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Loanwords have entered written and spoken Chinese from many sources, including ancient peoples whose descendants now speak Chinese. In addition to phonetic differences, varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese and Shanghainese often have distinct words and phrases left from their original languages which they continue to use in daily life and sometimes even in Mandarin. As a result of long-term direct relationships with northern peoples, starting from the pre-Christ period, there are many exchanges of words. In addition, there were times when northern tribes dominated China. Similarly, northern dialects include relatively greater numbers of loanwords from nearby languages such as Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu(Tungusic).
Throughout China, Buddhism has also introduced words from Sanskrit and Pali. More recently, foreign invasion and trade since the First and Second Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century has led to prolonged contact with English, French, and Japanese. Although politically minded language reform under the Republic and People's Republic of China have generally preferred to use calques and neologisms in place of loanwords, a growing number – particularly from American English – have become current in modern Chinese. On the mainland, transcription into Chinese characters in official media and publications is directed by the Proper Names and Translation Service of the Xinhua News Agency and its reference work Names of the World's Peoples. [1]
Since Hong Kong was under British control until 1997, Hong Kong Cantonese borrowed many words from English such as 巴士 (from the word "bus", Mandarin: bāshì, Cantonese: baa1 si2), 的士 (from "taxi", Man.: dīshì, Can.: dik1 si2), 芝士 (from "cheese", Man.: zhīshì, Can.: zi1 si6), and 麥當勞/麦当劳 (from "McDonald's", Man.: Màidāngláo, Can.: Mak6 dong1 lou4), and such loanwords have been adopted into Mandarin, despite them sounding much less similar to the English words than the Cantonese versions. [2]
Foreign businesses and products are usually free to choose their own transliterations and typically select ones with positive connotations and phonetic similarity to their products: for example, 宜家 (IKEA) is "proper home". Owing to antonomasia and genericization, these can then enter general Chinese usage: for example Coca-Cola's 可口可乐 Man.: kěkǒu kělè ("delicious fun") has led to 可乐 Man.: kělè becoming the common Chinese noun for all colas.
Since the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War, relations between the ROC and PRC had been hostile, thus communication between Taiwan and mainland China became limited. For that reason, many loanwords and proper names became quite different from each other. For example, "cheese" in mainland China is 芝士 zhīshì, while cheese in Taiwan is 起司 qǐsī.
Chinese Word | Pronunciation | Meaning | Original Word | Pronunciation | Original Meaning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
剎那 | chànà | instant | क्षण | kṣaṇa | instant |
蘋果 | píngguǒ | apple | बिम्बा | bimbā | apple |
涅槃 | nièpán | nirvana | निर्वाण | nirvāna | nirvana |
舍利子 | shèlìzi | relic | शरीर | śarīra | body |
曇花 | tánhuā | epiphyllum | उदुम्बर | udumbara | cluster fig tree |
須彌山 | xūmíshān | Mt. Sumeru | सुमेरु | sumeru | Mt. Sumeru |
波羅蜜多 | bōluómìduō | Pāramitā | पारमिता | pāramitā | perfection |
Chinese Word | Pronunciation | Meaning | Original Word | Pronunciation | Original Meaning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
巴刹 | bāshā | bazar (market) | بازار | bāzār | bazar (market) |
巴旦木 | bādànmù | almond | بادام | bādām | almond |
葡萄 | pútáo | grape | باده or Bactrian *bādāwa | bāde | wine |
獅子 | shīzi | lion | شیر | šīr | lion |
百里香 | Bǎilǐxiāng | Thyme | آویشن | Avišan | Thyme |
Chinese words of English origin have become more common in mainland China during its reform and opening and resultant increased contact with the West. Note that some of the words below originated in other languages but may have arrived in Chinese via English (for example "pizza/披萨" from Italian). English acronyms are sometimes borrowed into Chinese without any transcription into Chinese characters; for example "IT" (information technology), "PPT" (PowerPoint), "GDP" (Gross domestic product), "APP" (mobile app), "KTV" (karaoke), or "DVD". A rarer occurrence is the blending of the Latin alphabet with Chinese characters, as in "卡拉OK" ("karaoke"), “T恤” ("T-shirt"), "IP卡" ("internet protocol card"). [3] In some instances, the loanwords exists side by side with neologisms that translate the meaning of the concept into existing Chinese morphemes. For instance, while the loanword for 'penicillin' is 盘尼西林 (pánníxīlín), a neologism that 'translates' the word was later coined, 青霉素 (qīngméisù), which means 'blue/green mold extract/essence'. In contemporary Chinese, neologisms using native Chinese morphemes tend to be favored over loanwords that are transliterations. In the case of penicillin, the term 青霉素 is used almost exclusively, while 盘尼西林 is viewed as an early 20th century relic. Similarly, 'science' is now known as 科学 (kēxué) 'subject/specialty study' rather than 赛因斯 (sàiyīnsī), though it should be pointed out that the characters 科学 were actually coined in the late 19th century by the Japanese as a kanji compound.
In the chart below, loanwords in Taiwan will be written in traditional characters and loanwords in mainland China will be written in simplified characters.
English | Pinyin | Chinese | Category | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Amen | āmen | 阿们 | Religion | |
ammonia | āmóníyà | 阿摩尼亚 | Science & technology | Rarely used in mainland China |
amoeba | āmǐbā | 阿米巴 | Science & technology | |
amoxicillin | āmòxīlín | 阿莫西林 | Health & medicine | |
ampere | ānpéi | 安培 | Science & technology | |
amphetamine | ānfēitāmìng | 安非他命 | Health & medicine | |
ampoule | ānbù | 安瓿 | Science & technology | |
antitrust | fǎntuōlāsī | 反托拉斯 | Politics | |
aspartame | āsībātián | 阿斯巴甜 | Food & drink | |
Aspirin | āsīpílín | 阿斯匹林 | Health & medicine | |
Baccarat | Bǎijiālè | 百家乐 | Arts & entertainment | |
bacon | péigēn | 培根 | Food & drink | |
bagel | bèiguǒ | 贝果 | Food & drink | |
ballet | bālěi | 芭蕾 | Arts & entertainment | |
bandage | bēngdài | 绷带 | Health & medicine | |
banjo | bānzhuóqín | 班卓琴 | Arts & entertainment | |
bar | (jiǔ)bā | 吧、酒吧 | Arts & entertainment | |
Baroque | bāluòkè, bāluókè | 巴洛克、巴罗克 | Arts & entertainment | |
bass | bèisī | 贝司、贝斯 | Arts & entertainment | |
bassoon | bāsōng | 巴松 | Arts & entertainment | |
bazooka | bāzǔkǎ | 巴祖卡 | Science & technology | |
beer | píjiǔ | 啤酒 | Food & drink | |
bikini | bǐjīní | 比基尼 | Clothing | |
bingo | bīnguǒ | 宾果 | Arts & entertainment | |
bit (unit of information) | bǐtè | 比特 | Science & technology | |
blog | bókè | 博客 | Culture & society | |
blues | bùlǔsī | 布鲁斯 | Arts & entertainment | |
bolero | bōláiluó | 波莱罗 | Arts & entertainment | |
bourgeois | bù'ěrqiáoyà | 布尔乔亚 | Politics | |
brandy | báilándì | 白兰地 | Food & drink | |
brownie | bùlǎngní | 布朗尼 | Food & drink | |
bullying | bàlíng | 霸凌 | Culture & society | |
bungee jumping | bèngjí | 蹦极 | Arts & entertainment | |
bus | bāshì | 巴士 | Transportation | |
bye-bye | bàibài | 拜拜 | Slang | |
caffeine | kāfēiyīn | 咖啡因 | Food & drink | |
calorie | kǎlùlǐ | 卡路里 | Science & technology | |
cancan | kāngkāngwǔ | 康康舞 | Arts & entertainment | |
cannon | jiānóngpào | 加农炮 | Science & technology | |
carat | kèlā | 克拉 | Science & technology | |
carbine | kǎbīnqiāng | 卡宾枪 | Science & technology | |
card | kǎpiàn | 卡片 | Science & technology | As the last element of a compound, kǎ 卡 alone is used, e.g. yínháng kǎ 银行卡 / 銀行卡 "Bank card (ATM card)". |
carnival | jiāniánhuá | 嘉年华 | Arts & entertainment | |
cartel | kǎtè'ěr | 卡特尔 | Culture & society | |
cartoon | kǎtōng | 卡通 | Arts & entertainment | |
cashmere | kāishìmǐ | 开士米 | Clothing | |
celluloid | sàilùluò | 赛璐珞 | Science & technology | |
cement | shúiméntīng | 水门汀 | Science & technology | Dated in mainland China |
cha-cha | qiàqiàwǔ | 恰恰舞 | Arts & entertainment | |
Champagne | xiāngbīn | 香槟 | Food & drink | |
cheese | qǐsī/qishì/zhīshì | 起司、奇士、芝士 | Food & drink | First two loanwords used in Taiwan, last used in mainland China |
cherry | chēlízi | 车厘子 | Food & drink | Transliterated from plural, exclusively refers to black cherries in mainland China |
chiffon | xuěfǎng, qìfēng | 雪纺、戚风 | Clothing, Food & drink | The first loanword refers to chiffon as a kind of fabric, the second refers to chiffon cake |
chocolate | qiǎokèlì | 巧克力 | Food & drink | |
cider | xīdá | 西打 | Food & drink | |
cigar | xuějiā | 雪茄 | Food & drink | |
clone | kèlóng | 克隆 | Science & technology | |
coca, coke | kějiā, gǔkē | 可加、古柯 | Food & drink | |
Coca-Cola | kěkǒu kělè | 可口可乐 | Food & drink | |
cola | kělè | 可乐 | Food & drink | |
cocaine | kěkǎyīn | 可卡因 | Narcotics | |
cocoa | kěkě | 可可 | Food & drink | |
codeine | kědàiyīn | 可待因 | Health & medicine | |
coffee | kāfēi | 咖啡 | Food & drink | |
cookie | qǔqí | 曲奇 | Food & drink | |
cool | kù | 酷 | Slang | |
copy | kǎobèi | 拷贝 | Only used in the context of computers | |
sofa | shāfā | 沙发 | Housing | |
coup d'état | kǔdiédǎ | 苦迭打 | Politics | |
craton | kèlātōng | 克拉通 | Science & technology | |
cream | jìlián, qílín | 忌廉、淇淋 | Food & drink | |
crêpe | kělìbǐng | 可丽饼 | Food & drink | |
croissant | kěsòng | 可颂 | Food & drink | |
cumin | kūmíng | 枯茗 | Food & drink | Rarely used in mainland China, usually appears in compound words such as kūmíngqúan 枯茗醛 “cuminaldehyde” |
curry | gālí | 咖喱 | Food & drink | |
cyanide | shān'āi | 山埃 | Science & technology | Rarely used in mainland China |
Dacron | díquèliáng | 的确良 | Science & technology | |
daddy | diēdì | 爹地 | Slang | |
didgeridoo | díjílǐdùguǎn | 迪吉里杜管 | Arts & entertainment | |
disco | dísīkě | 迪斯科 | Arts & entertainment | |
domino | duōmǐnuò | 多米诺 | Arts & entertainment | |
drive-thru | déláisù | 得来速 | Food & drink | |
einsteinium | ài/āi | 鑀、锿 | Science & technology | First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China |
Eucalyptus | yóujiālì | 尤加利 | Botany | |
eureka | yóulǐkǎ | 尤里卡 | Culture & society | |
fan | fěnsī | 粉丝 | Arts & entertainment | Transliterated from plural, also a term for cellophane noodles (fensi [ zh ]) |
fantasy | fàntèxī | 范特西 | Arts & entertainment | Rarely used in mainland China |
fascism | fǎxīsī | 法西斯 | Politics | |
fillet | fēilì | 菲力 | Food & drink | Usually refers to filet mignon |
geek | jíkè | 极客 | Science & technology | |
ghetto | gédōu | 隔都 | Culture & society | |
go-kart | gāokǎchē | 高卡车 | Arts & entertainment | |
golf | gāo'ěrfū | 高尔夫 | Arts & entertainment | |
guitar | jítā | 吉他 | Arts & entertainment | |
hacker | hēikè | 黑客 | Science & technology | |
hallelujah | hālìlùyà | 哈利路亚 | Religion | |
hamburger | hànbǎobāo | 汉堡包 | Food & drink | |
hello | hālóu | 哈喽 | Greeting | |
heroin | hǎiluòyīn | 海洛因 | Narcotics | |
hippie | xīpíshì | 嘻皮士 | Culture & society | |
honey | hāní | 哈尼 | Slang | As a term of endearment |
hysteria | xiēsīdǐlǐ | 歇斯底里 | Health & medicine | |
humour | yōumò | 幽默 | Culture & society | |
ice cream | bīngqílín | 冰淇淋 | Food & drink | |
jacket | jiākè | 夹克 | Clothing | |
jazz | juéshì | 爵士 | Arts & entertainment | |
Jeep | jípǔchē | 吉普车 | Transportation, organizations | |
jitterbug | jítèbā | 吉特巴 | Arts & entertainment | |
karaoke | kǎlā ok (kǎlāōukēi) | 卡拉OK | Arts & entertainment | |
karting | kǎdīngchē | 卡丁车 | Transportation | |
ketamine | kètāmìng | 克他命 | Science & technology | |
khaki | kǎqí(sè) | 卡其(色) | Clothing | |
koala | kǎolā | 考拉 | Animals | |
lace | lěisī | 蕾丝 | Clothing | |
lesbian | lěisībīan | 蕾丝边 | Culture & society | |
lacquer | làkè | 腊克 | Science & technology | |
laser | léishè | 镭射 | Science & technology | |
latte | nátiě | 拿铁 | Food & drink | |
lemon | níngméng | 柠檬 | Food & drink | |
limbo | língbōwǔ | 凌波舞 | Arts & entertainment | |
liquor | lìkǒujiǔ | 利口酒 | Food & drink | |
logic | luóji | 逻辑 | Science & technology | |
lottery | lètòu | 乐透 | Arts & entertainment | |
mankini | nánjīní | 男基尼 | Clothing | |
marathon | mǎlāsōng | 马拉松 | Arts & entertainment | |
margarine | màiqílín | 麦淇淋 | Food & drink | Dated in mainland China |
marker | mǎkèbǐ | 马克笔 | Culture & society | |
massage | mǎshājī | 马杀鸡 | Culture & society | Rarely used in mainland China |
metre | mǐ | 米 | Science & technology | |
meme | míyīn | 迷因 | Arts & entertainment | |
mini | mǐnǐ | 迷你 | Culture & society | |
microphone | màikèfēng | 麦克风 | Science & technology | |
model | mótèr | 模特儿 | Arts & entertainment | |
modern | módēng | 摩登 | Culture & society | |
mohair | mǎhǎimáo | 马海毛 | Clothing | |
mommy | māmi | 妈咪 | Slang | |
montage (film) | méngtàiqí | 蒙太奇 | Arts & entertainment | |
mosaic | mǎsàikè | 马赛克 | Arts & entertainment | |
motif | mǔtǐ, mú | 母体、模 | Arts & entertainment | |
motor | mǎdá | 马达 | Science & technology | |
motorcycle | mótuōchē | 摩托车 | Transportation | |
mousse | mùsī | 慕斯 | Food & drink | |
mozzarella | mòzālǐlā, mǎsūlǐlā | 莫扎里拉、马苏里拉 | Food & drink | |
muffin | mǎfēn, màifēn | 玛芬、麦芬 | Food & drink | |
mug | mǎkèbēi | 马克杯 | Food & drink | |
mummy | mùnǎiyī | 木乃伊 | Culture & society | |
Nazi | Nàcuì | 纳粹 | Politics, organization | |
neon | níhóng | 霓虹 | Science & technology | |
nicotine | nígǔdīng | 尼古丁 | Health & medicine | |
Nylon | nílóng | 尼龙 | Clothing | |
ohm | ōumǔ | 欧姆 | Science & technology | |
Olympics | Àolínpǐkè | 奥林匹克 | Organizations | |
opium | yāpiàn | 鸦片 | Narcotics | |
parfait | bāfēi | 芭菲 | Food & drink | |
parka | pàikè dàyī | 派克大衣 | Clothing | |
party | pàiduì | 派对 | Culture & society | |
penicillin | pánníxīlín | 盘尼西林 | Science & technology | Dated in mainland China |
Pharaoh | fǎlǎo | 法老 | Culture & society | |
pickup truck | píkǎ | 皮卡 | Transportation | |
pie | pài | 派 | Food & drink | |
pizza | pīsà/bǐsà | 披萨、比萨 | Food & drink | |
plutonium | bù, bù | 鈽、钚 | Science & technology | |
poker | pūkè | 扑克 | Arts & entertainment | Refers to card games in general |
polka | bō'ěrkǎ | 波尔卡 | Arts & entertainment | |
pudding | bùdīng | 布丁 | Food & drink | |
pump | bèng | 泵 | Science & technology | |
punk | péngkè | 朋克 | Arts & entertainment | |
rabbi | lābǐ | 拉比 | Religion | |
radar | léidá | 雷达 | Science & technology | |
romance | luómànshǐ, làngmàn | 罗曼史、浪漫 | Culture & society | |
rum | lǎngmǔjiu | 朗姆酒 | Food & drink | |
rumba | lúnbā | 伦巴 | Arts & entertainment | |
salad | shālà, shalǜ | 沙拉、沙律 | Food & drink | |
salmon | sānwényú | 三文鱼 | Food & drink | |
salon | shālóng | 沙龙 | Culture & society | |
sandwich | sānmíngzhì, sānwénzhì | 三明治、三文治 | Food & drink | |
sardine | shādīngyú | 沙丁鱼 | Food & drink | |
sauna | sāngná | 桑拿 | Health & medicine | |
saxophone | sàkèsī(fēng) | 萨克斯、萨克斯风 | Arts & entertainment | |
scooter | sùkèdá | 速克达 | Transportation | Rarely used in mainland China |
shampoo | xiāngbō | 香波 | Health & medicine | |
sherry | xuělìjiǔ | 雪利酒 | Food & drink | |
shock | xīukè | 休克 | Health & medicine | |
sirloin | shālǎng, xīlěng | 沙朗、西冷 | Food & drink | First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China |
snooker | sīnuòkè | 斯诺克 | Sports | |
sonar | shēngnà | 声呐 | Science & technology | |
soda | sūdá | 苏打 | Food & drink | sūdáshǔi 苏打水 is used when referring to soft drinks, xiǎosūdá 小苏打 is used when referring to baking soda |
strawberry | shìduōpílí | 士多啤梨 | Food & drink | Rarely used in mainland China |
Soviet | sūwéi'āi | 苏维埃 | Politics | |
sundae | shèngdài, xīndì | 圣代、新地 | Food & drink | |
talk show | tuōkǒuxiù | 脱口秀 | Culture & society | |
tango | tàngē | 探戈 | Arts & entertainment | |
tank | tǎnkè | 坦克 | Transportation | |
tannic acid | dānníngsuān | 单宁酸 | Science & technology | |
taxi | dīshì | 的士 | Transportation | |
tarot | tǎluó | 塔罗 | Culture & society | |
Teflon | tiěfúlóng, tèfùlóng | 铁氟龙、特富龙 | Science & technology | First loanword used in Taiwan, second used in mainland China |
T-shirt | t xù (tīxù) | T恤 | Clothing | |
telephone | délǜfēng | 德律风 | Arts & entertainment | Dated in mainland China |
ten-pin bowling | bǎolíngqiú | 保龄球 | Arts & entertainment | |
TOEFL | tuōfú | 托福 | Organization | |
toffee | tàifēitáng | 太妃糖 | Food & drink | |
toast | tǔsī | 土司、吐司 | Food & drink | |
tuna | tūnnáyú | 吞拿鱼 | Food & drink | |
turquoise | tǔ'ěrqíshí | 土耳其石 | Color | |
USB flash drive | u pán (yóupán) | U盘 | Science & technology | |
valve | fá | 阀 | Science & technology | |
Vaseline | fánshìlín | 凡士林 | Health & medicine | |
vitamin | wéitāmìng | 维他命 | Health & medicine | |
vodka | fútéjiā | 伏特加 | Food & drink | |
waltz | huá'ěrzī | 华尔兹 | Arts & entertainment | |
watt | wǎtè | 瓦特 | Science & technology | |
whisky | wēishìjì | 威士忌 | Food & drink | |
X-ray | x guāng (àikésīguāng) | X光 | Health & medicine | |
yoga | yújiā | 瑜伽 | Arts & entertainment | |
yogurt | yōugé | 优格 | Food & drink | |
yo-yo | yōuyōuqiú | 悠悠球 | Arts & entertainment | |
yuppie | yǎpíshì | 雅皮士 | Culture & society |
These words are only used in Singapore and Malaysia.
Malay | Pinyin | Chinese | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
tolong | duōlóng | 多隆 | help | |
kampung | gānbǎng | 甘榜 | village | |
sagu | xīgǔmǐ | 西谷米 | sago (starch) | sagu+米 (mǐ, 'grain') |
tumpang | lóngbāng | 隆帮 | to stay with somebody | |
tanjung | dānróng | 丹戎 | cape |
Chinese is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. Approximately 1.35 billion people, or around 16% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.
Standard Chinese is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912‒1949). It is designated as the official language of mainland China and a major language in the United Nations, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is largely based on the Beijing dialect. Standard Chinese is a pluricentric language with local standards in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore that mainly differ in their lexicon. Hong Kong written Chinese, used for formal written communication in Hong Kong and Macau, is a form of Standard Chinese that is read aloud with the Cantonese reading of characters.
Taiwanese Hokkien, or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taiuanoe, Taigi, Taigu, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by more than 70 percent of the population of Taiwan. It is spoken by a significant portion of those Taiwanese people who are descended from Hoklo immigrants of southern Fujian. It is one of the national languages of Taiwan.
Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Chinese characters have a documented history spanning over three millennia, representing one of the four independent inventions of writing accepted by scholars; of these, they comprise the only writing system continuously used since its invention. Over time, the function, style, and means of writing characters have evolved greatly. Informed by a long tradition of lexicography, modern states using Chinese characters have standardised their forms and pronunciations: broadly, simplified characters are used to write Chinese in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia, while traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Sino-Japanese vocabulary, also known as kango, is a subset of Japanese vocabulary that originated in Chinese or was created from elements borrowed from Chinese. Some grammatical structures and sentence patterns can also be identified as Sino-Japanese.
Gairaigo is Japanese for "loan word", and indicates a transcription into Japanese. In particular, the word usually refers to a Japanese word of foreign origin that was not borrowed in ancient times from Old or Middle Chinese, but in modern times, primarily from English, Portuguese, Dutch, and modern Chinese dialects, such as Standard Chinese and Cantonese. These are primarily written in the katakana phonetic script, with a few older terms written in Chinese characters (kanji); the latter are known as ateji.
Phono-semantic matching (PSM) is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with phonetically and semantically similar words or roots from the adopting language. Thus the approximate sound and meaning of the original expression in the source language are preserved, though the new expression in the target language may sound native.
Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of a Chinese language after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. Written Chinese was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Written vernacular Chinese first appeared in the 17th century, and a written form of Mandarin became standard throughout China in the early 20th century. Cantonese is a common language in places like Hong Kong and Macau. While the Mandarin form can to some extent be read and spoken word for word in other Chinese varieties, its intelligibility to non-Mandarin speakers is poor to incomprehensible because of differences in idioms, grammar and usage. Modern Cantonese speakers have therefore developed new characters for words that do not exist and have retained others that have been lost in standard Chinese.
Taiwanese Mandarin, frequently referred to as Guoyu or Huayu, is the variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Taiwan. A large majority of the Taiwanese population is fluent in Mandarin, though many also speak a variety of Min Chinese known as Taiwanese Hokkien, commonly called Minnanyu, Southern Min, or Hokkien. This language has had a significant influence on Mandarin as spoken on the island.
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary is a layer of about 3,000 monosyllabic morphemes of the Vietnamese language borrowed from Literary Chinese with consistent pronunciations based on Middle Chinese. Compounds using these morphemes are used extensively in cultural and technical vocabulary. Together with Sino-Korean and Sino-Japanese vocabularies, Sino-Vietnamese has been used in the reconstruction of the sound categories of Middle Chinese. Samuel Martin grouped the three together as "Sino-xenic". There is also an Old Sino-Vietnamese layer consisting of a few hundred words borrowed individually from Chinese in earlier periods. These words are treated by speakers as native words. More recent loans from southern varieties of Chinese, usually names of foodstuffs such as lạp xưởng 'Chinese sausage', are not treated as Sino-Vietnamese but more direct borrowings.
Transcription into Chinese characters is the use of traditional or simplified Chinese characters to phonetically transcribe the sound of terms and names of foreign words to the Chinese language. Transcription is distinct from translation into Chinese whereby the meaning of a foreign word is communicated in Chinese. Since English classes are now standard in most secondary schools, it is increasingly common to see foreign names and terms left in their original form in Chinese texts. However, for mass media and marketing within China and for non-European languages, particularly those of the Chinese minorities, transcription into characters remains very common.
Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family.
Wasei-kango are those words in the Japanese language composed of Chinese morphemes but invented in Japan rather than borrowed from China. Such terms are generally written using kanji and read according to the on'yomi pronunciations of the characters. While many words belong to the shared Sino-Japanese vocabulary, some kango do not exist in Chinese while others have a substantially different meaning from Chinese; however some words have been borrowed back to Chinese.
Singaporean Mandarin is a variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken natively in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil.
Hokkien is a variety of the Southern Min languages, native to and originating from the Minnan region, in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is also referred to as Quanzhang, from the first characters of the urban centers of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.
Differing literary and colloquial readings for certain Chinese characters are a common feature of many Chinese varieties, and the reading distinctions for these linguistic doublets often typify a dialect group. Literary readings are usually used in loanwords, names, literary works, and in formal settings, while colloquial/vernacular readings are usually used in everyday vernacular speech.
Standard Singaporean Mandarin is the standard form of Singaporean Mandarin. It is used in all official Chinese media, including all television programs on Channel 8 and Channel U, various radio stations, as well as in Chinese lessons in all Singapore government schools. The written form of Chinese used in Singapore is also based on this standard. Standard Singaporean Mandarin is also the register of Mandarin used by the Chinese elites of Singapore and is easily distinguishable from the Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin spoken by the general populace.
Hokkien, a Southern Min variety of Chinese spoken in Southeastern China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, does not have a unitary standardized writing system, in comparison with the well-developed written forms of Cantonese and Vernacular Chinese (Mandarin). In Taiwan, a standard for Written Hokkien has been developed by the Republic of China Ministry of Education including its Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan, but there are a wide variety of different methods of writing in Vernacular Hokkien. Nevertheless, vernacular works written in Hokkien are still commonly seen in literature, film, performing arts and music.
Hong Kong written Chinese (HKWC) is a local variety of written Chinese used in formal written communication in Hong Kong. The common Hongkongese name for this form of Chinese is "written language" (書面語), in contrast to the "spoken language" (口語), i.e. Cantonese. While, like other varieties of Written Chinese, it is largely based on Mandarin, it differs from the mainland’s national variety of Standard Chinese (Putonghua) in several aspects, for example that it is written in traditional characters, that its phonology is based on Cantonese, and that its lexicon has English and Cantonese influences. Thus it must not be confused with written Cantonese which, even in Hong Kong, enjoys much less prestige as a literary language than the "written language". The language situation in Hong Kong still reflects the pre-20th century situation of Chinese diglossia where the spoken and literary language differed and the latter was read aloud in the phonology of the respective regional variety instead of a national one.