# shŏujī (Mandarin)



## fresh basil

Hello,

I am hoping to confirm whether native Mandarin speakers use the term *shŏujī *to refer to smart phones or cellphones and whether the transliteration is correct. 

I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me out. The context is for a museum exhibit about global uses of cellphones.

Thank you!


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## twenty6

Yes. In fact, it's the only word for a modern cellphone I can think of right now, haha...


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## yuechu

Just to add to what Twenty6 said:
The Chinese characters for it are 手机 (in simplified characters) and 手機 (in traditional characters).
Smart phones are called 智能手机 (in simplified characters) and 智能手機 (in traditional characters) and it is romanized as zhìnéng shǒujī.

(Let's wait for a native speaker though to confirm that these are correct. Usage could be different in Taiwan, especially for new words such as for computers and electronics)


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## twenty6

In casual, everyday conversation you would probably use 手机, simply because it's simpler and shorter. While 智能手机 is used, it's fairly rare and you'll probably see them in commercials and whatnot.


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## fresh basil

Thank you twenty6 and yuechu! I will definitely wait for more replies. Twenty6, do you have familiarity with the "zhìnéng" romanization?

And it's definitely great to hear about different regions. Thanks again!


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## twenty6

Romanization is to change a script into the latin alphabet, so just writing "zhi neng" would probably work for most purposes (if you were transliterating pinyin, that is, for a foreign audience). 

There are three forms of romanization; Hanyu Pinyin (which you just used), ALA-LC (which I used), and Wade-Giles (or whatever that's called, I have no clue what that is, just that it exists). I'm not sure about specific rules for ALA-LC or the other one, but there should be charts and guidelines online.


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## yuechu

For Mandarin, Hanyu Pinyin is the most widespread romanization nowadays (although I am unfamiliar with ALA-LC). I would suggest you keep the tone marks on the vowels. Some people remove them, but they technically should be included when transliterating Chinese since the different tones change the meanings of the words...

"zhìnéng shǒujī" is definitely the correct romanization for "smart phone".


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## fresh basil

Thank you both! This is really helpful.

One more question: Do I understand correctly that shŏujī indicates a cellphone and zhìnéng shǒujī, or zhi neng less formally [?], specifically indicates a smart phone?


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## twenty6

From my understanding, there is no difference, unless one specifically refers to flip phones, landlines, or rotary phones of the past specifically (as 手机 in general). If you were to say 手机 it would be implied that you were talking about 智能手机.


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## yuechu

shǒujī = cell phone
zhìnéng = intelligent, smart

zhìnéng shǒujī = smart phone
The tones marks have nothing to do with formality in Chinese. They are always pronounced with those tones (in these words), which is why they should be kept, in my opinion.
EDIT: cross-posted with Twenty6


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## fresh basil

Thank you! I'm very grateful to you both.


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## Skatinginbc

shǒujī (手机) = handphone (i.e., cordless phone or mobile phone)
shǒu (手) = hand
jī (机) = device
shǒujī (手机) is the short form of 手提式电话机 (literally "hand-held telephone device").


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## fresh basil

Thank you Skatinginbc!


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## SimonTsai

We Taiwanese always refer to smart phones as '智慧型手機'. Note the character '型', which is obligatory. Similarly we say '智慧型手錶'. (We do say '智慧家具', by contrast. But the difference is not on the topic here, so let's stop.)

The character '手' there indicates that it is supposed to be held in the hand. '機' are devices. So putting them together, we see an emphasis on the portability of the device.


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## yuechu

The Chinese characters (for the Taiwanese Mandarin word for smart phone) that SimonTsai just wrote down can be romanized in Hanyu pinyin as: zhìhuìxíng shǒujī.


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## fresh basil

SimonTsai said:


> We Taiwanese always refer to smart phones as '智慧型手機'. Note the character '型', which is obligatory. Similarly we say '智慧型手錶'. (We do say '智慧家具', by contrast. But the difference is not on the topic here, so let's stop.)
> 
> The character '手' there indicates that it is supposed to be held by the hand. '機' are devices. Putting them together, we see an emphasis on the portability of the device.



Thank you SimonTsai! And thank you yuechu; I was just typing that exact follow-up question!


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## SuperXW

If you are exhibiting the term in a museum and wish to be so precise, I suppose you do not need to use any Romanization of Chinese, because those are only for pupils or foreigners to learn the pronunciations. Romanizations are definitely not the real Chinese word.

To make it clear:
China (PRC): 手机 lit. "hand-device" (common)
China (PRC): 智能手机 lit. "intelligent hand-device" (more formal)
Taiwan: 手機 lit. "hand-device" (common)
Taiwan: 智慧型手機 lit. "intelligence-type hand-device" (more formal)

By the way, the formal Chinese term in Hong Kong is 流动電話 "mobile phone", but it is not a popular one among the global population. I guess we can skip that one.


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## ovaltine888

SuperXW said:


> If you are exhibiting the term in a museum and wish to be so precise, I suppose you do not need to use any Romanization of Chinese, because those are only for pupils or foreigners to learn the pronunciations. Romanizations are definitely not the real Chinese word.
> 
> To make it clear:
> China (PRC): 手机 lit. "hand-device" (common)
> China (PRC): 智能手机 lit. "intelligent hand-phone" (more formal)
> Taiwan: 手機 lit. "hand-device" (common)
> Taiwan: 智慧型手機 lit. "intelligence-type hand-device" (more formal)
> 
> By the way, the formal Chinese term in Hong Kong is 流动電話 "mobile phone", but it is not a popular one among the global population. I guess we can skip that one.


移动电话 is also an old fashioned option.


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## hx1997

Anyone heard of 行动电话? I wonder where this term is used. (It's definitely not a common word in today's mainland though.)



fresh basil said:


> the term *shŏujī*


Just a little correction: that diacritical mark on the letter "o" is not a breve (which is curved); it's a caron (which is pointed). The correct pinyin is sh*ǒ*ujī, as other people have posted.


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## ovaltine888

行动电话是台湾的用法，不过好像也被手机取代了。
另外新加坡的手机英文直译就是 hand phone，名片上印的缩写是HP，刚来的时候看不懂还以为这人血槽好长~


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## hx1997

ovaltine888 said:


> 行动电话是台湾的用法，不过好像也被手机取代了。
> 另外新加坡的手机英文直译就是 hand phone，名片上印的缩写是HP，刚来的时候看不懂还以为这人血槽好长~
> 
> [...]


谢谢，这个表很有意思！没想起来查维基百科。


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## fresh basil

SuperXW said:


> If you are exhibiting the term in a museum and wish to be so precise, I suppose you do not need to use any Romanization of Chinese, because those are only for pupils or foreigners to learn the pronunciations. Romanizations are definitely not the real Chinese word.
> 
> To make it clear:
> China (PRC): 手机 lit. "hand-device" (common)
> China (PRC): 智能手机 lit. "intelligent hand-phone" (more formal)
> Taiwan: 手機 lit. "hand-device" (common)
> Taiwan: 智慧型手機 lit. "intelligence-type hand-device" (more formal)
> 
> By the way, the formal Chinese term in Hong Kong is 流动電話 "mobile phone", but it is not a popular one among the global population. I guess we can skip that one.


That's an excellent point. Thank you for laying out the terms so clearly. I appreciate it!



hx1997 said:


> Anyone heard of 行动电话? I wonder where this term is used. (It's definitely not a common word in today's mainland though.)
> 
> 
> Just a little correction: that diacritical mark on the letter "o" is not a breve (which is curved); it's a caron (which is pointed). The correct pinyin is sh*ǒ*ujī, as other people have posted.


A thousand thanks for this correction. Much appreciated!


ovaltine888 said:


> 行动电话是台湾的用法，不过好像也被手机取代了。
> 另外新加坡的手机英文直译就是 hand phone，名片上印的缩写是HP，刚来的时候看不懂还以为这人血槽好长~
> 
> View attachment 56808


Ovaltine888, this is far beyond what I can translate, but I appreciate your time and this looks like great information. Perhaps too much in the weeds for me, but certainly of help for future folks searching the threads.


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## Skatinginbc

ovaltine888 said:


> View attachment 56808


1980年代中期左右, "大哥大" 這詞在台灣已經流行了, 不過, 當時的 "大哥大" 指的是無線行動通訊工具 (包括 "_walkie_-_talkie_"), 起初是非法的 (因能接到警察之間的無線通訊信號), 廣被黑幫 "大哥" 用來打敗警方, 故稱"大哥大".

我喜歡新加坡的 "隨身電話".  用來拍照、錄影、上網、通話的多功能隨身機器, 可以稱之為 "隨身機" 嗎？


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