Chinese and English compared

Chinese and English are structurally very different languages.

This difference begins at a high level, in that there is only one (common) Chinese written language, but several distinct Chinese spoken languages; however, it is ordinarily accepted that there is a single English language, spoken and written, despite the existence of several dialects.

In addition, spoken Chinese is a tonal language; differences in pitch (the term "tone" is often used in descriptions of spoken Chinese) indicate different words. In English, pitch GeneRally only implies emphasis, or the emotional state of the speaker, although a rising pitch can indicate a question.

Finally, written Chinese is primarily a logographic system, with individual symbols representing words or morphemes. Written English, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the scale, in the the individual symbols represent alphabetic letters, i.e. the various sounds which make up a word.

See also

• Is Chinese a language or a family of languages?