By Ling-Ling Lisa Shih
From Ling-LingChinese.com

Source for the above map: http://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-world-of-languages/

View a high resolution version of this graphic

Can you name the major world languages in Chinese?

In this post, you will learn how to ask and answer the following questions:

• What languages can you speak?
• Do you speak [English]?
• Can you speak [English]?

You will also learn the Chinese vocabulary for major world languages.

Click here: What Languages Can You Speak to get the sentences below in PDF:

What languages can you speak?

你会说什么语言？

Nǐ huì shuō shénme yǔyán?

I can speak English.

我会说英语。

Wǒ huì shuō yīngyǔ

I can only speak English.

我只会说英文。

Wǒ zhǐ huì shuō yīngwén.

I can speak English and Chinese.

我会说英文和中文。

Wǒ huì shuō yīngwén hé zhōngwén.

I can speak English, Chinese, and Spanish.

我会说英文，中文，还有西班牙语。

Wǒ huì shuō yīngwén, zhōngwén, háiyǒu xībānyáyǔ.

Do you speak English?

你说英文吗？

Nǐ shuō yīngwén ma?

I speak English.

我说英文。

Wǒ shuō yīngwén.

Can you speak English?

你会说英文吗？

Nǐ huì shuō yīngwén ma?

I can speak English.

我会说英文。

Wǒ huì shuō yīngwén.

Do you speak Chinese?

你说中文吗？

Ni shuō zhōngwén ma?

I can speak Chinese.

我会说中文。

Wo hui shuō zhōngwén.

I can speak a little bit of Chinese.

我会说一点儿中文。

Wǒ huì shuō yìdiǎnr zhōngwén.

To refer specifically to ”spoken language“, we often replace “语” with “文”. For instance, 英文 –〉英语， 中文–〉汉语, 日文–〉日语。However, you will often hear Chinese people say these two sentences either way:  “我会说英文。” and “我会说英语。”

**Copy the above entire text and the Chinese words will be individually annotated with pinyin and English using the following language tool: Chinese Text Annotation Tool

**Use the Talking “Chinese to Pinyin/Zhuyin Converter” to hear these sentences read out loud.

Vocabulary 生词：

	ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
	ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
	1	你		nǐ	you
	2	会	會	huì	can
	3	说	說	shuō	to speak; to say
	4	什么	什麼	shén me	what?; something; anything
	5	语言	語言	yǔ yán	language; Classifiers: 门
	6	会	會	huì	can
	7	英语	英語	yīng yǔ	English (spoken language)
	8	我		wǒ	I; me; my
	9	只	秖	zhǐ	only
	10	英文		yīng wén	English (language)
	11	和		hé	and
	12	中文		zhōngwén	Chinese language
	13	还有	還有	hái yǒu	in addition; also
	14	西班牙语	西班牙語	xī bān yáyǔ	Spanish (spoken) language
	15	吗	嗎	ma	(question particle for “yes-no” questions)
	16	一点儿	一點兒	yì diǎn r	a little bit

Downloadable Worksheets:  Vocabulary worksheets for What languages can you speak

Vocabulary for major languages:

中文 汉语 英文 英语 西班牙文 西班牙语 日文 日语 韩文 韩语 法文 法语 德文 德语 俄文 俄语 阿拉伯文 阿拉伯语

**Use the Talking “Chinese to Pinyin/Zhuyin Converter” to hear these vocabularies read out loud.

	ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
	ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
	1	中文		zhōng wén	Chinese language
	2	汉语	漢語	hàn yǔ	Chinese (spoken) language
	3	英文		yīng wén	English (language)
	4	英语	英語	yīng yǔ	English (spoken language)
	5	西班牙文		xī bān yá wén	Spanish (language)
	6	西班牙语	西班牙語	xī bān yá yǔ	Spanish (spoken language)
	7	日文		rì wén	Japanese (language)
	8	日语	日語	rì yǔ	Japanese (spoken language)
	9	韩文	韓文	hán wén	Korean written language
	10	韩语	韓語	hán yǔ	Korean (spoken language)
	11	法文		fǎ wén	French language
	12	法语	法語	fǎ yǔ	French (spoken language)
	13	德文		dé wén	German (language)
	14	德语	德語	dé yǔ	German (spoken language)
	15	俄文		É wén	Russian language
	16	俄语	俄語	É yǔ	Russian (spoken language)
	17	阿拉伯文		Ā lā bó wén	Arabic (language & writing)
	18	阿拉伯语	阿拉伯語	Ā lā bó yǔ	Arabic (spoken language)

 

Extra Resources：

• 第八课 我会说汉语. 中文一 姜满老师  （include different nationalities and languages)
• Nationalities and Languages (slides)
• Chinese link Textbook Lesson 3 dialogue Nationalities and Languages
• Can you speak Chinese (Slides by Katherine Yang)