Chinglish

Terminology

The English word Chinglish is a portmanteau of Chinese and English. The Chinese equivalent is Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ (simplified Chinese: 中式英语; traditional Chinese: 中式英語; literally: "Chinese-style English").

Chinglish can be compared with other interlanguage varieties of English, such as Britalian (from Italian), Czenglish (from Czech), Denglisch (German), Dunglish (Dutch), Franglais (French), Greeklish (Greek), Runglish (Russian), Spanglish (Spanish), Swenglish (Swedish), Hunglish (Hungarian), Heblish (Hebrew), Engrish (Japanese), Hinglish (Hindi), Konglish (Korean), Singlish (in Singapore) and Tinglish (Thai).

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun and adjective.

Chinglish, n. and a. colloq. (freq. depreciative). Brit. /ˈtʃɪŋglɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈtʃɪŋ(g)lɪʃ/. Forms: 19– Chinglish, 19– Chenglish [rare]. [Blend of Chinese n. and English n. Compare earlier Japlish n., Spanglish n. Compare also Hinglish n.2, Singlish n.2]

A. n. A mixture of Chinese and English; esp. a variety of English used by speakers of Chinese or in a bilingual Chinese and English context, typically incorporating some Chinese vocabulary or constructions, or English terms specific to a Chinese context. Also: the vocabulary of, or an individual word from, such a variety. Cf. Singlish n.2

This dictionary cites the earliest recorded usage of Chinglish (noted as a jocular term) in 1957 and of Chinese English in 1857.

Chinglish commonly refers to a mixture of English with Modern Standard Mandarin, but it occasionally refers to mixtures with Cantonese, Shanghainese and Taiwanese Hokkien.

Chinglish contrasts with some related terms. Chinese Pidgin English was a lingua franca that originated in the seventeenth century. Zhonglish, a term for Chinese influenced by English, is a portmanteau of Zhōngwén (中文 "Chinese language") and "English".

Some peculiar Chinese English cannot be labeled Chinglish because it is grammatically correct, and Mair calls this emerging dialect "Xinhua English or New China News English", based on the Xinhua News Agency. Take for instance, this headline: "China lodges solemn representation over Japan's permission for Rebiya Kadeer's visit". This unusual English phrase literally translates the original Chinese tichu yanzheng jiaoshe (提出嚴正交涉 "lodge solemn representation"), combining tichu "put forward; raise; pose bring up", yanzheng "serious; stern; unyielding; solemn", and jiaoshe "mutual relations; negotiation; representation". "Pure Chinese" is an odd English locution in a Web advertisement: "孔子學院/ Confucius Institute/ Teach you pure Chinese." This Kongzi Xueyuan (孔子學院) is Chinese for the Confucius Institute, but Mair notes that "pure Chinese" curiously implies "impure Chinese".

One author divides Chinglish into "instrumental" and "ornamental" categories. "Instrumental Chinglish is actually intended to convey information to English speakers. Ornamental Chinglish is born of the fact that English is the lingua franca of coolness. Meaning aside, any combination of roman letters elevates a commodity – khaki pants, toilet paper, potato chips – to a higher plane of chic by suggesting that the product is geared toward an international audience."

History

English First arrived in China in 1637, when British traders reached Macao and Guangzhou (or Canton). In the 17th century, Chinese Pidgin English originated as a lingua franca for trade between British people and mostly Cantonese-speaking Chinese people. This proto-Chinglish term "pidgin" originated as a Chinese mispronunciation of the English word "business". Following the First and Second Opium War between 1839–1842, Pidgin English spread north to Shanghai and other treaty ports. Pidgin usage began to decline in the late 19th century when Chinese and missionary schools began teaching Standard English. In 1982, the People's Republic of China made English the main foreign language in education. Current estimates for the number of English learners in China range from 300 to 500 million.

Chinglish may have influenced some English expressions that are "calques" or "loan translations" from Chinese Pidgin English, for instance, "lose face" derives from diulian 丟脸 "lose face; be humiliated." Some sources claim "long time no see" is a Chinglish calque from hǎojiǔbújiàn 好久不见 "long time no see". More reliable references note this jocular American English phrase "used as a greeting after prolonged separation" was first recorded in 1900 for a Native American's speech, and thus more likely derives from American Indian Pidgin English.

Chinese officials carried out campaigns to reduce Chinglish in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

Soon after the International Olympic Committee selected Beijing in 2001, the Beijing Tourism Bureau established a tipster hotline for Chinglish errors on signs, such as emergency exits at the Beijing airport reading "No entry on peacetime". In 2007, the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program (BSFLP) reported they had, "worked out 4,624 pieces of standard English translations to substitute the Chinglish ones on signs around the city", for instance, "Be careful, road slippery" instead of "To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty." BSFLP chairperson Chen Lin said, "We want everything to be correct. Grammar, words, culture, everything. Beijing will have thousands of visitors coming. We don't want anyone laughing at us." Reporting from Beijing, Ben Macintyre lamented the loss of signs like "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass" because, "many of the best examples of Chinglish are delightful, reflecting the inventiveness that results when two such different languages collide". The Global Language Monitor doubted that Beijing's attempt to eradicate Chinglish could succeed; noting that "we share the charm and joy of the Olympic Games" is found on the official website of the Beijing Olympics. "Hundreds of scholars have proofed the site and decided that the word charm is most appropriate in describing the Games."

In Shanghai, for Expo 2010, a similar effort was made to replace Chinglish signage. A New York Times article by Andrew Jacobs reported on accomplishments by the Shanghai Commission for the Management of Language Use. "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." James Fallows attributed many Shanghai Chinglish errors to "rote reliance on dictionaries or translation software", citing a bilingual sign reading "餐厅 Translate server error" (canting 餐厅 means "dining room; restaurant"). While conceding that "there's something undeniably Colonel Blimp-ish in making fun of the locals for their flawed command of your own mother tongue", Fallows observed a Shanghai museum with "Three Georges Dam" banners advertising a Three Gorges Dam exhibit, and wrote, "it truly is bizarre that so many organizations in China are willing to chisel English translations into stone, paint them on signs, print them on business cards, and expose them permanently to the world without making any effort to check whether they are right." On a Chinese airplane, Fallows was given a wet wipe labeled "Wet turban needless wash", translating mianxi shijin (免洗湿巾 lit. "wash-free moist towel"). Shanghai's Luwan District published a controversial "Bilingual Instruction of Luwan District for Expo" phrasebook with English terms and Chinese characters approximating pronunciation: "Good morning! (古得猫宁)" [pronounced gu de mao ning] (which could be literally translated as "ancient cat tranquility") and "I'm sorry (爱么搔瑞)" [an me sao rui] (which is nonsensical).

Chinglish is pervasive in present-day China "on public notices in parks and at tourist sites, on shop names and in their slogans, in product advertisements and on packages, in hotel names and literature, in restaurant names and on menus, at airports, railway stations and in taxis, on street and highway signs – even in official tourist literature."

The Global Language Monitor predicts Chinglish will thrive, and estimates that roughly 20 percent of new English words derive from Chinglish, for instance, shanzhai (山寨; literally "mountain stronghold; mountain village") meaning "counterfeit consumer goods; things done in parody" — Huang Youyi, president of the China Internet Information Center, predicts that linguistic purism could be damaged by popular Chinese words of English origin (such as OK and LOL). "If we do not pay attention and we do not take measures to stop Chinese mingling with English, Chinese will no longer be a pure language in a couple of years."

Specifying Chinglish to mean "Chinese words literally translated into English", an experiment in linguistic clarity found that mathematical terms are more readily understandable in Chinglish than English. 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 sibianxing 四边形 (literally, "four-side-shape"). For example, compare the semantic clarity of English axiom, Chinese gongli 公理, and Chinglish (literal translation) "universal-principle"; median, zhongshu 中数, and "centre-number"; or trapezoid, tixing 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%.

Features

Chinglish is the combination of the Chinese culture and the English language. China English has linguistic characteristics that are different from the normative English in all linguistic levels, including phonology, lexicon, syntax, and discourse.

At the phonological level, Chinglish does not differentiate between various vowel qualities because they don't exist in Chinese. As a result, there is no contrast between the two sounds for Chinglish speakers. For example, ‘cheap’ and ‘chip’ would be the same pronunciation. Another phonological feature is that speakers are unaware of the “graduation” of words which are said in different tones depending on the context. The word ‘for’ is stressed and said differently in the phrases “what is it for?” and “this is for you.” To a Chinglish speaker, the two are the same. In addition, Chinglish speakers use Chinese phonological units to speak English, which gives them the notable accent.

At the lexical level, China English manifests itself through many ways such as transliteration and loan translations. Transliteration has brought many interesting words and expressions from the Chinese language into English. Speakers are able to merge the two because of pinyin, a Latin alphabet used to write Chinese. In loan translations, Chinese words have been translated directly into English. This phenomenon can be found in a lot of compound words like red bean, bean curd, and teacup. The other way that loan translations are made is when speakers translate Chinese terms into English. These words come from the Chinese culture and are ideas, thoughts, or expressions that do not exist in English. For example, ‘spring rolls’ would otherwise not have meaning in English if not for Chinglish speakers making it a loan translation to describe the food. In addition, speakers use subordinate conjunctions differently and also exhibit copula absence in their speech. Examples include "Because I am ill, so I can't go to school" and "The dress beautiful."

As Chinese grammar does not distinguish between definite and indefinite articles, Chinese speakers struggle with when to use or not use the English definite article "the".

At the syntactic level, Chinese thinking has influenced Chinglish speakers to utilize a different sequence and structure to make sentences. For English speakers, a common sequence is subject → predicate → object → adverbial. On the other hand, the Chinese sequence is subject → adverbial → predicate → object. Chinese speakers tend to leave the most important information at the back of the sentence, while English speakers present it at the front.

Linguists and language teachers employ error analysis to fathom Chinglish. Liu et al. list four characteristic features of Chinglish mistranslations,

Chinglish reflects the influence of Chinese syntax and grammar. For instance, Chinese verbs are not necessarily conjugated and there is no equivalent article for English "the", both of which can create awkward translations.

Causes

Chinglish has various causes, most commonly erroneous Chinese dictionaries and translation software (mentioned above by Fallows).

One should differentiate root and ancillary causes of Chinglish. The root causes are outdated Chinese-English dictionaries and incorrect English as a foreign language textbooks. Ancillary causes include misspelling, mediocre English-language teaching, sloppy translation, and reliance on outdated translation technology. Liu, Feather and Qian warn that

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.

Common causes include:

Vocabulary

Some 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" is generally used instead of the term "I see", when used to tell others that you understand what they said.

"See", "watch", "read", "look", all refer to "看" in Chinese. For example, "看电影" means "to see a film" or "to watch movie", "看书" means "to read a book", "看着我" 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". For Chinglish speakers, the expression "Can you say Chinese?" means "Do you speak Chinese?"

The other misuse of vocabulary is "to turn on/off" and "open/close". Chinese speakers use "关" 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". (In spite of this, Chinglish speakers seldom or never use "turn off the window" to mean "close the window".)

Examples

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