III
METHODS ADOPTED BY THE EUROPEANS
AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

It is not an easy task to learn a language, which is vitally different from the mother tongue, especially if this language belongs to an alien family of languages and is basically different in form and pronunciation. A pre-requisite for such a study is an unfluctuating interest combined with tireless effort and this, the Missionaries had in abundance. Acquaintance with any language will make the study of another similar one within the same group or family of languages easier, but when the two belong to basically different groups, the hazards are many and this is what the foreign Missionaries faced.

Each language has its own individual phonetic and phonemic systems and unless the learner is exposed constantly to an environment, where that language is perdominantly spoken and unless he makes ceaseless efforts to imitate the pronunciation, the correct method of pronunciating the word or term will be well nigh impossible. ‘Parrot like’ the words have to be repeated, in the beginning, till the correct pronunciation is attained. “Ziegenbalg .... daily read the best Tamil authors and through endless repetition memorized the best-sounding sentence constructions.”¹ To pronounce new unfamiliar words involves effort and the final pronunciation is bound to retain some of the flavour of the person’s mother tongue. Thus, we see the Scotchman's English differing from the Welshman’s in pronunciation.

It is well-known that children are adept at picking up languages. They quickly learn to speak, imitating the sounds that they hear. In their eagerness to imitate the adults, children often repeat words without comprehending their meaning.

1. Erich Beyrenther. Barthlomeous Ziegenbalg; 1955, P. 26.