Mutual intelligibility 相互理解度

xiānghù lǐjiě dù · from English

What is mutual intelligibility?

Mutual intelligibility is the degree to which speakers of two varieties can understand each other without prior study.

It is a spectrum, often asymmetric, and differs between speech and writing. Malay and Indonesian, and Thai and Lao, are highly mutually intelligible, while spoken Mandarin and Cantonese are not. Written Chinese and Japanese share partial written intelligibility through kanji.

Examples

Malay and Indonesian (high); Thai and Lao (high, somewhat asymmetric); Mandarin and Cantonese (low in speech); Chinese and Japanese (partial in writing)

Kungfucius says: If you can order dinner without a menu, that is mutual intelligibility.