Fringillinae

The Fringillidae and Emberizidae were originally separate families, now combined into one family by Sibley and Monroe, with subfamilies Fringillinae and Emberizinae. The old Fringillidae were generally known as 雀科 què kē in Chinese. Here we follow the Chinese translation of McKinnon and Phillipps in calling the Fringillidae 燕雀科 Yàn-què kē and the Fringillinae 燕雀亚科 Yàn-què yà-kē.

The same Vietnamese name is given to the Fringillidae and the Emberizidae by Vo Quy and Nguyen Cu: Họ Sẻ dồng; hence I've used the same name for both subfamilies. A possible way of distinguishing the Fringillinae would be to use the name Phân họ Sẻ thông.

Chinese: The character 雀 què is traditionally identified as meaning 'sparrow' but is more appropriately identified with the finches, hence traditional name of the family, 雀科 Què kē. (In fact, 雀 què is used in some bird names, such as that of the peacock, that bear no resemblance at all to sparrows or finches).

A few traditional names of the finches are as follows (a full list of taxonomically regularised names can be found in the notes):

燕雀	yàn-què	'swallow-finch'	Brambling	Also 花雀 huā-què 'flowery finch' or 花鸡 huā-jī 'flowery fowl'.
金翅	jīn-chì	'gold-wing'	Greenfinch	Also 金翅雀 jīn-chì-què 'gold-winged finch.
黄雀	huáng-què	'yellow finch'	Siskin	In Chinese, traditionally also refers to the Sparrow.
朱顶雀	zhū-dǐng-què	'vermilion-capped finch'	Redpoll (or Twite, Linnet)
朱雀	zhū-què	'vermilion finch'	Rosefinch
松雀	sōng-què	'pine-finch'	Grosbeak
交嘴雀	jiāo-zuǐ-què	'cross-billed finch'	Crossbill	Also popularly 交嘴 jiāo-zuǐ 'cross-bill'.
锡嘴雀	xī-zuǐ-què	'tin-billed finch'	Hawfinch

Japanese: Japanese is rich in names for the finches:

アトリ	atori	Brambling	(written 花鶏 'flower fowl' or 猲子鳥 in Chinese characters, both etymologically unrelated to the word atori).
ヒワ	hiwa	members of the genus Carduelis	(written 鶸 in Chinese characters. The character 鶸 originally referred to a large kind of fowl in Chinese; its application to the finches is a Japanese innovation).
マシコ	mashiko	Rose finches etc.	(マシコ, written 猿子 'monkey' in Chinese characters, means 'monkey'. The name was extended to the birds on the basis of the monkey's a red face.)
ウソ	uso	Bullfinch	(written 鷽 in Chinese characters. The character 鷽 in Chinese was used for a bird resembling the Japanese paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone atrocaudata) or Dollarbird (Eurystomas orientalis). Its application to the bullfinches is a Japanese innovation).
シメ	shime	Hawfinch	(written 鴲 or蝋嘴 in Chinese characters. 鴲 appears to be a Japanese creation; 蝋嘴 is the Chinese name of the bird).
イカル	ikaru	Grosbeak/hawfinch	(written 桑鳲 or in Chinese characters. 桑鳲 sāng-shī is a Chinese name for the birds. The character 鵤 was created by the Japanese based on the bird's 'angular' or kakubatta bill; the right part of the character, 角 kaku, means 'angle').
イスカ	isuka	Crossbill	(written 交喙 'crossed bill' in Chinese characters. 交喙 jiāo-huì is a Chinese name for the crossbills).

Vietnamese:

Vietnam does not have a large number of finch species and is able to make do with a small number of names. The largest number of names is related to Sẻ 'sparrow'.

One bullfinch (Pyrrhula) is identified as a kind of Sẻ 'sparrow'.
Two birds belonging to Fringilla and Carduelis are called Sẻ dồng 'field sparrow', which is the name given to the Buntings.
Two birds in Carduelis are called the Sẻ thông 'pine sparrow'. (This name is also used for several additional birds in Nguyen, Le & Phillipps).
The rosefinches (Carpodacus) are known as Sẻ hồng 'rosy sparrows'.
Birds belonging to Haematospiza and Eophona are known as Mỏ to 'large bills' ('grosbeak'?).
Cross-bills are called Mỏ chéo 'oblique/slanting bill' .

One general V-E dictionary gives Chim sẻ khướư 'babbler sparrow bird' as the word for 'chaffinch', although these birds do not occur in Vietnam.