The complexities of the Chinese script, combined with the country's numerous dialects, posed a vexing problem to the missionaries, but the Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, which gave the Cantonese, Amoy and Shanghai pronunciations of each character along with the standard Pekingese, proved a veritable godsend.
傷腦筋的是，中文方塊字筆劃繁複，學習困難，偏偏還處處方言，對於必須到處走動的西方人來說更覺不便，因此當耗時十多年的「中文綴音字典」（以北平話為準，另附廣東、廈門及上海讀音）編成，在當時真是「功德一件」，人手一本。