# The English language



## boardslide315

Which is the correct way to say English (language)?


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## Flaminius

I am wondering what language your question is about.  Are you looking for how the English language is called in Chinese?


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## boardslide315

Yes, Chinese...Sorry I forgot to mention it


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## l10ner

Yingyu is more popular, refering to spoken English.
Yingwen mostly refers to text on paper. Wen(文) is 文字(wen2 zi4), means text.
But, they are exchangeble and both are understandble.


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## boardslide315

Thanks! 

And is this just for English, or can you do the same thing with other languages?


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## linguist786

You can do it with all other languages EXCEPT Chinese. You can say _zhong wen_, but not _zhong yu_ (but you can say _han yu _)

fa yu/fa wen - French
de yu/de wen - German
yi da li wen/yi da li yu - Italian


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## boardslide315

Thanks linguist


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## gao_yixing

Besides 英语(yīng yŭ)， 英文(yīng wén), we can also call it 英国话(yīng guó huà).


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## Lugubert

gao_yixing said:


> Besides 英语(yīng yŭ)， 英文(yīng wén), we can also call it 英国话(yīng guó huà).


But then, generally, 英语 normally seems to refer to the spoken, 英文 to the written language.


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## Kassikakk

But how to say 'in English'? Is 在英文/在英语 just fine? I think I've also seen forms like 在英文里 and 在英文中  (might have been with 中文 actually, if that's any different). Does it perhaps depend on the context?


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## vince

In Cantonese:

英文 (yingmun) can refer to both the written and spoken language.

The most common way to say "I know English" would be:
我識講英文
"Ngo sik gong ying mun"


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## gao_yixing

Kassikakk said:


> But how to say 'in English'? Is 在英文/在英语 just fine? I think I've also seen forms like 在英文里 and 在英文中 (might have been with 中文 actually, if that's any different). Does it perhaps depend on the context?


Hi
Oh....在英语里 and 在英文中 are really bad translations. It should be translated into 用英语 or 用英文.
e.g. I tell him in English. 我用英语告诉他.
Greetings,
Anthony


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## gao_yixing

vince said:


> In Cantonese:
> 
> 英文 (yingmun) can refer to both the written and spoken language.
> 
> The most common way to say "I know English" would be:
> 我識講英文
> "Ngo sik gong ying mun"


Hi
This is a good question.
英语 is more formal than 英文. In written language, 英语 is much more widely used.
Anthony


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## Lugubert

gao_yixing said:


> Hi
> Oh....在英语里 and 在英文中 are really bad translations. It should be translated into 用英语 or 用英文.
> e.g. I tell him in English. 我用英语告诉他.


My feeling is that 在 is a "dictionary translation". You-all should realize that prepositions are real beasts between any pair of languages. Instead, think "using" in similar cases, and you'll find that 用 fits. Write using Chinese characters (forget 'in' or no preposition or whatever), eat using chop sticks (forget 'with' which at least us Swedes would guess), etc.


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## kareno999

Lugubert said:


> But then, generally, 英语 normally seems to refer to the spoken, 英文 to the written language.


I don't think so, Lugubert.
Although it's more logical to expect it this way, people tend to use both interchangeably in everyday life.(But 英语 is more common)
Well, lately 美语 is often used to indicate American English by some people. But I don't like this word and never use it.


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## Kassikakk

Lugubert said:


> My feeling is that 在 is a "dictionary translation". You-all should realize that prepositions are real beasts between any pair of languages. Instead, think "using" in similar cases, and you'll find that 用 fits. Write using Chinese characters (forget 'in' or no preposition or whatever), eat using chop sticks (forget 'with' which at least us Swedes would guess), etc.


 
Using 用 makes sense to me most of the time. However, while in 'How do you say it in English?' (well... is '你用英文怎么说它？' close enough?) it sounds fine, but let's take another sentence: 'In English (language) there is no such word' - can we use 用 here, too? After all, nobody is directly "using" the language here for anything.


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## gao_yixing

Kassikakk said:


> Using 用 makes sense to me most of the time. However, while in 'How do you say it in English?' (well... is '你用英文怎么说它？' close enough?) it sounds fine, but let's take another sentence: 'In English (language) there is no such word' - can we use 用 here, too? After all, nobody is directly "using" the language here for anything.


 
Yeah...you're right. We can only translate this sentence into 在英语中没有这个词。
So...It's decided by the context.


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