Editing Manchu language (section)

====Studies by outsiders====
A number of European scholars in the 18th century were frustrated by the difficulties in reading Chinese, with its "complicated" [[Hanzi|writing system]] and [[Classical Chinese|classical]] writing style. They considered Manchu translations, or parallel Manchu versions, of many Chinese documents and literary works very helpful for understanding the original Chinese. [[Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla|De Moyriac de Mailla]] (1669–1748) benefited from the existence of the parallel Manchu text when translating the historical compendium ''[[Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu|Tongjian Gangmu]]'' (''Tung-chien Kang-mu''; {{lang|zh-hant|资治通鉴纲目}}). [[Jean Joseph Marie Amiot|Jean Joseph Amiot]], a [[Jesuit]] scholar, consulted Manchu translations of Chinese works as well, and wrote that the Manchu language "would open an easy entrance to penetrate ... into the labyrinth of Chinese literature of all ages."<ref name="repo1844">Anonymous, "Considerations on the language of communication between the Chinese and European governments", in ''The Chinese Repository'', vol XIII, June 1844, no. 6, pp. 281–300. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6wEMAAAAYAAJ Available on Google Books]. Modern reprint exists, {{ISBN|1-4021-5630-8}}</ref>

[[File:Kangxi-Lugou-rebuilding-stele-text-fragment-3582.jpg|thumb|The [[Kangxi Emperor]]'s stele near [[Lugou Bridge]], with parallel Chinese and Manchu text]]
Study of the Manchu language by Russian sinologists started in the early 18th century, soon after the founding of the [[Chinese Orthodox Church#Russian Mission|Russian Orthodox Mission]] in Beijing, to which most early Russian sinologists were connected.<ref name=gorelova>Liliya M. Gorelova, "Manchu Grammar." Brill, Leiden, 2002. {{ISBN|90-04-12307-5}}</ref> {{Wikidata fallback link|Q27260651}} <!---Illarion Kalinovich Rossokhin-->(died 1761) translated a number of Manchu works, such as ''The history of Kangxi's conquest of the Khalkha and Oirat nomads of the Great Tartary, in five parts'' ({{lang|ru|История о завоевании китайским ханом Канхием калкаского и элетского народа, кочующего в Великой Татарии, состоящая в пяти частях}}), as well as some legal treatises and a Manchu–Chinese dictionary. In the late 1830s, [[Georgy M. Rozov]] translated from Manchu the ''History of the Jin (Jurchen) Dynasty''.<ref name=larichev>''История золотой империи''. (''The History of the Jin (Jurchen) Dynasty'') Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch. Novosibirsk, 1998. 2 {{ISBN|5-7803-0037-2}}. [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus11/Zinschi/red.htm Editor's preface] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> A school to train Manchu language translators was started in [[Irkutsk]] in the 18th century, and existed for a fairly long period.<ref name=larichev/>

An anonymous author remarked in 1844 that the transcription of Chinese words in Manchu alphabet, available in the contemporary Chinese–Manchu dictionaries, was more useful for learning the pronunciation of Chinese words than the inconsistent [[Romanization of Chinese|romanizations]] used at the time by the writers transcribing Chinese words in English or French books.<ref name=repo1844/>

In 1930, the German sinologist [[:de:Erich Hauer|Erich Hauer]] argued forcibly that knowing Manchu allows the scholar to render Manchu personal and place names that have been "horribly mutilated" by their Chinese transliterations and to know the meanings of the names. He goes on that the Manchu translations of Chinese classics and fiction were done by experts familiar with their original meaning and with how best to express it in Manchu, such as in the Manchu translation of the ''[[Peiwen yunfu]]''. Because Manchu is not difficult to learn, it "enables the student of Sinology to use the Manchu versions of the classics [...] in order to verify the meaning of the Chinese text".{{sfnb|Hauer|1930|p=162-163}}