To the Rev.J.Jowett WILLOW LANE,ST.GILES,NORWICH.JUNE 9TH,1833
REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-I have mastered Mandchou,and I should feel obliged by your informing the Committee of the fact,and also my excellent friend Mr.Brandram.
I assure you that I have had no easy and pleasant task in acquiring this language.In the first place,it is in every respect different from all others which I have studied,with perhaps the exception of the Turkish,to which it seems to bear some remote resemblance in syntax,though none in words.In the second place,it abounds with idiomatic phrases,which can only be learnt by habit,and to the understanding of which a Dictionary is of little or no use,the words separately having either no meaning or a meaning quite distinct from that which they possess when thus conjoined.And thirdly the helps afforded me in this undertaking have been sadly inadequate.However,with the assistance of God,Ihave performed my engagement.
I have translated several pieces from the Mandchou,amongst which is the ...or Spirit of the Hearth ([GREEK TEXT]),which is a peculiarly difficult composition,and which had never previously been translated into a European language.Should you desire a copy,I shall have great pleasure in sending one.
I shall now be happy to be regularly employed,for though I am not in want,my affairs are not in a very flourishing condition.
I remain,Revd.and dear Sir,your most obedient humble servant,GEORGE BORROW.