KNOWING PINYIN
Chinese words and terms are being used increasingly in media reports in the world’s eight major English-speaking countries. Yang Yang reports.
As China plays an increasingly important role on the global stage, the Chinese language is exerting its influence on English, according to a recent report by the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration. The report is based on a survey conducted by the CFLPA and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group, both based in Beijing.
The survey was designed to find out to what extent the Chinese language Romanized in the form of pinyin is known and understood by people in eight major Englishspeaking countries — Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, Singapore and the Philippines — through media reports, schools and cultural exchanges.
Researchers first chose more than 300 Chinese words and terms, and counted the number of times their pinyin were mentioned in reports of 50 mainstream media outlets in the eight countries over the past five years, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, the Guardian, the Straits Times and India Today.
The researchers then selected 150 words and terms which were more frequently used, and surveyed 1,260 interviewees from the eight countries with a bachelor’s degree or above.
The survey included words and terms in three major categories, all related to China: politics, society, and history and culture, which were further categorized as political terms, dynasties, geography, historical figures, rare animals, religion and philosophy, holidays, diet, sports and six other subcategories.
“Shaolin” (Shaolin Temple famous for its kung fu) topped the list of best-known Chinese words and terms in the survey, followed by “yin and yang” (a concept in Chinese philosophy), “yuan” (unit of Chinese currency), gugong (Forbidden City), nihao (hello), wushu (martial arts), long (dragon), qi (the basic element that maintains the workings of the human body in traditional Chinese medicine), dao (natural rules) and majiang (mahjong), among others.
Specific Chinese political terms such as zhongguomeng (Chinese Dream), yidaiyilu (Belt and Road Initiative), shisanwu (13th Five-Year Plan) and mingyungongtongti (a community with a shared future), were also on the list of the 100 bestknown Chinese terms Romanized in pinyin, in addition to guan (official), fantan (anti-embezzlement), fanfu (anti-corruption), gongchandang (the Communist Party of China) and lianghui (the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, also known as Two Sessions).
It shows that China’s anti-corruption campaign and its achievements, and the country’s political path and experiences have attracted worldwide attention, says Yang Ping, deputy director of the CFLPA’s Contemporary China and the World Research Institute.
It also reflects China’s growing influence on the world economy, she says.
With regard to economic terms, the top-100 list of words and terms in the survey contains “yuan”, “renminbi” and “yanghang (The People’s Bank of China)”. In March 2016, “yuan” and “renminbi” were included in the Oxford English Dictionary, she says.
Hongbao (red envelope), zhifubao (Alipay) and wanggou (online shopping) also entered the top-100 list, indicating the increasing influence of China’s internet economy, Yang says.
Consumer terms such as dama (middle-aged Chinese female tourists spending money in Western countries) and daigou (helping others to buy goods from other countries) were also included on the list, reflecting how Chinese people’s spending ability has increased.
Words and terms such as Chang’e (China’s lunar probe project), Wukong (Chinese dark matter probe satellite), zhongguozhizao (made in China) and gaotie (highspeed train) were also on the list, showing the growing influence of the country’s progress in science and technology.
On the whole, the survey found, the best-known Chinese terms were related to martial arts, philosophy and religion.
The middle section of the list contains terms related to Chinese food such as doufu (tofu) and mogu (mushroom), Chinese holidays like
chongyang (Double Ninth Festival) and qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day). The lower section of the list contains terms about Chinese natural landscape and animals such as
changjiang (Yangtze River), huanghe (Yellow River) and jinsihou (snub-nosed monkey).
The survey found that the most widely used Chinese terms transcribed in pinyin are things or phenomena unique to China, such as
hukou (residential registration system), hongbao and hutong (alleyway), and classics like “yin and yang”.
Although words such as “kung fu” and “tofu” have been incorporated into English, the survey shows that they also appear in English-speaking countries in their pinyin forms.
And while terms such as the Chinese Dream, “a community with a shared future”, Two Sessions and Belt and Road Initiative, are written in their English translations, they are also understood in Englishspeaking countries in the form of pinyin.
But despite English speakers in the eight countries being familiar with words such as hotpot, they are not familiar with its pinyin spelling. Similar is the case for chunjie, which is more commonly known as Spring Festival in the eight countries. As a result, English speakers are more familiar with the terms chongyang and qingming, Yang says.