$14 The Study of 'Living Languages, [no. 4, new series, 



IX. The Study of Living Languages. By Colonel Ar- 

 thur Cotton, filadras Engineers. 



The learning of the living languages of foreign, semi-civilized, 

 and savage people has now become a matter of such immeasurable 

 importance that any man may be excused 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, Sec, 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 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 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 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 



