What Words Sound the Same in English and Mandarin Chinese?

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 hāi
cool
pat pāi
card
fee fèi
drag zhuài
tow tuō
peel
pan 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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