Do you enjoy learning new languages? If you said yes, this article is the right choice for you.
We’ll show you the most fun and easy languages similar to Chinese
You’ll have the advantage of learning languages similar to Chinese with ease.
Let’s stick to the end.
Languages Similar To Chinese – Top 5 Languages
With over one billion Chinese speakers, it is at the top of the list of famous languages to study in 2022.
There are languages that are similar to Chinese in terms of history and features. Including:
1. Is Japanese One Of The Languages Similar To Chinese:
The nouns are the first thing that the two languages have in common.
Nouns in both Chinese and Japanese have:
– No gender (feminine or masculine)
– No number (singular or plural).
Despite phonetic differences, both languages’ numeral systems work the same way.
The letters used to represent numbers are also the same.
Both the Chinese and Japanese languages employ kanji characters.
In both languages, 80% of the Kanji characters are used. These words also have identical meanings.
That makes it difficult to tell them apart. Japan developed its writing style and shapes.
It took a lot of inspiration from Chinese writing.
Facts Of Japanese Language – Languages Similar To Chinese:
Some surprising facts of the Japanese language are as follows:
– It’s named ‘Nihongo’ in the local dialect.
– Three different writing systems are also used in Japan.
– Despite using Chinese characters, Japanese is not a Chinese language.
– There are three levels of formality, each with its syntax.
– In Japanese, there are no plurals.
2. Korean- Among The Languages Similar To Chinese:
Koreans utilized the Hanja writing system, which originated in China.
On the other hand, Koreans now primarily use the Hangul phonetic alphabet.
Hangul is phonetically regular, which is good news for Korean learners.
Once you’ve mastered the basic letters, reading pronunciation is simple.
It was purposefully written to be simple enough for everyone to read.
That is also regardless of the educational background.
Though it has become less frequent, Chinese lettering still has a role in Korean culture.
The Korean language is agglutinative. The traditional view of it is that it has nine components of speech.
Linguists estimate that about 60% of Korean words are also Chinese.
As of 2020, over 80 million people, mostly Koreans, speak an East Asian language.
It is North Korea’s and South Korea’s official and national language.
Surprising Language Facts Of Korean:
Some of the interesting facts that sound surprising to many of you are:
– Korean is categorized as language isolation.
That implies it has no substantial connections to any other language on the planet.
– Korean is an SOV language, meaning the verb is always the last element.
– There are two distinct counting methods.
– The language has seven levels of respect built into it.
– Until the 15th century, Korea had no alphabet.
3. Vietnamese Language – Languages Similar To Chinese:
Vietnamese is far more related to Chinese dialects from the south than Mandarin.
In 111 BC, China conquered Vietnam (then known as Nam Viet) and ruled it for 1000 years.
“In the 10th century, the Vietnamese adopted the Chinese script.”
Several Vietnamese words have Chinese origins.
Furthermore, others place the percentage at 70% of the Vietnamese language.
After a 1500-word review in 2007, the figure decreased to 27%.
However, its technique did not include names, vocabularies, or regional vocals.
Both are tonal and are SVO. Vietnamese has a large Chinese influence.
Therefore, there are a number of cognates or borrowed words from Chinese.
Vietnamese and Mandarin are prototype examples of monosyllabic SVO analytic languages.
Surprising Language Facts Of Vietnamese:
The Vietnamese language has some interesting facts. Let us have a glance at some of them:
– There are six tones in the Vietnamese language.
– Vietnamese was written using an altered version of Chinese. This is due to China’s dominance.
However, throughout the French colonization period, the language was then Latinized.
– Vietnam is generally classified into three primary regions.
These are northern, central, and southern. Also, each area has its distinct accent.
– The Vietnamese language is the official language of Vietnam, but also that of the Czech Republic.
– The Vietnamese language, in addition to being Chinese, contains some French elements.
4. Thai- One Of The Languages Similar To Chinese:
Thai and Chinese languages appear to have little in common to the untrained ear.
Especially to those who are inexperienced with Asian languages.
However, it turned out that these have a lot of terms, structures, and expressions in common!
Some of the features are:
– They employ monosyllabic words generally.
– Thai have similar words and sentence-building patterns.
– This language does not conjugate verbs and nouns.
– Some would argue that their grammar is relatively easy.
Pluralization of words and spelling patterns are also examples of similarity. According to research:
“Thai speakers learn Chinese faster than non-Thai speakers.”
These have shared many sounds and modal auxiliaries.
Vocabulary and grammatical rules also have their part among standard features between them.
There are also some parallels that are difficult to ignore:
– In both languages, the word “sad” is also pronounced as Sau.
– In Chinese, “ink” is Mak and Meuk in Thai.
– “poor luck” is Soei and Suei, respectively, in Chinese and Thai.
Surprising Language Facts Of Thai -Languages Similar To Chinese:
The Thai language has some facts that may be astonishing to many of you.
Let’s have a look at some of these:
– Thai is a Tai language, also known as Siamese.
– Around 40 million people speak Thai in the world.
– A stone inscription dated 1292 AD is considered the first occurrence of the written Thai language.
– Thai is a tonal language consisting of five distinct tones.
– Thai and Laotian, another Tai language, are mutually intelligible.
This way, you will know about languages similar to Chinese.
5. Hmong Language – Languages Similar To Chinese :
In China, the Hmong are one of the Miao ethnicity’s sub-groups.
Hmong is a tonal language similar to Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.
There are eight tones in all (though some say seven).
There is a high tone, a low tone, and even a low falling tone.
More than half of all Hmong speakers speak Chinese dialects.
Here, the Dananshan dialect serves as the language’s foundation.
Surprising Language Facts Of Hmong:
The Hmong language has some facts that may be astonishing to many of you.
Let’s see some of these:
– Writing in Hmong was once banned.
– The two primary Hmong dialects are Hmong Daw (White Hmong) and Mong Njua (Green Hmong).
– Hmong words are one syllable and are short.
The majority follow the same structure of a consonant group followed by a vowel.
– The Hmong people use eight unique tones.
– Hmong verbs differ from English verbs in their behavior.
Some Final Thoughts:
Chinese is one of the easiest and quickest languages to learn.
Languages similar to Chinese are also the most searched option.
So, if you know one of these languages, you’ll have a huge leg up on the learning competition.
It will give you the edge to learn about the culture’s beauty because of these languages.
Moreover, your knowledge of languages goes one step ahead as well.
Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills will also be enhanced.
Thus, speaking different languages is no doubt an advantage.
This way, you will know about languages similar to Chinese.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are The Major Languages Similar To Chinese?
The major languages similar to Chinese include Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, and various Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Shanghainese.
How Is Japanese Similar To Chinese?
Japanese uses Chinese characters (kanji) in its writing system and has many loanwords from Chinese, although the grammar and pronunciation are different.
Is Korean Similar To Chinese In Any Way?
Korean has historical influences from Chinese, particularly in vocabulary, but its writing system (Hangul) and grammar are distinct.
What Chinese Dialects Are Similar To Mandarin?
Chinese dialects similar to Mandarin include Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hokkien, and Hakka, each with unique pronunciation and vocabulary.
How Similar Is Vietnamese To Chinese?
Vietnamese has a significant number of loanwords from Chinese and historically used Chinese characters, but its current writing system and grammar are different.
Are Thai And Chinese Related?
Thai is not directly related to Chinese but has some loanwords from Chinese due to historical and cultural interactions.
Can Chinese Speakers Understand Cantonese?
Chinese speakers may recognize some written Cantonese, but spoken Cantonese is generally not mutually intelligible with Mandarin due to different pronunciation and vocabulary.
What Script Is Used In Similar Languages Like Chinese?
Languages like Japanese use kanji (Chinese characters), Korean historically used Hanja (Chinese characters), and Vietnamese used Chữ Nôm (Chinese-derived characters) before adopting their current scripts.
Chinese dialects share similar grammatical structures, but there are variations in usage and syntax across different regions.
How Does The Tonal Nature Of Chinese Compare To Similar Languages?
Like Chinese, languages such as Vietnamese and Thai are tonal, meaning the pitch or intonation of a word can change its meaning. Japanese and Korean, however, are not tonal languages.
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