The teaching of Malay in Europe
This short note by R. O. Winstedt surveys the provision of Malay language instruction in European academic institutions, with particular emphasis on the newly established School of Oriental Studies in London.
Summary
Winstedt opens by quoting Sir Charles Lyall’s 1907 memorandum to the committee on oriental studies in London, which argued against the assumption that Oriental languages are best learned in-country, citing the commercial success of German and French training programmes as evidence that home-based preparation is both effective and necessary (p. 52). He notes that the committee’s recommendations led to the opening of the School of Oriental Studies at Finsbury Circus in February 1917, with C. O. Blagden appointed as its first Lecturer in Malay (p. 53).
The note then provides brief accounts of Malay instruction at the École Spéciale des Langues Orientales Vivantes in Paris—where 24 regular students were enrolled in 1906–1907 and texts such as the Pancha-Tandaran and Cherita Jenaka were in use—and at Leiden, where courses in Malay, Javanese, Old Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, and Batak were offered to candidates for the Dutch colonial civil service, magistrates, and doctoral students in comparative linguistics (p. 53). Winstedt closes by urging that commercial firms and civil service cadets in the Malay Peninsula should make use of the London School’s facilities, and by asserting that a standard of scholarship in Malay studies exists and should be recognised, dispelling “the hallowed notion that the highest authority on Malay matters is a kampong elder” (p. 54).