Carstairs Douglas
Published: 2017-10-29
Total Pages: 924
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Excerpt from Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy: With the Principal Variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew Dialects To some it seems also a great want that there is no english-chinese part. But that must really be a separate work. The whole style and character of Chinese thought and expression is so different from the nearest English equivalents, that the work of reversing a dictionary, which at first sight seems very easy, would really be enormous, falling not very far short of the original composition. With all its imperfections I trust that this book shall prove helpful to those who study the language of Amoy. My chief object has been to assist those who are engaged in the work of Christian missions; but for this purpose I have endeavoured to give a full view of the language so far as I have been able to learn it; and the book is fitted to be equally useful to merchants, travellers, mariners, interpreters, and students. It is most desirable that foreigners residing among the Chinese should learn their language, so as to hold direct intercourse with them, instead of using the miserable jargon called canton-english or pigeon English, or being left at the mercy of interpreters. Few things would so much tend to remove causes of dispute or bad feeling, and to make the intercourse between these nations both pleasant and beneficial. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.