The Chinese language has seen rise in popularity as more of its words are now internationalized. (Photo : Reuters)
The number of Chinese words added in the English dictionary has significantly increased during the past two decades, an official cultural development report revealed on Wednesday.
The report, entitled "Cultural Construction Blue Paper--China's Cultural Development Report (2014)," showed that foreign languages' utilization of Chinese words is increasing at a fast rate.
The Hubei University's and China's Social Sciences Academic Press' collaborative report also stated that the internationalization of the Chinese language is becoming a new cultural trend.
Some of China's Internet buzzwords made it to the American Urban Dictionary, including "you can you up, no can no BB" ("if you can do it you should go up and do it, instead of criticizing others' work") and "no zuo no die" ("if you don't do stupid things, they won't come back and bite you in the back").
Furthermore, words such as "dama" (elderly women) and "tuhao" (rich rednecks) are also drawing international attention, making it more probable to have these listed in the Oxford Dictionary in the future.
According to the report, this surge mirrors the country's global status and power.
Initial statistics also revealed that over 3,000 academic institutions from across 100 countries teach the Chinese language. In the U.S. alone, around 3,000 high schools offer Chinese courses.
In Japan, individuals learning the Chinese language have now reached a two-million mark, while in Korea, the figure has already tallied to more than one million.
Twenty-four-year-old Marie Tulloch, a U.K.-based foreign trade university postgrad student, shared that Mandarin words can possibly be used in English in everyday life.
"English already has some Cantonese words. Like the pan we use for cooking, we call it 'wok,' which comes from Cantonese. Maybe it is just a matter of time before we use Mandarin," she enthused.
"Language is alive so there will naturally be borrowing from one language to another especially as more people become bilingual," Judith Huang, a 29-year-old Singaporean, stated.
However, the report also showed that the Chinese language is still lagging behind other choices like Japanese, French and Spanish when it comes to the number of individuals who are learning a second language.
Statistics show that the worldwide figure is still below the 150-million mark.
The cultural development paper further remarked that the rise in the usage of Chinese words is an important measure which can be used to support the statement that the western world is getting to know China deeper.
