拷贝=copy

[Ong SeowChin]

I'd a shock when I got to know the meaning of this "word", how about you? Anybody know if this is formal? correct? how many of them are actually being used? why not using 翻印 instead? Personally I hate to see this kind of chinese word, what do you think?

[liuzhou]

I can't really understand why you would be "shocked". Chinese has been borrowing words from English for a very long time. It is a natural language trait.

English borrows even more. In fact almost all of English is'borrowed'.

Here is a partial list of Chinese borrowings from English

Baby 啤啤 (Cantonese) 嬰兒

Bar 酒吧

Bowling 保齡球 滾木球

Brandy 白蘭地酒

Buffet 蒲飛 (Cantonese) 自助餐

Bus 巴士 公共汔車

Bye Bye 拜拜 再見

Calorie 卡路里 熱量單位

Cartoon 卡通 漫畫, 動畫

Cheese 芝士 奶酪

Cherry 車厘子(Cantonese) 櫻桃

Cocoa 可可 谷咕 (Cantonese)

Coffee 咖啡

Chocolate 巧克力 朱古力

Curry 咖喱

Cyanide 山埃 (Cantonese) 化物

Disco 迪斯可 的士高 (Cantonese)

Fashion 花樣 花臣(Cantonese)

Film 菲林 (Cantonese) 膠卷

Gallon 加侖

Golf 高爾夫球

Guitar 吉他 結他 (Cantonese)

Hamburger 漢堡

Jelly 者喱 果子凍

Mile 米 英里

Morphine 嗎啡

Motor 摩托 電動機

Ounce 盎斯 安士

Pudding 布丁 布甸

Salad 沙拉

Sandwich 三明治 三文治

Sardines 沙丁魚 沙甸魚 (Cantonese)

Salmon 三文魚 (Cantonese) 鮭魚

Sauna 桑拿 (Cantonese) 蒸氣浴

Sofa 沙發 梳化

Strawberry 士多啤梨 (Cantonese) 草莓

Sundae 新地 水果奶油冰淇淋

Taxi 的士 (Cantonese) 出租车,(Mandarin), 計程車 (Taiwan)

Tips 貼士 (Cantonese) 小費, 提示

Toast 多士 吐司, 烤麵包

Toffee 太妃糖 拖肥 (Cantonese)

Vitamin 維他命 維生素

Vodka 伏特加酒

Whisky 威士忌酒

[Quest]

I'd a shock when I got to know the meaning of this "word", how about you? Anybody know if this is formal? correct? how many of them are actually being used? why not using 翻印 instead? Personally I hate to see this kind of chinese word, what do you think?

Seeing that you are from France, I sort of understand why you were shocked, but sure you can use 复印 /复制 instead.

[Ong SeowChin]

thanks for your answers, I understand that chinese borrow words from other languages when it doesn't exist in its own language. If 复制 means copy why do we need to borrow?

[skylee]

If 复制 means copy why do we need to borrow?

You don't.

[liuzhou]

If 复制 means copy why do we need to borrow?

Strictly speaking, we don't. But language doesn't work that way! As you can see from the list I posted earlier, most of the borrowed words have equivalent "real Chinese".

To me it is a sign of a healthy language!

[roddy]

I've always thought that 拷贝 was only used only in computing - ie copy something to clipboard, or copy something to a disk. Could you use it for photocopies, etc, as well?

Roddy

[skylee]

A copy of a film is called 電影拷貝.

[ballbox1982]

拷贝=复制

[Ong SeowChin]

I will agree with Roddy if the context is limited in computing, for the action of copy and paste etc.

The problem of these terms is, we'll loose the self-explaining power in the chinese language.

skylee,

什么是電影拷貝?

the action of copying? or a DVD etc. ?

I wonder how many % of chinese users understand "拷貝"?

Refering to the list given by liuzhou, we could see quite a few cantonese words, I guess that was because Cantonese like to use english words(out of tune) in their phrases, can we call that chinese/mandarin?

Quest,

What do you mean by 'Seeing that you are from France'? Can't we master chinese in France?

Anyway, thank you very much for your participation.

[skylee]

什么是電影拷貝?

唉~~ ->

http://www.google.com.hk/search?hl=zh-TW&q=%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E6%8B%B7%E8%B2%9D&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E5%B0%8B&meta=lr%3Dlang_zh-TW

I wonder how many % of chinese users understand "拷貝"?

唉~~, many.

[Quest]

Quest,

What do you mean by 'Seeing that you are from France'?

Have you heard of L'Académie française?

Try this link:

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0858274.html

and this:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4507

[geek_frappa]

聽說法國人會說法國話...法國餐吃了沒病嗎

[in_lab]

kao3bei4 is written in big letters on the signs for many locksmith shops. But, I seem to remember I was told not use kaobei as a verb here (to copy a key). Pei4 is better for that function. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[xiaoxiajenny]

I don't see anything wrong with 拷贝.

COPY n.副本, 拷贝, 摹仿, 一册

v.复印, 复制, 拷贝, 抄袭

If you really hate this word, you can just say "Copy", Chinese people will understand what you say.

McDonald's 麦当劳

Karaoke/Kara Ok 卡拉OK

[geek_frappa]

If you really hate this word, you can just say "Copy", Chinese people will understand what you say.

yes! .. you can also say words like DVD, VISA, VCD....

[Ong SeowChin]

sorry everybody, I had been occupied at taking care and growing up my babies for the past three years, I think I was a bit out of date!

聽說法國人會說法國話...法國餐吃了沒病嗎

我不是法国人(马来西亚华侨)但我会法语和煮法国餐，法国餐这么美味，病了也值得！

[Ong SeowChin]

If you really hate this word, ...

It's not that I hate it, but since 拷=beat/torture and 贝=shellfish, it makes me think of "torturing shellfish"

in-lab,

what is a locksmith shop please? Pei4 is equivalent to which character in chinese? I'm agree with you, it shouldn't be used as a verb!

[HashiriKata]

what is a locksmith shop please?

I think you might have looked up this word by now but anyway, locksmith is a place you buy your locks and have your keys duplicated.

Have you heard of L'Académie française?

Although one of its functions is to regulate the language, I don't think the whole French nation is with it in this function and I don't think it's been completely successful in this mission, so some French persons may not be quite happy if we put them all in one basket

[Ong SeowChin]

唉~~ ->

http://www.google.com.hk/search?hl=zh-TW&q=%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E6%8B%B7%E8%B2%9D&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E5%B0%8B&meta=lr%3Dlang_zh-TW

thanks skylee for the article and sorry for disappointing you. Obviously the word(noun) is being used widely. Did you notice that in the fifth sentence of the third paragraph-銷毀後可能永遠不能複製了-, proved that 拷貝 cannot be used as verb.

Have you heard of L'Académie française?

Of course! but I prefer L'Académie chinoise!

quote]and this:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4507

thank you Quest, this is very useful and important. note:

He cautions that Chinese risks becoming a hodgepodge language as the embedding of English words into the language has already hurt its internal harmony as a hieroglyphic language.

The professor suggests that the penetration of English words into Chinese comes as one of the ill-effects of cultural invasion from the powerful English culture and language.

The conclusion of this Topic:

Try not to use loan word if possible to safe the chinese language.