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Originally Posted by Dwrixon
.... Much Traditional Chinese is also part of the Japanese Script, so an individual word can have meaning in Japanese as well as both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Other terms have Kanji that is distinct from Chinese as it has been modified by the Japanese, but some of this has then been readopted by the Chinese.
Generally, the symbols impart the same meaning but sometimes there are distinct nuances and with words the meaning can change. Where Chinese and Japanese are the same, the pronunciation is totally different as they are unrelated languages....
Best Regards
Dave Wrixon
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Hey Dave, I must say you are absolutely correct on this. How can you be so good in these languages?
I use 写真 to prove your point:
写 and 真 are Chinese characters. 写 is To Write or To Record. 真 is True or Real. The Japnese use them together to mean "Pictures" or "Taking Pictures", and 写真 WAS basically Japanese.
The Chinese "pictures" is 照片 or "taking pictures" is 照相. But 写真 makes a lot of sense to the Chinese when they read Japanese magazines, so they adopt this term as their own, and now it is Chinese term (informal) as well.
There is a little bit difference though. Since the Chinese first saw this word mostly associated with movie stars or beautiful sexy girls, so they use this word to mean "sexy pictures" or "taking sexy pictures". As for other regular pictures, they still call them 照片.
