Ghazan Khan of Persia is said to have understood Mongol, Arabic, Persian,
something of Kashmiri, of Tibetan, of Chinese, and a little of the Frank
tongue (probably French).
The annals of the Ming Dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols in China,
mention the establishment in the 11th moon of the 5th year Yong-lo (1407)
of the Sse yi kwan, a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The
languages to be studied were Niuche, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan
(Persian?) Uighur, Burmese, and Siamese. To these were added by the Manchu
Dynasty two languages called Papeh and Pehyih, both dialects of the
S.W. frontier. (See infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes.) Since 1382,
however, official interpreters had to translate Mongol texts; they were
selected among the Academicians, and their service (which was independent
of the Sse yi kwan when this was created) was under the control of the
Han-lin-yuen. There may have been similar institutions under the Yuen,
but we have no proof of it. At all events, such an office could not then
be called Sse yi kwan (Sse yi, Barbarians from four sides); Niuche
(Niuchen) was taught in Yong-lo's office, but not Manchu. The Sse yi
kwan must not be confounded with the Hui t'ong kwan, the office for the
reception of tributary envoys, to which it was annexed in 1748. (Gaubil,
p. 148; Gold. Horde, 184; Ilchan. II. 147; Lockhart in J. R. G. S.
XXXVI. 152; Koeppen, II.
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