At the press conference for the release of the Cross-Strait Common Vocabulary Dictionary Taiwan edition in August, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said he did not completely understand a speech given by mainland writer and blogger Han Han, when Han visited Taiwan this year.

Though both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan speak Chinese, particular phrases and words, even when composed of similar characters, have different meanings. This  thus prompted the creation of the aptly titled cross-Straits dictionary.

"He used the word 'maoni.' What is 'maoni?' I then learned it means shady and conspiratorial. 'Shihua' means shocked and extremely surprised," said Ma.

Ma saw the creation of the dictionary necessary in easing communication, especially entering an age of frequent dialogue between Taiwan and the mainland. 

Twenty days after the Taiwan edition of the dictionary was released, the mainland edition published by Higher Education Press came out this month. The Taiwan edition includes 5,700 Chinese characters and 27,000 phrases while the mainland edition includes 6,400 characters and 35,000 phrases. Created with the effort of almost 100 experts from both sides, the cross-Straits dictionary is paving a linguistic bridge.

Same word, different meaning

It took two years and seven meetings between two sides to produce the dictionary. Jiang Lanzhi, an editor of the mainland edition, told the Global Times that communication between the two editorial teams never ceased. Both sides discussed what to include in the dictionary, working individually then combining results.

Jiang said the majority of the content in the two editions is the same, but the two dictionaries have separate focuses and contain different characters.

 For example, the "feng" character in "fengshou," which means to harvest, is found in many words. The mainland edition includes more than 10 words containing the character "feng," while the Taiwan edition includes only a few.

Jiang gave an example of the original draft that had the sentence: "Airplanes use petroleum." Editors had to later correct this, after discovering that airplanes use kerosene.

Cultural significance

"Language is a product of [society] and life," said Yang Tu, the Secretary-General of the Taiwan's General Association of Chinese Culture, during the dictionary exchange ceremony where representatives presented their editions to each other early this month.

Since 1949, following the retreat of Kuomintang, 2 million people migrated from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. Different accents and dialects influenced spoken and written language in Taiwan, with some words gradually being integrated.

"Woxin," for instance, means happy in Taiwan but has the opposite meaning in the mainland. According to Yang, the word "woxin" did not exist in Taiwan before. It came with the arrival of people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, reflecting a spread of language.

Language is also a way to understand cultural differences. The dictionary contains many terms about Taiwan's election. Without an understanding of Taiwan's local political system and cultural context, it is difficult to understand. 

Jiang said the differences in language across the Taiwan-Straits are quantifiable. The basis of language is culture. Because we share a similar culture, linguistic differences are minor, coming down to particular words or phrase.

Jiang finds that despite local characteristics, people easily pick up the different words cross-Straits. For example, "jiguang" and "leishe," both mean laser. Although the two words are different, it is easy to adapt.

"I would say that there is a 98-percent similarity. As long as we build communication, it is not difficult for us to understand each other," said Jiang.

People watch television series and films made by both sides. There is also an increasing amount of tourists coming from Taiwan to the mainland and vice versa.

With frequent communication as well as the development of social networking websites, words from each side have been incorporated and accepted by the other.

Words like "yuanjing" (vision) and "huqiang" (arguing with strong words) from Taiwan, and "shanzhai" (copycat) from the mainland are now widely used by both sides.

Plurality, individuality

Yang said that he felt the historical significance while editing the dictionary. He felt lucky to have the chance to contribute to Chinese culture and language, sharing his work with a large audience. 

He emphasized that the differences in languages and dialects provide diversity to a culture. The plurality in Chinese culture makes it lively and interesting, and the culture behind the words reflects the nuances in ideas.

This year, an online edition of the dictionary was released. The website offers a free platform to learn new vocabulary. In the Chinese mainland, the address is zhonghuayuwen.org, while the Taiwan address is chinese-linguipedia.org.

Jiang said the dictionary is just the first step of a continuing cross-Straits cooperation. They will later create a more comprehensive dictionary, including more words and phrases, especially academic vocabulary, useful for universities and students.

Li Xingjian, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese mainland edition, said that this dictionary not only contributes to communication between two sides but is also a way to pass down a shared Chinese culture.