7
for an Indian Civilian, to study the language for a time, before he leaves his own country. The novelty of oriental life, the new scenes around him, the trials of the climate, the heat, the lassitude which is often felt by one new to the country, added to official calls, the requirements of society in the presidency town, the journey to an upcountry station, the civilities that have again to be gone through there, the settling down to a new home, and the effort to learn some of the official duties that will ere long devolve upon him,—all these are very serious hindrances to steady work with the rudiments of a language, and often greatly impede the progress of the young Civilian Whereas, if the rudiments of the language have been thoroughly mastered at home, much of the drudgery work will have been already surmounted, everyday rapid progress will be made after arrival in India, and the acquisition of the language will be a pleasure rather than a toil.
In learning Tamil the motto of the student, especially at first, should be 'Quality not Quantity'. A little thoroughly mastered, is of much more value than a far larger quantity only half learnt. Some, by being too rapid at first, bring upon themselves the great extra trouble of having to unlearn faulty pronunciations.
The student should, from the very beginning, provide himself with a pocket-book, and enter into it all the Tamil words which he finds in the early chapters of this book, with their English meaning placed opposite to them. These he should carefully commit to memory, and constantly repeat. They will form a most useful vocabulary of common Tamil words, the acquisition of which is of primary importance in learning a living language. After the mind has been stored with a well-learnt vocabulary, it will be found useful to enter in the pocket-book a
