# 英文 / 英语



## April fool

Pimsleur teaches 你会说英文吗？while other courses teach 你会说英语吗？
Are they equally correct? I think I read somewhere that in this context 英语 is more appropriate since we are talking about the SPOKEN language. When discussing the written language, 英文 would be more appropriate.


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## retrogradedwithwind

I remember that we have discussed the difference between 语，文 and 言.
You can go search them.


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## James Bates

I don't think Pimsleur should have taught 你会说英文吗？
Instead, 你会说英语吗？is more appropriate. However, what Pimsleur teaches is acceptable too.


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## Skatinginbc

Do you guys find 你會說中文嗎 inappropriate?  I don't.  In casual conversation, 文 could mean 語言 "language".


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## ktdd

I agree with Skatinginbc.
Moreover, I remember "你識唔識講英文呀？" from Pimsleur Cantonese. And frankly I think replacing 英文 with 英語 in that sentence is just wrong and un-Cantonese.
Pimsleur probably knew the modern concept of "language" is relatively new in China, and a large portion of the public still don't differentiate a language from its script.


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## James Bates

Another possible reason for Pimsleur's preferring 英文 over 英语 is that the latter contains a sound that does not exist in English (but does exist in French, German, and Turkish).


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## piano0011

Hey guys!

From my understanding, mei3guo2 = America and ying1guo2 = Britain and Aodaliya = Australia but just to confirm my understanding that all of them would speak english? All of them would speak ying1wen2?

[...]


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## SuperXW

If I understand you correctly, you can say people of the three countries all (mainly) speak ying1wen2 or ying1yu2.
ying1wen2 and ying1yu3 are both for "English language", often interchangeable, but ying1yu3 is more common for spoken language, and ying1wen2 is more for texts.

A less-common word is mei3yu3, which means yu3(language) for mei3guo2(America), which refers to "American English".
But we don't have mei3wen2.
Also, we don't have ao4yu3 for ao4da4li4ya4.
mei3yu4 becomes a fixed term because American spoken English is more influential than other variety of English.

[...]


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> we don't have ao4yu3 for ao4da4li4ya4.


沪江中学初中二年级地理试题:
澳大利亚通用的语言是: A．英语 B．法语 C．澳语 D．德语
答案: A．英语

I think I would accept (C) 澳语 "Aussie English" (澳式英语) as well.
According to 沪江英语, 澳大利亞英語的分類: (1)優雅澳語(Cultivated Australian), (2)粗俗澳語(Broad Australian), (3)普通澳語(General Australian), (4)土著英語(Aboriginal English).


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> 沪江中学初中二年级地理试题:
> 澳大利亚通用的语言是: A．英语 B．法语 C．澳语 D．德语
> 答案: A．英语
> I think I would accept (C) 澳语 "Aussie English" (澳式英语) as well.
> According to 沪江英语, 澳大利亞英語的分類: (1)優雅澳語(Cultivated Australian), (2)粗俗澳語(Broad Australian), (3)普通澳語(General Australian), (4)土著英語(Aboriginal English).


Then why 澳语 isn't the correct answer??


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## little Rabbit

April fool said:


> Pimsleur teaches 你会说英文吗？while other courses teach 你会说英语吗？
> Are they equally correct? I think I read somewhere that in this context 英语 is more appropriate since we are talking about the SPOKEN language. When discussing the written language, 英文 would be more appropriate.


I love to say 英语。 But sometimes I would use 英文 in writing. "英文“ sounds more educated. It was also used by many traditional scholars or university professors. But most of times, I just use 英语。 I never use 英文。


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## Abbu

SuperXW said:


> If I understand you correctly, you can say people of the three countries all (mainly) speak ying1wen2 or ying1yu2.
> ying1wen2 and ying1yu3 are both for "English language", often interchangeable, but ying1yu3 is more common for spoken language, and ying1wen2 is more for texts.



That's what I thought too, but today I asked a native speaker of Chinese "您会说哪些语言？" and he texted me back, "我会说流利的英文和中文，一部分的德文以及一点点西班牙语。"

He said he's fluent in English, so obviously he was talking about the spoken language, so why didn't he say "我会说流利的英语"?


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## hx1997

Some people make a distinction between 语 and 文 (and they insist it is important), others don't. I think it's a matter of personal choice.


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## SuperXW

Abbu said:


> He said he's fluent in English, so obviously he was talking about the spoken language, so why didn't he say "我会说流利的英语"?


If you do a research, you would find more native speakers prefer yu3 than wen2 in this context, that doesn't mean wen2 is rare.


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## wha002

I think the formal translation for “English language” is “英语” which contains “口语（oral language）” and “书面语 (written language)”. “文” only means written language.

To me, “英文” is a word sounds like language from the Republic of China era and could sound more educated.


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## Wai Ho

ktdd said:


> I agree with Skatinginbc.
> Moreover, I remember "你識唔識講英文呀？" from Pimsleur Cantonese. And frankly I think replacing 英文 with 英語 in that sentence is just wrong and un-Cantonese.
> Pimsleur probably knew the modern concept of "language" is relatively new in China, and a large portion of the public still don't differentiate a language from its script.


In Cantonese, we always say 文 even if it's spoken.


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