"你会说英文吗?"
Translation:Can you speak English?
21 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
This is what the people on Quora said, that 文 implies culture as well as all facets of the language whereas 英语 is more the spoken language: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-yingwen%EF%BC%88%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%EF%BC%89and-yingyu%EF%BC%88%E8%8B%B1%E8%AF%AD%EF%BC%89
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Why wouldn't the one that means spoken language be used when asking if a persons speaks it?
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Technically no, 英文 is supposed to refer to written English, not spoken. However, in the real world, people do use 英語 and 英文 interchangeably so even though "speak 英文" is technically not logical, it is what people often say.
Every language has common "mistakes" that people actually say all the time. You might have learned not to start an English sentence with words like "and" or "but." But, in the real world, people do it all the time. And they are understood by other speakers.
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Grammar is not an absolute, it is just the attempt to explain how language works. Language is what people speak and language changes. Language comes first. Grammar has to try to keep up. (Just my opinion)
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I enter "do you speak English", but it counts it wrong instead of me typing Can you speak.
会 Can indicate both "learnt ability" and "a future action".
To say "Will you speak English?" would be grammatically very similar, but the context would be important. In this case, without context, this 会 refers to "the ability to“. However if you said something like "你会在学校说英语吗?” (Will you speak English at the school), the context dictates that the 会 means a future action.
Always remember, context is king :)