Every foreign visitor in China may see some roadsigns with nonsense English translation. Someone calles this kind of English as Chinglish. It mixs the English vocabulary with Chinese grammar.
So many Chinese and Hong Konger finish college education in US, UK, etc. Why does no one stop Chinglish spread over the country?
1. Most Chinese students in overseas study IT, engineering or science, you may find some of them in faculty of business administration. Only very small portion of them choose social science or arts related subjects. Very rare parents may want their children to study Social Science or Art because of the unclear career path of the graduate. Simple English is enough for the life of engineering students or science students in university. Do you think they know how to write "standard English" for everyday life?
2. On the other hand, this is also the problem of working attitude. Most of Chinglish translation is product of computer program. Chinese in mainland China just enter the Chinese expression into computer program and use the result without modification. They do not take serious for their work. Please look Hong Kong, roadsign with Chinglish translation may be under fire of some magazines like Jimmy Lai's Next magazine.
Chinglish is a product of Chinese culture. As foreigner, you can laugh at this. As Chinese, you have to think the cultural problem behind the Chinglish and try to find a solution.
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3 comments:
chinglish on engrish.com, in a way is cute and, not quite a big deal :)
cute because they just don't think it is a big deal, and trying their best to accomodate.
i like this rather than hypocrites who thought they know the "correctness" of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24oQ5d373NA
undoubtedly every culture has its set backs. personally i dont think there is a standardized english. being peculiar reflects the ridiculous side of our beloved chinese culture on the one hand, but on the other it makes sense to the world in general because pertaining to the very unique background of this country, english language just happened to blossom and evolve just in this way. but it's definitely going to get better.
im not trying to put you down. but i just have a feeling like what you meant is a little overly critical. i know not everyone likes the chinese culture. but i think at least you identify yourself as chinese... embracing might be part of the process? can sense the ambivalence there, since i used to be in the same shoes... but not after i got to study about it, and met people, locals/foreigners who are closely associated with china.
there's no need to look up for a solution, 'cause indeed, things would get solved out naturally itself. one day when people look back into this page down history, it was maybe just a small part of the big picture =)
Chinglish itself is not a big deal. Singaporean loves Singlish so much, only their government does not understand the beauty of Singlish.
As a Singapore PR (Permanent Resident), I understand Singlish is outcome of Singapore multi-race society. So, I do not think Singlish is a problem.
Chinglish is another story. You see Chinglish in roadsign! This shows Chinese people attitude towards their work. As 胡適's classic, "Mr. not accurate", Chinese people do not finish their work in accurately way, this is the real problem behind Chinglish.
I agree.
While "Long Time No See" is a good chinese export, being short, simple and sweet
there are many more difficult-to-understand chinese-in-english phrases created by authors who doesn't have a good command of either language.
It is in the same way as the fact that the better you are a programmer, the simpler and more effective (and often more understandable) your codes become.
Regards,
k.
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