A text-book of colloquial Japanese, based on the Lehrbuch der japanischen umgangssprache by Dr. Rudolf Lange

1907·34 MB·English

by  Lange, Rudolf, 1850-1933

A TEXT-BOOK
OF
COLLOQUIAL
JAPANESE
BASED ON THE
LEHRBUCH DER JAPANISCHEN UMGANGSSPRAGHE
BY
RUDOLF LANGE
Dr.
PROFESSOR OF JAPANESE AT THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL
LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN
REVISED ENGLISH EDITION
BY
CHRISTOPHER NOSS
FORMERLY MISSIONARY OF THE REFORMED CHURCH, SENDAI
METHODIST
TOKYO
19O7
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COPYRIGHT 1903 BY CHRISTOPHER NOSS
REPRINTED APRIL IQO?
BY
THE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE
TOKYO, JAPAN
The basis ofthis book is the first volume of the series of
Lehrbucher des Seminars far Orientalische Sprachen, publish-
ed at Berlin in 1890. Its author, Df. Lange, before his appoint-
ment at Berlin, had been for a number of years instructor in
the German language at the Daigaku Yobimon (Preparatory
School to the University) in Tokyo. Since that time all his
energies have been devoted to the task of making his country-
men acquainted with the Japanese language and literature.
My own experience as a missionary student of the lan-
guage having proved the value of this work I prepared an
English edition which was printed at Sendai, 1901-1903.
After I undertook the task Dr. Lange sent me copious notes
-ofcorrections and additions gathered during his ten years' ex-
perience as a teacher. Justice to him requires me to state that
I used the material thus graciously placed at my disposal with
.a very free hand, for several reasons. In the first place Dr.
Lange had prepared his book with the needs of a German
student in view, and while the needs of an English-speaking
student are in the main the same, there are many cases in
which an explanation intended for the one will not help the
other. Secondly, Dr. Lange's notes were in many instances
mere suggestions, very fruitful indeed, but not fully developed.
And, finally, I felt that I had one advantage over the original
author in that I had used his text-book when I first learned
my Japanese, and was thus in a position to test it as he could
not. My subsequent experience in the use of the language had
revealed omissions not so apparent to the author himself.
Accordingly it was my aim to recast all the material in such a
way as to make it most helpfulto the English-speaking student.
This book is not a translation and Dr. Lange is not responsible
for any errors that it may contain.
221154
IV PREFACE
If I had been permitted to remain in Japan I might have
undertaken a complete reconstruction of the work ; but that is
A
out ofthequestion for the present. call for a second edition
having come unexpectedly soon, I have had time only for a
superficial revision, with constant reference to the second
German edition, which appeared at Berlin in the early part of
this year. The new Lchrfyich contains eight hundred pages,
of which the last two hundred are devoted to an entirely new
German-Japanese vocabulary. Sincestudents now have access
to a very satisfactory English-Japanese dictionary it does not
seem necessary to include such a feature in the English edition.
The improvements in the body of the new German edition
were largely anticipated by the former English edition, in the
preparation of which, ashasbeen stated, Dr. Lange generously
co-operated with me. Accordingly, in the main, the arrange-
ment and the paging remain as before. The selections at the
end have been somewhat increased.
The aim ofthe book is pedagogical rather than scientific ;
hence the combination of system and no-system and the num-
erous repetitions. The pedagogical principle hasbeen applied,
for example, in the study of words. When it seems likely to
aid the memory of the student to indicate the origin of a word,
this is done; but when the etymology is disputed or apt to be
confusing, nothing is said about it and the student must learn
the word as a whole. The repetitions in most cases are not
accidental but designed. For the student must pass through
three stages to become master ofan idiom- First, he needs to
be thoroughly convinced that there is such an idiom ; secondly,
he must learn how to use it, and, thirdly, after he has entirely
forgotten its existence he needs to be reminded that he cannot
get along very well without it.
A
truly scientific grammar of the colloquial is yet to be
written. But in one respect this work may claimto be scienti-
fic : it has been the constant aim of Dr. Lange, and of myself,
to set forth the language as it is actually spoken by the Japan-