Your English Digest 英語每周一文。英文裡的中文外來字為何那麼少？Why so little Chinese in English?

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不能不曉得的英文外來字

許多我們習以為常的英文字，其實是外來字loan words。大家可能不曉得，英文的番茄醬ketchup一字，可能源字中國福建一帶的方言(據說跟醃漬魚罐頭的番茄汁有關…)。英文的香蕉，banana則是源自西非。另外，巫毒voodoo是非洲語。殭屍一字zombie也是西非土語。更有趣的是可樂這個字cola，也跟非洲話扯得上關係喔。

我們常說的糖果candy一字，其實來自阿拉伯文。Coffee咖啡與木乃伊mummy，也都是阿拉伯字。氣球balloon 是來自於法語。另外同樣是法語外來字的還有unicorn獨角獸，跟壞人villain。至於德文，大家都曉得的幼稚園這個字kindergarten其實是德文。再來看看curry咖哩這個字，如果跟你說這個字是印度文，你一定不覺得奇怪。滑雪ski來自於挪威。那泡菜呢？Kimchi這個韓文，早就已經是英美人士都熟悉的字眼了。

這篇經濟學人文章，探討了中文一直無法真正成為英語常用字彙的原因。其實有許多字眼，納入英語字典已經有一段時間了，可是一般美國民眾，真正會使用的字彙可說是少之又少。我之前在TIME雜誌裡面看過gung ho(原意是中文的工合，現在則衍生為賣力、起勁或是熱心的意思) 或是kowtow(磕頭)，但是除了像時代雜誌這類的菁英文摘，中國字幾乎沒幾個字能真正進入美國人的生活中。作者認為，隨著中國的迅速崛起，西方人對這個東方古老大國的興趣與日俱增，說不定日後，英語中會出現更多的中文外來字。我個人對這一點也持肯定態度。這篇文章最後還有教練整理出來的一個列表，提供大家參考。

by R.L.G. | NEW YORK

From the Economist
Language borrowing

Why so little Chinese in English?

ON TWITTER, a friend asked "Twenty years from now, how many Chinese words will be common parlance常見說法 in English?" I replied that we've already had 35 years since Deng Xiaoping鄧小平 began opening China's economy, resulting in its stratospheric rise(地位的)躍升/崛起—but almost no recent Chinese borrowings in English.

Many experts are willing to explain China to curious (and anxious) westerners. And yet I can't think of even one Chinese word or phrase that has become "common parlance in English" recently. The only word that comes close might be guanxi關係, the personal connections and relationships critical to getting things done in China. Plenty of articles can be found discussing the importance of guanxi, but the word isn't "common in English" by any stretch無論/任憑怎樣.

Most Chinese words now part of English show, in their spelling and meaning, to have been borrowed a long time ago, often from non-Mandarin Chinese varieties非北京話的多元方言 like Cantonese廣東話. Kowtow磕頭, gung ho共和 and to shanghai詐騙或是綁架are now impeccably無可挑剔的 English words we use with no reference to China itself. Kung fu功夫, tai chi太極, feng shui風水and the like諸如此類的 are Chinese concepts and practices westerners are aware of. And of course bok choy白菜, chow mein炒麵 and others are merely Chinese foods that westerners eat; I would say we borrowed the foods, and their Chinese names merely hitched a ride搭順風車 into English.

Given China's rocket-ride to prominence迅速的崛起(用搭火箭形容非常快速), why so little borrowing?  We import 進口words from other languages that are hard for English-speakers to pronounce. We borrow from languages with other writing systems (Yiddish意第緒語, Russian, Arabic). We borrow from culturally distant places (India, Japan). We borrow verbs (kowtow) and nouns (tsunami) and exclamations (banzai!, oy!). We borrow concrete things (sushi) and abstract ones (Schadenfreude幸災樂禍, ennui無聊倦怠). We borrow not only from friends, but from rivals and enemies敵人 (flak攻擊/抨擊等非常不好的狀況)from German in the second world war, samizdat地下出版 from Russian during the cold war美蘇的冷戰時期, too many words to count from French during the long Anglo-French rivalry英法對立).

So perhaps China's rise is simply too new, and we just need another 20 years or so.

We've seen a similar film before. Japan's sudden opening to the world, a world war, and then forty years of an economic boom經濟榮景 put quite a few Japanese words and concepts into the Anglophone以英文為母語的人 mind: kamikaze神風特攻隊, futon沙發床, haiku, (日本)三行俳句詩kabuki歌舞伎, origami摺紙藝術, karaoke卡拉OK, tycoon大亨, tsunami海嘯, jiu-jitsu柔術, zen禪and honcho老闆are all common English words that nowadays can be used without any reference to Japan. Add to that the more specifically Japanese phenomena日本現象 well known to the English-speaking world: karate空手道, judo柔道, sumo日本摔角bonsai盆栽,manga漫畫, pachinko柏青哥,samurai武士, shogun幕府將軍, noh日本古典劇 – 能劇and kimono和服, say, not to mention foods from the bland (tofu豆腐) to the potentially fatal (fugu河豚). Of course, Japanese borrowed some of these words from Chinese, like zen (modern Mandarin chán) and tofu (dòufu). But English borrowed them from Japanese, not Chinese.

It seems likely English will borrow from Chinese, too, as trade, cultural and personal connections between China and the west grow. And perhaps there's an elusive "cool" element無法捉摸的超酷元素, a cultural cachet文化特質(蓋章認證) in the West that China has yet to attain. If China gets there one day, this would certainly boost China's linguistic exports.如果有一天，中國也能在西方語言文化中占一席之地，中文滲透入英語的可能性將大為提高Whether future Chinese borrowings will be new edibles新的食物名稱, cultural items文化的專有名詞 or even philosophical terms哲學專有名詞 will depend on China's development and how the West responds. 

英語裡的外來字一覽表(中文篇)

Chinese Loan Words in the English Language

更多英語的中文外來字，請參考

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Chinese_origin

English	Chinese Source	Literal Meaning	Remarks
Bok choy	白菜	White vege­table	(Via Cantonese baak choi)
Bonsai	盆栽	Bowl plant	(Via Japanese)
Cheong­sam	長衫	Long dress	(Via Cantonese cheong sam) The same dress is known as a qipao (旗袍) in Mandarin
China	秦	Name of the Qin dynasty	The West appears to have named China after the first dynasty to unify the country. The Chinese call their country zhong guo (中國) or Central Country.
Chop chop	急	Hurried	(Via Cantonese gap)
Chop suey	雜碎	Miscella­neous bits	(Via Cantonese jaap seui)
Chow	炒	Fried (food)
Chow chow	狗狗	Doggie	A dog breed
Chow mein	炒麵	Fried noodle	(Via Cantonese chaau mein)
Coolie	苦力	Bitter power
Cumshaw	感謝	Grateful thanks	(Via Amoy dialect)
Dimsum	點心	Pointing to the heart	(Via Cantonese dim sam)
Feng shui	風水	Wind and water
Gingkgo	銀杏		(Via Japanese)
Ginseng	人蔘		(Via Cantonese yan sam)
Gung ho	共和	Work together in harmony	From motto of some US Marine forces in Asia during WW II
Japan	日本	Source of the sun
J-particle	丁	(A surname)	The J-particle is a subatomic particle named after its discoverer, Samuel C.C. Ting  (丁肇中). The letter J resembles the shape of Ting's last name (丁).
Judo	柔道	Gentle Way	(Via Japanese)
Junk	船	Boat	(Via Malay)
Kanji	漢字	Chinese characters	(Via Japanese)
Kaolin	高嶺	Tall mountain peak	Name of area of Jiangxi province famed for its white porcelain powder
Ketchup	茄汁	Tomato sauce	(Via Cantonese ke jap). Most dictionaries actually list the source of the word as being a Chinese or Malay word meaning fish sauce. They ignore the more direct route: the Cantonese word which sounds like ketchup and which actually means tomato sauce. Duh. (In mandarin, ketchup is called 番茄醬)
Kowtow	叩頭	Knock head
Kumquat	金桔	Golden orange	(Via Cantonese gam gwat)
Kungfu	功夫
Lose face	丟臉	Lose face	Literal translation of the chinese phrase menaing humiliation
Loquat	枇杷		(Via Cantonese lou gwat). Mandarin name is pipa (枇杷)
Lychee	荔枝		(Via Cantonese lai ji)
Mahjong	麻將
Oolong	烏龍	Black dragon	A type of tea
Pekoe	白毫	White down feather	(Via Amoy dialect) A type of tea.
Pinyin	拼音	Sound spelling
Ricksha	力車	(Human-) Powered vehicle	(Via Japanese) Short for 人力車 or human-powered vehicle
Sampan	舢舨
Shanghai	上海	Northern Sea	Used in English as a verb meaning to abduct (Presumably from prior practive by San Francisco boat captains of kidnapping men in order to press them into service in Shanghai bound boats.)
Shaman	沙門	Sand door
Shaolin	少林	Small forest
Shinto	神道	Saintly way
Silk	絲	Silk
Shogun	將軍	Army General
Soy (sauce)	醬油		(Via Japanese shoyu)
Tai chi	太極	Ultimate
Tai chi chuan	太極拳	Ultimate boxing
Taipan	大班	Big boss	(Via Cantonese daai baan)
Tangram	湯 + gram	Chinese picture	Tang, the name of one of China's most successful dynasties is used to denote the Chinese people.
Tao (Dao)	道	Way
Tea	茶	Tea	(Via Amoy dialect)
Tofu	豆腐	Bean curd
Tycoon	大官	Great official	(Via Japanese)
Typhoon	颱風	Hurricane
Wok	鑊	Cauldron	(Via Cantonese wok)
Wonton	餛飩		(Via Cantonese wan tan)
Wushu	武術
Yamen	衙門	Official door
Yen	癮	Craving	To yearn
Yen	圓	Monetary unit	(Via Japanese) Japanese money
Yin Yang	陰陽