How English speakers can learn Chinese fast? Fun fact: There are some loan words shared between English and Chinese.
Some English words, such as bye-bye, coffee, sofa, and microphone, have successfully integrated into Modern Chinese. English language also borrowed many words from different cultures or languages. Tofu, for example, is an English loanword from Japanese, where it is a Mandarin loanword.
Today, we've compiled a collection of 30 English terms that sound very similar to their Mandarin Chinese counterparts. Listen to the audio recording. Do they sound similar to you?
Click to play the Mandarin Chinese audio version of the word list.
| 英文
English |
简体中文
Simplified Chinese |
繁體字
Traditional Chinese |
拼音
Pinyin |
| Bye-bye | 拜拜 | 拜拜 | Báibai |
| Hello | 哈喽 | 哈嘍 | hālóu |
| Hi | 嗨 | 嗨 | hāi |
| cool | 酷 | 酷 | kù |
| pat | 拍 | 拍 | pāi |
| card | 卡 | 卡 | kǎ |
| fee | 费 | 費 | fèi |
| drag | 拽 | 拽 | zhuài |
| tow | 拖 | 拖 | tuō |
| peel | 皮 | 皮 | pí |
| pan | 盘 | 盤 | pán |
| sofa | 沙发 | 沙發 | shāfā |
| typhoon | 台风 | 颱風 | táifēng |
| mini | 迷你 | 迷你 | mínǐ |
| cartoon | 卡通 | 卡通 | kǎtōng |
| tofu | 豆腐 | 豆腐 | dòufu |
| dimsum | 点心 | 點心 | diǎnxīn |
| lemon | 柠檬 | 檸檬 | níngméng |
| coffee | 咖啡 | 咖啡 | kāfēi |
| pudding | 布丁 | 布丁 | bùdīng |
| motor | 摩托 | 摩托 | mótuō |
| ballet | 芭蕾 | 芭蕾 | bāléi |
| gene | 基因 | 基因 | jīyīn |
| logic | 逻辑 | 邏輯 | luójí |
| vitamin | 维他命 | 維他命 | wéitāmìng |
| microphone | 麦克风 | 麥克風 | màikèfēng |
| guitar | 吉他 | 吉他 | jítā |
| golf | 高尔夫 | 高爾夫 | gāo'ěrfū |
| sauna | 桑拿 | 桑拿 | sāngná |
| kungfu | 功夫 | 功夫 | gōngfū |
| quark | 夸克 | 夸克 | kuākè |
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