Chinglish

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Jo is the kind of open, honest, amusing character readers immediately care about. Told through her wittily illustrated diary, Jo’s tale begins with a(nother) upheaval. She and her family have just moved to their new Chinese takeaway, but her hopes for a fresh start are immediately dashed when she sees there’s no living room, and she has to share a room with little sister Bonny while big brother Simon lives with their grandparents. Write/Do Homework: “Write homework (写功课 )is the literal Chinese. But in English, we say DO homework. Whether it implies writing an essay, doing math problems, reading part of a book, we usually say “Do homework.” I really wasn't a fan of the parents. You have lived in a country for years, LEARN THE FREAKING LANGUAGE. >< I don't give a dip that you have work, just find someone to help (and not your freaking kids thank you). It will make everything easier and maybe you will feel happier. In Chinglish, "I know" is generally used instead of the term "I see", when used to tell others that you understand what they said. Eat food/ Drink wine: These are direct translations from Chinese. Normally in English, however, “eating” implies food and “drinking” implies alcohol. In other words, the only thing you can eat IS food.

Chinglish - Definition and Examples Chinese English and Chinglish - Definition and Examples

How do you explain you don’t speak Chinese when you parents are Chinese, you look Chinese and you live in a Chinese takeaway?!” A diary about a teen girl who, through diary entries, will tell us all about her family, the takeaway, her friends, being Chinese-English, and more. But it wasn't what I expected. Expect vs. looking forward to. – These can both have the same Chinese meaning (期待), but in English they are different. Looking forward to something: This means there is something in the future that you are very excited and pleased about. It implies, you are very confident it will happen. It’s just a matter of time. We also say, “I can’t wait for it.” This dictionary cites the earliest recorded usage of Chinglish (noted as a jocular term) in 1957 and of Chinese English in 1857. [6] However, Chinglish has been found to date from as early as 1936, making it one of the earliest portmanteau words for a hybrid variety of English. [7] Other colloquial portmanteau words for Chinese English include: Chenglish (recorded from 1979), Chinlish (1996), Chinenglish (1997), Changlish (2000) and Chinelish (2006). [8] A sign from Beijing's Silk Street, giving translations of common English phrases vendors may use when serving English speaking customers, as well as phrases advised against. He, Deyuan & Li, David C.S. (2009). Language attitudes and linguistic features in the 'China English' debate. World Englishes Vol. 28, No. 1One often sees Chinglish on signs, and this is one of my favorites. The sign-maker wanted to say, “Handicapped Restroom,” or better yet, “handicapped-accessible restroom.” However, it came out as “deformed man toilet.”“Deformed” means badly twisted or misshapen!

Review: Chinglish by Sue Cheung - Words on Words

Altitude: height above sea level or the surface of the earth; this is usually used for an airplane, hot air balloon, or some other manned craft. Last nameIn western culture, the given name comes first, and the family name comes last. (ie. John Smith)However, since in Chinese the family name comes first, this can easily lead to misunderstandings.Therefore, a girl named Wang Ya-fan in Chinese would render her name in English as Ya-fan Wang.If a person or form asks you for your last name, give your family name. Jo is constantly bullied at school and her living conditions are horrific with an abusive father who gambles. You join the family as they are moving to a new place. Jo has high hopes that this place will be better where they lived before, but no. They live in a two roomed flat above their new Chinese takeaway where Jo ends up working there for HOURS.

Sue Cheung Press Reviews

Another misuse of vocabulary is "to turn on/off" and "open/close". Chinese speakers use " 關" ( guān) to refer to turning off things like electrical appliances or to close a door or window. Accordingly, a Chinglish speaker would say "close the light" instead of "turn off the light". In the same way, they would say "open the TV" instead of "turn on the TV". Specifying Chinglish to mean "Chinese words literally translated into English", an experiment in linguistic clarity conducted by Han and Ginsberg (2001) found that mathematical terms are more readily understandable in Chinglish than English. [38] English words for mathematics typically have Greek and Latin roots, while corresponding Chinese words are usually translations of neologisms from Western languages; thus quadrilateral (from Latin quadri- "four" and latus "sided") is generally less informative than Chinese sìbiānxíng 四边形; 'four-side-shape'). For example, compare the semantic clarity of English axiom, Chinese gōnglǐ 公理, and Chinglish (literal translation) "universal-principle"; median, zhōngshù 中数, and "centre-number"; or trapezoid, tīxíng 梯形, and "ladder-figure". The study involved three groups of mathematics teachers who rated the clarity of 71 common mathematical terms. Group 1 with native speakers of Chinese judged 61% of the Chinese terms as clear; Group 2 with native speakers of English judged 45% of the English terms as clear. Group 3 with English-speaking teachers (both native and nonnative speakers) judged the comparative clarity of English and Chinglish word pairs: more clear for 42.3% of the Chinglish and 5.6% of the English, equally clear for 25.4% of the Chinglish-English pairs, and neither clear for 19.7%. It is good thinking that the city government encourages its citizens to interact with English-speaking foreigners," Radtke said, though he would prefer it if the government invested in real English language courses rather than a brochure that relies on a fake phonetic structure. Stay in the trail. (wrong) Stay onthe trail. (right)English is a crazy language, and sometimes the prepositions do not make any sense. We (usually) say:

Chinglish - Wikipedia Chinglish - Wikipedia

While Chinese governmental bodies and language organizations constantly attempt to eradicate Chinglish by taming the English translations of signs, it seems that Chinglish will persist, and even thrive. Expats in Beijing are also stepping forward to defend Chinglish. Henry, Eric Steven (November 2010). "Interpretations of "Chinglish": Native Speakers, Language Learners and the Enregisterment of a Stigmatized Code". Language in Society. 39 (5): 669–688. doi: 10.1017/S0047404510000655. JSTOR 40925816. S2CID 146480049. Mark Swofford, "Taiwan's energetically Englsih-friendly [sic] environment", Pinyin news, 12 December 2007. It refers to the garbled combination of Chinese and English. In defense of Chinglish, let me say, it is a reality and easy to explain how it happens. Also, I’m not “casting stones” at Chinese speakers who struggle with English, although Chinglish is a reality for many of them. As an English-speaking American who has been learning Mandarin since 1989, I certainly have struggled with my own version of Chinglish. Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 23. doi: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lamOne of the growing number of expats who are attracted and amazed by Chinglish, Bromage, an English teacher based in Beijing, appreciates the vitality and creativity of Chinglish. The recently popular expression "you can you up" (if you can do it, you should go up and do it) is another typical example, Smith said. Our history teacher wants us to improve our writing and thinking skills, so she’s making us write lots of essays for homework this year. When referring to adults, instead of saying “play” we usually say “have fun,”“have a good time,”“hang out” (slang) or “get together.” For example, we can rewrite the above sentences as: