Borrowed Words in English and Chinese Vocabulary

Yingying Shen

doi:10.5539/elt.v2n1p62

Abstract

Borrowed words are the products of language development and cultural contact. This paper probes into the brief study of borrowed words in both English and Chinese vocabulary. At the very beginning it generally introduces issues being covered, and the following two parts center on the study of borrowed words on the basis of dictionary research. Later, this paper figures out the significance of borrowed words study for EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners, particularly those Chinese ones, and gives some advice for borrowed words learning.

Highlights

Language, both an important tool in human communication and a significant reflection of social development, undergoes rapid changes during the histories
More and more linguists attach importance to and research on the borrowed words in both English and Chinese vocabularies, while few of them relate borrowed words to its significance for English as Foreign Language (EFL) Learners, especially those Chinese ones
To study English borrowed words in Chinese vocabulary based on dictionary research, this paper finds out that there are 142 “acronyms and words beginning with Greek or Latin letters” in the back matters of The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English edition, 2002) and most of them are English borrowed words such as e-mail, CT, CPU, DOS, DVD, FAX, internet, and so on

Summary

Introduction

Both an important tool in human communication and a significant reflection of social development, undergoes rapid changes during the histories. The necessities of intercourse bring the speakers of one language into direct or indirect contact with those of neighboring or culturally dominant languages.”(Sapir, 2001:159) the result of continuous contact between different speaking communities is that people use each other’s words to refer to some particular things, process, or ways of thinking. This kind of using others’ languages is called borrowing, which is a natural result of language contact and exerts a profound impact on both vocabulary enrichment and mutual understanding of cultures. This paper tries to do a better job on this point and give some advice for borrowed words learning

Brief History of English Words Borrowed From others

Studies on Chinese Borrowed Words

English Borrowed Words in Chinese Vocabulary

Significance of Borrowed Words for EFL Learners

Findings

Conclusion