HANDBOOK
OF
COLLOQUIAL JAPANESE.
CHAPTER i.
Introductory Remarks.
1T i. " How can I learn to speak Japanese ?" This question has been so often addressed to the present writer, that he has resolved to put his answer into a permanent shape. He is persuaded that no language was ever learnt solely from a grammar, least of all a language like Japanese, whose structure and idioms are so alien from all that we are accustomed to in Europe. The student is therefore recommended only to glance through the Theoretical Part at first, in order to obtain a general idea of the territory he has to conquer. He can pick up by the way such of the examples as strike him, committing them to memory and seeking opportunities for using them to his servants and his native teacher. He should then go on to the Practi- cal Part, and attack the stories as soon as possible, how- ever baffling it may seem to be confronted with such long sentences. After all, as Japanese consists chiefly of long sentences, one cannot too early decide to face them. A little practice will rob them of much of their terror. Every
