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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
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Aineko
Triglot
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New Zealand
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Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin

 
 Message 17 of 48
23 January 2011 at 12:34am | IP Logged 
Serbian names are pretty much like Bulgarian ones except for Cu, which is 'bakar'
(Turkish origin), and small difference for S - sumpor.
Nitrogen seem to be an interesting one. Slavic languages use French word 'azot'.
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jsun
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 Message 18 of 48
23 January 2011 at 6:36am | IP Logged 
null wrote:
Cyrus wrote:
Thanks for your answers ;)

As China spends for a few months the second largest budget in R&D behind the US (it
overtook Japan this year), I
thought that mandarin would naturally have its own scientific language, mostly because the
chinese language tends
to transform a lot of (initially) borrowed vocabulary (for example they say "dian nao" instead
of "computer" like a lot
of languages do). I wasn't aware of the fact that so much vocabulary was borrowed.

However, what about arabic and Spanish ? I want the answer ! :D
Do you know if they really lack scientific vocabulary ?


Here's a dictionary of 577,092 scientific terms in English, Chinese and Japanese:

http://www.msckobe.com/links/dic/a.htm

and a Huge Chinese - English dictionary of technology with 750,269 English terms,
744,542 Chinese terms and 805,139 terms submitted by the users:

http://www3.zzu.edu.cn/zzjdict/

The Largest Technology Dicitionay in China (as far as i know)《中英科技大词典》(software,
current version 1.3) has 2.4 million English - Chinese terms listed.




Almost every word on the list is Japanese loanword.

電子(electronics)
also 電報(telegraph), 電波(electric wave), 電車(tram), 電話(telephone), 電流(electric
current), and much more...
The Japanese guided Chinese how to translate Western technology



化學(Chemistry)....
also 化石(fossil), 化妝品(cosmetics). Every word is of Japan origin.
Even in the realm of art, 畫廊(gallery) is also Japanese.



金融(finance)
Even 金牌(gold medal) is from Japan.

進化論(Evolution Theory) is a Japanese loanword.
進展(progress/development) and 進度(progress) are also Japanese.

Japanese loanword can be seen out of the fields of technology, politics, and economics,
for example, 緊張(tension), which is a vocabulary for description of mental state.


建築(architecture)


And vocabularies for geography and medicine....
You can see more in the pics.

間接(indirect) and 直接(direct) are also Japanese loanword.

工業(industry) is Japanese.
And something more, like law vocabulary and government government 公僕(civil servant)



Even 簡單(easy, simple) and 堅持(keep going on) are Japanese loanwords!



否定 and 否認(denial), 否決(rejection)

In the old empire, people had no power to say no. (still do)
Chinese can't express the idea of support or against without Japanese loanword.

The most shocking one is this...
接吻(Kissing) also comes from Japanese.



Without Japanese loanword, modern Chinese languages just can't function at all.


Edited by jsun on 23 January 2011 at 6:52am

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mrwarper
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 Message 19 of 48
23 January 2011 at 12:27pm | IP Logged 
Sennin wrote:
Oh, gosh. This is fun. Let's compare several languages; I hope other people will also contribute to the multilingual chemistry dictionary.


OK, I'll be adding Latin, Classic Greek and Spanish; you edit your post and add them if you want to.

Latin, Classic Greek, Spanish
Sn stannum, kassiteros?, estaño (obvious Latin etymology)
Pb plumbum, (bolimos, molibdos)?, plomo (from Latin)
Au aurum, (hrisos, kresos)?, oro (Latin)
Ag argentum, argyros, plata (from Latin plattus, 'flat'>'sheet')
Cu cuprum, kypros, cobre
Fe ferrum, sideros, hierro
H hydrogenum (!), -, hidrógeno (Greek>Latin for 'originates water')
O oxygenum (!), -, oxígeno (Greek>Latin for 'originates acid')
C ?, -, carbono (from Latin carbo-)
S sulphure(m), theion, azufre
Na natrium, -, sodio (Latin sodium)
K kalium, -, potasio (Latin potassium from Dutch potassche, 'pot ashes')
Hg hydrargyrum, hydrargyros, mercurio [alt: azogue]
N nitrogenum (!), -, nitrógeno (Greek>Latin for 'originates nitron') [alt: ázoe]

(!) Many elements were not known for Romans or Greeks, so their names in these languages are as artificial as the new ones, and often the Latin ones are just a couple of Greek roots put together.
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Cainntear
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 Message 20 of 48
23 January 2011 at 2:18pm | IP Logged 
Cyrus wrote:
Most of the thousands of languages which are at this moment speaking on earth probably lack the vocabulary to
describe or explain a high-level and complex scientific fact or discover. Most of them do not have any word for
"Deoxyribonucleic acid" for example, or they borrow it to english.

As has been said by others, outside of the computing field, most "English" science words are really Latin or Greek coinages.

Most languages that borrow classical coinages via English borrow only the spelling, and alter the endings to suit the host language better, and the end result is no more "English" than "Latin".

In fact, I'd say that very little technical language is truly "English" in that it is not formed from morphemes in vernacular use, and often do not respect the grammatical rules of English coinage.

An example of particular relevance here is tense-aspect descriptions.

A tense name usually describes both tense and aspect. Eg Past simple -- past tense, simple aspect; present progressive -- present tense, continuous aspect.

The order of elements is a direct calque from Latin and the Romance languages. This doesn't work in English because of word order -- the aspect would appear to be an adjective, while the tense is happy to be a noun, and English wants its adjectives before its nouns.

Some people are now "correcting" the order into English (and about time too), but many terms are still used in language that have absolutely zero vernacular meaning (dative, conjugation, preterite etc).

The snobbery in the English academic classes that prevent native coinage for several centuries has left English in a very bad position with regard to scientific language -- it's not something a native speaker finds easy at all....
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null
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China
Joined 5934 days ago

76 posts - 82 votes 
Speaks: Mandarin*

 
 Message 21 of 48
23 January 2011 at 2:28pm | IP Logged 
jsun wrote:


Without Japanese loanword, modern Chinese languages just can't function at all.


You are just being ridiculous. Chinese does have many words from Japanese, but it's just a small fraction, 99% of modern Chinese technical terms are taken and then TRANSLATED from English, not Japanese.

back up timer(en) ==> 倒时定时器(zh) =>バックアップタイマ(ja)

Now which is more original? You do the math.

For the time being, Chinese and japanese are just two worlds apart.

Just try these Auto terms:

http://wenku.baidu.com/view/de68e2717fd5360cba1adbcf.html


Jsun桑, can you give the Kanji names of these? Thanks.

1,1-dimethyl hydrazine ==> 1,1-二甲基肼
1,2,3,4-benzenetetracarboxylic acid ==> 苯均四酸
1,2-diaminocyclohexane tetraacetic acid ==> 环己二胺四乙酸
1,2-dihydroxypropane ==> 丙二醇
1,2-dithio-glycerine ==> 1,2-二硫代甘油
1,3-di-o-methylmyoinositol ==> 1,3-二甲肌醇
1,3-diphosphoglyceric acid ==> 1,3-二磷酸甘油酸
1-(4-chlorobenzhydryl)-4-methylpiperazin ==> 氯环嗪
1-allyl-4-hydroxybenzene ==> 萎叶酚
1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid ==> 氨基环丙烷羧酸
1-aminonaphthalene-4-sulfonic acid ==> 对氨基萘磺酸
1-chloro-2,3-epoxypropane ==> 表氯醇
1-chloropentane ==> 1-氯戊烷
1-cyclo-hexyl-2-methyl aminopropane ==> 六氢脱氧麻黄碱
1-cystine mono hydrochloride ==> 半胱氨酸盐酸盐水合物
1-dimethyl hydrazine ==> 偏二甲基肼
1-ethoxy-2-hydroxy-4-propenyl benzene ==> 丙烯基乙基愈创木酚
1-hydroxy-2-propanone ==> 丙酮醇
1-hydroxypropanone-2 ==> 羟丙酮,羟基丙酮
1-methyl hypoxanthine ==> 1-甲基次黄嘌呤
1-methyl-6-oxy-7-methoxytetrahydro-isoquinoline ==> 鹿尾草碱
1-methyl-7-isopropylphenanthrene ==> 惹烯,1-甲-7-异丙基菲
1-methylindole-2 ==> 甲基吲哚二酮缩氨硫脲
1-naphthylamine-4-sulfonic acid ==> 对氨基萘磺酸
1-propen-2-yl acetate ==> 醋酸异丙烯基酯


Edited by null on 23 January 2011 at 3:10pm

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null
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 Message 22 of 48
23 January 2011 at 2:51pm | IP Logged 
Chinese, Japanese and English:

H 氢(qīng) 水素(すいそ,hydrogenium)
He 氦(hài) ヘリウム(helium)
Li 锂(lǐ) リチウム(lithium)
Be 铍(pí) ベリリウム(beryllium)
B 硼(péng) 硼素(ほうそ,borum)
C 碳(tàn) 炭素(たんそう,carbonium)
N 氮(dàn) 窒素(ちっそ,nitrogenium)
O 氧(yǎng) 酸素(さんそ,oxygenium)
F 氟(fú) 弗素(ふっそ,fluorum)

Ne 氖(nǎi) ネオン(neon)
Na 钠(nà) ナトリウム(sodium)
Mg 镁(měi) マグネシウム(magnesium)
Al 铝(lǚ) アルミニウム(aluminium)
Si 硅(guī) 珪素(けいそ,silicium)
P 磷(lín) 燐(りん,phosphorum)
S 硫(liú) 琉黄(いおう,sulphur)
Cl 氯(lǜ) 塩素(えんそ,chlorum)
Ar 氩(yà) アルゴン(argon)
K 钾(jiǎ) カリウム(potassium)
Ca 钙(gài) カルシウム(calcium)
Sc 钪(kàng) スカンジウム(scandium)
Ti 钛(tài) チタン(titanium)
V 钒(fán) バナジウム(vanadium)
Cr 铬(gè) クロム(chromium)
Mn 锰(měng) マンガン(manganese)

Fe 铁(tiě) 鉄(てつ,ferrum)
Co 钴(gǔ) コバルト(cobalt)
Ni 镍(niè) ニッケル(nkckel)
Cu 铜(tóng) 銅(どう,cuprum)
Zn 锌(xīn) 亜鉛(あえん,zincum)
Ga 镓(jiā) ガリウム(gallium)
Ge 锗(zhě) ゲルマニウム(germanium)
As 砷(shēn) 砒素(ひそ,arsenium)
Se 硒(xī) セレン(selenium)
Br 溴(xiù) 臭素(しゅうそ,bromium)
Kr 氪(kè) ケリプトン(krypton)
Rb 铷(rú) ルビジウム(rubidium)
Sr 锶(sī) ストロンチウム(strontium)
Y 钇(yǐ) イッテルウム(yttrium)
Zr 锆(gào) ジルコニウム(zirconium)
Nb 铌(ní) ニオブ(niobium)
Mo 钼(mù) モリブテン(molybdenum)
Tc 锝(dé) テクネチウム(technetium)

Ru 钌(liǎo) ルテニウム(ruthenium)
Rh 铑(láo) ロジウム(rhodium)
Pd 钯(bā) パラジウム(palladium)
Ag 银(yín) 銀(ぎん,argentum)
Cd 镉(gé) カドミウム(cadmium)
In 铟(yīn) インジウム(indium)
Sn 锡(xī) 錫(すず,stannum)
Sb 锑(tī) アンチモン(antimony)
Te 碲(dì) テルル(tellurium)
I 碘(diǎn) 沃素(ようそ,iodium)
Xe 氙(xiān) キセノン(xenon)
Cs 铯(sè) セシウム(cesium)
Ba 钡(bèi) バリウム(barium)
La 镧(lán) ランタン(lanthanum)
Ce 铈(shì) セリウム(cerium)
Pr 镨(pǔ) プラセオジム(praseodymium)
Nd 钕(nǚ) ネオジム(neodymium)
Pm 钷(pǒ) プロメチウム(promethium)
Sm 钐(shàn) サマリウム(samerum)
Eu 铕(yǒu) ユーロビウム(europium)
Gd 钆(gá) ガドリニウム(gadolinium)
Tb 铽(tè) テルビウム(terbium)



Dy 镝(dí) ジスプロシウム(dysprosium)
Ho 钬(huǒ) ホルミウム(holmium)
Er 铒(ěr) エルビウム(erbium)
Tm 铥(diū) ツリウム(thulium)
Yb 镱(yì) イッテルビウム(ytterbium)
Lu 镥(lǔ) ルテチウム(lutetium)
Hf 铪(hā) ハフニウム(hafnium)
Ta 钽(tǎn) タンタル(tantalum)
W 钨(wū) タングステン(tungsten)
Re 铼(lái) レ二ウム(rhenium)
Os 锇(é) オスミウム(osmium)
Ir 铱(yī) イリジウム(iridium)
Pt 铂(bó) 白金(はっきん,platinum)
Au 金(jīn) 金(きん,aurum)
Hg 汞(góng) 水銀(すいぎん,hydrargyrum)
Tl 铊(tā) タリウム(thallium)
Pb 铅(qiān) 鉛(なまり,plumbum)
Bi 铋(bì) ビスマス(bismuth)
Po 钋(pō) ポロニウム(polonium)

At 砹(ài) アスタチン(astatine)
Rn 氡(dōng) ラドン(radon)
Fr 钫(fāng) フランシウム(francium)
Ra 镭(léi) ラジウム(radium)
Ac 锕(ā) アクチニウム(actinium)
Th 钍(tǔ) トリウム(thorium)
Pa 镤(pú) プロトアクチニウム(protoactinium)
U 铀(yóu) ウラン(uranium)
Np 镎(ná) ネプツニウム(neptunium)
Pu 钚(bù) プルトニウム(plutonium)
Am 镅(méi) アメリシウム(americium)
Cm 锔(jù) キュリウム(curium)
Bk 锫(péi) バークリウム(berkelium)
Cf 锎(kāi) カリホルニウム(californium)
Es 锿(āi) アインスタイニウム(einsteinium)
Fm 镄(fèi) フェルミウム(fermium)
Md 钔(mén) メンテレビウム(mendelevium)
No 锘(nuò) ノーベリウム(nobelium)
Lw 铑(láo) ローレンシウム(lawrencium)
Rf 钅卢(lú) ラザホージウム(rutherfordium)
Db 钅杜(dù) ドブニウム(dubnium)
Sg 钅喜(xǐ) シーボーギウム(seaborgium)
Bh 钅波(bō) ボーリウム(bohrium)
Hs 钅黑(hēi) ハッシウム(hassium)
Mt 钅麦(mài) マイトネリウム(meitnerium)
Ds ダルムスタチウム(darmstadtium)

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jsun
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 Message 23 of 48
23 January 2011 at 11:17pm | IP Logged 
null wrote:



Jsun桑, can you give the Kanji names of these? Thanks.


Adding "san" to a last name isn't a Japanese thing.
In Southern Chinese languages, such as Cantonese and Hokkien,
they can directly add 生 (Cantonese: saan, Hokkien: sinn) to a last name.


All you listed aren't daily scientific words that people use.
And the extent of Japanese loanword usage is beyond the fields of science.
If you don't believe it, please have a look of the following.



反動 (anti government) はんどう
反感 (disgust) はんかん
反射 (reflect) はんしゃ
反响( reaction) はんきょう
反應 (response) はんおう



方案 (plan) ほうあん
方程式 (formula) ほうていしき


參觀 (to tour) さんかん
參看 (reference) さんかん
參照 (reference) さんしょう



歌𠜷 (opera) かげき



寵兒 (favorite /blue-eyed boy) ちょうじ
抽象 (abstract) ちゅうしょう
出版 (to publish) しゅっぱん
出發點 (starting point) しゅっぱつてん
出口 (export) でぐち



單純 (pure, describe a person) たんじゅん



低調 (low key) ていちょう
低能 (retard)  ていのう  
低能兒 (retard person) ていのうじ



了解 (to understand) りょうかい



關係 (relationship) かんけい
觀測 (observation) かんそく
觀點 (point of view) かんてん
觀念 (belief)  かんねん



交際 (social interaction) こうさい
交響樂 (symphony) こうきょうがく

These are just some examples. These aren't 50% of Japanese loanword in Chinese
languages, and the extent of Japanese loanword is beyond technology.
Also, these are daily usage.

I've already stated in the beginning of this post that Japanese tend to loan phonetically from
the West after WW2 (political and emotional problems). However, Japanese loanwords on
the
important concepts of natural science, philosophy, psychology, economics and politics had
already became the fundamental of Chinese languages. Without them, MODERN Chinese
just can't function well. You can't even express support or against, confirm or denial. Even
時間, time, is a Japanese loanword. This is a fact that all Chinese should just accept.




Edited by jsun on 23 January 2011 at 11:38pm

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null
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China
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 Message 24 of 48
24 January 2011 at 12:24am | IP Logged 
Quote:
Even
時間, time, is a Japanese loanword. This is a fact that all Chinese should just accept.


You are just being more ridiculous than ever, the word '时间' made its first appearence in Chinese in YUAN Dynasty.

虽则时间受窘,久后必然发迹。——元· 秦简夫《剪发待宾》

金牌: 宋 孟珙 《蒙鞑备录·官制》:“ 韃 人袭 金 虏之俗,亦置领禄尚书令、左右相、左右平章 等官,亦置大元帅等职,所佩金牌,第一等贵 臣带两虎相向曰鬭虎金牌……其次素金牌。” 元 锺嗣成 《骂玉郎过感皇恩採茶歌·四福·贵》曲:“ 转千阶,位至三台。判南衙,开北省,任西 。綉衣持节,寳剑金牌。”《元史·百官志七 》:“中万户府,管军五千之上。达鲁花赤一 员,万户一员,俱从三品,虎符;副万户一员 ,正四品,金牌。”



Edit: Well, I'm not denying that Japanese loanwords had played an important role in vernacular Chinese, but as a professional Japanese - Chinese translation checker, i can assure you it's wrong to say 'All Chinese scientific terms are from Japanese'.






Edited by null on 24 January 2011 at 12:46am



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