of pronunciation and orthography, but also understanding what is read.”⁶ It is but natural that Beschi pointed out this to attain correct pronunciation. His clever eye catches the error committed by the Tamul Portuguese Lexicon in saying that Kan̠r̠u may be written as Kaṇṇu. He disproves this and defends his statement by saying, “I have never even once, either seen them written or heard them pronounced, indifferently by natives skilled in the language; and no one will praise us for blindly following the ignorant.”⁷ The latter part of the statement is a clear proof that his arguments are not groundless and he gives an indirect piece of advice to the foreign missionaries “not to follow blindly the ignorant.” This advice is repeated by Rhenius when he says, “it can only be acquired by the assistance of a learned Native, who knows the native grammars well, has had no practice in English and foreign compositions, possesses a clear and logically thinking intellect and is no flatterer.”⁸ From Beschi's statement we are led to conclude, that he had access to a "Tamil-Portuguese Lexicon” and this might have helped him a great deal, but we have no definite proof.

Beschi and Rhenius compared our sound system with the sound systems of other languages like Latin, German, Portuguese etc. This comparative study clearly revealed the peculiarities and the different pronunciations which existed. This was of invaluable help to later scholars. Armed with a knowledge of their own language, it was easier now to tide over the peculiarities of Tamil. Perhaps this led Pope to declare that two hours of study spread over a year is sufficient to learn Tamil.⁹

When the Europeans landed in India, especially the Missionaries, their initial difficulty lay in understanding the people. Francis Xavier says, “We could not understand one another as I

6. Ibid. Rule 15.

7. Ibid. Rule 12.

8. Rhenius, C. T. E. A Grammar of the Tamil Language; Intrn., 1853, P.V.

9. Pope, G.U. A Hand Book of the Ordinary Dialect of the Tamil Language; Preface,
5th Para.