Sketches from Formosa.

XL
OUR LANGUAGE PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE
THE symbols now used for writing and printing by the
people of Formosa are : First, the universally-diffused
Chinese characters ; and, Second, the Japanese script,
which latter is chiefly made up of Chinese characters,
with about fifty semi-alphabetic phonotypes placed
alongside as an aid in expressing their sounds and their
meaning.
Now, some foreigners have said a great deal about the
impracticability of the Chinese method of writing, but
few persons are more entitled to speak on the subject
than the veteran missionary, Dr. A. H. Smith, and this
"
is the testimony given by him : It may safely be said
that Chinese is a less difficult tongue than Japanese,
Arabic, Tamil, and Turkish, not to mention others. To
whatever extent the Chinese language has been a barrier
to outsiders, it has certainly been a bond to those who
have used it. The Chinese themselves are unconscious
of its deficiencies. They greatly admire its terseness, its
ductility, and its pictorial beauty, which often flashes
its meaning through a descriptive character, as a dark
lantern lights up a path through a thicket. There can
be no doubt that the Chinese language is undergoing a
process of expansion to meet modern conditions, and
there is no good reason to suppose that it will be or
could be superseded by any other."
As showing, too, how people of even moderate capacity
can acquire a passable knowledge of the ideographs
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