About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Chinglish

Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHI : Chinglish

An example of written Chinglish on a signpost.
Enlarge
An example of written Chinglish on a signpost.

An example of written Chinglish.
Enlarge
An example of written Chinglish.

Chinglish, a portmanteau of the words Chinese and English, is an English pseudo-dialect heavily affected by Chinese grammar and accent.

The term "Chinglish", though generally implying poor translation, can also refer specifically to an English-Chinese creole language. This is particularly true in areas that have both English and Chinese as official languages, such as Singapore and Hong Kong. (When specifically discussing the English dialect of Singapore, Singlish may be more appropriate.)

For Chinese speakers learning English, Chinglish may also be viewed as a pidgin, referring to the type of English that they use while learning which falls somewhere between their native Chinese and fluent English, and therefore undesirable. Though the use of the phrase "Chinglish" can be viewed by learners as either an insult or a joke. Some foreign teachers also refer to a school's inadequate language department as the "Chinglish Dept." [[Citing sources citation needed]]

"Chinglish" is also used to describe the broken Chinese interspersed with English used by westernized Chinese (e.g. American born Chinese) who are no longer fluent in their parents' language and must use English words to supplement their limited Chinese vocabulary.

Notable examples include "no q" as a response to "thank you" (often sinicized in Mandarin Chinese as 三Q - san q) and ok lah. (The second example is both Chinglish and Singlish.)

Contents

Chinglish spoken by Chinese learners of English

Chinglish from a machine translation renders this menu almost unusable.
Enlarge
Chinglish from a machine translation renders this menu almost unusable.

Pronunciation

Inaccurate pronunciation or misspellings through typos or poor pronunciation may result in Chinglish.

For example, the word "temple" and "temper" may be confused, as both would be pronounced similarly to "Tem-po" or "Tem-pah". Note that the two English words, when poorly pronounced, may resemble each other to the extent that the two are indistinguishable; this further creates confusion. Sometimes, the poor pronunciation of a single English word can create a Chinglish pronunciation that is almost nothing like the original English word. For example, the company named "Zellers" (part of the Hudson's Bay Company) is often incorrectly pronounced as "Se La".

Also confusion with English names is common. For many Chinese it's difficult to pronounce Allen, Ellen and Aileen differently, same with Shirley, Shelly and Cherry.

In Cantonese pronunciation, some consonants are considered equivalent and interchangeable, such as L and N. The cartoon dog "Snoopy" may become "Sloopy", and the girl's name "Emily" may become "Eminy". Some sounds are missing entirely, leaving words like "very" to be pronounced "wewy" in true Elmer Fudd style. In speech, there is also a tendency to add the sound "see" or "chi" at the end of certain singular letters, such as the letters "S" and "H" ('es-see' and 'ay-chi' respectively).

Vocabulary

Erroneous vocabulary usage can also result in Chinglish. Examples include "to put in Jingzhang Expressway" instead of "entering Jingzhang Expressway"), and the use of "emergent" to mean "emergency" or "urgent". Many of these errors stem from misuse of, or errors in, dictionaries.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

As another example, when something is explained, the English learner may respond with "Oh, I know," while the appropriate response would be "Oh, I see." This is because "知道 zhīdao" is usually translated as know under any circumstances. "When did you first recognize him?" is also sometimes used for "When did you first meet him?" because "认识[認識] rènshi" is usually translated as recognize as in "I recognize him from last week's party."

Some errors occur with the use of see, watch, read and look at which are all one word, “看", in Chinese and may be confused with each other or just reduced to look. The situation of speak, say and talk is similar. So, someone studying English for several years might still say phrases like "Can you say Chinese?", "I am watching a book", and "Tomorrow I will look a movie."

Another common area of confusion is "turn on/off" versus "open/close". In Chinese, "turn on" (in the sense of operating a switch or a machine) and "open" are rendered by the same character, and so are "turn off" and "close". As a result, many people would say "open the light" when they mean "turn the light on", and "close the computer" when they mean "turn the computer off". Conversely, but less commonly, "close the door" may be rendered as "turn off the door" (See below: #Examples of Chinglish expressions).

Grammar

Chinglish may result from grammatically erroneous usage of English, often resulting from the writer "thinking in Chinese while writing in English" (eg. verbatim word-for-word translation), such as "wipe out six injurious insect" (to wipe out six types of insects, including cockroaches and mosquitoes) and "enjoy stand" (a scenic viewpoint).

Chinglish can result from common patterns of grammatical errors. Examples include:

Often a Chinese grammatical pattern will be incorporated into English grammar, such as "I tomorrow go to Shanghai" or "I this morning eat breakfast".

Also, there is much confusion regarding countable and non-countable nouns, use of plurals, and the use of "how much", "how many", "a lot of", "much" and "many". This leads to phrases such as "He has much money," "I want a soup" and "There are a lot of shoe."

Another common confusion is with prepositions, such as "on", "in", "at", which in many contexts have the same Chinese translation (zai, meaning "existing at this position"). To an extent, this reflects the idiomatic, rather than logical, way these words are used in English. An example is the often used expression "on Taiwan", as in "Republic of China on Taiwan", whereas native speakers of English are more likely to say "in Taiwan". Similarly, many Chinese students of English are confused by the difference between "at home" and "in the house''".

History

In the early and middle 20th century, Chinglish was known as "pidgin", or "Yangjing Bang English" in Chinese (洋涇濱, or 洋泾浜), which derives from the name of a creek in Shanghai where local workers communicated with English-speaking foreigners in pidgin.

Chinglish Names

Some Chinese pick non-traditional English names, which they do not view as strange because they are not aware of English naming conventions.

Such names are derived from vocabulary they learned in their early English lessons, including names such as Apple, Space, Can, Sea, Mooncake, Magic, Spider, Thunder, Cloudy, Table, Bird, Eleven, Hifi, H2O, Ice, Puppy, Well and other names of animals, plants, weather phenomena, household appliances, days of the week or months. Some people have even unknowingly chosen swear words as names.

They might choose western products they like as their name, such as Cola or Nautica, or other more advanced words that may be picked for their sound or meaning such as Victory or Nation.

Also, names very easy to pronounce in Chinese, but not common in English, may be chosen, such as the very common name Coco.

Some others choose to use traditional English names but often pronounce them wrong or alter the spelling. For example, the name Keith is often spelled as Keiv, Keif, or maybe even the more extreme Cliff.

Some choose names from other countries like Russia or Japan, such as Yuri or Jun. Since most European names are widely used in the English community, those will seem less "odd". However, Japanese names like Jun, which English-speakers pronounce as June, may cause problems in that they are unisex, whereas their English sound-alikes are traditionally bound to one sex.

These names may just be viewed as nicknames, and some Chinese may choose more common ones if they have to use their name in business or other more formal occasions.

Most (but not all) Chinese people living in Asia are given only Chinese names at birth, and choose their own English name at some point after they begin learning English (if they ever do). Although rare, some parents may name their child a Chinese phonetic translation of an English name, such as Suzie (Sook-Si in Cantonese), Annie (On-Lei in Cantonese), Annie (An-ni or Anne in Mandarin), Joanne (Jia-An in Mandarin), Ivy (Ai-Li in Mandarin), Eileen (Ai-Lin in Mandarin), Pauline (Poh-Lin in Cantonese), Charlie (Jia-Li in Mandarin), Elaine (Yi-Ling in Mandarin), Maggie (Mei-Qi in Mandarin), Carmen (Kah Man in Cantonese), or Joey (Jo Yee in Cantonese).

Language humour

"Warm Suggestion: Keep your valuables properly" - Sign at Nottingham University, Ningbo, China
Enlarge
"Warm Suggestion: Keep your valuables properly" - Sign at Nottingham University, Ningbo, China

Although most Chinglish phrases originated from poor translations, many were created deliberately as language humour. For example:

Regional varieties

Chinglish in Mainland China

Chinglish is becoming a problem for major cities such as Beijing. In Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, the city authorities are clamping down on the usage of Chinglish and replacing it with proper English. Thus, for example, signs that previously read: "To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty" may read, in proper English, "Caution - slippery path". Some other examples include: "Oil gate" (accelerator), "confirming distance" (keep space, distance verification), and so on and so forth.

Chinglish can also prove to be a problem for Chinese companies trying to market products overseas in English-speaking countries. Product labeling is not uncommonly non-sensical or unintentionally humourous, either way not communicating the intended message.

Hey,so delicious, Let us try it fast.
Enlarge
Hey,so delicious, Let us try it fast.

Burned Meat Biscuits
Enlarge
Burned Meat Biscuits

  1. redirect

\"Welcome to\"

One of the more noticeable cases of Chinglish, especially on mainland China, is the phrase welcome to. This is used as a direct translation in Chinese, "歡迎". It actually means "we invite you to" or "you are welcome to", and is used more as an incentive to the activity introduced; or is used as a form of "thank you". Its use is almost always cordial, inviting, or otherwise positive. A more confusing matter arises with the usage of the phrase welcome again. This is used more at the end of, for example, a bus ride, or a visit to a bookstore, and would be translated as a message of thanks, and that the visitor is welcome back at any time. An equivalent phrase in English-speaking countries might be "Please come again."

Examples:

Chinglish in Taiwan

Chinglish is also quite prevalent in Taiwan. In Taiwan it is more often known as "台灣英文", literally "Taiwanese English" or mockingly "Formosan English". Characteristics of Taiwanese English include always answering questions in a very regulated style:

"Do you like pizza?" "Yes, I do." "Do you like basketball?" "No, I don't."

There's also a well known parody song of the English alphabet going by the lines of "A B C D, dog bites pig" (with "dog bites pig" in Taiwanese) in Taiwan.

Chinglish phrases used by native English speakers

Long time no see is often attributed as an example of Chinglish being used by native English speakers. The phrase is said to have originated from 好耐冇見(啦)(Cantonese)/好久不見(了)(Mandarin). These Chinglish phrases were used by dock workers to greet sailors from overseas.

It began in early 1900's when British and American warships and trading ships often stayed at Chinese docks, and through pidgin communications with dock workers, started to communicate in what is now known as Chinglish. The sailors used the phrase long time no see as a joke when they got home and somehow the phrase became widely used even in English-speaking countries. A more grammatically correct phrase of English should be I haven't seen you for a long time.

While this story is substantiated by other sources [link], this may just be a myth as there are no known records of the origin. The phrase has also been said to originate from trade with American Indians. Similar seemingly grammatically "incorrect" phrases (such as "no pain, no gain" or "the more, the merrier") are common and native to English; thus "long time no see" may have been just a coincidence.

Examples of Chinglish expressions

Anti-Earthquake Memorial: actually an Earthquake Memorial
Anti-Earthquake Memorial: actually an Earthquake Memorial

The following are some instances of Chinglish, along with a description of where they may be found and what they mean when correctly translated into English:

See also

External links

English Pseudo-dialects
Pseudo-dialects Engrish | Globish | Greeklish | Franglais | Internet slang | Hip hop slang | Leet | Valspeak
Mixed languages Chinglish | Denglisch | Hinglish | Inglés de escalerilla | Konglish | Llanito | Namlish | Poglish | Runglish | Spanglish | Tinglish

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: