An Attempt on the Present and Future of Chinglish

1、An Attempt on the Present and Future of ChinglishAbstract: In the study of the worlds cultures, it has become clear that different groups not only have different languages, they have different world views, which are reflected in their language (Yule, 2002). This paper attempts to beriefly present th

2、e current situation of Chinglish by analysing the phenomenon and causes of it, and then discuss what it is going to be like after through comparing it with the current situation and China English. China has 1.3 billion people and a large nunber of them are learning English. In this case, Chinglish a

3、ppears. With this large population, Chinglish deserves further study. Key words: discussion, Chinglish, present, future1 BackgroundEnglish has become a global working language with the increasing of internationalization. China, thanks to the improved international status, has to frequently communica

4、te with other countries. Under this circumstance, China emerges the “English Rush” and gradually, Chinglish turns up. There is an estimated 300 million learners of English throughout the whole country, according to a report published in 2006, with an annual 20 million new learners on everage(刘丹滕,育栋

5、2006). Among them, a large number of them are Chinglish users.Chinglish is defined comprehensively by Joan Pinkham who is an American language expert in her book The Translation Guide to Chinglish:” Chinglish, of course, is that misshapen, hybrid language that is neither English or Chinese but that

6、might be described as: English with Chinese characteristics.”(Pinkham 2000:31)2 The current situation and causes of Chinglish 2.1 The phenomenon of ChiinglishFor the reason that most Chinese cultures are unable to find its equivalent in the English language, such as traditional social activities, ce

7、remonies, idioms, famous historic figures, ideology from ancient philosophers, China English appears. However, due to the irresponsibly wrong translation and mischievous entertainment, Chinglish arises and are inundant. In China, where there is English, there is Chinglish: schools, restaurants, stre

8、ets, ecc.At schools, students encourage each other by saying “Good good study, day day up.” They consider it as an English idiom(Oliver Lutz Radtke, 2009). Howerer, the correct pattern of English should be like this: Study hard, keep improving.On the streets, “change lane, notice behind” can be seen

9、 in a big board(Oliver Lutz Radtke, 2009). Actually the right expression is very simple: Keep space.At restaurants, the English signs used to tell customers “mind their head” are usually shown up like the following: Be careful,Your head. Look out, knock head. Carefully bang head. Be Care Ful Your He

10、ad, etc(Oliver Lutz Radtke, 2009). In fact, Watch your head or “Mind your head” is the native English expression.Other Chinglish expressions like “Open the door see mountain” and “Show you some colors to see see” seem to be very funny. They are funny and are easy to be understood by Chinese but puzz

11、le native English-speakers.Chinglish is not only used widely, but is also spreaded quickly and widely and influence learners deeply. New learners would sometimes mistake Chinglish as native English. It s so popular that some people regard it as a new language to study, to learn for fun, and some are

12、 inventing more Chinglish expressions. 2.2 The courses of Chinglish On the base of the previous studies, the main course of the emergence of Chinglish, in my oponion, mainly fall into these two aspects: cultural differences and a lack of enough knowledge on English pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar

13、 and discourse2.2.1 Cultural differences.Chinese and native English-speakers are born and grow up in two totally different cultural background which gradually becomes a cultural gap, resulting in the different way of thinking, belief and value. The expression “Treating the patient as god” is a typic

14、al example of this cultural gap: in western countries, every one cannot be called god.2.2.2 A lack of English knowledgePronunciationChinese uncorrect pronunciation of English words may mislead the listeners and, sometimes turn into a joke. For example, some Chinese people can t distinguish the diffe

15、rent consonants such as “” and ”s” and have difficulty in pronouncing them. A Chinese invited his foreign friend to his home. He said passionately to his friend as she came into the house: shit here please. His friend scared, without knowing that what he really wanted to say was: sit here please. Vo

16、cabulary As for the vocabulary, many Chinese cling themselves closely to the belief that every word or phrase in one language has an exact equivalent in another. However, it s wrong because sometimes vocabularies in Chinese and English appear to refer to the same object or subject but actually are n

17、ot. Take “小心(Be careful)” for example, in English, they would translate it into “small heart”.GrammarWhen responding to a question like “Doesnt he want to go?”, Chinese people would sometimes answer “Yes, he doesnt.” or “No, he does.” with a respond echoing directly to the statement in the question

18、rather to the fact of that matter.DiscourseIt sometimes may be discussed as the pragmatic function of Chinglish as the discourse in the Chinese language greatly shows the significant influence of the Chinese culture.3 Should Chinglish be survived? 3.1 Different opinions on ChinglishChinglish is wide

19、spread an popular throughout China. However, there are two extrrem opinions on it: some are aginist it, whlie some are strongly for it.Yang Yongxin, a reportor of Lianhe Zaobao, said Chinglish “is a lack of serious attitude” and “the common practice of Chinglish mustn t be fostered.”(杨永欣, 2009)Howev

20、er, Erik Nilsson said: ”my message on Chinglish is: it should be conserved.”(Erik Nilsson, 2009) ”It should t be treated as a cheapjoke for foreign tourists to laugh at but as a cultural treasure” (Oliver Lutz Radtke, 2009), said the 32-year-old multimedia designer,Oliver Lutz Radtke from Germany.3.

21、2 Survived for fun, not for usage3.2.1 The difference between China English and ChinglishSome people regard Chinglish the equivalent of China English, without knowing that they are totally defferent.What is China English? Among all the definitons given by some scholars, such as Ge Chuangui and Xie Z

22、hiju, Li Wenzhong s is a little further in proposing that it is based on Standard English, expresses Chinese culture, has the characteristics in lexis, sentence structure and discourse but does not show any L1 interference(潘章仙, 2005).Compare with the definition of Chinglish mentioned in the Backgrou

23、nd, we could notice the great difference: China English is based on the standar English while Chinglish on the copycat English which is misshapen, hardly never misleads foreigners. Therefore, though both patterns of English bear the characteristics of Chinese culture, the one we adopt to communicate

24、 should be China English, but not Chinglish.Unlike China English, Chinglish brings lots of shortcomings.3.2.2 Shortcomings brought by ChinglishOf course Chinglish brings some advantages, but dont take the statement “it loses the face of China and Chinese people” (杨永欣, 2009), claimed by some people s

25、uch as Yang Yongxin, as one of them. Because its also one of the reflections of China s particilar culture, though it is coptcat.In my opinion, the most serious problem of Chinglish is that it omits our original purpose of translating Chinese into English. It is because foreigners do not understand

26、Chinese that we need to add English characters to explain our meaning. Since it is no longer a language tool to communicate, it is not for usage any more. Then, there is only one reason left for its surviving: entertainment. The reason why Chinglish is becoming more and more popular is not the pract

27、ical usage but its function of entertainment. It is a new way of expressing in English, unlike the strict standard English, without nomal grammar or discourse.Therefore, people find it fashionable and funny and are willing to use it. In this case, I think its function of entertainment is its last st

28、raw.4 ConclusionThis paper not only presents the current situation of Chinglish by giving examples and analysing its causes, but also attempts to forecast its future on the base of denying its usage function and emphasizing the distinction between Chinglish and China English. Through this paper, I hope to get a general understanding of what Chinglish is, how popular it is and would distinguish it from China English.Howeve