. Thus, A has the sound of the first vowel in A and A macron has the sound of the second. One man. Two hands. Ae has the sound of the English vowel in At. Ae macron having, of course, the same sound long. Atom. At home. Famous deeds. Ae has the sound of close French. Ae. Filamanna. Many men. Dwey and fade. Two feet. Ise di. As in men. Dwey and men. Two men. Ae close. As in French. Fini. Thie fingers. Has the open sound of I in It. He were on Irninde. They were running. Oh, close. As in French. God's word. God's word. Gold wean. Good wine. You, close. As in French. Su. Mean sunu. Doi hoose. Two houses. Why? As in French. Lue. Secuining. The king. Lutel hoose. A little house. Observe that the indefinite article is generally omitted. Three. There are also diphthongs which have the stress on the first element. Ae. Thie in At. Followed by the Ae in Men. Herdstorn. A hard stone. Her, well. A high wall. E. O. Is pronounced as written. With two close vowels. Thee were swerd. Four swords. Consonance. Four. Double consonance must be pronounced really double or long. Thus, whilst N in sunu is pronounced as in money. The NN in Seil sunne. The sun is pronounced as in penknife. Five. C has the sound of K. A brave warrior. Lutel knappa. A little boy. Lut is a K formed in that part of the mouth where we form the Y in U. Seil cirice. The church. Stichemalum. Peace meal. Bit by bit. Six. G, at the beginning of words and in the combination NG is pronounced as in go. That greinagars. The green grass. That longship. The warship. Or longship. Otherwise, that is, after vowels and L or R, it has the sound of German G in Zaren. Dwaye in Daras. Two days. Michel Bourgh. A great city. Se-Holga. The saint. Or the holy one. G dot, in the combination NG dot, has a sound analogous to that of C dot. Something like the G in gem. Menjan. Mingle. Or mix. Also, in CG, which is pronounced as if written G dot G dot. Wapness edge. The edge of a weapon. Also at the beginning of words and syllables. As in Djond middangert. Throughout the world. In unaccented syllables, it had the sound of RY. As in Yehiran. To here. Otherwise, that is, after all vowels and all consonants, except N, it had the sound of RY in U. Holy angels. Aueria stutka. An accursed sprite. Or demon. H, at the beginning of a syllable, has the same sound as now. He hafthund. He has a dog. Otherwise, it has the sound of German CH. Naach. Nier. Seelsulch. The plough. Bercht. Bright. HW. As in hwatt. What? Has the sound of our WH. HL, HN, and HR differ from L, N, and R respectively in the same way as HW differ from W. HL having the sound of Welsh double L. Seishlavord. The lord. Snitan. To collide. Radlice. Quickly. Thorn may be pronounced as the breath TH, in thin, at the beginning and end of words, and after breath consonants such as C or P. Solthusist. You speak the truth. He slapth. He sleeps. Otherwise, that is, when followed by a vowel and preceded by a vowel or voice consonant, such as R, it had the voice sound in THEN. In heaven and on earth. Nine. F and S have the breath sounds F or S, and the voice sounds V or Z according to the same rules. Thus they have the breath sound in Sefernd, the enemy. Sechloff. The loaf or the bread. Swawis. So wise. And when doubled. As in. Lassa less. The voice sound in HL. Heaven. Sewi zaladeo. The wise teacher. He razd on hyne. He rushed on hym. Ten. R and W must be pronounced clearly wherever they are written. Her here. That word. The word. The exile. The tree. End of pronunciation from First Steps in Anglo-Saxon by Henry Sweet, reading by J. R. Omehen. The Study of Living Languages, Part 1 Read for the LibriVox Language Learning Collection, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Preface. The learning of the living languages of foreign, semi-civilized, and strange people has now become a matter of such immeasurable importance that any man may be abused who makes the poorest attempt to diminish the difficulties of such a work. Englishmen especially are at this moment employed by thousands as merchants, missionaries, magistrates, etc in learning hundreds of different languages spoken by people in all stages of civilization from the lowest state of society upwards and in their speedy acquisition of a correct knowledge and free colloquial use of several tongues of those tribes hundreds of millions of the human race are most deeply interested as that upon which mainly depends both their temporal and eternal interests. Yet I am not aware that there is in existence a single work in which this subject is closely and systematically investigated. It must be observed that the point before us is what is the best mode of acquiring a knowledge of the language of savage and semi-civilized nations and that this is in some important respects quite distinct from both the acquisition of dead languages and also of the living languages of nations who have been fully civilized and consequently have a complete system of literature a great variety of books of instruction written by extensively informed natives and also thoroughly educated teachers. There are difficulties in learning the languages of semi-civilized and barbarous people in the languages of civilized nations and with respect to the dead languages the principal points to be attended to and the objects aimed at are so entirely different from those in living languages that what is applicable to the one is almost entirely inapplicable to the other. Nothing can be more deplorable than this state of things. The mischiefs are incalculable. All without exception who require to know such a language and to make attempts to acquire it lose probably from three fourths to nineteen twentieths of the time so employed. A large portion lose the whole breaking down before they have acquired any useful knowledge at all. Probably scarcely one in ten acquires a tolerably correct and free use of it and scarcely one at all such a knowledge as to make them really effective translators an office of the highest possible importance. Because the transference of English literature for the great mass of the inhabitants of the earth must precede the formation of a national literature among each tribe at present it may safely be said that no system whatever is followed in studying such living languages for colloquial purposes. Let any one individual of the thousands who are at this moment so employed be asked whose system of study do you prefer or have you any of your own and upon what grounds do you decide upon this or that point and his answer would generally be such as the show that he had no clear definite well digested ideas on the subject without the least previous investigation of the subject without spending one single day in reading a treatise on it or considering it in his own mind he usually blindly takes in hand a matter upon which he will perhaps employ one or several years taking at a venture as it were any books or teachers that he may happen to fall in with or any ideas he may happen to have got into his own head he knows not how or whence without any solid grounds for concluding whether the mode he is pursuing will lead to an economical or an enormously wasteful expenditure of time and what is of more importance whether he is laying the foundation of a real correct and effective knowledge of the language or establishing himself in a totally false use of it which when become habitual will never be corrected. Matters are in respect of this study of languages just as they were in respect of roadmaking before the time of Mr. Macadam every man thought he was born a roadmaker and those holding the charge of roads did almost anything to them and called it repairs. It was a most common thing for instance to throw a thick layer of loose rounded gravel on the road which at first caused almost the greatest possible resistance to the carriages and by degrees was converted into mud but never afforded anything approaching to a clean hard surface. The road menders were quite satisfied because they were doing something but if asked why they did what produced an effect exactly the opposite to that which was desired they of course could not have given a reason. Roadmaking has since been thoroughly investigated and though men have not yet perhaps found out the best way of doing it there is no real reason for what they do and consequently a prodigious improvement in roads has been produced it is high time that such a change should take place in reference to this subject now before us and any attempt at an examination of it with a view to a really sound system of study should be accepted the thoughts contained in the following paper the results of such a consideration of the subject as could be given to it in the midst of duties of another kind during a period of more than 30 years circumstances have not allowed of the writer following up the study of any language to any extent having repeatedly moved from where one language was spoken to where another was used and his time being too much occupied with pressing business the opportunity of commencing the study of a language with such materials as he here recommends ready prepared to his hands in the course of this long period however he has had an opportunity of trying his plans partially in several languages both on himself and others and thus of correcting in some measure his first ideas and forming something like a digested system in his own mind and he must state that as to the leading points in the system here proposed he has quite satisfied himself he has taken every opportunity of obtaining aid from others both by reading works of teachers of languages in Europe and also by trying to discuss the question with those who are studying and had studied living languages from the former he has received some help though often merely by being taught what to avoid but from the latter he received no assistance simply because in general they had no distinct ideas at all on the matter nor any solid reason for anything they had done in their studies he has however got various hints from observing what progress men had made in such studies when using different means on one occasion he met with a young man who had given his whole time to Arabic for three years and could not then produce a sentence in conversation and soon after he was intimate with another who in about eight months and while loaded with other duties had obtained if not an accurate yet such an effective colloquial use of the same tongue that he regularly transacted extensive business in it with strangers of all sorts without the least difficulty again in India one meets every day with men who have studied most diligently for one two or three years and yet all their life after speak a language that both from pronunciation and expression is almost or quite unintelligible to any native accepting those who from being about them constantly in an official capacity have learnt their language for what they used and called the native language was really a language of their own invention and so have come to understand them the writer cannot conclude these remarks without expressing his full assurance that the acquisition of a correct knowledge and perfectly regular colloquial use of such languages will be found to be a matter acquiring very little time compared with what it does at present in most cases when a better mode of learning is adopted on one occasion he had an opportunity of observing the progress made by foreign in acquiring a new language in a certain time out of a number that embarked in a ship in India many did not know a word of English having previously used nothing but some Indian language and they were of various ages during the four months of the voyage to England every one of them had so perfectly acquired the use of English that they never were at a loss to have as good a knowledge of it as those who had always used it now if children of a few years old without the slightest assistance from teachers or study could thus pick up a colloquial use of a new language in four months and talk it exactly like one who had never talked anything else it seems certain that adults with a hundred times their power of mind and with suitable books and teachers and regular study could not fail to attain to a real knowledge and ready colloquial use of a new language and that without being years about it unless they were altogether wrong in the method of study they adopted in fact he cannot help declaring it as his opinion that when the subject is fairly grappled with by men the great supposed obstacles to intercourse of strange languages will be found comparatively speaking a mere bug bear and that the acquisition of a new language for all the ordinary purposes of life with a comparatively very small expenditure of time and labour the study of living languages while proceeding to propose a system of study of living languages it may be well to make some remarks on the mistakes that are commonly made at present and the chief difficulties that are usually met with as well as on the time generally expended on such study a great many of the common mistakes can easily be traced to the circumstance that almost universally the students have previously been accustomed to study dead languages and from there not observing that almost all the ideas have been formed from that study while the principal points to be attended to in the study of living languages are exactly those that are of little or no consequence in that of dead ones and vice versa in learning Latin or Greek for instance the soul objects usually are to be able to read so as to understand the writings of highly educated men and but as very secondary to write elegant formal essays the following are therefore the leading points aimed at first a knowledge of the character second a knowledge of the whole vocabulary of the language including a multitude of words seldom or never used colloquially in the business of life third a readiness in perceiving the meaning of long involved formal sentences such as are found in grave prose and in poetical writings fourth a thorough knowledge of the whole language so as to be able to give a formal rule for anything when questioned fifth and such a familiar knowledge of the idiom of the language as will be able one to write formal papers in a good style the point that are of little or no consequence are first correct pronunciation second an extensive knowledge of the common expressions used in the ordinary business of life third a perfect readiness at recognizing the word by the sound when rapidly spoken fourth a theme informing sentences to express our own thoughts now if we consider these things we shall perceive that the study of the dead languages and that of the living languages of semi civilized and barbarous nations are almost diametrically opposed in respect of the objects to be attained the points that are essential in the one are either non-essential or of no importance whatever in the other and vice versa a man may talk a language most fluently correctly and usefully for all the ordinary business of life without knowing the character without being able to quote a single rule of grammar without the knowledge of half or three fourths of the vocabulary of a language and without any facility in comprehending the involved sentences of formal of learned men while without an accurate pronunciation an ample acquaintance with the common colloquial expressions of uneducated people and the most free and ready use of them so that strangers can readily catch his words and comprehend his meaning and without an ear thoroughly exercised in the sounds of the language so as at once to recognize what is spoken by a native he has entirely missed his object though he may know every word in the language and every rule of grammar and be able to write an elegant essay without a mistake books of history etc do not furnish us with the expressions of ordinary conversation every country has its own peculiar forms and they must be learnt individually no rules can be given by which a student who knows the words and grammar can invent them himself in semi civilized countries where not one in a hundred has read books there is a large proportion of the words which are never used in conversation on ordinary matters and which therefore are so far from being of any use to the great mass of those who have to acquire the language that they are always in his way if he has learnt them leading him to express himself in words not in common use and consequently unknown to most of those with whom he has to communicate so far therefore from it being sufficient to follow the ideas which a man has gathered while studying dead languages they are in fact the very opposite to those which are correct as respects the study of such living languages as are supposed if we examine the mode of study adopted generally however it may vary in minor points the system so far as that can be called a system which is indeed no such thing is that suited to the dead languages a man takes up a book of stories a grammar and a dictionary and learning almost exclusively by the eye he proceeds exactly as if the use of his ear were of no consequence as if he must at once grapple with the whole vocabulary of the language and as if when he had got the materials of words and rules of grammar he could himself guess the forms of expression which he must compound from them like the idiot who was found to have stored up in his box all the wheels axels etc he could lay his hand upon thinking that when he had got enough he could easily make a clock of them the results of this proceeding are notorious a youth in India has passed a splendid examination knows every word of the language and has a rule of grammar for everything loses his way out riding and can't get home because he is in danger of a stroke of the sun because he can't make any native he meets understand him nor can he understand a sentence spoken by them and this after many months often a year or two of intense study from morning to night and what is still worse probably he is confirmed in a false pronunciation and a false mode of expression from having almost entirely neglected these two great essentials or at least not having given them anything like due attention the consideration of this source of many of the most serious mistakes that are made in this study will be very useful another great source of mistakes is that such languages are generally learned by men at that age when they have most confidence in their own powers and when they are consequently always disposed to take the bull by the horns with this feeling the student generally rushes into the midst of his enemies headlong attempting to grapple at once with the character the pronunciation the whole grammar the whole vocabulary of 20,000 or as in Arabic 200,000 words the language of books and the language of conversation etc no wonder that such a one finds himself continually discouraged that many give up in despair that all waste an enormous amount of time and mental effort and that scarcely one in a hundred ever talks like a native whatever a man's powers may be it is certainly sheer waste to set about matters in this way and he cannot possibly receive such clear impressions on his mind as the same person would if he concentrated his attention upon one thing at a time it may also be well here to advert to some peculiar difficulties which we necessarily encounter in the circumstances in which Europeans are ordinarily placed in semi civilized countries and especially in a country like India in which caste fails if an Englishman wishes to learn French or German he can go and live with a native family or throw himself continually into the society of natives in inns and places of public resort where his ear will be exercised from morning to night in the true pronunciation and the real ordinary expressions of the language and where consequently without the least effort even though indeed slowly he can hardly help acquiring a correct use of the language both as respects pronunciation and expression but there are few countries out of Europe where a European can thus freely associate with the natives and in India he is effectually excluded from their houses separate and special means must therefore be used to exercise the tongue and ear of the student and to store his memory with the stock of bona fide expressions another difficulty is the great inferiority of native teachers compared with European masters indeed in a great proportion of cases a man has to learn a language with the assistance of one who is not a teacher at all by profession and who therefore cannot give him a hundredth part of the help derived from a practice and well instructed teacher further such languages are so extremely different from the European tongues in every respect that a person is much more likely to be discouraged from the difficulties he experiences than in learning a foreign European language and on this account it is especially necessary to adopt a system that shall as far as possible tend to keep up the student's courage these are some of the leading points that should be kept in view in considering a system of study for such languages I would now propose some fundamental principles to be taken as clues to the better understanding of the subject it is evident that there are two fundamental points to be attended to the first which is by far of the greatest importance of the two is to be careful that we lay a solid foundation this is a universal principle and as yet one at least as often forgotten in studying languages as in other matters if a false foundation is laid the erection can never be made sound if a man once acquires a false foundation or a false mode of expression he will never get over it whatever he learns should be perfectly correct and not only so he should have such a thorough knowledge of it that he shall be fully assured in his own mind that his knowledge is correct so that he may not afterwards be in doubt and liable to give up what is right and substitute some guess of his own instead for want of right modes of study what numbers use all their lives some language and pronunciation of their own invention and never find out how it is they can hardly have any intercourse with natives by means of it the true value and true pronunciation of every word encountered should be fully ascertained and its use in a great variety of forms of expression should be made thoroughly familiar before proceeding to other words and no imperfect acquaintance with a word or expression should be allowed the second great principle is of course to save time but this must always be subordinate to the former in the main however the two principles are not only compatible but inseparable nothing causes so much waste of time as imperfectly learning things receiving indistinct and shallow impressions of them because such things are always forgotten and have to be learnt over again this is the grand reason why such enormous time is wasted in this study a man attempts so much at once that everything is partially learnt and forgotten probably at least a hundred times over he begins with a book containing hundreds more likely thousands of words and long sentences involving innumerable rules of grammar and before he gets to the end of it has learnt it in a sort of way and forgotten every word in it and every expression over and over again and has probably at the end thoroughly apprehended and acquired a familiar knowledge of not one twentieth part of the words he has met with he perhaps makes lists of the words that he meets with and learns many hundreds by heart at once but he has no useful knowledge of one in twenty of them no word is effectually known till it is so thoroughly familiar that it is ready in his mouth at any moment without the slightest effort of memory and till it can be used in a considerable variety of expressions in fact till it is just to the student like one of the words of his native tongue and so wrought in his mind that it cannot be forgotten again it may however often appear that time would be gained by adopting some plan which would endanger the soundness of the foundation and in this case such a plan must be rejected the third great principle is to have such a system as shall encourage people both to commence upon and go through with the study of native languages it is of exceeding importance to encourage all persons whatever their situations or occupations are when remaining for a time however sure to run certain in such countries to make themselves acquainted as far as possible with the language of the people numbers at present never attempt it solely because the usual mode of study cuts them off from all hope of ever attaining to the smallest useful knowledge of it without such an expenditure of time and labour as they are afraid to encounter or their circumstances absolutely prevent a system which shall afford some useful results to everyone who enters upon it and those in some degree proportioned to the time and labour expended is an immense desider autumn it would lead numbers to make a beginning who now never attempt it and many such if they once began would not rest till they had obtained some considerable knowledge of it an encouraging system is equally required for those who do at present set themselves to the study with the purpose of going through with it nothing can be more discouraging than the means usually pursued at present whereas if a man were pursuing a system in which he felt at every step that he was making real useful progress he would go on with tenfold spirit always feeling to that stop where he could his labour had not been thrown away in endeavouring to accomplish the first object the following rules may be laid down first the student is really to learn the language and not to attempt to teach himself for instance nothing is more common than for a man as soon as he has learnt a few words with the help of his grammar to begin to try and form sentences in this way he may certainly make a new language of his own but it won't be the language he proposes to learn thus numbers attempt to communicate with natives by English sentences made up of foreign words which consequently are not merely scarcely intelligible but often convey no meaning at all though perfectly correct as regards both words and grammar the student must not at first attempt to take the smallest step alone he must not pronounce a word nor put two words together by himself he must be content to learn everything and that thoroughly from a native sound by sound word by word expression by expression and not attempt to go beyond this till he has become so established in correct pronunciation in his knowledge of the correct value of words and in the actual forms used by the natives that there is no danger of his substituting something of his own for the real language it is by no means sufficient to learn a sound or expression once or ten times it can only be correctly acquired by exercise by thousands of repetitions referring each time immediately to a correct standard if a man reads for an hour with a teacher and then goes on attempting to pronounce the words by himself for the rest of the day he will inevitably acquire a false pronunciation unless he is so thoroughly established in a correct pronunciation that there is no danger of his losing it and then indeed abundant exercise of his tongue when alone will be of the utmost use but this at first is ruinous suppose a child were shown the form of a letter and then as soon as he had a rough idea of it should go on writing repetitions of it without a standard before him anybody can tell what would be the consequence at the end of a month he would be thoroughly confirmed in writing such a letter as had never been seen before and if he had occasionally the standard put before him the consequence would be that nine tenths of his time would be passed in learning to recede further from the original and the other tenth in trying to get rid of the habit of writing wrong and to bring himself back to what was correct the same is the case with the student of languages and in general they are thus constantly employed in partially learning and then unlearning and the consequence is that even when an approach is made to a correct use of the language nine tenths of the time employed is needlessly lost a third point is to learn one thing at a time if a number of things are pressing upon the attention at once it is impossible that a distinct and permanent impression can be received by any mind whatever its powers let us consider a person learning a language in the way so commonly followed he is grappling with a sentence of many words here he has at once to consider the character the meaning of many new words the pronunciation of them all the inflections of the nouns and verbs the syntax the mode of expression etc the consequence is his attention is so overwhelmed and distracted that his mind is incapable of receiving a clear impression on any one point I wonder that so little progress is made that the knowledge acquired is so imperfect and incorrect and that the student is so constantly discouraged often his progress is one continued effort to bear up against the most depressing feeling that he can never master the difficulties as a man wears himself out sometimes in trying to carry a load beyond his strength when if he would divide it and carry a portion of it at a time he would not only accomplish his task and that comfortably but would gain strength by the exercise how many especially in hot climates are so injured in their health not by learning a language but by the way in which they learn it that when they have some use of it they are obliged to lay by for a time whereas if they would learn one thing at a time they would attain to such a clear and sound knowledge and go on so comfortably that they would be in no danger of ending without an effective use of the language a fourth point is to take care to give the whole strength to the really essential parts of the subject are the things that constitute a sound knowledge in this case certainly not a loose imperfect idea of the value of almost all the words of the language with a rough guess at their pronunciation and the mode of putting them together the power of reading the character of understanding a book with the help of time for consideration of recognizing the words by sight etc this is the foundation that is usually laid such a student now commences to apply his knowledge of the language to the principle perhaps the only purpose for which he has studied it namely conversation he finds of course that his being able to recognize the words when he sees them is of no use to him he has no facility in recognizing them by the ear which was the only thing he required he says the native he is attempting to talk with speaks too fast the fact is he has not been learning the one grand thing he has to learn the use of his ear next he finds his knowing all the words in the language in a certain way is of little use to him because what he needs is the perfectly ready familiar use of one in ten of them but he cannot put a dozen together in that ready way which is necessary for conversing next when he has with much difficulty put a sentence together he is paralyzed by seeing a civil inquiring stare on the countenance of his companion in consequence of the imperfection of his pronunciation and the English mode of expression he uses his failure usually produces utter discouragement unless he has such a good opinion of himself that he attributes it entirely to the stupidity of the native in reality he has been giving the whole of his attention to matters that are of little or no use to him while he has almost entirely neglected those that are essential this brings us to the fifth principle that the language must be learnt by the ear and not by the eye this is one of the great fundamental mistakes made almost universally in studying living languages the student never for a moment studies without seeing the words though he knows that his whole object is to recognize them by his ear without any assistance from the eye a man might just as well attempt to train himself for a walking journey by sitting down for a year and turning a winch with his arms or try to strengthen his limbs by moving for six months on crutches everybody knows the consequence of this system but everybody pursues it from the first the ear must be the main medium of receiving instruction and though the eye may be used a little at first with some advantage just to help the memory yet after a little time the ear should be employed alone in conversation a man may consider he has laid a sound foundation when he has made the following acquisitions first the perfectly accurate pronunciation and thoroughly familiar knowledge of a certain number of the most generally used words however small that they are to him exactly as words of his own language that is that he has not to search about in his memory for them when he wants them but that they will come of themselves and these pronounced so that a native cannot but recognize them second the power of putting these together in a good number of real native expressions however short without any effort expressions which he can confidently use because he knows they are real as he actually learnt them from a native and not ones he has invented and which consequently may or may not convey the meaning he intended or any meaning one will often hear a native who has learnt English at a school use a sentence which is unexceptionable as to grammar etc but which is objectionable as conveying no meaning whatever to an Englishman thus a Tamil man may say in English if you see this that's good and the Englishman to whom it is addressed cannot even guess what he means to express though the same expression conveys a clear idea to the Tamilian third an ear so exercised in the sounds of the language that the words spoken by a native if they have been learnt are at once recognized by the student so that what is said within the limit of the student's vocabulary can be apprehended at once without seeing the words written and without a moment's consideration fourth the knowledge of so much grammar as is necessary to form sentences of a few words only this is the sort of knowledge of a language that a child of three or four years old has he doesn't know a single rule of grammar he can't perhaps read or write a letter his whole vocabulary probably consists of a thousand words but within the limits of the matters he has to converse about he can say with perfect freedom and almost perfect correctness anything he wants without a moment's hesitation and he understands on the instant everything that said to him and that even though some of the words used are unknown to him he has in fact a sound foundation what he knows is real and he has only to go on adding to his stock of words and expressions and to correct some unimportant errors which however are such as do not in the least prevent his being understood an adult student who has such a knowledge is in a right position because he can converse within certain limits and therefore he is in the way of exercising himself in contact with a correct standard and he has nothing of consequence to unlearn his progress is not stopped by established habits of false pronunciation and false expression nor by habitual dependence upon his eyes to assist his memory his only care then in conversation should be not to attempt too much but to content himself with common subjects and simple expressions and only giving himself more liberty as by learning he increases his stock of words expressions etc. the knowledge of the character has nothing to do with this foundation it is not in any way an assistance in acquiring it and it is a great hindrance a child uses his language freely and correctly without knowing a letter the character has no connection with the pronunciation of a language which must be learned by the ear alone and the sounds so acquired are just as well represented by the students own letters as by any others why there is a knowledge of almost the whole language necessary to it the words in common use about ordinary matters form only a very small proportion of the words of a language and three fourths of the words which occur in the books ordinarily read are of no use whatever to the beginner they are on the contrary the greatest hindrance to him by preventing his thoroughly learning those that he ought to have a familiar use of let us recapitulate the things necessary to form a sound foundation first a small vocabulary thoroughly known and become as familiar as the words of one's mother tongue second an accurate pronunciation of these and the organs of speech thoroughly exercised in them so that they can be spoken with perfect freedom third so much grammar as is necessary to put these words together in short simple forms of expression fourth an ear so thoroughly exercised in the sounds of the commonest words as spoken by a native that they can be instantly summarised when heard fifth the knowledge of a considerable stock of the commonest expressions of the language so that the words known can be made into bona fide sentences when such a foundation has been laid the student has only to proceed to add more words more grammar and more expressions he is only taking care to learn nothing but what is immediately wanted and to learn thoroughly whatever is learnt at all when considerable progress has thus been made he may proceed to learn the character if he requires it and to read books etc let us now consider more particularly the second main point namely to save time the right way of acquiring a correct knowledge of a language will be found to be suitable for the attainment of this main object also the things that are necessary to ensure a sound foundation are equally so to secure the saving of time but we will now consider the details especially with reference to the latter the first thing then is to do one thing at a time surely this is a principle that will at once commend itself to everyone we have to learn the character, the words, pronunciation the grammar, the expressions etc our plan therefore should be as far as possible to separate these and have the attention concentrated upon one of them at a time certainly cannot be fully accomplished but it can be sufficiently for practical purposes the second is to learn thoroughly whatever is learnt how can there be any question about the waste of time produced by partially learning things and so forgetting them over and over again we may safely say that as ordinarily studied meaning of every word, its pronunciation, points of grammar expressions etc are partially learnt and forgotten again hundreds of times over everything that is learnt should be so followed up that it may be indelibly fixed in the memory and be as much part of the student himself as anything in his own language the third is to learn only what is really wanted surely this also is most obvious to learn at first words which will either never be of any use to him or not till he is far advanced in the language is entire waste of time the same with forms of expression etc an Englishman never thinks it necessary to learn all the words of his own language he never knows half of them much as he reads and how much must there be in every language that he need never know the student should first begin with such words as are of universal use in common life and then when he has made some progress in the language commence upon those which are necessary for his particular profession even in English there are numbers of words which though common in books are never used in ordinary conversation but this is much more the case in languages in which 99 hundredths of the people scarcely ever read a book at all to the beginner such book words as he cannot distinguish them from others are nothing but a serious hindrance to him Bishop Heber remarks that to make himself intelligible to the great mass of his hearers who were uneducated persons he used to find it advisable to confine himself as far as possible to words of Saxon derivation that is to words commonly used in conversation if such a precaution were necessary in England how much more in semi civilized countries can there be any question but that a system of study based upon these principles by far the largest part of the time usually spent upon acquiring a colloquial use of a foreign language may be saved look at the progress a child makes in a really useful knowledge of a language whether his first or one picked up afterwards from being associated with those who speak it with such extremely small powers of mind without any effort and without any materials can it be supposed that an adult with such enormous advantages with properly prepared materials and with diligent study could not make much more rapid progress if he pursued a right system that I would now propose founded on these principles is as follows first the language is to be learned through the medium of the English character the object of this is to get rid of anything which is not absolutely necessary to be learned at first it may be said that it takes a very little time to learn the native character and so it does to learn it in a certain way that is so that by fixing the thoughts upon a letter and taking a little time for consideration it may be recollected to represent a certain sound but it will be a long time before the character is so familiar as to not occupy the attention most seriously and that at the time when there is the greatest demand upon it but not only is a known character preferable at first on this account but it is also superior as a medium to the native character as being less liable to lead to mistakes in an Indian language for instance in which there are two or three ends and as many L's the beginner is always liable to forget which is which but the plan of noting the sound by English letters with one or two dots under those that represent peculiar native sounds affectually prevents any such mistakes. The dots remind the reader in the readiest manner that they represent such sounds as are those upon which the attention should be especially concentrated every letter in the native language must be represented by one certain letter of English so that the proper spelling may be known. As to the learning of the native character ultimately if the student should require it it's the easiest thing in the world when the language is known in other respects and the whole attention is available for the letters only. The time required for this is most trifling but even were it considerable it would still be necessary to learn at first through the medium of the English character on account of the enormous loss of time arising from having the attention overburdened at first. I therefore reject the native character as being first quite unnecessary for learning the language second as being a most serious hindrance absorbing a great deal of the attention when it's utmost efforts are required for those things which are essential third as not being required at all by a great proportion of those who need to acquire a foreign language fourth as a thing that can be acquired with a hundredth part of the time which would be consumed at first after the other parts of the study have been matured fifth as being more liable to be mistaken by the beginner than the English character if it be said but how can it be avoided when there are no elementary books of the language in the English character I answer first that I am here proposing a new system and of course would have books prepared suitable to it second that in many languages as in those of Bengal many books have already been prepared in this way third that in many situations the student could with the assistance of a native easily provide himself with the first elementary books without much loss of time and certainly with much less expenditure of time than by studying in the commonest ways with such books as are already provided and fourthly that if there is no alternative we must of course begin by learning the native character but still if we follow out the other parts of the system here proposed it will be much less hindrance to him than to those who adopt the usual means because he will seldom have to read any words but those which he knows and then the strange character is comparatively a small hindrance of course in applying the English character the value of each letter must first be defined as is now fully recognized as an essential principle and which is always acted upon in the Bengal books the letter a for instance has in English seven distinct sounds as in the words hat, mast, all, many, America, yacht, make. In all the East Indian languages the letter which represents the sound of r a in mast or long r somewhat modified represents the sound of r a in a muse or short a and therefore this letter with and without a long mark over it should represent these two sounds and be used whenever the corresponding characters are used or implied in the foreign word with respect to the other sounds of it some are unknown in certain languages as for instance the sounds of that letter in the words hat and yacht are unknown in any Asiatic language no native Indian can pronounce the words hat and hot but are under the necessity of substituting some other vocal sound for them till they have learnt the true pronunciation the other sounds of it will of course be represented by those English vowels which most properly represent them only taking care to use the same letter to represent the long and short sound distinguishing the former by a long mark over it thus the sound of e in hen and fit which are properly the same sound pronounced long or short are represented in the Indian languages by modifications of the same letter and should therefore both be represented by e with respect to the sounds which are either unknown in English or not represented by any one English letter this should either be represented by a combination of English letters if possible or if not by a letter or letters distinguished by a mark as for instance one or more dots under them there are for instance four letters that represent in the Tamil language the sound of our N or some modification of it one is precisely the sound of it the tongue being placed in the same position as by us this will be represented of course by our N the second is the same in sound though represented by a different character but it occurs only when proceeding and combined with a certain other consonant this may also be represented by a simple English N as the sound is the same the third has the sound of NY in English and therefore should be represented by those consonants the sound is that of our N in new the fourth is a sound unknown in English it is pronounced by the tongue being turned entirely back so that the under part of its tip touches the roof of the mouth and N sounded with the tongue in this position is the sound required this therefore should be represented by an N with a dot under it the dot or dots being the invariable mark of a sound quite strange to an Englishman so as to be the readiest warning to the student that the tongue must be placed in a position which is new to him this is much preferable to the native character itself because there can be no mistake about it any effort of memory whereas the foreign character will always require the student to consider which of the several sounds of N it represents it may be observed here that in general probably in all cases the languages of semi-civilized people that are written have an invariable sound for each character so that there is no such difficulty in representing them by the English characters as there would be in representing English by some foreign character on account of the vocal sounds being represented in different words by different vowels as hat, yacht, many, all etc and grief, leaf, seed, previous marine, receive, and homeopathy in writing English therefore in a foreign character there would be no alternative but to use a certain letter for each sound however that sound is represented in English writing and correct English spelling must be learnt afterwards but these difficulties do not exist in applying the English character to represent the sounds of most of the written languages of semi-civilized nations in languages part 1 by Sir Arthur Cotton Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater Recorded in London, England