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"Handphone" is common in SE Asia, from the literal translation of the Chinese word.
by Lxr 10y ago
"Handphone" is common in SE Asia, from the literal translation of the Chinese word.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago> from the literal translation of the Chinese word Well, they both refer to hands, I guess. The Chinese word is 手机 shouji "hand machine". "Phone" is 电话 dianhua "electric speech". Those two words aren't related.
- Lxr 10y agoInteresting, thanks for the clarification!
- yaowenjiaozi 10y ago"Handphone" is from 手提电话, meaning hand-held telephone.
- contingencies 10y agoAlso interesting to me in this area was the emergence of the so-called IP卡 ("IP card") referring to pre-paid long distance telephone cards sold within mainland China. These were big business until the mid to late noughties.
- eatonphil 10y agoIn Korea it's called 핸드폰 (pronounced like: hen duh pone). Not sure where it borrowed that from directly though.