The student should provide himself with the edition, lately printed in the Telugu character, of the Sanscrit Bhagavad Gitu. This will furnish a good key to the character if he already knows the Sanscrit alphabet.
When we have occasion to write Hindu or Mahometan names in English letters, too great precision would be pedantic. It is usual to write Bramin for Brahman, or Bramhan: and Rajahmundry for Rajamahendra-varam.
When a letter is written under the line it is usually larger than if written on the line.
It is not the custom to separate the words. Thus a paragraph looks as if it was all one word. But in printing it will be found easy to separate words, as is done in English.
The mark | is used as a comma; and || as a period. The comma is used at the end of each line in poetry except the last which is marked with the period.
In some Telugu printing, the English comma, semicolon, period and other stops have been introduced with good effect.
A letter is called అక్షరము. An aspirated letter is called ఒత్తక్షరము or జడ్డక్షరము likewise means a syllable. Thus స్త్రీ stri 'a woman' is considered to be ఏకాక్షరము a monosyllable .- lit. one letter.
Unless thoroughly acquainted with the principles of spelling and the variations therein allowed, we shall not be able to find words in the dictionary. The reader must therefore pardon what he may consider a tedious degree of preciseness regarding orthography.
The vowels cannot be correctly pronounced without opening the • mouth wide, looking up, and using a loud tone. Natives complain that the English mumble their words.*
The learner should write the letters on a slate, in a large flourishing style: this is the easiest method of attaining fluency in writing.
