Country and language

Demonym

Nation+ren=nationality (ie, America + ren = American person); adjective+ren=type (ie, nice + ren = nice person)

Places

Broadway Ave, Chinatown, LA (© 2013)

Chinese person is 中國人中国人. Chinese written language is 中國文中国文. Chinese spoken language is . All nations follow this same pattern.

American person is 美國人美国人 měiguórén. American language (American English) is 美國文美国文 měiguówén (written) and 美國語美国语 měiguóyǔ (spoken).

美國美国 Chinatown, LA © 2013

洛杉磯洛杉磯. Chinatown, LA © 2013

Language

Chinese distinguishes between the oral and written facets of a language. This may seem unusual in a nation like England, but it is useful in China, which (mostly) has one written language but many spoken dialects. 文 Wén is used to refer to a written language. Add 文 after the nation's name to denote that nation's written language. 語语 Yǔ is used to refer to an spoken language. Add 語语 after the nation's name to denote nation's oral language. (However, in a rare irregularity, there is no 中語中语 zhōngyǔ -- just 漢語汉语 hànyǔ.) Of course, 文 and 語语 sometimes overlap. You are reading 英文 yīngwén but if you read it aloud you are speaking 英語英语 yīngyǔ.

The character can be freely written as 説 or 說 in traditional form.