It turned out that this was the manuscript of Karlgren's own English translation, which Malmqvist returned after a week, armed with a battery of questions. Karlgren then asked him the question that was to change the course of his life: "Why don't you just study Chinese?
原來這是高本漢自己的英文譯稿。一星期後，馬悅然帶著幾個疑問去還書，高本漢問他：「為什麼不乾脆學中文呢？