China Holistic English » Chinglish

PURE ENGLISH

Theodore — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:25:41 +0000

English is a language of borrowed words. In Great Britain there are at least thirty English variations, in the USA more than fifty. Throughout the world every country that adopts English (officially or unofficially) as its second language, has its own English variation.

Standard International English, standard British English and Standard American English are mere fanciful daydreams of academics, they do not exist in the real world.

China has its own English variation called Chinglish. It arises as English is influenced by Chinese culture, mother tongue interference and translation issues. There is a scholarly attempt to formalize Chinglish into Chinese-English but this too is mere academic pursuit of the absurd. Chinglish is the English variation of the common man. Chinese-English is an educated English variation that lies beyond the grasp of the common man and is reserved for the educated class. It will therefore necessarily never be the English variation of China.

As Chinese and English do not easily translate, necessarily, new English words must be created. This is totally consistent with development of English variations world-wide.

The editorial policy of English in China Today at Harbin Institute of Technology wholeheartedly embraces Chinglish as the developing English variation that creates new Chinglish words. The reader will note new words created by the Chinese authors. These should be embraced as a valid part of the development of English in China. It is part of the historically adopted development pattern of English throughout the world. In 2010 alone, more than 100 new English words were added to the English dictionary.

Chinese educational policy has, for the past thrity years, frowned upon Chinglish, discouraging Chinese students from using it and even meeting out punishment when they do. This is partially why English has become the Latin of China, a written but not spoken language. Simply put, this policy is stifling English development in China. It is a misguided policy that must be reformed.

There is simply no current place for arrogant English purists, just as there has never been a place for them throughout the history of English development.

Chinglish is the Chinese variation of English, like it or not. Get over it, get used to it and get with it!

CHINGLISH

Theodore — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:28:30 +0000

I ENCOURAGE MY STUDENTS TO SPEAK CHINGLISH TO HELP THEM OVERCOME THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE 4 GREAT LIES. HOWEVER, WRITTEN CHINGLISH PUTS A BAD FACE ON CHINA AND SHOULD BE CORRECTED. WRITTEN CHINGLISH IS FOR FOREIGNERS VISITING CHINA, NOT FOR LOCAL PEOPLE. WRITTEN CHINGLISH CAUSES GREAT HARM TO CHINA’S GLOBAL IMAGE. BEFORE THE OLYMPICS ALL WRITTEN CHINGLISH WAS ELIMINATED IN BEIJING. THIS THREAD IS INTENDED TO EXPOSE WRITTEN CHINGLISH WHEREVER IT IS FOUND, SO IT MAY BE CORRECTED TO SAVE CHINA’S GLOBAL FACE.

When you see Chinglish anywhere in China, this is the place to share it!

When you see funny English signs anywhere in China, this is the place to share it.

Shanghai Is Trying to Untangle the Mangled English of Chinglish

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: May 2, 2010

SHANGHAI — For English speakers with subpar Chinese skills, daily life in China offers a confounding array of choices. At banks, there are machines for “cash withdrawing” and “cash recycling.” The menus of local restaurants might present such delectables as “fried enema,” “monolithic tree mushroom stem squid” and a mysterious thirst-quencher known as “The Jew’s Ear Juice.”

Those who have had a bit too much monolithic tree mushroom stem squid could find themselves requiring roomier attire: extra-large sizes sometimes come in “fatso” or “lard bucket” categories. These and other fashions can be had at the clothing chain known as Scat.

Go ahead and snicker, although by last Saturday’s opening of the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, drawing more than 70 million visitors over its six-month run, these and other uniquely Chinese maladaptations of the English language were supposed to have been largely excised.

Well, that at least is what the Shanghai Commission for the Management of Language Use has been trying to accomplish during the past two years.

Fortified by an army of 600 volunteers and a politburo of adroit English speakers, the commission has fixed more than 10,000 public signs (farewell “Teliot” and “urine district”), rewritten English-language historical placards and helped hundreds of restaurants recast offerings.

The campaign is partly modeled on Beijing’s herculean effort to clean up English signage for the 2008 Summer Olympics, which led to the replacement of 400,000 street signs, 1,300 restaurant menus and such exemplars of impropriety as the Dongda Anus Hospital — now known as the Dongda Proctology Hospital. Gone, too, is Racist Park, a cultural attraction that has since been rechristened Minorities Park.

“The purpose of signage is to be useful, not to be amusing,” said Zhao Huimin, the former Chinese deputy consul general to the United States who, as director general of the capital’s Foreign Affairs Office, has been leading the fight for linguistic standardization and sobriety.

But while the war on mangled English may be considered a signature achievement of government officials, aficionados of what is known as Chinglish are wringing their hands in despair.

Oliver Lutz Radtke, a former German radio reporter who may well be the world’s foremost authority on Chinglish, said he believed that China should embrace the fanciful melding of English and Chinese as the hallmark of a dynamic, living language. As he sees it, Chinglish is an endangered species that deserves preservation.

“If you standardize all these signs, you not only take away the little giggle you get while strolling in the park but you lose a window into the Chinese mind,” said Mr. Radtke, who is the author of a pair of picture books that feature giggle-worthy Chinglish signs in their natural habitat.

Lest anyone think it is all about laughs, Mr. Radtke is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Chinglish at the University of Heidelberg.

Still, the enemies of Chinglish say the laughter it elicits is humiliating. Wang Xiaoming, an English scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, painfully recalls the guffaws that erupted among her foreign-born colleagues as they flipped through a photographic collection of poorly written signs. “They didn’t mean to insult me but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable,” said Ms. Wang, who has since become one of Beijing’s leading Chinglish slayers.

Those who study the roots of Chinglish say many examples can be traced to laziness and a flawed but wildly popular translation software. Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania, said the computerized dictionary, Jinshan Ciba, had led to sexually oriented vulgarities identifying dried produce in Chinese supermarkets and the regrettable “fried enema” menu selection that should have been rendered as “fried sausage.”

Although improved translation software and a growing zeal for grammatically unassailable English has slowed the output of new Chinglishisms, Mr. Mair said he still received about five new examples a day from people who knew he was good at deciphering what went wrong. “If someone would pay me to do it, I’d spend my life studying these things,” he said.

Among those getting paid to wrestle with Chinglish is Jeffrey Yao, an English translator and teacher at the Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation at Shanghai International Studies University who is leading the sign exorcism. But even as he eradicates the most egregious examples by government fiat — businesses dare not ignore the commission’s suggested fixes — he has mixed feelings, noting that although some Chinglish phrases sound awkward to Western ears, they can be refreshingly lyrical. “Some of it tends to be expressive, even elegant,” he said, shuffling through an online catalog of signs that were submitted by the volunteers who prowled Shanghai with digital cameras. “They provide a window into how we Chinese think about language.”

Multimedia

Slide Show

A Sampling of Chinglish

Share Your Photos: Strange Signs From Abroad

He offered the following example: While park signs in the West exhort people to “Keep Off the Grass,” Chinese versions tend to anthropomorphize nature as a way to gently engage the stomping masses. Hence, such admonishments as “The Little Grass Is Sleeping. Please Don’t Disturb It” or “Don’t Hurt Me. I Am Afraid of Pain.”

Mr. Yao read off the Chinese equivalents as if savoring a Shakespearean sonnet. “How lovely,” he said with a sigh.

He pointed out that this linguistic mentality helped create such expressions as “long time no see,” a word-for-word translation of a Chinese expression that became a mainstay of spoken English. But Mr. Yao, who spent nearly two decades working as a translator in Canada, has his limits. He showed a sign from a park designed to provide visitors with the rules for entry, which include prohibitions on washing, “scavenging,” clothes drying and public defecation, all of it rendered in unintelligible — and in the case of the last item — rather salty English. The sign ended with this humdinger: “Because if the tourist does not obey the staff to manage or contrary holds, Does, all consequences are proud.”

Even though he had had the sign corrected recently, Mr. Yao could not help but shake his head in disgust at the memory. And he was irritated to find that a raft of troublesome sign verbiage had slipped past the commission as the expo approached, including a cafeteria sign that read, “The tableware reclaims a place.” (Translation: drop off dirty dishes here.)

“Some Chinglish expressions are nice, but we are not translating literature here,” he said. “I want to see people nodding that they understand the message on these signs. I don’t want to see them laughing.”

Chinese-English

Theodore — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:25:09 +0000

There are academics who pontificate about the difference between Chinglish and Chinese-English. They are the ones promoting the formalization of Chinglish into a formal variation or Chinese brand of English. They wish to compel 1.4 billion Chinese to accept and speak their formalized Chinese-English.

What these academics wish to ignore is that the basis for Chinglish is mother tongue interference. The academics promoting Chinese-English also ignore the multitudes of uneducated people in China.

The arrogance and ignorance of a formalized Chinglish, to be called Chinese-English, comes from the mouths of the same academics who tell their university students the 4 great lies, in Putonghua, because their English is so poor:

China EFL: The Four Great Lies

You must master English
Chinglish is no good
You can only improve your English by speaking with a native speaker
Everyone in China needs to learn English.

The result is “mute or dumb English.”

Mute English: The Latin of China

These are the same academics that steadfastly support CET as a valid measure of English proficiency. The ignorance of certain academic scholars is profound.

Is it any wonder that the Chinese Communist Party runs the universities and not the academics? These academics need to stop living in a theoretical world and base their teaching on the real on-the-ground daily life of 1.4 billion people.

TOO FUNNY

Theodore — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:58:06 +0000

Passenger Service Guidance China High Speek Train

THIS THREAD IS NOT AN ATTACK ON CHINA.

IT IS AN ATTACK ON THE “SO-SO” ATTITUDE

THAT KEEPS CHINA FROM REALIZING ITS FULL DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL

Guangzhou – Wuhan High Speed Train

The cost of the new service was 16.6 billion RMB. The new stations are state of the art, futuristic even.

China High Speed Train Wuhan Station

China High Speed Train Wuhan Station Interior

The trains are more like bullets and the inside is more like an airplane.

Guangzhou - Wuhan High Speed Train China

The ride is smooth, even at 347 km/h. Yet, with all the attention paid to technological detail, something went awry. Inside the back of each seat is a “Passenger Service Guidance” brochure, in Chinese and Chinglish. Even the title should be “Passenger Service Guide.”

With all of the Foreign Language Departments at famous Chinese Universities and all of the native English speaking teachers throughout China, the Chinese to English translation is atrocious and a flat out embarrassment to the rail operating company. The company was unable to spare a few thousand RMB for a proper translation? 16.6 billion RMB and no money for a proper translation? Or is this just another example of “so-so” is ok in China? The failure of this small detail makes a person wonder what other small details were allowed to go forward as “so-so.” How safe is this new 350 km/h train?

Let’s have a closer look at the Chinglish of the “Passenger Service Guidance.”

There should be an initial statement:

For your safety and the safety of others, please obey the following instructions:

Chinglish: It is forbidden to take the flammable, explosive, corrosive, poisonous, radioactive and other dangerous articles, including the forbidden knives.

English: Knives and other weapons, flammables, explosives, corrosives, poisons, radioactive and other dangerous articles are forbidden in the train station or on the train.

Chinglish: The tickets check will be stopped before the train’s departure. Please pay attention to the stop time of checking, get on train or stand within safety line on platform for waiting before it.

English: Clear the departure gate and wait in the designated safety area on the platform prior to the train’s arrival.

Chinglish: Watch out the space between platform and the train carefully. Please stand the queue during get-on and get-off. Don’t be crowd when you getting on after the get-off please. It is forbidden to pass through under train, climb on roof, jump off station, enter railway track and so on.

English: Form a single file line at your designated coach. Allow disembarking passengers to clear the coach before boarding. Enter the coach single file, without pushing or shoving. Be careful of the gap between the platform and the coach. It is dangerous to leave the platform area to enter the track, crawl under the train, or climb on the roof and such activity may result in your arrest.

Chinglish: Please don’t push or lean on the door and don’t pull(or push) the emergency brake valve handbrake button, and other safety facilities ant random.

English: Keep clear of the door while the train is in motion and only use emergency equipment in case of a real emergency. Do not allow children to play with the emergency equipment.

Chinglish: Smoking is not allowed in every part of the train.

English: There is no smoking allowed in any part of the train.

Chinglish: Under the conditions which may effect the safety of the train and the passengers, please be followed with the crew’s instruction and keep order. Help priory for the senior and the disabled, illness, children pregnant and other who need help. In case of emergency, please notice the crew in time.

English: Please give priority to senior citizens, the disabled, pregnant women, the sick and infirmed, children and others requiring special assistance. Immediately notify the crew of any emergency and follow crew’s instructions at all times.

Chinglish: In case of the get-off which is necessary during emergency, you can break the safety window by a special hammer for escape. If on Electrical Multiple Unit, you can also press the emergency button above the compartment end door.

English: In case of emergency, evacuate through the safety window using the provided hammer to break the glass or push the emergency stop button above the rear compartment door.

The second and third pages are just as ridiculous. For a Country filled with people who value “face,” it is unbelievable that a major project like this would be so cheap that they would not spend a few thousand RMB to save their corporate face with foreigners. Or if the company did pay for a translation, they should demand a complete refund and hire someone competent to do the job right.

Someone needs to tell this company that its public image is in need of immediate repair!

Susan Class 3
April 6th, 2010 at 12:51 am ·
EDITOR’S NOTE: I AM COMPELLED TO INQUIRE – ARE YOU AN educated IDIOT? THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION IS FOR THE BENEFIT OF CHINESE PEOPLE? YOU ARE KIDDING, RIGHT? YOU CANNOT BE SUCH AN APOLOGIST FOR THE ERRORS THAT YOU THROW AWAY YOUR OWN DIGNITY AND CREDIBILITY

Franking speaking, I do not regard the translation adopted by the new services as a funny action. From my perspective, it is kind of “nativision”. Just as a saying goes ”In Rome do what Romans do”, the brochure is mostly prepared for Chinese to read and understand. From the script, we can clearly see the translation is done according to Chinese way of thinking and it is not only for foreigners to read. Though we emphasize globalization and being international all the time nowadays, we could not discard our traditions. The key point is that how to deal with foreign cultures and Chinese traditional customs and cultures and make a balance between them. Finally, I want to cite a famous proverb coming from RuXun, a famous writer and a patriot, when facing things which is from abroad, we should “absorb the elite and abandon the draff.”

WHAT CHINESE COMPANY WOULD TRANSLATE CHINESE INTO ENGLISH OR CHINGLISH FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR CHINESE CUSTOMERS? DO CHINESE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND ENGLISH OR CHINGLISH BETTER THAN CHINESE? UNBELIEVABLE!

The 4 Great Lies

Theodore — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:22 +0000

INTRODUCTION

At any given moment there are twice as many Chinese learning English as there are citizens of the U.S.A. English instruction begins in kindergarten and continues into postgraduate study, for both English majors and non-English majors. Everyone in China must study English. Local variants of English such as Chinglish and Chinese English are discouraged as inappropriate. Students are placed under extreme pressure to “master” English. National English competency exams are a predicate to further study or employment. China employs more than 150,000 native English speakers to teach English in its schools. Some programs encourage Chinese learners of English to locate foreigners on the street and run up to them and yell “Hello” in the foreigner’s face. This crazy approach is predicated upon the belief that the only way to improve your English is to engage with a native English speaker. Teaching English as a Foreign Language in China is predicated upon 4 GREAT LIES.

1. FIRST LIE – YOU MUST MASTER ENGLISH

Every Chinese learner of English is instructed that they must “master” English.

Due to the inordinate influence of the British Council on English learning in China, most Chinese students of English own the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary or Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. These are also the most available dictionaries in school libraries and book stores throughout China.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON THE DOWNLOAD PAGE

China EFL: The Four Great Lies

CCTV 9

Theodore — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:29:05 +0000

CCTV 9 Chinglish

Have you noticed the new format for CCTV 9? In a feeble attempt to copy the west, CCTV 9 now utilizes “Expert Commentators” to make remarks about almost every news story. The irritating fact is that the so called experts are NOT. They are mainly professors from famous Beijing universities who give their personal opinions on matters far from their area of expertise. Their academic credentials do NOT support their ability to render “expert” opinions on most of the issues they expound upon.

Even more irritating is their language abuse. They over use two words and use them inappropriately. Every other sentence begins with “therefore” or “however”

“Therefore” is a predicate to a conclusion emanating from the previously stated facts and NOT a predicate to state additional facts.

“However“ is a qualifier to state an exception to the previously stated facts and NOT to add additional facts.

Add this to the inappropriate but often asked question “How do you think about that?” and the program loses all credibility. “How do you think?” calls for a scientific explanation of how the brain works. “What do you think?” calls for a conclusion or opinion.

Chinese PhD English linguistic scholars also over use “therefore” and “however.” In one 5,000 word proposed journal article the word “therefore” was inappropriately used 325 times and required heavy editing.

However, when one considers mother tongue interference combined with China’s poor English curriculum and teaching methodology, the irritation turns to understanding and compassion for CHINGLISH at the highest levels of Chinese society. The main purpose of CCTV 9 is to present China to the world through global broadcast.

CCTV 9 even employs Chinese who have lived abroad and foreign born and educated Chinese, but Chinglish still appears. Some Chinese presenters, who look Chinese, give their foreign identity away when pronouncing certain Chinese names. For example, one young Chinese male presenter consistently mispronounces Urumqi as “Ur um kee” instead of “Oolaamoochie”.

CHINGLISH is alive and well in China and is being exported globally by CCTV 9. CHINGLISH is inevitable!

On the free download page, read China EFL: The Four Great Lies

CLASSROOMS

Theodore — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:44:16 +0000

Oral English Classrooms

The course is called Oral English. It is usually conducted in a multi-media classroom with theater style fixed seating. Students are called upon to stand and recite memorized passages. This course should be called “Memorizing Useless Set Phrases.”

The course should be re-named “Conversational Chinglish” and it should be conducted in classrooms with movable desks. There should be real conversations in a relaxed non-academic atmosphere. This produces creative thinkers and speakers of understandable Chinglish.

GOALS

Theodore — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:37:11 +0000

Holistic English Goals

In the Holistic English Program we do NOT teach English language or English culture.

We facilitate English communication at whatever level the students find themselves capable. There is no individual mandatory accomplishment level to be obtained. In other words, the academic pressure is completely off.

The goals of Holistic English, in their order of priority are:

Correct the 4 Great Lies the students have been told for the past 10 – 16 years.
Confidence to speak (Chinglish is OK)
Self-discipline
Intrinsic motivation
Autonomous learning skills
Creative thinking
Expanded world view

As the above goals are reached the students will experience growth and development in their listening, speaking, writing, and reading abilities.

Holistic English is a process of growth and development that can not be measured incrementally. No single class can be evaluated on what was learned by any particular student. The assessment comes at the end of the process.

’10 4 GREAT LIES

Theodore — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:12:50 +0000

INTRODUCTION

1. FIRST LIE – YOU MUST MASTER ENGLISH

Every Chinese learner of English is instructed that they must “master” English.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON THE DOWNLOAD PAGE China EFL: The Four Great Lies

First Day Student Culture Shock

Theodore — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:31:37 +0000

The beginning of any new academic semester is fraught with inevitable required adjustments. The post-graduate students (pgs) are no exception. They are required to take one semester of oral English with a foreign teacher. Most pgs have had prior undergraduate experiences with this inconsequential course where the grade does not count and more often than not, the foreign teacher has a guitar and only knows how to teach English songs. The pgs have a very strong preconceived idea of what to expect from their oral English class.

As the pgs approach their 4^th floor oral English classroom they are confronted by a 200 cm x 200 cm banner.

They have no idea what “Chingland” means and “Chinglish Spoken Here” goes directly against and is directly opposed to their prior teaching that Chinglish is no good. This is the pgs first indication that something may be different.

As they approach the classroom door they look puzzled and double check the room number.

As the pgs open the door, their jaws drop, they freeze in position and get a “deer in the headlights” look. Again, they double check the assigned classroom number.

As they slowly enter the room there is a Chinese buzz. The foreign teacher actually looks like a real professor. The professor loudly announces, “This is an English class and this is an English classroom. Why am I hearing Chinese? If you want to practice your Chinese leave.”

A hush falls over the room. The pgs ask permission to be seated. The professor advises that those pgs who have brought their books and a writing utensil may be seated. All others must leave and never return unprepared again. Those who did not bring their books or writing utensils are told to leave but they remain frozen in time and space. The professor explains that coming to a pg class at China’s #8 most famous university is intolerable kindergarten behavior and the guilty students are ordered to leave.

Sometimes an entire first class must be cancelled and rescheduled at a punitive time.

On the very first day of the semester the professor draws the line in the sand and demands that the pgs act like mature, responsible, serious students or get out. They have never had such an experience in their prior 16 years of education. They are in shock!

Fortunately, the professor knows how to bring the pgs out of shock and within minutes the classroom is filled with laughter as everyone settles down to begin their semester of fun with English acquisition.

Read the download page article First Day Student Culture Shock