Sunday, June 12, 2011

Chinese words with foreign origin

Like other languages, Chinese language has some words with foreign origin as well. Let’s find out what some of them are:

巧克力(Qiǎokèlì): Chocolate

逻辑(Luójí): Logic

芭蕾(Bālěi): Ballet

沙拉(Shālā): Salad

麦克风(Màikèfēng): Microphone

沙发(Shāfā): Sofa

因特网(Yīntèwǎng): Internet

奥林匹克(Àolínpǐkè): Olympic

夹克(Jiákè): Jacket

比基尼(Bǐjīní): Bikini

吉他(Jítā): Guitar

巴士(Bāshì): Bus

马拉松(Mǎlāsōng): Marathon

卡(Kǎ): Card

台风(Táifēng):Typhoon

However, I have heard some people say that Typhoon came from 台风(Táifēng)

扑克(Pūkè): Poker

费(Fèi): Fee

咖啡(Kāfēi): Coffee

比萨(Bǐsà): Pizza

酷(Kù): Cool

I think Qiǎokèlì is my favorite. What about you?

4 comments:

  1. shala, obviously ;)

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  2. Of course Qiǎokèlì...and Bǐjīní ;D

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  3. Typhoon definitely comes from either Chinese or Japanese. In Japanese it has the same characters whereas most western words don't use characters.

    You're blog is great. I wish you'd do a little more grammar. Post as much as you want, I'll keep reading! :-D

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  4. That's what i thought too but I have heard some people say that its the other way around.

    Thanks for the suggestion on grammar. I definitely plan to write many more posts on grammar. Keep reading and leaving comments like these :)

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