We Two Who and Who? Top 10 Funniest Chinglish

Sep 07, 2009 By eChinacities.com

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There are two distinctions to be made when it comes to English words and expressions influenced by Chinese culture. There's what's defined as “Chinese English,” and then there is “China English.” “Chinese English” is what we’ve come to know as “Chinglish”: often a word-for-word translation of a Chinese expression into English, considered improper or incorrect English. “China English” refers to those terms or words that belong to the Chinese culture and have been borrowed into the English language, often transcribed by way of pronunciation and transliterations. English words like Kung fu, Gyoza, Chi kung (also known as qigong), and ying yang are all words of Chinese origin that have been assimilated into the English lexicon.

The Chinglish that we love in everyday life is a mix of English and Chinese that is often just too funny for words.

Sina.com.cn, China's well known portal site, has carried out a survey among netizens the funniest Chinglish expressions. Below is the list of top 10 Chinglish.

A total of 7,466 people gave their opinions.

Proper Translation of the Chinese Phrase	Chinglish	Percentage / Votes
好好学习，天天向上 Learn something new each and every day	Good good study, day day up	8.7%/ 3,529
怎么是你，怎么老是你 How come it's you again? How come it's always you?	How are you? How old are you?	8.7%/3,470
你有种，我要给你点颜色瞧瞧，兄弟们，一起上！ You do have balls. I'm going to have to teach a lesson C'mon, brothers, let's get him!	You have seed. I will give you some color to see see. Brothers! Together up!	7.9%/ 3,143
你问我，我问谁 You're asking me? How should I know?	You ask me, me ask who?	7.8%/ 3,117
咱俩谁跟谁？ What do you take us for? (We're best pals!)	We two who and who?	7.4%/ 2,943
不三不四 Dubious looking: describing someone who arouses doubt and uncertainty; someone questionable.	No three no four	6.5%/ 2,585
马马虎虎 It's so-so	Horse horse tiger tiger	5.8%/ 2,292
Describing a car accident: The two cars crashed head-on and one of the drivers died	One car come, one car go, two car pengpeng, one car died!	5.5%/ 2,193
人山人海 There are mountains and seas of people as far as the eye can see (huge crowd)	People mountain people sea	5.2%/2080
要钱没有，要命一条 I don't have money. Just this miserable life of mine, take it if you'd like	If you want money, I have no; if you want life, I have one!	5.2%/ 2,054

What's your standpoint on the practice of Chinglish?

A total of 8,536 people participated in this questionnaire.

Option	Reasoning	Percentage / Votes
In favor of its practice	Chinglish is fun and is enjoyed by everyone for its humor. Perhaps, the foreigners will even learn to appreciate the humor in it one day!	72.2% / 6,167
Opposed to its practice	In my opinion, Chinglish is not a practice of Chinese creativity. It is often the result of laziness on part of the Chinese to learn English the proper way.	27.8%/ 2,369

Source: blog.sina.com.cn

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1 Comments

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jixiang
(6) (1)

I think the second option in the questionaire is silly. It's not that the Chinese are "lazy to learn english the proper way", it's that English is seriously difficult for them because their language is so different, as most chinglish signs will show you.

Dec 18, 2011 17:19 Report Abuse

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