An elementary handbook of the Siamese language
Hitherto those who have tried to acquire the language from a native teacher, have laboured under two great disadvantages, firstly that so very few Siamese teachers have sufficient knowledge of English to enable them to make explanations in necessary detail, and, secondly that they use a method, which although suitable for teaching the Siamese language to a Siamese child, is one which is hard of comprehension by a foreigner.
The author trusts that this book will remove these disadvantages by giving the rules and explanations, and by indicating an applicable method. The real work therefore of the Siamese teacher, is in the earlier part of the book, to teach the learner the correct pronunciation, and, in the latter- part, to help him to translate English into good Siamese.
In the earlier exercises Nos. 26 to 38 for translation into English, the Siamese is not very idiomatic. This has been purposely arranged so as not to give the learner too many difficulties to deal with at first.
It is useful for the learner to compare these sentences with the same sentences rendered into strictly idiomatic Siamese, in a small book entitled " Exercises for Translation " by the same author. Siamese is distinctly a difficult language especially as regards the correct pronunciation, on which the meanings of the majority of words so vitally depends.
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