Should we make fun of Chinglish?
Due to the fact that English is
considered the universal language of the world and the medium used in
communications, science information technology, business, entertainment and in
others, there is a great demand for every country to learn the language.
China, having been categorized as one
of the leading countries around the globe and having an uncontrollable growth
of tourists nationwide, has this necessity to be knowledgeable with the language.
As a result, Chinglish is formed. Chinglish is the term applied in any ungrammatical
or nonsensical English in Chinese contexts, and may have unpleasant connotations,
reflecting the attitudes of those who used it. Others call this cultural phenomenon
“Chinese English”, “China English” and “Sinicized English”.
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Translations from Mandarin Chinese to English are
undeniably shocking and surprising especially that these are used in public
places and even in places where tourists often go. I don’t know if these are made
intentionally or not, but it creates humor to everyone, to the tourists
specifically.
Though very
entertaining to foreigners, these grammatical and typographical faux pas are an
embarrassment to government officials. That is why soon after the International Olympic Committee selected
Beijing as the host country for the 2008 Olympics and prior to the 2010 World
Expo in Shanghai, China's top government officials deployed an army of
youngsters to rub each city, correcting out all instances of Chinglish. The
results were largely successful, at least until the Olympics and Expo were over.
The
acceptability of mistake-ridden Chinglish translations has been widely debated.
Many laugh at it and tend to point out that this is merely a great epitome how
foolish Chinese people are. In my opinion and according to what a blogger named
Sasha Small said, we should not make fun of Chinglish or to the Chinese people,
and we should never look at it as an emergence of idiocy, for they have learned
English in an imprudent way. Also, unfortunately, many English language
textbooks in China contain basic mistakes, which totally decline Chinese
people's understanding of English, and severe the problem of Chinglish. With
this imperfect foundation of the language, it is no surprise that mangled
Chinglish interpretations are so pervasive. Chinglish is a unique and
intriguing phenomenon, which provides us with fascinating insight into the way
the native Chinese people think about the language. Chinglish should be
appreciated. It serves as a light-hearted reminder not to take mistakes and
imperfections too seriously.
Correcting mistakes or errors is a
good thing, but we should always be mindful of others’ feelings and emotions.
References:
Sasha Small
"Slip and fall down carefully." That one cracked me up. Good job, Elaine! :)
ReplyDeleteHello Elaine! :) The sentence with "...but it creates humor to everyone…" sounded a bit awkward to me. I think you could have phrased the sentence differently: "I don't know if these are made intentionally or not, but people, specifically tourists, find them humorous." Good job on your post! :)
ReplyDeleteThis one is funny and very entertaining. Congratulations for writing a good blog entry, Elaine! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine! Your post is very entertaining. I'm sure that those mistakes were not done intentionally, and I hope that the "army of youngsters" is still active even after the Olympics.=)
ReplyDelete"...a great epitome how foolish Chinese people are." I think the preposition, of is missing between the words epitome and how.
"...we should not make fun of Chinglish or to the Chinese people..." You should have omitted the preposition, to.
Great job on your post! =)
The primary purpose of language is to communicate. As long as Chinglish will not result in misunderstanding, we should treat it with tolerant attitude and respect. Nevertheless, Standard English should be first priority. Learning more is good.
ReplyDeleteI commend you for using many examples. Good job, Elaine! :)
I thank you for introducing “Chinglish” to me since I was not aware before that such thing exists. It is also comforting to know that not only Filipinos come up with alterations of the English language. Anyway, I liked the pictures that you used to convey your thoughts; all in all you did a great job. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI think you could use "it is not surprising.." rather than "it is no surprise.."; however, this post is very entertaining! Good job!
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ReplyDeleteHello, Elaine. I appreciate your entry because it's informative and interesting to read. I commend you for choosing such a wonderful topic; however, I noticed that some of your chosen words were not appropriate for your sentences. This resulted to confusion, so I advise you to be more mindful of your diction. :)
ReplyDeleteI just want to share our experience when my family and I went to Hong Kong. Some Chinese vendors shooed us away when we were asking about their products. Maybe because they totally did not understand what we were saying. Anyway, I commend you for adding many pictures on your entry. Good job, Elaine!
ReplyDeleteWe can't deny the fact that these misleading translations are laughable. I just realized that we find them laughable because we are aware that they're wrong or ungrammatical. I am in agreement with you that Chinglish does not make the Chinese people foolish. One can see it in their economy.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I commend you for writing an entertaining and informative post. Good job, Elaine! :)
I agree with your last sentence. We should always be mindful of other's feelings when correcting their mistakes. Good job, Elaine! :)
ReplyDeleteYour post is really amusing. Congratulations!
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ReplyDeleteIt is a relief to know that we are not the only country that commit errors in terms of our signage, but in my opinion even though these mistakes causes us to laugh we must be careful because sometimes we commit the same mistakes they do. Therefore, instead of laughing at their mistakes we can just learn from it to become better English speakers.
ReplyDeleteAside from the mistakes mentioned I commend you for a well written post. Congratulations!
I admit that some of your examples are really funny but I still respect the way they are using to communicate in English.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations,good job!
Your entry is entertaining. Good job! :D
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for coming up with an interesting topic! Just be careful on your choice of words. Wrong choice of words might cause your sentences to sound awkward or might result confusion to your readers. Anyways, Good job, Elaine! :)
ReplyDeleteYour entry is really amusing. I agree that we should consider the feelings of others every time we are to correct somebody. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative post. Just be careful with your word choices. God bless!
ReplyDeleteI got the humor out of it. Thank you Elaine for simple yet clear article. I believe that time will come that Chinese will learn the English language properly, hard work. God bless!
ReplyDeleteJust like what others said, be careful of your word choice to avoid confusion to the readers. Nonetheless, your entry is informative and amusing. Good job :)
ReplyDeleteI commend you for having written a pretty informative and entertaining entry, also for the sample images you shared. Nice Job. :)
ReplyDeleteYour post gave me a good laugh. Great job on making such an interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pau's corrections.
ReplyDeleteI love how you ended up your post. Yes, we should be mindful of others' feelings all the time. We can correct others' mistakes in a good way, and that's the best thing we can do for them.
Nice one, Ate Laine. :)