Chinglish

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Chinglish
Chinese English, China English, Engrish, Sinicized English
GuilinChinglish2007.jpg
A 2007 warning sign in Guilin states in Chinese: "(When there are) thunderstorms / Please do not climb the mountain."
Native to PRC and ROC
RegionEast Asia
Early forms
Latin (English alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3
CHN orthographic.svg
Map of China. Territory controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green; territory claimed but not controlled is shown in light green.
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today's English-language publishers and teachers in China are passing on obsolete translations and incorrect rules of language to students. In turn, Chinglish gets duplicated across society, particularly now during today's period of rapid opening to the outside world and the widespread use of English. The resultant flood of Chinglish will perpetuate unless it is corrected now. [46]

Common causes include:

Vocabulary

A 2015 sign in Namtso, Xizang promoting environmental awareness and conservation. lit. 'Together let's protect the blue sky and clear water wholeheartedly / Hand in hand we'll create a beautiful home.' Namtso Chinglish.jpg
A 2015 sign in Namtso, Xizang promoting environmental awareness and conservation. lit.'Together let's protect the blue sky and clear water wholeheartedly / Hand in hand we'll create a beautiful home.'

Some similar words are generally confused by most Chinglish speakers, for example "emergent" instead of "emergency" or "urgent", because of incorrect entries in dictionaries.

In Chinglish, "I know" 我知道 is generally used instead of the term "I see", when used to tell others that you understand what they said.

"See", "watch", "read", and "look" all refer to (kàn) in Chinese. For example, 電影 ( 电影 ) means "to see a film" or "to watch a movie", ( ) means "to read a book", ( ) means "to look at me". Because of that, Chinglish speakers use "look" instead of "see", "watch", or "read". The same phenomena can be found in the use of "speak", "say", and "talk" ( ; shuō). The expression "Can you say Chinese?" (你会说中文吗?; 你會說中文嗎) would mean "Do you speak Chinese?"[ citation needed ]

Another misuse of vocabulary is "to turn on/off" and "open/close". Chinese speakers use ( ; guān) to refer to turning off things like electrical appliances or to close a door or window. Accordingly, a Chinglish speaker might say "close the light" rather than "turn off the light". In the same way, ( ; kāi) refers to turning those things on, or to open a door or window. As a result, they would say "open the TV" instead of "turn on the TV".

Examples

A 2008 sign over a sink in Xicheng advising "No soliciting and whoring prostitutes." No soliciting and whoring prostitutes.jpg
A 2008 sign over a sink in Xicheng advising "No soliciting and whoring prostitutes."

Collections of Chinglish are found on numerous websites (see below) and books. [52] [53] [54] Owing to the ubiquity of Chinglish mistakes throughout the Sinophone world, the following examples will exclude common misspellings (e.g., "energetically Englsih-friendly environment") [55] and typographical errors (a bilingual bus sign reading "往 不知道 To unknow"; wǎng means "to; toward" and bùzhīdào 知道 "don't know") [56] that can occur anywhere in the English-speaking world.

A 2006 multilingual sign on a door in Taipei uses the unusual Scottish English word steek ("shut") instead of close. Steek.JPG
A 2006 multilingual sign on a door in Taipei uses the unusual Scottish English word steek ("shut") instead of close.
A sign at a bus station in Shaowu, Fujian, reading "Bathroom: exit through the door, and head straight (Up the stairs to the second floor)" Chinglish-GoStraightOnPublic.JPG
A sign at a bus station in Shaowu, Fujian, reading "Bathroom: exit through the door, and head straight (Up the stairs to the second floor)"
A 2013 sign of "Mind the gap" in Chinglish on a Shanghai Ferry dock. Mind the gap Chinglish sign in Shanghai.jpg
A 2013 sign of "Mind the gap" in Chinglish on a Shanghai Ferry dock.
A 2005 misspelled label on clothing label from a pair of shorts purchased in Huwei, Taiwan. Cryptic clothing label.jpg
A 2005 misspelled label on clothing label from a pair of shorts purchased in Huwei, Taiwan.

See also

References

  1. Jing, Xiao; Zuo, Niannian (August 2006). "Chinglish in the oral work of non-English majors" (PDF). CELEA Journal. 29 (4). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2011.
  2. Nury Vittachi (2000) From Yinglish to sado-mastication. World Englishes 19 (3), 405–414 doi : 10.1111/1467-971X.00189
  3. He, Deyuan & Li, David C.S. (2009). Language attitudes and linguistic features in the 'China English' debate. World Englishes Vol. 28, No. 1
  4. Hu, Xiaoqiong. (2004). "Why China English should stand alongside British, American, and the other ‘world Englishes’." English Today. 78 (20.2). 26–33
  5. Oxford English Dictionary online edition, 2004.
  6. Maurice Freedman (1957, 1970). Chinese Family and Marriage in Singapore, Johnson Reprint Corp., p. 101. "The noun ‘keep’ is sometimes used in Chinese-English. [Note] Sometimes jocularly referred to as ‘Chinglish’." S.v., lingua. Matthew C. Perry and Robert Tomes (1857). The Americans in Japan: an abridgment of the government narrative of the U.S. expedition to Japan. D. Appelton. p. 179. "Many of the women speak a little of the lingua called Chinese English, or, in the cant phrase, pigeon [ sic ]."
  7. Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 14. doi : 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
  8. Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 23. doi : 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
  9. "Foreign tongues: Hong Kong.(corruption of English and Chinese in Hong Kong)" The Economist 2 March 1996.
  10. Daniel J. Bauer, "Chinglish a problem for teachers", The China Post 10 May 2009.
  11. Victor Mair, "Xinhua English and Zhonglish", Language Log, 4 February 2009.
  12. Victor Mair, "Zhonglish: a high-impact ride?", Language Log, 13 June 2010.
  13. Victor Mair, "Protests, Complaints, and Representations", Language Log, 29 July 2009.
  14. Victor Mair, "Pure Chinese?", Language Log, 28 August 2010.
  15. Abigail Lavin (2008), "Feudal to Translate", Weekly Standard 31 March 2008.
  16. Yamuna Kachru and Cecil L. Nelson (2006), World Englishes in Asian Contexts. Hong Kong University Press, p. 157.
  17. Online Etymology Dictionary
  18. Kachru and Nelson (2006), p. 158.
  19. McArthur, Tom. (2002). Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  20. Lam, A. (2002). English in education in China: policy changes and learners’. experiences. World Englishes, 21(2), 245–256
  21. "人教版英语教材是英式英语还是美式英语?_百度知道". zhidao.baidu.com. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  22. McArthur (2002)
  23. Andrew Jacobs (2 May 2010). "Shanghai Is Trying to Untangle the Mangled English of Chinglish". The New York Times . Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  24. ' Oxford English Dictionary , online edition, 2004, s.v. long, a., 7.c.
  25. Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor (2006). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z, p. 1229.
  26. BBC News (2006/10/15) – Beijing stamps out poor English
  27. Beijing getting rid of badly translate signs Archived 30 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine [ sic ], China Daily 27 February 2007. In addition, this article misspells "Chinglis".
  28. Stanway, David (7 August 2008). "Beijing pushes for language victory". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  29. Who could resist the temptation of a plate of worm pig stomach?, The Times 15 August 2008.
  30. "Chinglish – The Global Language Monitor". The Global Language Monitor. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  31. A Sampling of Chinglish, The New York Times, 2 May 2010.
  32. Jacobs (2010).
  33. James Fallows, "Uncle! Or let's make that, 叔叔!", The Atlantic, 6 August 2010
  34. Mark Lieberman, "Wet turban needless wash", Language Log, 5 August 2010.
  35. Chinglish booklet stirs debate ahead of Expo, People's Daily Online 21 January 2010.
  36. Huimei Liu, Frank Feather, and Wei Qian (2004), Lost in Translation: Millions of Tourists to China are Confused by a Myriad of "Chinglish" Misinterpretations Archived 13 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine , US-China Foreign Language 2.10, p. 17.
  37. Global Language Monitor: Many Chinglish into English, People's Daily Online, 7 February 2006.
  38. Malcolm Moore, "Chinese language 'damaged by invasion of English words'", The Telegraph, 15 March 2010.
  39. Yi Han and Herbert P. Ginsberg (2001), "Chinese and English Mathematics Language: The Relation Between Linguistic Clarity and Mathematics Performance", Mathematical Thinking and Learning 3, pp. 201–220.
  40. "Farewell to 'Chinglish' signs as China cracks down?". 22 June 2017.
  41. 1 2 3 Pingxia, Liu, and Quynh Lê. "China English and Its Linguistic Features." Ed. Thao Lê. Language, Society and Culture Journal 25 (2008): n. pag. Web. 6 August 2014. < "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>.
  42. Wang, You. "Chinglish: An Emerging New Variety of English Language?" Journal of Cambridge Studies 4.1 (2009): 28–34. Print.
  43. Huimei Liu, Frank Feather, and Wei Qian (2004), Lost in Translation: Millions of Tourists to China are Confused by a Myriad of "Chinglish" Misinterpretations Archived 13 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine , US-China Foreign Language 2.10, pp. 18–20.
  44. Liu, Feather, and Qian (2004), p. 23.
  45. Li, Wenzhong. (1993). "China English and Chinglish" Archived 31 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine . Foreign Language Teaching and Research Journal, Vol.4.
  46. Liu, Feather, and Qian (2004), pp. 25–27.
  47. Chinglish, by Kira Simon–Kennedy, SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS, Number 224 May 2012
  48. Victor H. Mair, ed., "Developments in Chinese Language and Script During the 20th and 21st Centuries"
  49. 李光霞. 中式英语与中介语理论[J]. 河南机电高等专科学校学报, 2006(1). 3.
  50. 1 2 Causes of and Remedies for Chinglish in Chinese College Students’ Writings Ping Wang1, Weiping Wang
  51. On Objective Causes of Chinglish and Strategies of Error Avoidance
  52. Pinkham, Joan (2000). The Translator's Guide to Chinglish. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
  53. Radtke, Oliver Lutz (2007). Chinglish: Found in Translation. China: Gibbs-Smith. p. 110. ISBN   978-1-4236-0335-1.
  54. Radtke, Oliver Lutz (2009). More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues. Gibb禁s-Smith.
  55. Mark Swofford, "Taiwan's energetically Englsih-friendly [sic] environment", Pinyin news, 12 December 2007.
  56. Victor Mair, "A Bus to Don't Know", Language Log, 6 September 2010.
  57. David Feng (July 2006). "To Take Notice of Safe". Archived from the original on 4 February 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
  58. Victor Mair, "GAN: WHODUNNIT, AND HOW, AND WHY?", Language Log, 31 May 2006.
  59. Victor Mair. "The Etiology and Elaboration of a Flagrant Mistranslation". Language Log, 9 December 2007. Accessed 30 April 2008.
  60. Victor Mair, THE SHRIMP DID WHAT TO THE CABBAGE?, Language Log, 11 September 2006.
  61. Victor Mair, "Mind your manners with the empress", Language Log, 14 July 2010.
  62. Victor Mair, Bumf box, Language Log, 2 May 2009.
  63. Mark Lieberman, "Braised enterovirus, anyone?", Language Log, 16 July 2008.
  64. Victor Mair, "Fried enema", Language Log, 5 April 2010.
  65. Victor Mair, "Wait Till You Hear a Weak Pyridaben Carbazole Sound", Language Log, 30 June 2010.
  66. Victor Mair, "4 Uygur Theater", Language Log, 12 June 2009.
  67. Allison Busacca and Marcia Allert, Strange Signs from Abroad, The New York Times, 11 May 2010
  68. Victor Mair, "Weird Signs", Language Log, 14 May 2010.
  69. "episode iii, the backstroke of the west". Winterson. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  70. 1 2 "episode iii, the backstroke of the west redux". Winterson. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  71. "Top ten Star Wars myths and legends: Do not want". VirginMedia.com. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  72. Chinglish by Kira Simon–Kenned SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 224 May 2012Developments in Chinese Language and Script During the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries edited and with an introduction by Victor H. Mair http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp224_chinese_scripts.pdf

Further reading

Chinglish
Traditional Chinese 中式英文
Simplified Chinese 中式英文
Literal meaningChinese Style English
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin zhōng shì yīngwén