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Is ‘NBA’ Chinese or English?

The current situation of English lettered words in Chinese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2017

Mingwu Xu  and
Chuanmao Tian
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Extract

In recent years, the use of foreign loanwords in Chinese has increased significantly. It has been estimated that there are currently about 3,000 foreign words in Chinese, most of which are related to English (Zhang, 2006). Of these, more than 500 words are frequently used, together with their abbreviations and translations. In response to this situation, the Chinese government established the Inter-ministerial Joint Meeting on Chinese Language Translation and Writing Specifications (IJM-CLTWS) in 2012, consisting of ten state-level ministries and institutions such as the State Language Commission, the Central Compilation & Translation Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education. Thus far, the expert committee of the IJM-CLTWS has identified four groups of foreign words and their standard Chinese translations.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 33 - 39
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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