Ebook: A Cantonese Phonetic Reader

Publisher: London, Univ. Press.
Publication date: 1916-2007.
Number of pages: 128.
Language:English/Cantonese.Alhtough phonetic methods are now so widely used in connexion with the teaching of modern European languages, yet hitherto very little has been done in the way of applying these methods to the study of languages of the Chinese type. 1 It is with a view to initiation of these methods that the present reader has been prepared. The following hints regarding the use of this book may be found useful.
The first thing a person has to do when he wishes to acquire the correct pronunciation of a foreign language is to learn to pronounce the individual sounds. For this purpose a good teacher is essential. The best results are achieved by imitation of the sounds pronounced by the teacher aided by a study of phonetic theory (that is to say a study of the positions of the organs of speech in forming the correct sounds) and the practice of suitable exercises.
I See, however, an article on Cantonese, Phonetics by.
0. Seers in the M'litre Phom'tifjm-, Jan.-Feb., 1908. Also for the Mandarin language Notes sur la J^ronondation de la Langue Mandarine by R. Ch. Guernier, published by the International Phonetic Association, 1912 (obtainable from D. Jones, University College, London, W.C., price Is.). A Mandarin Phonetic text by.
0. Seers appeared in the M'iifr Phonetique, Nov. Dec., 1908. Japanese lias IHHMI treated by the methods of modern phonetics in the EttJ *itr la Langue Japonaise pnrlte Toy K. It. Kd wards (Teubner, Leipzig). I am hoping to supplement this reader shortly by a short treatise on Cantonese pronunciation in which the requisite phonetic theory will be found, and in which methods will be indicated for acquiring the difficult sounds. When the student is able to pronounce tolerably well the isolated Cantonese sounds (a list of which is given on pp. xi-xiv) he is in a position to start reading phonetic texts. It is hardly necessary to point out that phonetic texts should always be read aloud. Students should read carefully the remarks on pp. ix-xvi before beginning to study the texts.