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Chinglish
Oct 17, 2005 23:57
  • SNOWBIRD
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My tour guide spoke english with a chinese accent. She told us it is called Chinglish in China. Is this word officially used by the newspapers or is it just a word used by the youths?
Oct 18, 2005 01:20
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  • PEA28COCK
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As I know, Chinglish is also officially used in the newspapers, only used by the youths. This word is the creation of Chinese. Its exact meaning is that you express yourself with English but with Chinese sentence patterns and Chinese ways of thinking.
Oct 18, 2005 09:54
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  • JABAROOTOO
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I use the term Chinglish all the time as do many of my colleagues now familiar with the often non standard English spoken by non-native speakers, especially here in China.

It is just a phrase that has been coined using a combination of Chinese and English which incidentally runs off the tongue better than any other language combinations I can think of, so it has stuck. Anything that is not standard English could be considered Chinglish.

You'll find lots of things that have been translated roughly or directly from a dictionary which are not fluent or everyday speak as well as the spoken word which also falls into this catagory. Some of it is cute or quaint, some of it is just very poor translation and incredibly hard to understand.

Unfortunely with the number of people here learning English there is a lot of it about. But you have the same issues learning other languages, it's just not so obvious as it might be here in China.

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