13
I'm not sure where you could get an accurate count for how many there are. Considering that loanwords have been coming into Chinese for thousands of years, it definitely won't be a trivial task.
There is certainly quite a few, however, not all of which is current/widespread/universal. I'll list some here, and edit more in if I think of any later:
Angel: ...
13
Wiki page of 牛排 gives a clue of its etymology, written by, 姚德懷, the current chairman of 香港中國語文學會 (The Chinese Language Society of Hong Kong Ltd.), a non-profit organization in Hong Kong. Here's a summary:
According to 漢語大詞典, the word 牛排 has been cited in some novels in Qing Dynasty in the beginning of 20th century. Such as:
「三荷包接過看時，只見上面開的是：清牛湯、炙鰣魚、冰蠶阿、...
12
It is Amis／Pangcah (阿美族語), the language of one of the Taiwanese aborigines (台灣原住民).
阿ㄘㄟˊ ( ā céi ) means "ridiculous; crazy; unreasonable; nonsense; goofy; outrageous; nuts".
阿ㄘㄟˊ: You are nuts!
Similar phrases include 瘋了, 笨蛋, 不可理喻, 無理取鬧, 無稽之談, 胡說八道......
11
When I lived in Guangzhou I was told the expression came from Hong Kong and stood for "Algebraic Average".
That also doesn't sound like something a native English speaker would come up with, however I don't think that's a reason to discount it (or even the other suggestions) if it came from Hong Kong where non-native English speakers come up with all sorts ...
8
if i have 10 apples , i give you 5 and keep the another 5 myself , it called "平均";
Here "picture 1" is called “均匀”, while picture 2 is called “不均匀”.
[picture 1]
[picture 2]
8
4 new elements = 4 new Chinese characters? I also know that 4 new elements = 4 new English words.
Actually these new elements have no relationship with China:
113: Nihonium (Nh) is from Nihon, another name of Japan.
115: Moscovium (Mc) comes from the city name Moscow.
117: Tennessine(Ts) comes from Tennessee.
118: Oganesson (Og) comes ...
6
现在: Now
A: 你现在在干什么？: What are you doing now?
正在: Currently
B: 我正在做作业。: I am doing homework.
正在is this sentence can be translated to doing something at this particular moment, in English you just add ing at the end for currently doing something, but in Chinese you don't have this, so you use 正在 to express doing something now. 我正在做...becomes "I am doing..."...
6
Mostly food? The below examples are from Words.hk:
马介休
loanword from "bacalhau" in Portuguese; Portuguese-style salted fish
馬介休撻
maa5 gaai3 jau1 taat1
bacalhau tart
亞東
「亞東」喺澳門叫法, 由葡文atum譯過來
亞東魚
一種魚嘅名；「吞拿」喺香港叫法, 由英文tuna譯過來; 「亞東」喺澳門叫法, 由葡文atum譯過來
Two places names:
福尔摩沙
近義 台灣
音譯自拉丁文及葡萄牙文嘅「Formosa」（「美麗」嘅意思）, 畀歐洲人用嚟稱呼台灣, 所以台灣又有「美麗島」之稱。
Formosa; ...
5
黑 is the verb you are looking for.
被黑了 is the common phrase form of "been hacked".
If you feel 黑 is too ambiguous you can add an object behind it to turn it into a VO (verb object) phrase: 黑电脑, etc.
Alternatively Oxford suggests:
5 COMPUTING, COLLOQUIAL
窃取
to hack secret data from computers
从计算机里窃取机密资料
Personally I would just go with 黑 in this ...
5
Adding to the previous list:
Bowling: 保龄球 bao ling qiu 滾木球
Buffet: 蒲飞 pu fei 自助餐
Calorie: 卡路里 ka lu li 热量单位
Cartoon: 卡通 ka tong 漫画
Motor: 摩托 mo tuo 电动机
Sundae: 新低 xin di 水果奶油,冰淇淋
T-Shirt: T-血 T-xue 短袖汗衫, 短袖圆领衫
Toast: 多士,吐司 duo shi, tu si 烤面包
Vitamin: 维他命 wei ta ming 维生素
5
There're no such character set like Japanese katakana.
kana is a kind of phonography, but in Chinese only select similarly pronounced Hanzi(汉字) to transliterate loanword. Such as 沙发(sofa).
Of course there're some commonly used idiom for special English pronunciation.
5
A thread worth reviving.
The word cigar came into English (and most other European languages) from Spanish. I don't really think it's possible to say which one Chinese got it from, based just on phonetics. Carol Benedict's book on tobacco in China, Golden-Silk Smoke, notes that "Filipino tobacco leaf and hand-rolled tobacco products began to flow to ...
5
Wow it's a fascinating question. I have never thought about that before and this question intrigues me. Because it's a two characters word, meaning that it definitely has an origin, not like the word 猪 for example, which just reassembles the image of a pig.
After searching a while and came across many different sources and non-senses, you might actually be ...
4
Yes, there are preferred characters used in transliteration. But in Chinese the case is a little bit complicated than in Japanese.
In Japanese, Katakana is part of the phonetic system of the language (although in written, those characters can be used with Kenji).
In Chinese the phonetic system and the writing system are completely separated except in rare ...
4
互联网 and 因特网 may be different things - "internet" vs "Internet".
Coming up with loanwords isn't a standardised practice; in the beginning you'll have separate groups coming up with different words, but over time the need to communicate will encourage people to start using the same one. Take LASER for example; since it was invented in the US, there were many ...
4
For different translations:
cement: 水门汀、水泥
Internet: 因特网、互联网
vitamin: 维生素、维他命
Sacramento: 沙加缅度、三个馒头 :P
Bourgeoisie: 布尔乔亚、资产阶级
From different languages, actually, there are many, if you count Japanese and Cantonese.
Florence: 翡冷翠、佛罗伦萨 (Italian, English)
metaphysics：形而上学（日）、玄学（中）
evolution: 进化(日）、天演（中）
philosophy: 哲学（日）、理学（中）
bus: 巴士（粤）、公共汽车（汉）
...
3
Mostly wei can be used when you answer the phone , while it's too oralize to use over text. But someti
mes you can see it like this：
他正在打电话：“喂？”
他不耐烦的说道：“喂，哪位？”
I prefer it is better to use 你好 or 您好 as a alternative word. (Actually I use 您好 cause It's polite to when you talking or writing.)
If you want to write a letter or email , adding a adj. word ...
3
I guess you should avoid 伊妹儿 (that almost looks like a girls' name or person name). 电子邮件 is the preferred and widely used term.
If you need a verb to express 'to send an e-mail', use 发 with 电子邮件:
E.g. 请给我发个电子邮件。 Please send me an e-mail.
3
I will try to put my two cents in, from a more psychological perspective.
Chinese is largely a semantics-based writing system. Phonetically transcribed loan words are relatively easy to coin, but difficult to comprehend, unless the reader also understands the language from which the words come. When a new concept is introduced into the language, it's ...
3
I don't agree that "Mainland Mandarin" is a stress-timed language. Where did you get the "general agreement"? In addition, I think that Mandarin is Mandarin. The difference between "Mainland Mandarin" and "Taiwan Mandarin" is smaller than British English and US English.
Back to your question. Even the words/names are translated from other stress-timed ...
3
拜拜 is not casualness and/or childishness,it is a more friendly way to express goodbye ,and majority use between people who have good relation,or see somebody for the first time and build a friendship each other.
So does it in Taiwan I think:)
3
Wikipedia has this to say:
「AA」是「Arithmetic Average」的縮寫。意思是「算術平均」。
「AA」是「All Average」的縮寫。意思是「全部平均分擔」。
「AA」是英文「Acting Appointment」的縮寫。
There is no citation or whatsoever, so these could all be wrong...
百度 also has something to say. Despite the total lack of structure, there is an interesting excerpt from the article:
Chamber's English Dictionary的解释，AA，...
3
No, it's a transliteration.
The Chinese term「邏輯」first appeared in a Chinese translation of John Stuart Mill's A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive. The Chinese translation title is 《穆勒名學》 by 嚴復, and the Chinese word「邏輯」is directly explained there:
案邏輯此翻名學。其名義始於希臘。為邏各斯一根之轉。邏各斯一名兼二義。在心之意。出口之詞。皆以此名。引而申之。則為論為學。故今日泰西諸學。其西名多以羅支結響。羅支即邏輯也。
To add, the ...
3
There is now contradiction. The formal Sino-Vietnamese readings of 辰 are thần [tʰən˨˩] and thìn [tʰin˨˩], which correspond nicely to the Middle Chinese [d͡ʑin] (Pulleyblank-Miyake), Old Chinese [djɨn] (Baxter). Compare 臣 with the same MC reading, also having Sino-Vietnamese thần. The Fifth Earthly Branch is called thìn (or thần) in Vietnamese.
However, the ...
2
Zombie thread!
In Wu dialect (in Zhejiang), this is pronounced as an almost exact transliteration of 'cigar' (like pinyin xiega, but with a short vowel on the first syllable). Several other transcriptions are also from Wu, coming through the Shanghai foreign port, such as jacket.
2
拜拜 is not considered childish, but is more casual than other forms of good-bye. It can be use on children / friends / even seniors, but should not be use for Clients / business partner / etc.
2
Usually we use 《辞海》 to look up all the meanings of a character. I'm not sure if you have it at hand. However I searched the online resources and found a website could meet your requirement, http://www.zdic.net
Good luck!
2
During the May Fourth Movement, many terms were "imported" from Japan to enrich the Chinese vocabulary for translation of Western idea. Not to mention that China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been different translation for the same English word, for example:
Cheese = 芝士 (HK) / 起司 (Taiwan) / 奶酪 (China)
Toast = 多士 (HK) / 吐司 (Taiwan) / 烤面包 (China)
Hence, it is ...
2
There are three ways to translate a loanword: by its meaning, by its pronunciation or by both.
Taking your example 互联网 vs 因特网, 互联网 is by its meaning (inter/inter-connected=互/互联, net=网); 因特网 is by both of its pronunciation and meaning (in=因, ter=特, net (by meaning)=网
My feeling is that when in the early stage of introduction of a loanword, it's more likely ...
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