The last week I have been a bit quiet since we were moving into a new home. I have been keeping up with learning Chinese and also have a couple of posts in draft. During the weekend it occurred to me there is a difference between Chinese (中文), Chinese (中国人) and Chinese (汉语).
中国人: This is literally translated as Central (中) Country/Kingdom (国) People (人) where 中国 means China. So in English this can be read as Chinese. Chinese as in people from China. (e.g : 他是中国人 - He is Chinese)
中文 : This is literally translated as Central (中) Culture (文). Again 中国 means China but in this case I assume that the 国 is omitted. So in English this can also be read as Chinese but Chinese as in something Chinese. (e.g. : 中文书 - (a) Chinese Book)
汉语 : This is literally translated as Han (汉) Language (语). This way of saying Chinese refers to the Chinese language. (e.g. : 我正在学汉语 - I am studying Chinese)
So there you have it. Three ways to say Chinese in Chinese and only one word in English. English seems to be bit more context sensitive than Chinese from this small little analysis.
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