English | Hanzi(Chinese Charaters) | Pinyin |
Chinese | 中文/汉语 | Zhōng wén/Hàn yǔ |
English | 英文/英语 | Yīng wén/Yīng yǔ |
French | 法文/法语 | Fǎ wén/Fǎ yǔ |
German | 德文/德语 | Dé wén/Dé yǔ |
Italian | 意大利文/意大利语 | Yìdàlì wén/ Yìdàlì yǔ |
Spanish | 西班牙文/西班牙语 | Xībānyá wén/Xībānyá yǔ |
Dutch | 荷兰文/荷兰语 | Hélán wén/Hélán yǔ |
Portuguese | 葡萄牙文/葡萄牙语 | Pútáoyá wén/Pútáoyá yǔ |
Korean | 韩文/韩语 | Hán wén/Hán yǔ |
Japanese | 日文/日语 | Rì wén/Rì yǔ |
So you can see from the list above, Chinese is the ONLY exception which you can not say "Zhōngyǔ 中语".
All other languages in Chinese you can basically add a yǔ 语or wén文 behind their country names(some times with the shorten form)
And Why?
It's cause most Chinese use one written language which is "wén文" the written Chinese characters, but we speak mandarin, which is the dialect of the Han汉 group, Hàn yǔ汉语(mandarin)。
「Practice Time」
1, Can you speak xx language?
Nǐ huì shuō xx language ma?
你会说xx language吗?
2,What languages can you speak?
Nǐ huì shuō shénme yǔyán?
你会说什么语言?
Sample sentences in a conversation:
Nǐ huì shuō rìyǔ ma?
A: 你会说日语吗?
Wǒ huì, nǐ ne? Nǐ huì shuō shénme yǔyán?
B: 我会,你呢?你会说什么语言?
Wǒ huì shuō hànyǔ, yīngyǔ, hái yǒu xībānyá yǔ.
A: 我会说汉语,英语,还有西班牙语。
Nǐ zhēn niú!
B: 你真牛!
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