初中 or 中学?

kevin_zhong
 January 10, 2009 at 10:20 PM posted in General Discussion

Do they both mean middle school? And if so, which one is used most commonly.

Thanks!

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kevin_zhong
 January 11, 2009 at 04:35 AM

Thanks Changye!

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changye
 January 11, 2009 at 04:21 AM

Hi kevin,

小学 = 初等学校 = elementary school
初中 = 初级中学 = 初级中等学校 = junior high school|
高中 = 高级中学 = 高级中等学校 = high school
大学 = a kind of 高等学校 = college, university

So theoretically speaking, "中学" (= 中等学校) includes both 初中 and 高中, but my native friends say 中学 and 中学生 often imply "junior high school" and "junior high school students" in conversation. Anyway, using 初中 is more specific than using 中学.