Loanwords have entered written and spoken Chinese from many sources, including ancient peoples whose descendants now speak Chinese. In addition to phonetic differences, varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese and Shanghainese often have distinct words and phrases left from their original languages which they continue to ...

Why does Chinese have so few loanwords?

The Chinese language has historically been highly resistant to outside influence and therefore has fewer loanwords compared to some other languages. ... For this reason, foreign concepts have usually, but not always, been translated into the closest Chinese equivalent.

What is loanwords in English?

in the History of English. Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language (the source language). A loanword can also be called a borrowing. ... They simply come to be used by a speech community that speaks a different language from the one they originated in.