85$ The Study of Living Languages, [no. 4, new series, 



known general principles, which show so plainly how entirely un- 

 digested the subject still is, and how people in general are still 

 acting upon notions that they have never examined, and which 

 will not bear the least examination. 



In the book which is prefaced by these rules, the materials pro- 

 vided to assist the learner of Tamil are all prepared upon the usual 

 false principles : — 



1st. An unlimited vocabulary is used, so that every word must 

 be learnt and forgotten a hundred times over. 



2nd. All sorts of words are introduced, words perfectly useless 

 to a beginner, words derived from Sanscrit and scarcely ever used 

 in conversation, words used only in books translated from Eng- 

 lish by Englishmen, &c. 



3rd. The sentences are certainly not all written by a Native, so 

 that the learner takes up the book with the encouraging feeling 

 that he does not know which are true Tamil sentences and which 

 are not. 



4th. Almost all the sentences are much too long for a beginner. 



5th. Many of the sentences are such as it is quite useless for a 

 beginner to learn. 



6th. English sentences are given without the corresponding Ta- 

 mil. How is the learner to discover what the proper Tamil would 

 be unless he is told ? 



7th. The same with the Tamil sentences. WhaJ; can be the use 

 of leaving the learner to guess what the English meaning is, know- 

 ing that when he has guessed it, it may be either right or wrong. 

 Suppose a Tamil man were learning English, how could he find 

 out the expression we use when we ask who a certain person is ? 

 How could he ever guess the expression, Who's that ? Or could 

 he find out of himself these expressions, What's the matter ? 

 Where has he been ? Come away. Td rather not. Never mind 

 Whether or not. I can't help it.- You might as well set a man to 

 guess, at the words of a language as at its common expressions. 



When I put this book into a Moonshee's hand, the first thing 

 he said, was, Many of these sentences are not common Tamil ex- 

 pressions, and many of the words are not commonly used in con- 

 versation. 



