Finally, mention ought to be made in this connection of another name—that of my dear wife. Not only by sympathy and encouragement, but in the more practical way of helpful criticism and correction of proof (especially of the latter half of the book) she has laid her husband, and those who may use this book, under deep obligation.
When it is remembered that the book was written in the interior of Southern China—many parts in native inns and in native boats, far away from works of reference, and further, that it was printed in Shanghai, whence it took two or three weeks to receive an answer to a letter, and that the actual printing was by men who, though Chinamen, did not know Hakka, and sometimes probably not much English, one need not be surprised that there are mistakes and misprints. Italic type with tonal accents proved specially trying to the printers. Time permitted only one reading of proof; it has been a too common experience to find corrected errors (specially in tonal accents) re-appear after the book was printed off.
For the convenience of Hakka students I have, in addition to the colloquial language, introduced into the Dictionary the characters given in the dictionaries of Williams and Giles. For the definitions I am mainly indebted to Giles, while Williams, Eitel, and Carstairs Douglas (whose Amoy dictionary is a model of what such a book should be) have all been consulted. When no illustrative examples are given, it may be taken for granted that the character is not used in colloquial speech; and reference should be made to the above-mentioned dictionaries. This will be facilitated by the "Radical Index" prepared by the author and published separately.
The number of foreigners who study Hakka is so small that there was a considerable financial risk in undertaking such a publication. This risk has been met in a very satisfactory way by the governments of Hongkong, of Singapore, and of the Federated Malay States (all of whom have much to do with Hakka-speaking Chinese), subscribing for a sufficient number of copies. Grateful thanks are due to these governments, and especially to that of the Federated Malay States for setting the example—according to their usual enlightened policy.
