roddy Posted February 14, 2011 at 04:35 AM Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 at 04:35 AM Thought this was worth a repost - originated on C-POL it seems, and was then forwarded to me, it's a list of early Chinese textbooks available on Archive.org. Should be good for curiosity value, and perhaps a few of us may like to actual sit down and study them. Audio, I fear, is not available. Except perhaps on wax cylinder: First lessons in Chinese (1871) by Yates http://www.archive.org/details/firstlessonsinch00yaterich Chinese without a teacher (1872) by Giles http://www.archive.org/details/chinesewithoutte00gilerich Chinese made easy by Brouner http://www.archive.org/details/chinesemadeeasy00brourich Easy Lessons in Chinese, Or, Progressive Exercises to Facilitate the Study of that Language ... (1842) by Samuel Wells Williams http://www.archive.org/details/easylessonsinch00willgoog A Mandarin primer (1911) by Baller http://www.archive.org/details/mandarinprimer00balluoft Chinese without a teacher, being a collection of easy and useful sentences in the Mandarin dialect, with a vocabulary (1901) by Giles http://www.archive.org/details/chinesewithoutte00gileuoft Introduction to literary Chinese by Brandt http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontoli00branuoft A handbook of the Chinese language (1863) by James Summers http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofchines00summiala Chinese phonetic system and language : (English translation) (1922) http://www.archive.org/details/chinesephonetics00lichrich Colloquial Chinese by Whymant http://www.archive.org/details/colloquialchines00whymiala Two years' course of study in the Chinese language (1913) by Robert Bryan http://www.archive.org/details/twoyearscourseof00bryarich Brief introduction to the study of the Chinese language (1915) by Pettus http://www.archive.org/details/briefintroductio00pettrich Cantonese for beginners : learning Cantonese through self-taught word-for-word method, with characters, pronunciation, tones and combinations ([19--]) by Jiang http://www.archive.org/details/cantoneseforbegi01jianuoft A Cantonese phonetic reader by Jones http://www.archive.org/details/cantonesephoneti00joneuoft How to speak Cantonese: fifty conversations in Cantonese colloquial; with Chinese character, free and literal English translations, and romanised spelling with tonic and diacritical marks, &c (1902) by Ball http://www.archive.org/details/howtospeakcanton00ballrich 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creamyhorror Posted February 14, 2011 at 06:08 AM Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 at 06:08 AM There are a few guides/dictionaries to Hokkien ("the Amoy dialect") on Archive.org too - I'll try to post links later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 14, 2011 at 06:29 AM Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 at 06:29 AM Old grammar translation texts are great fun even if you just read the English. From the Bryan (1913) text: Goat's horns are a foot long, and also all are crooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HedgePig Posted February 14, 2011 at 10:37 AM Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 at 10:37 AM Alas, a day late Roddy. If only I had known about the goats yesterday, it would have saved me endless trouble at Renmenguanchang interchange. However, I'm sure that I'll be able to use this soon: "You truly are a man who does not know fragrance and stinks, that is, a stupid knave." More seriously, thanks, for the interesting link. And I do like how the Bryan book actually starts off with a lot of questions to ask the teacher, "How do you pronounce this character?", etc. Very sensible really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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