214 The Study of Living Languages, [no. 4, ^'EW series. 
IX. The St^idy of Living Languages, By Colonel Ar- 
thur Cotton, 31adras Engineers. 
The learning of the living languages 6f foreign, semi-civilized, 
and savage people has now become a matter of such immeasurable 
importance that any man may be excused who makes the pooreet 
attempt to diminish the difficulties of such a work. 
Englishmen especially, are at this moment empl^&yed by thousands, 
as Merchants, Missionaries, Magistrates, &;c.,<*.n learning hundreds 
of different languages spoken by people in all stages of civilization, 
from the lowest state of society upwards, and in their speedy ac- 
quisition 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 sys- 
tem 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 which do not exist in the case of the lan- 
guages of civilized nations, and with respect to the dead languages 
the principal points to be attended to and the objects aimed at are 
so entirelj^ 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 arising out of it are incalculable. All, without excep. 
tion who require to know such a language, and who make at- 
tempts to acquire it, lose, probably from three fourths, to nineteen 
