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Regional differences in the Chinese language

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Revision as of 06:59, 14 January 2011 by wikademia>HXL49 (→Vocabulary differences: hotel is definitely wrong; as far as I know, all three forms (饭店、宾馆、酒店) of hotel are used in mainland China)
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The Chinese language enjoys the status as official language in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan. However, the language shows a high degree of regional variation among these territories.

The Chinese language currently has two written forms, namely the traditional Chinese characters and the simplified Chinese characters. Also, many spoken forms of the Chinese language are mutually unintelligible.

In addition to these differences, there are also many regional differences in vocabularies. In many cases, different words are used in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan to express the same meaning. The article seeks to illustrate the regional differences in vocabularies by some selected examples.

Vocabulary differences

Meaning  China  Hong Kong  Macau  Singapore  Taiwan
Traditional Simplified Traditional Simplified Traditional Simplified Traditional Simplified Traditional Simplified
bus 公交車／大巴 公交车／大巴 巴士 巴士 巴士 巴士 巴士 巴士 公車 公车
taxi 出租車 出租车 的士 的士 的士 的士 德士 德士 計程車 计程车
police 公安 公安 差人／警察 差人／警察 差人／治安警／司警 差人／治安警／司警 警察 警察 警察 警察
town square 廣場 广场 廣場 广场 前地 前地 廣場 广场 廣場 广场
laser 激光 激光 鐳射 镭射 鐳射 镭射 激光 激光 雷射 雷射
rapid transit 軌道交通／地鐵 轨道交通／地铁 地鐵 地铁 地鐵 地铁 捷運 捷运 捷運 捷运
light rail 輕軌 轻轨 輕鐵 轻铁 輕軌 轻轨 輕軌 轻轨 輕鐵 轻铁
instant noodles 方便麵 方便面 即食麵 即食面 即食麵 即食面 快熟麵 快熟面 速食麵 速食面
Mandarin Chinese 普通話 普通话 普通話／國語 普通话／国语 普通話 普通话 華語 华语 國語 国语
potato 土豆 土豆 薯仔 薯仔 薯仔 薯仔 馬鈴薯 马铃薯 馬鈴薯 马铃薯
pineapple 菠蘿 菠萝 菠蘿 菠萝 菠蘿 菠萝 黃梨 黄梨 鳳梨 凤梨
lorry 卡車 卡车 貨櫃車 货柜车 貨櫃車 货柜车 羅里 罗里 貨車 货车
tights/pantyhose 連褲襪 连裤袜 襪褲 袜裤 襪褲 袜裤 褲襪 裤袜 褲襪 裤袜
lunch box/bento 盒飯 盒饭 飯盒 饭盒 飯盒 饭盒 盒飯 盒饭 便當 便当

See also

References

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