Three Chinese words for “fake”

Maybe you've already known these 3 most common words for "counterfeit": 山寨 (shān zhài), 盗版 (dào bǎn) and 假冒 (jiǎ mào). But they are a bit different in meanings.

也许你已经知道这三个常见的表示"fake"的中文词语："山寨"、"盗版"和"假冒"，但你知道它们有不同的意思吗？

山寨 (shān zhài): They are usually made by small companies, so the quality is usually not as good as the genuine products.

山寨：通常而言它们是由一些小企业制造的，因此质量一般没有"真"产品那么好。

盗版 (dào bǎn): A complete imitation that tries to be identical to the genuine products. The producers mix the counterfeits up with the genuine products to seek profits, though it's illegal. This is common for the products with intellectual property, like books (盗版书, dào bǎn shū), albums (盗版唱片, dào bǎn chàng piān) and software (dào bǎn ruǎn jiàn).

盗版：试图与正品一致的完全仿造。它们想着以假乱真以寻求利益，这是非法的。这对于使用知识产权的产品来说是很常见的，比如"盗版书"、"盗版唱片"和"盗版软件"。

假冒 (jiǎ mào): this is something that is completely fake— from the exterior to the interior.

假冒：这类是从外到内完完全全的假货。

Still not clear about their differences? Here are 2 more things to consider:

还是不大清楚它们的不同之处？再看看下面的2点：

山寨 usually has its own brand, while 盗版 and 假冒 use others' registered brands.

一般"山寨"有自己的品牌，而"盗版"和"假冒"用的是别人的牌子。

The quality of 假冒 products is usually worse than that of 盗版 products.

"假冒"的质量一般低于"盗版"。

Here are how these words are used in Chinese:

下面是这些词语在中文里的使用方式：

山寨 (shān zhài):

天津现山寨iPhone4。

tiān jīn xiàn shān zhài iPhone4.

Counterfeit iPhone4 appears in Tianjin.

市民收到网易中奖邮件，核实才知遭遇山寨网站。

shì mín shōu dào wǎng yì zhòng jiǎng yóu jiàn, hé shí cái zhī zāo yù shān zhài wǎng zhàn.

Citizens received a Netease email notifying them about winning a prize, but after checking, they realized it was from a copycat website.

假冒 (jiǎ mào):

该作坊主要是制售假冒的食盐。

gāi zuō fang zhǔ yào shì zhì shòu jiǎ mào de shí yán.

That shop mainly makes and sells counterfeit table salt.

盗版 (dào bǎn):

这个网站的大多数音乐都是盗版音乐。

zhè gè wǎng zhàn de dà duō shù yīn yuè dōu shì dào bǎn yīn yuè.

Most of the music on this site is pirated.

微软此前曾从全国各地搜罗了不同版本的盗版Win7光盘。

wēi ruǎn cǐ qián céng cóng quán guó gè dì sōu luó le bù tóng bǎn běn de dào bǎn Win7 guāng pán.

Previously, Microsoft found different versions of pirated Windows 7 CDs all over the country.

Translated from: fluentu

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