Outlook on Chinglish
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Oliver Lutz Radtke is the host of the popular Website called "The Chinglish Files by olr." He has a brand new book out that is entitled More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues. Aside from the fact that it offers an entertaining compilation of photographs, the reason I'm calling More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues to your attention is that it includes (pp. 9-11) an interview of me by Oliver. The interview spells out clearly why I believe that the collection and explication of Chinglish specimens is a worthy endeavor. Although I haven't made many recent posts about Chinglish, especially not those of the more outlandish and challenging sort, I intend to do so in the coming weeks and months, and the interview provides the justification for not avoiding the study of Chinglish altogether.
More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues is an inexpensive paperback, but for those who cannot wait to buy the actual book in a store or for it to come to them through the mail, it is at least partially available on Google Books.
Incidentally, Oliver intends to write a Ph.D. dissertation on the subject of Chinglish. Hence, we can look forward to his detailed social and linguistic analysis of this most interesting cultural phenomenon. Meanwhile, I shall continue to make my own modest contributions toward the better understanding of Chinglish.
Victor Mair said,
May 14, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
Here are a couple of recent news articles about the work of OLR:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/05/06/2003442852
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hAv8o_OZE-s83K_65Y23IeMT596w
Noetica said,
May 14, 2009 @ 10:04 pm
Thanks for the post and the links, Victor.
Chinglish-spotting gives relief to the traveller in China, where the going can be tough if you're close to the ground and on a strict budget. A bit like shooting fish in a barrel, as a friend gently reminded me when I reported some choice finds – still, I welcomed these frequent affirmations that I was not the only one at a linguistic loss.
Many specimens have to do with register – or, perhaps we could say, with how to "register" register. On the screen of a depleted ATM in Chengdu: No more money. Ha ha! On a barrier protecting the climber from a drop of several hundred metres into the mist, near the top of Emei Shan: Loving life, do not turn on the rail.
Or they can be more straightforward and "cute" vocabulary failures. An English teacher from Qiqihar, sampling delights she had known of only by hearsay, concerning Australian feta: Mmmm! What do you call this butter? Or the sign on a door in Hangzhou:
Straightforward? Not really, of course. What exactly is the rational distinction between a light salty cheese and a sour butter? Why do we not feel obliged to "cherish" public property, precisely? I agree: the study of Chinglish is not trivial, and offers invaluable insight into our deep social, cognitive, and linguistic differences. And similarities.
I'm a dabbler with Chinese itself. But I confidently recognise a separate well-regimented Chinese English, which goes beyond the suspect orientalist concerns of the gaffe-spotting tourist. It is a major variant of English in its own right, ma? Its marking of tense and aspect appears quite systematic, for example, so that even very adept and interested Chinese speakers resist "reform" to our ways. Their ways work perfectly well, and are universally accepted where they normally use English – in China.
When does the number of thoroughly competent Chinese English speakers overtake the number of competent American English speakers? Soon enough, surely.
Cecily said,
May 15, 2009 @ 4:30 am
@ Noetica, re "When does the number of thoroughly competent Chinese English speakers overtake the number of competent American English speakers?"
That's a really interesting question (to which I don't know the answer), and whilst it will undoubtedly have an effect on international English, it will surely take a while to be significant because the cultural reach of China is much less than that of the US.
Most of the world encounters American brands, films, TV, books and websites, hence they pick up US idioms. However, English is the first language of the majority in the US, whilst in China it's a compulsory second language. Consequently, the quantity of Chinese media created in English is likely to be less, and coupled with the fact that Chinese media are not as widely consumed outside their country as US media are, the effect of Chinese English will surely take a while to penetrate.
Private Zydeco said,
May 15, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
As for devising an immediate countervail to the element of apparent whimsy
on which word-choice is predicated in instances like that in which "damn-
ification" is deferred to where "vandalization" or another suitable substitute
should be, one is inclined to remark that the availability in China of over-the-
counter access to searchable online text corpuses would dramatically benefit
those municipal signmakers and private business-owners who, when faced
with the quandary of being unable to obtain the qualified advice of a profession-
al English language scholar, or even of a truly competent human translator.
But that's the obvious computational-linguistics angle to all this.
Private Zydeco said,
May 15, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
[Dear Language Log Staff — Many apologies regarding maladjustedness on this part with regard to the "text preview" feature which WordPress has considerately afforded to users – for precisely the reason that commenters should not suffer moderators to wade through and make corrections to what shows up as utter gibberish. Ironically, it is an hitherto inveterate inability to "let the computer do the thinking" which has been causing these infelicitous messes. Attempts at properly justifying text shall heretofore be performed in a more (or perhaps that's "less") attentive way on this part. Prosit! — Private Zydeco.]
[P.S. a better-aligned and corrected copy of the intended posting appears below.]
As for devising an immediate countervail to the element of apparent whimsy on which word-choice is predicated in instances like that in which "damnification" is deferred to where "vandalization" or another suitable substitute should be, one is inclined to remark that the availability in China of over-the-counter access to searchable online text corpuses would dramatically benefit those municipal signmakers and private business-owners who, when faced with the quandary of being unable to obtain the qualified advice of a professional English language scholar, or even of a truly competent human translator, end up erring, instead, on the bizarre side.
But that's the obvious computational-linguistics angle.
Aaron Davies said,
May 16, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
surely indian english speakers already outnumber everyone else put together…