Chinese words in English
There is no one single Chinese language. Various dialects or versions exist including Taiwanese, Cantonese, and Wu. However, Mandarin, also known as Northern Chinese, is the native language for more than 70% of Chinese speakers and is the conventional written language for every strain of Chinese. Chinese and English have several significant differences because they belong to two diverse language families. This makes it very challenging for Chinese native speakers to learn English.
Alphabet
There is no alphabet in Chinese like in English. Chinese written language uses a lithographic system. Symbols are used to represent Chinese words in the lithographic system – various letters are not used to make words like in alphabetic systems. Chinese learners have significant difficulty spelling words correctly and reading English texts. However, a Chinese Words in English Template exists to help you compare Chinese alphabets with English.
Phonology
Chinese learners face difficulties comprehending most aspects of English phonological system. Some phonemes in English are absent in Chinese; intonation and stress patterns are varied. Chinese is a tone language which means that it uses a phoneme’s sound pitch (lowness or highness) to tell between meanings of words. Pitch changes in English are used to express emotion or emphasize.
English contains more vowel sounds than Chinese which results to the contradictory pronunciation of words like fool/full, eat/it, ship/sheep. Diphthongs in words like deer, now, or weigh are always shortened to a single sound.
It is difficult for Chinese learners to get the difference between l and r, and therefore they may pronounce words like rice and rake as lice and lake. However, there exist a Chinese Words in English template to help you in the pronunciation of words correctly.
Another significant difference is the common final consonant. This feature is far less common in Chinese and this result in learners either adding vowel when concluding a word or failing to add the consonant. For example, they may pronounce hill as if it has a single l but with drawn-out i, or as if it rhymes with killer. You can use an English to Chinese dictionary to check for the proper pronunciation and spelling of words.
English to Chinese/Chinese to English translators and dictionaries are available to help individuals understand the phonology of both these languages in a better way. The troubles of pronouncing English words and intonation problems results in many Chinese learners speaking highly accented English which is hard to understand.
Grammar
Tenses and verbs carry most of the information in English. On the other hand, the Chinese language is uninflected and expresses meaning through the order of words, shared context understanding, or adverbials. The time factor in Chinese is not dealt with through the use of various verb forms and tenses like in English. You can translate English to Chinese using online tools like a Chinese translator app and other Chinese words in English templates available online.
Suggestions of meaning in English are commonly expressed with modal verbs. For example, the statements below have modal verbs to increase the degree of politeness.
- Would you mind helping me with that cup, please?
- Could you help me with that cup, please?
- Help me with that cup, please.
Since Chinese modals do not communicate such an array of meaning, Chinese speakers may seem authoritative when making suggestions and requests. Chinese words in English dictionaries can be used to make English to Chinese writing and speaking effective.
Chinese does not contain articles, so it is common to find its speakers having difficulties in using English correctly. There are differences between Chinese and English word order. For example, the verb and the subject are not inverted in Chinese when posing questions like in English; queries are expressed by intonation. You cannot post-modify nouns like in English, and verbs are always preceded by adverbials contrasting English that has rules to govern the position of sentence elements. Online Chinese words in English templates provide Chinese words in English which simplify the process of learning.
Vocabulary
Different short verbs normally join with particles (prepositions and adverbs) to form phrasal verbs in English; for example: look up to, give in, and take off. This feature of vocabulary does not exist in Chinese. There are Chinese words in English templates that make Chinese simplified to English thus making it easy for Chinese learners to comprehend English texts.