From the AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.
Those who have attempted to acquire a working knowledge of any of the spoken dialects of China by picking up isolated words from a vocabulary or dictionary, (like picking pebbles from the sea shore), know full well the necessity of a beginner's book; one that is practical, and yet so simple that the learner will be encouraged by being able to use his acquirements from the first lesson.
The design of the author of this manual is to supply, to some extent, this long-felt want; and he is confident that anyone who will take the trouble to master these lessons (the work of only a few months), will be in possession of the key to the spoken language, not only of this district, but, with a slight change in the sound of words (which can be easily acquired), of other districts also; for the general structure of the language (barring a few localisms) is the same everywhere.
The importance of a thorough knowledge of the classifiers cannot be too strongly urged; for it is impossible to speak of any visible object without using one of them, and it is important to a clear understanding of the matter under consideration that the correct classifier be used.
A careful study of the inflected verbs will save months, if not years, of perplexing uncertainty; for the same forms will be found applicable to most other verbs.
