Chinese is the oldest written language in the world, dating back to over 4000 years ago.. Traces of written Chinese were found as early as under the Shang dynasty (1600 – 1066 BC). Unlike in other languages, there is no Chinese alphabet. The pictorial Chinese language was composed an estimated 4,500 years ago (that is about 2,500 years before the birth of Christ and 500 years or so before Abraham left Ur and made his covenant with the Lord). Ancient Chinese Writing: History of How It Began. But, because they share a common history and a good deal of common vocabulary and grammar, it is much easier for a speaker of one Chinese language to learn another Chinese language than for a complete outsider to do so. Indeed, Chinese is a very important language, and deserving of study. Did Chinese actually have fixed tones at that time, or not? The Chinese population adds to the fact that today Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and is next only to English. We agree on this! Chinese has a large number of words that … Mandarin Chinese is the most popular language in China, with over 955 million speakers out of China’s total population of 1.21 billion people. The Ancient Language was once a language of all beings in Alagaësia, but was later used only by the elves and some humans, along with the dwarves with one moment being the crowning of their king. Mainly, in ancient China, Chinese language influence countries all over. Isn't God wonderful to preserve such a record for us! 9. Around one-fifth of the world’s population speaks the language. When Chinese characters were borrowed by Japanese and Korean around 1000 years ago, the tones are not picked up by their languages. Chinese was the first written East Asian language. Of all languages spoken today, Chinese has the most ancient writing system. Nonetheless, the Mandarin Chinese spoken today is very different from the Chinese spoken in ancient China, and it is mutually unintelligible with many other Chinese dialects spoken in the vast territories of the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese language is revered as one of the oldest and most profound surviving languages in the world. When learning a little more than “Nihao!” one begins to discover the oddities hidden within this ancient language: what makes it practical, what makes it poetic, and what makes it intriguing. In fact, the history of the Chinese language can be classified into the following stages: Archaic Chinese (14th to 11th centuries BC): the language of oracular inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. Tibetan, a language based on the ancient Indian Brahmi script, is the main language in Tibet. 1. The Chinese had invented the printing press by carving reverse characters and symbols in a single wooden block which could be pressed in ink to make many copies of print on cloth. Chinese character inscriptions have been found in turtle shells dating back to the Shang dynasty 1 (1766-1123 BC) proving the written language has existed for more than 3,000 years. The Chinese language predates the Hebrew of the Old Testament by 700-1700 years, and yet it contains a true and accurate record of events from the book of Genesis. National Language of China: Standard Chinese Ancient chinese characters carved in stone stamper. 2000. Other Asian languages with vocabulary descended from Chinese also come in to play. MORE EVIDENCE THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN BIBLE IS … Here, the researchers found oracle bones with the earliest form of the Chinese language. Uighur, a Turkish based language, is spoken in Xinjiang province. As you might expect, Old Chinese is the precursor of modern Chinese. This is why we have a Chinese language section of the CMI website. - wenyan-lang/wenyan If they are from Ancient Chinese, why are they not more consistent? The world’s most natively-spoken language, Chinese, still remains a mystery to the West. =P Next time I get around to reading one of the books I’ll keep an eye out for the mention of any classical poems which sport the phrase. 文言文編程語言 A programming language for the ancient Chinese. One of the first written languages in history was recorded in ancient China! Indeed, Chinese characters have been found engraved in animal bones that date from 1600 BC! Ban Po was occupied c. 4500-3750 BCE and was discovered by workmen digging a foundation for a factory in … The earliest evidence of Ancient Chinese writing was found in the early 20th century CE when cattle bones and turtles shells were uncovered in China. Translate Ancient to Chinese (s) online and download now our free translation software to use at any time. The oldest known example of Old Chinese was found at the archaeological site of the ancient city of Yinxu. There is no current evidence that indicates at what point ancient Chinese separated itself from the language family, but there is very little doubt that the language draws heavily from Sino-Tibetan. The Chinese language is the group of languages used by Chinese people in China and elsewhere. It has become one of the most important international languages… Ancient (Chinese (s) to English translation). It was the language of the Grey Folk, beings who had settled in Alagaësia after dwarves and dragons, those who were native to the land, nathless did they settle ere the elves and humans. It provides an invaluable resource for scholars of ancient Chinese as well as comparative Sino-Tibetan. Like the Romance languages, the Chinese languages are mutually unintelligible (that is what makes them different languages). Chinese Language Facts. It dates back to more than 3,000 years ago. Ironically (considering China’s lax approach to Tibetan language education), Chinese forms a part of what is known as the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by nearly 1.2 billion people across the world. Some theories suggest that images and markings on pottery shards found at Ban Po Village are evidence of an early writing system but this claim has been challenged repeatedly.