179
M
I
!
must pursue. Tiny speak a punctiliouse with a clear pronunciation,
and
of
are in
intelligence above the average
those engaged to teach the colloquial.
int
to possess a fair
The students, Messrs Smith and Tonnochy appeared to amount of aptitude, though no extraordinary gift, as linguists. Their progress, considering that they have been ten months devoted exclusively to the
study of Cantonese is not
such
as
I should have expected from
their
they both
- capabilities, and, inasmuch as they appeared to be
carr
to the
zealous and diligent, I
but attribute their backwardness to misdirection of their energies. Mr. Smith, especially, informed me that he has been attempting to read
the Confucian classics, and from his
remarks and
an
inspection of his
manuscript books, I gathered that he had been paying that sort of attention to the written character, which, experience
has shown
ini,
too
often
stands
in
the
- way of proficiency
in the
the spoken
language.
It is advisable, indeed, that no phrase
should be acquired
acquired, without being submitted to such analysis
as may
adduce
the
value of its component parts, for, although the language abounds in combinations which take from it
the reproach of being utterly monosyllabic, still each character or monosyllable does
assert its independence to
an
extent
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