{"id":56844,"date":"2022-10-31T12:06:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T17:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=56844"},"modified":"2022-10-31T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T17:08:10","slug":"chinglish-bouquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=56844","title":{"rendered":"Chinglish bouquet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some random specimens…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Compared to \"The toilet brush enigma<\/a>\" (10\/29\/22), these run-of-the-mill Chinglishisms are a piece of cake:<\/p>\n

B ch\u0101o
\nB\u8d85
\nultrasound:\u00a0type-B ultrasonic; ultra-sound radiography; B-mode ultrasonography<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

t\u00e0 r\u00f9 xi\u01ceng y\u012b xi\u01ceng
\n\u8e0f\u5165\u60f3\u4e00\u60f3
\nthink before stepping in<\/p>\n

xi\u01ceo c\u01ceo y\u011b z\u00e0i zh\u01ceng
\n\u5c0f\u8349\u4e5f\u5728\u957f
\nthe grass is growing<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Why do you think they felt the need to add the adjective xi\u01ceo \u5c0f (\"little\") and the adverb y\u011b \u4e5f (\"also\")?<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

g\u014dngg\u00f2ng w\u00e8ish\u0113ngji\u0101n
\n\u516c\u5171\u536b\u751f\u95f4
\npublic toilet<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

w\u00e9ny\u00ecn zh\u014dngx\u012bn
\n\u6587\u5370\u4e2d\u5fc3
\nprinting center<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

d\u00e0m\u01d0
\n\u5927\u7c73
\nrice<\/p>\n

mi\u00e0nf\u011bn
\n\u9762\u7c89
\nflour<\/p>\n

Most of the mistakes in the above examples are due to taking the simplest, most straightforward meanings of the constituent morphosyllables and ignoring the contexts of the words they form.<\/p>\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\n