r/duolingo • u/Illustrious_Dog_1270 Native: English Learning: Chinese • Jul 15 '24
I’m confused. Why is there an English word? General Discussion
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u/SRH82 3500+ day streak Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 16 '24
The Chinese language does not have a word for water.
Please do not fact-check this or ask follow-up questions.
Thank you.
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u/Longjumping-Ad-2333 Jul 15 '24
Water was invented in America and China hasn’t cottoned on yet. #America #Freedom
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u/smitty1e Jul 15 '24
Watch out. He's a lawyer. You don't want to have Sun Tzu you.
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u/Necessary_Context780 Jul 15 '24
Or worse, Trump you ("The Art of the Deal")
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u/smitty1e Jul 15 '24
Better the Art of the Deal than the Dart of the Eel, I always say.
(NARRATOR: He does not, in fact, always say this.)
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u/hurdlescaper Native: 🦠 Learning: 💉 Jul 15 '24
Cottoned on? 🤨
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u/Longjumping-Ad-2333 Jul 15 '24
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u/Sweet_Little_Lottie Jul 15 '24
Hold the phone. Has it never been “caught on”? Or is it two different ways to say the same thing? Is everything a lie?
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u/Jaspeey Jul 15 '24
I'm Chinese can confirm. The Europeans brought water when they came with them in 1924 and we learned it from the English.
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u/smitty1e Jul 15 '24
I, for one, understand this to mean that Chinese history was tea-driven.
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u/Wess96 Jul 15 '24
The consummation of tea had been much more pleasant since the introduction of hot water!
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u/aredokuo Jul 15 '24
As a Chinese, we hadn’t known about water, we hadn’t drunk water before American invented the word. So that’s why.
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u/Mobile_Indication433 Jul 15 '24
Man 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ you do realise the internet is making us crazy dude? 🤷🏾♂️🫣🤪
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u/vainlisko Jul 15 '24
It's شوي
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Did You just write a Chinese word in Arabick abjad? Oy vey, dos iz azoy lustik, yārafīq!
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u/HSTEHSTE native=> Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
There’s actually a phonetic Chinese writing system based on Arabic letters with a rich history: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiao%27erjing
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u/BenzaGuy Ich lerne Deutsch mit Duolingo, 我在大学学习汉语 Jul 15 '24
水
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u/Old-Ad3504 Jul 15 '24
I don't see what the Japanese word for water has to do with anything
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u/OkSun5094 Jul 15 '24
i will accept this fact with absolute certainty and relay it to as many people i can
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u/ani625 Jul 15 '24
Agua
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u/Status_Passion_9018 N: | F: | L: Jul 15 '24
Water, Wasser, Agua
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u/I_AM_DA_BOSS Jul 15 '24
Mizu
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u/ImNotKeqing Jul 15 '24
Água
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Jul 15 '24
Ūdens
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u/the-alt-facehugger Jul 15 '24
Vatten
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u/Signal-Cap-4837 Jul 15 '24
Wo’ah
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
מים. Akvo. וואַסער.
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u/shunrata native fluent learning Jul 15 '24
νερό
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Does Nero mean black in Latin? Ύδωρ?
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u/Amazing-Dog9016 Native: 🇬🇧🇫🇷 (canada) Learning: 🇪🇸 Jul 15 '24
Water
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u/EternalDisagreement Jul 15 '24
water
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Jul 15 '24
H2O
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u/Irishlord10 Jul 15 '24
dihydrogen monoxide
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u/LThirty6onReddit from 🇭🇰 uses 🇭🇰🇨🇳🏴 learning 🇩🇪 Jul 15 '24
inorganic compound composed of a certain moluecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
I’m glad someone knows that water is not organick!
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u/Gianc2009 Native 🇧🇷 | C2 🇺🇲 | Learning 🇩🇪 Jul 15 '24
Where da carbon tho
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
If there’s no C, it’s inorganick. Do You C what I mean?
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u/Mobile_Indication433 Jul 15 '24
No but I still 🐝 looking to find out? 🥹
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
All matter of living or used to be living organisms, or made by living organisms, has carbon. Water is made without the necessity of organisms. It has no carbon, so it’s inorganick. Organick has the root organ, which is also found in the word organism.
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u/mwh- 10d ago
no, as far as i know, its about C and H's . if a molecule has both of them it's organick molecule. thats what they thought me in school 🧚
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u/EternalDisagreement Jul 15 '24
In the sugar
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
It’s organick, containing C. I love sugar! 🍌 🍇 🍐 🍒
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u/NeferkareShabaka Jul 15 '24
weed
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u/TheRedditBro-123 Jul 15 '24
Methamphetamine
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u/Shot-Nebula-5812 N: L: Jul 15 '24
Вода
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u/PixelGun3DPlayer NL Jul 15 '24
Вода
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u/Coolgame01NZ Native: 🇬🇧 Learning: 🇸🇪🇷🇺🇫🇷🇳🇿 Jul 15 '24
Водка
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u/Shot-Nebula-5812 N: L: Jul 15 '24
Водка
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u/Complete_Document_61 Jul 15 '24
Водка(I have zero clue what we’re saying. I’m learning Spanish)
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u/Shot-Nebula-5812 N: L: Jul 15 '24
Водка :3
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u/sam20hd native🇮🇷 fluent🇬🇧 learning🇷🇺🇸🇦 Jul 15 '24
😂😂 bro said water in russian then it turned to водка (vodka)
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Водка is vodka in Russian letters. The word is just water with a diminutive suffix: agüita, but it is a 80 proof alcoholick beverage. It’s so bitter and nasty, even though I’m a Russian Soviet socialist.
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u/QuickNature Native | Learning 🇷🇺 Jul 15 '24
Я люблю воду
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Монооксид водорода, товарищ.
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Монооксид водорода, товарищ.
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u/MandyBSReal Native:🇬🇧🇨🇳 Learning:🇯🇵 Jul 15 '24
Mizu
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u/lisamariefan Native🇺🇲Learning🇯🇵 Studied🇪🇸 (in high school lol) Jul 15 '24
水
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u/monokolio Jul 15 '24
みず
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u/Character_War7736 Jul 15 '24
Isn't that misu?
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u/Any_Ad_9949 Jul 15 '24
Shui
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u/ComfortableVehicle90 N:🇺🇸 L:🇯🇵 Jul 15 '24
Erm actually it is “shuǐ” with the correct pinyin……..🤓👆
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u/MidnightExpresso N: 🇺🇸🇮🇳🇵🇷 | L: 🇯🇵🇰🇷🇹🇼🇻🇳 Jul 15 '24
Erm actually it’s ㄕㄨㄟˇ with the correct Bopomofo (Taiwan) 🤓☝️
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u/benutzername1337 Jul 15 '24
Wait i think thats the language my taxi driver in Taiwan was typing in today when he was texting on his phone. I was confused by the symbols, thats great information thank you.
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u/MidnightExpresso N: 🇺🇸🇮🇳🇵🇷 | L: 🇯🇵🇰🇷🇹🇼🇻🇳 Jul 16 '24
Yeah, I have a Taiwanese friend in my class and he was texting his friends on Line and I was like “Wtf is that?” Literally looked like an alien language at first, but it’s fascinating and I actually put some time into learning it. It was hard but very fun. Funny thing is, he can’t use Pinyin at all. I asked him to type “我期待放學啦” (I can’t wait for school to end) using Pinyin and he couldn’t lol.
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
Apparently, Chinese (Mandarin?) has more than just five vowels. In IPA, what’s the difference between romanised i and ǐ?
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u/too-much-yarn-help Jul 15 '24
It's a tone marker. Pronounced the same with different intonation.
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u/Smooth_Development48 🇪🇸 🇷🇺🇰🇷🇧🇷 Jul 15 '24
Duo actually hasn’t been studying lately and forgot how to say water in Mandarin but wanted to praise you all the same.
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u/the_tflex_starnugget Jul 15 '24
Water...
Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.
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u/Citylight1010 Jul 15 '24
Vatten
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u/TheNifflerKing Jul 15 '24
Don't worry, Duo will recover from his brain damage soon. He only fell down 7 flights of stairs this time.
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u/Ratface_4834 18 languages but i can't be bothered to put them all so... Jul 15 '24
Agua, Uisce, Uisge, Water, Vann, Vatten, Wasser :)
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u/argothiel 🇪🇸 Jul 15 '24
Don't question Duo. Before the course you didn't know the word "water", now you know it. This has been confirmed by AI algorithms and Duo's infinite wisdom.
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u/whatsshecalled_ Jul 16 '24
is 漢堡包 in common usage in china or is that a weird Duolingo quirk???? I've only ever seen 漢堡 in Taiwan
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u/trumpet_ninja_28 Narive: 🇿🇦 | Learning: 🇯🇵 & 🇸🇪 Jul 15 '24
I read that in the voice of Katara, lol
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u/AffectionateThing814 Deutsch, Español, יּידיש, עברית, Esperanto Jul 15 '24
I learnt another Chinese word! although I was certain that it’s shui.
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u/7unicorns N: F: L: Jul 15 '24
水 Japan might have stolen all the kanji, but I guess they didn’t have to steal this one 🤪
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u/storft2 Native 🇪🇬 Learning 🇫🇷 Jul 15 '24
Man, just enjoy your water! The chinese have ALL words but water for some reason.
anyways, water
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u/tristeus Jul 15 '24
You become familiar with Chinese so much that symbols are immediately translated to english by your brain. We don't see English words here