Sino-Xenic Pronunciations

I noticed some similarities between Mandarin Chinese, Fookien Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Apparently, these are called Sino-Xenic Pronunciations. Aside from the uncanny similarities in their numbers 1-10 (一 until 十), these are some that I encountered while I was watching anime and K-drama series as well as during my Japanese lessons:

“Thank you!”

~ Mandarin: 感謝 (gan xie)

~ Fookien: 感謝 (kam sia)

~ Korean: 감사합니다 (kam sa ham ni da)

[Note the identical “gan”/”kam”.]

“Thousand”

~ Mandarin: 千 (qian)

~ Fookien: 千 (chieng)

~ Korean: 천 (cheon)

~ Japanese: 千 (sen)

“Day”

~ Mandarin: 日 (ri)

~ Fookien: 日 (dit/ kang usually used in Taiwan)

~ Korean: 언젠가 (eon jen ga)

~ Japanese: 三日 (mi k ka), 火曜日 (ka you bi), 日本語 (ni hong go)

[Note the closeness between “kang”, “ga”, and “ka”]

“Phone”

~ Mandarin: 電話 (dian hua)

~ Fookien: 電話 (tien ue)

~ Korean: 전화 (jeon hwa)

~ Japanese: 電話 (den wa)

[Note that they are almost identical.]

“Airplane”

~ Mandarin: 飛行機/飛機 (fei xing ji/fei ji)

~ Fookien: 飛行機/飛機 (hui ki)

~ Korean: 비행기 (bi haeng gi)

~ Japanese: 飛行機 (hi ko ki)

[Note how similar they are. Note how “xing” relates to “haeng”.]

“Library”

~ Mandarin/Fookien: 圖書館 (tu shu guan)

~ Korean: 도서관 (do seo gwan)

~ Japanese: 図書館 (to sho kan)

[Note how similar they are.]

The “now” of Japanese (今/ima) sounds almost the same as the “today” for Fookien (今仔/kina).

“Teacher/Senior”

~ Mandarin: 先生 (xian sheng)

~ Fookien: 先生 (sien si)

~ Korean: 선생 (seon saeng)

~ Japanese: 先生 (sen sei)

[Insight: “Firstborn” is the transliteration of 先生.]

“Exam/Test/Trial”

~ Mandarin: 試驗 (shi yan)

~ Korean: 시험 (si heom)

~ Japanese: 試験 (shi ken)

“Half”

~ Mandarin: 半 (ban)

~ Fookien: 半 (pua)

~ Korean: 반 (ban)

~ Japanese: 半 (han)

“Night”

~ Mandarin: 晚 (wan)

~ Korean: 밤 (bam)

~ Japanese: 晚 (ban)

“Every”

~ Mandarin: 每 (mei)

~ Fookien: 每 (mui)

~ Korean: 매 (mae)

~ Japanese: 毎 (mai)

“Bank”

~ Mandarin: 銀行 (yin hang)

~ Fookien: 銀行 (gun hang)

~ Korean: 은행 (eun hang)

~ Japanese: 銀行 (gin kou)

“To Experiment”

~ Mandarin: 研究 (yan jiu)

~ Fookien: 研究 (gien kiu)

~ Japanese: 研究 (keng kiu)

“News/Newspaper”

~ Mandarin: 新聞 (xin wen)

~ Fookien: 新聞 (sim bun)

~ Korean: 신문 (sin mun)

~ Japanese: 新聞 (shim bun)

“Pencil”

~ Mandarin: 鉛筆 (qian bi)

~ Fookien: 鉛筆 (yam pit)

~ Korean: 연필 (yeon pil)

~ Japanese: 鉛筆 (em pitsu)

“Chair”

~ Mandarin: 椅子 (yi zi/tsu)

~ Fookien: 椅 (it)

~ Korean: 의자 (ui ja)

~ Japanese: 椅子 (i su)

“Moon/Month”

~ Mandarin: 月 (yue)

~ Fookien: 月 (ge)

~ Japanese: 月 (getsu/gatsu/tsuki)

“Year”

~ Mandarin: 年 (nian)

~ Fookien: 年 (ni)

~ Korean: 년 (nyeon)

~ Japanese: 年 (nen)

“Family/Clan”

~ Mandarin: 家族 (jia zu)

~ Fookien: 家族 (ka <something>, like in ka tieng/家庭)

~ Korean: 가족 (ga jog)

~ Japanese: 家族 (ka zoku)

“Bag”

~ Mandarin: 包 (bao; but remember b is just a hard ‘p’)

~ Fookien: 包 (pao)

~ Korean: 가방 (gabang; but remember g here is just a hard ‘k’)

~ Japanese: 鞄 (kaban; but also ‘pao’ if read in Mandarin)

“Police”

~ Mandarin: 警察 (jing cha)

~ Fookien: 警察 (kieng ch’at)

~ Korean: 경찰 (gyeongchal)

~ Japanese: 警察 (keisatsu)

More can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Xenic_pronunciations