A Brief Analysis of Chinglish and EngGJFGJDFSDFlish Learning

A Brief Analysis of Chinglish and English Learning

1. Introduction

English plays a very significant role in the world, and many countries take it as their official language. English, with its rapid development, has a great impact on Chinese. However, this language, to some extent, changes in our land. Someone called it Chinglish and defined “Chinglish is that misshapen, hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as “English with Chinese characteristics.”

However, some Chinese experts defined Chinglish in a positive way, for example, Professor Wang Rongpei says that “Chinglish is a kind of English that used in China and focused on Standard English with Chinese characteristics.”From this point, it is obvious that Chinglish can be defined from two aspects: positive and negative.

Chinglish can be called “the English with Chinese characteristic”. This kind of English always occurs in our daily life, such as in advertisements, public signs，daily communication, even government report and political papers. To English learners, no matter beginner or even the trained and experienced, their “works” always contain elements of Chinglish. However, because this kind of English is widely used in our Chinese life, it is difficult to directly find it and completely avoid it. Actually, Chinglish, to some extent, is unacceptable and it even makes native speakers puzzled or amused. For example, “there have been good harvests in agriculture”, in this sentence, “in agriculture” is useless and redundant because “harvest” mainly refers to agriculture, there is not any harvests in industry and other areas. Another example, “living standard for the people continued to rise”, here, “for the people” is also redundant. Chinglish is Chinese-like English in structure and in diction. It may result from poor English, bad habit of Chinese writing, or from uncritical way of thinking and writing in a Chinese context.

On the other hand, English is widely used by the world and it becomes a medium of information communication. Meanwhile, English, as we are aware of, is a melting pot of many languages and it borrowed many words from other languages. Therefore, a lot of Chinese words become an inevitable part of English. For example, some historical and cultural Chinese words, such as “work unit, One China Policy, jiaozi”. So it can be concluded that Chinglish share both

positive and negative features. In a word, Chinglish is an inevitable language situation between the exchanges of the two cultures. However, poor Chinglish might make people laugh, but positive Chinglish is a good way for international communication and English learning, which is beneficial for spreading Chinese culture so as to enrich and develop English. For Chinese English learners, one of the most important points is to learn how to make good use of right Chinese English expressions while getting rid of improper one.

2. The Current Situation and Trend of Chinglish

There are two forms of Chinglish. First, some Chinglish is just in Chinese style and has no difference with native speaker?style. A case in point is the phrase: Long time no see. This phrase is said to have originated from Chinese and it was used by dock workers to greet sailors from overseas. But now this phrase is widely used by native speakers; Second, some Chinglish is in Chinese style but has difference with native speaker?s tyle. Sometimes, this kind of Chinglish can not be understood by foreigners.

In today?s world, China, with its rapid development of economy and culture, has an increasing influence on the world. Admittedly, more and more characterized Chinese terms will be translated and borrowed by English-speaking country. Statistics show that Oxford Dictionary has borrowed more than one thousand words from Chinese and it is imperial that Chinglish is becoming an unprecedented trend. However, the improper Chinglish is also spoken and written by lots of Chinese learners everyday. On the other hand, with the exchange projects between the East and the West, more Chinese have realized the importance of English language. However, due to different way of thinking, different culture and custom, the irregular English and Chinglish is widely used by most of Chinese. What is more, some people tend to translate English word for word, so Chinglish has become an unavoidably headache issue.

3. The Main Causes for Chinglish

3.1Different Language Systems

English and Chinese belong to two kinds of language systems whose grammars, the expressions, the ways of thinking, and so on are quite different between them. When one person is used to be in one language environment, then it is quite difficult to adapt him or her to another

language environment. That is the reason why we complain about the difficulty of English, and native English speakers complain about the difficulty of Chinese.

3.2 Different Ways of Thinking

This reason is originated from both Chinese and English speakers having different way of thinking. English speakers often call our Chinese people in a spiral thinking way. They point out that when we express our idea, we always like to first talk about this, then about that, finally to our point. And we find that their thinking is in a straight way, that is, they directly convey their opinions. Therefore, when we speak or write something, we are likely to put something to rich the content. The spiral way can let our words be more precise, more logical, more persuasive, and more powerful. In contrary, when native English speakers speak English, due to strict, clumsy grammatical sentence structure, according to their thinking way, they have to resort to a straight way to express their idea.

3.3 Word for Word Translation

Put it into simple words, the reason why we speak Chinglish instead of idiomatic English is that we are most likely put the simpler Chinese language upon English language. Comparing with English, Chinese language does not have so many rules and grammar, so we always translate English into Chinese directly. In conclusion, because we have been used to be in our simple Chinese language environment, because we are used to be in our unique way of thinking, because we are still not profound of English language, and its cultural and historical background, Chinglish, somehow, for Chinese learners, becomes unavoidable. In another case, under the condition of difficulty to find English corresponding counterparts of the word, which are often used in our daily speaking or writing work, some people have to coin a Chinglish one.

4. Manifestations

4.1 Positive Chinglish

English and Chinese belong to different family. Chinese is part of Sino-Tibetan family, while English is Indo-European. The Two languages are used world-widely, and possess a large number of words. Besides, languages are the reflection of culture. The differences of languages reflect culture gap. When vocabulary is translated from Chinese into English or English into

Chinese, absent words may occur in translation, no equivalents can be found in the target language. These are mainly caused by the differences of Chinese and English living environments, experiences, customs, religious beliefs and the understanding of the objective world.

Due to the above reasons, absent words is translated by the following methods in order to have a complete communication.

4.1.1Transliteration

For certain reason, some Chinglish is directly transferred by Chinese or Mandarin, and some of them are Chinese dialects. Also, foreigners have accepted a number of words of place and name of China because they can not find the equivalents in their language so that this kind of “Chinglish” has become a part of English. For instant ce:

1) Measurement unit: yuan, jiao, fen, jin and so on

2) Culture and Entertainment: erhu, pipa, mahjong, qigong, kungfu...

3) Foods and Clothing: wonton, jiaozi, litchi, longan, cheongsam…

4) History: xiucai, yamen, kowtow…

5) Others: sofa, typhoon, engine, logic and so forth.

4.1.2 Literal Translation

For some cases, certain Chinese and English words or phrases share the same directive meaning and associative meaning. In addition, both the content and the form of English, especially the figures and the characteristics of the nationality and the color are still kept in the Chinese. For instance:

1) lose face, 2) paper tiger,

3) be armed to teeth, 4)Seeing is believing,

5) out of mind, out of sight, 6) crocodile?s tears

4.1.3 Free Translation

When English learners are limited by the culture gap of the English language, it is a good way to quit the literal meaning and find the equivalents in meaning instead. Moreover, free translation is an acceptable method because it is right both in grammar and meaning, which is widely used and acceptable by English-speakers.

A good case in point is “五讲四美”，if we directly translate thi s phrase into “five talks and four beauties”, it not only loses its main point but also will be laughed by others. The important thing is that one should know the specific meaning of this phrase and a little culture background of China at that time. Theref ore, the proper way should be: “the Five Merits: focus on decorum, manners, hygiene, disciplines and morals. Four Virtues: golden heart, refined language, civilized behavior and green environment”. Also, some phrases like “It rains cats and dogs” and “Don?t cross the bridge till you get to it” are also examples of free translation.

4.1.4 Borrowing

Chinglish can be called “English with Chinese characteristic”. From this point of view, so many characterized Chinese words are translated and borrowed by English-speaking countries. And this group words have become a significant part of English for better exchange and communication.

a.Words since Reform and Opening Up:

One China Policy, Special Economic Zone(SEZ), One country two system, knowledge economy, vegetable basket program, communal pot, sustainable development,

b.Chinglish with Chinese characteristic of history and culture:

Confucianism, Four Books, five Classics, Cultural Revolution, Gang of Four, Red Guard, Chinese herbal medicine and so forth.

c.Written Chinglish words, phrases and sentences:

Work units, political duty, counterrevolutionary,

4.2 Negative Chinglish

Good writing is concise, that is to say, as few words as possible.

A classic statement of this precept appears in the famous little book of William Strunk, Jr., and E.

B White, The Elements of Style：

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words,

a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing

should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”[3]

It means that any words which perform no useful function in the sentence, that is, which add nothing to the meaning, should be edited out.

In our life, it is easy to find that almost every text that has been translated into English from Chinese contains unnecessary words. Chinglish is everywhere, a magazine article, a news story, an advertisement, a government report, and you are likely to find superfluous words. Read even the shortest of English texts, the label on a food product, a billboard on the street, the company name on the front of a building, and if you pay attention to it, you will find some words should be omitted.

“Unnecessary words” can be any pa rt of speech----nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, and so on.

4.2.1Unnecessary Nouns

Many of nouns in Chinglish are easy to recognize. They are plainly redundant because their sense is already included or implied in some other element of the sentence. Here are a few examples, which always appear in our life. “A” is a typical Chinglish with unnecessary nouns while “B” is revision.

A: to accelerate the pace of economic reform

B: to accelerate economic reform

[“the pace of” is an unnecessary part in this sentence because “To accelerate”=“to increase the pace of”]

A: there have been good harvests in agriculture

B: there have been good harvests

[“harvests” implies agriculture, and there are no harvests in industry.]

A: living standard for the people in both urban and rural areas continued to rise

B: living standard in both urban and rural areas continued to rise

[The notion of living standards applies only to people]

A: at that time the situation in northeast China was still one where the enemy was stronger than the people?s forces

B: at that time the enemy was still stronger than the people?s forces in northeast China

[“situation is unnecessary in A”, and it also drags other unnecessary wor ds]

Category nouns:

There is one type of noun that deserves special attention because it is the commonest

unnecessary word in Chinglish. This is the general noun that serves only to introduce a specific noun to follow.

For example:

A: a serious mistake in the work of planning

B: s serious mistake of planning

[In the sentence, the first noun announces the category of the second; in this case, it tells readers that “planning” falls into the category of “work”, but in fact it is unnecessary and the f irst noun should be deleted.]

Other examples:

A: promoting the cause of peaceful reunification

B: promoting peaceful reunification

[A is often seen in political report, but “the cause of” is unnecessary]

A: to ensure a relationship of close cooperation between two countries

B: to ensure close cooperation between two countries

4.2.2 Unnecessary Verbs

Like unnecessary nouns, most unnecessary verbs in Chinglish occur in phrases. Usually, they are combined with nouns. These phrases have two main types: unnecessary verb plus noun and unnecessary verb plus unnecessary noun plus third word.

a.Unnecessary verb plus noun:

The commonest type is a phrase like “we must make an improvement in our work.” Here the verb “make” is weak, colorless word having no very spe cific meaning of its own, while the real purpose of the phrase is to express the noun “improvement”. Since the verb is not contributing anything to the sense, it can be edited out: “we must improve our work.”

This basic pattern is always seen in our works. People tend to overlook constructions of this sort, because they are grammatically correct and everyone is so accustomed to them. However, once we become alert to the pattern, it is easy enough to eliminate the unnecessary verbs.

More examples:

A: They should conduct a careful examination of…

B: they should carefully examine…

A: to bring about a change in this state of affairs

B: to change this state of affairs

to make an investigation of = to investigate

to make an analysis of = to analyze

to have an influence on = to influence

to have trust in = to trust

to give guidance = to guide

to provide assistance to = to assist

to carry out the struggle against = to struggle against

b.Unnecessary verb plus unnecessary noun plus third word

Obviously, the noun in the first type is incapable of expressing specific action. In the second type, the noun can not do the task either.

Take the sentence “our efforts to reach the goal of modernization.” as an example: here the noun “goal” is no more precise than the verb “reach”. This means that the work of the verb has to be done by still another word, a second noun “modernization”. Since the first noun is not doing anything useful in the sentence, it can be eliminated. And the right one should be “our efforts to mode rnize.” From this example, it is clear that the third word is usually another noun. Since this noun is performing the function of a verb, it should be the form of a verb.

Examples:

A: it is especially necessary to make great efforts to assimilate the achievements of other cultures

B: it is especially necessary to assimilate the achievements of other cultures

[What is especially necessary is to assimilate. It is obvious that this process is going to take effort, so we don?t have to say so]

A: our troops used the method of slow advance

B: our troops advanced slowly

A: we need to achieve the objective of clarity in ideology

B: we need to be clear in our ideology

4.2.3 Unnecessary Modifiers

Many adjectives and adverbs in Chinese seem useful, and they even make the works more colorful. However, sometimes, these Chinese originals are redundant in English. That is, their meaning is already contained or implied in the word or in some other element of the sentence. Including them in the English is useless.

a.Obvious redundancies

Here are some examples; “A” is an example of improper Chinglish, while “B” is the revision. A: that theory is a valuable ideological treasure of the Party

B: that theory is an ideological treasure of the Party

[ A treasure is valuable by definition]

A: Singapore will bar America?s popular female pop star Madonna from staging a show in its territory.

B: Singapore will bar America?s pop star Madonna from staging a show in its territory. [Madonna wouldn?t be a star if she were not popular, so “popular is unnecessary”, also, even you never heard of this star, you should know this universally recognizable female name “Madonna”, so “female is also unnecessary.”]

new innovations female businesswoman Zhang Xiaofang

mutual cooperation an unfortunate tragedy

advance forecasts financial revenue and expenditure

positive guidance a serious natural disaster

b.Other examples:

A: The final completion of construction will be soon.

B: The completion of construction will be soon.

[Completion is final by definition]

A: they must have some necessary knowledge about history and geography

B: they must have something about history and geography

[“Must have” meams that it is necessary]

[“Have knowledge”= “know” ]

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/1d433925.html,mon redundant intensifiers

Intensifiers are adjectives (like “extremely” and “certainly”) that are intended to heighten the

effort of the words they modify. However, this group is not necessary in English sometimes. It is worse to use one to support a word that can stand well alone.

The classic example is “great, historic change,” the word …historic? is so strong in English that if you say …This is a historic change,? there is no need to say it?s …great.? …Historic? already contains the idea of great.

A: these practices should be totally abolished

B: these practice should be abolished

[“Abolish” already contains the idea of “totally”; one can not abolish something partially. The same is true of such expressions as “thoroughly eliminated,” "completely smashed,” and “totally destroyed.” ]

A: active efforts should be made to develop our country

B: efforts should be made to develop our country

[Efforts are active by definition: you can?t make an inactive effort.]

A: to successfully accomplish the task

B: to accomplish the task

Professor Cheng Zhenqiu suggests that the Chinese language tolerates more adjectives and adverbs than the English. Referring to a government report thick with relentlessly repeated modifiers, he warns tha t “if all of them are translated literally into English the effect would be deadening. Too much emphasis means very little emphasis.”[4]

4.2.4 Redundant Twins

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Chinglish is the constant use of two words so close in meaning that one would do.

For example:

help and assistance views and opinions

sentiment and feelings fair and equitable

encourage and promote firmly and resolutely

discuss and debate prudent and cautious

This sort of phrases is acceptable in Chinese. It may even be necessary to reinforce meaning, to provide balance and symmetry and just to satisfy the ear. But using two words in

English is redundant.

4.2.5 Suggestions on Negative Chinglish

How to overcome Chinglish and spread proper Chinglish is one of the most serious problems for Chinese English learner. Negative Chinglish that contains unnecessary words not only waste the reader?s time, but also obscure the writer?s meaning and make the work seem heavy and superfluous. But, there is still something we can do to solve this problem. First of all, when we translate Chinese into English, we should analyze the original meaning and get rid of its literal meaning. Then, according to English reader?s point of view, readjust the sentence and express the original meaning clearly. Secondly, when reading some material about English-to-Chinese, it is a better way to collect common words, phrases, sentences and those common but difficult expressions. By checking the English original or using the way of reverse or back translation, that is, English---Chinese---English, it will helpful for us to accumulate pure English. Thirdly, interest is also a significant element for English learner. We should cultivate the interest of language and absorb useful expressions anywhere and anytime by listening to the radio and reading English original works. Finally, all kinds of English material, such as ads, instructions, are useful study material. But what is more important is that we should keep path with the developing trend and continue to learn new vocabulary and knowledge.

5. Conclusion

English is widely used by the world and it becomes a medium of international communication. Meanwhile, English, as we are aware of, is a melting pot of many languages and it borrowed many words from other languages. Admittedly, a lot of Chinese words become an inevitable part of English, more and more characterized Chinese terms will be translated and borrowed by English-speaking countries. And it is imperial that this kind of Chinglish is becoming an unprecedented trend. On the other hand, the improper Chinglish is also spoken and written by lots of Chinese learners everyday. Chinglish can be called “the English with Chinese characte ristic”. This kind of negative Chinglish always occurs in our daily life, such as in advertisements, public signs，daily communication, even government report and political papers. However, because this kind of English is widely used in our Chinese life, it is difficult to directly

find it and completely avoid it.

Actually, negative Chinglish is unacceptable and it even makes native speakers puzzled or amused. Negative Chinglish that contains unnecessary words not only waste the reader?s time, but also obsc ure the writer?s meaning and make the work seem heavy and superfluous. But, there is still something we can do to solve this problem. Once negative Chinglish can be solved and avoided, our English would be more like idiomatic English and come nearer to a higher standard.