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 |
Good good study, day day up |
8.7%/ 3,529 |
怎么是你,怎么老是你 |
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 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 ask me, me ask who? |
7.8%/ 3,117 |
咱俩谁跟谁? |
We two who and who? |
7.4%/ 2,943 |
不三不四 |
No three no four |
6.5%/ 2,585 |
马马虎虎 |
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 |
People mountain people sea |
5.2%/2080 |
要钱没有,要命一条 |
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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9 English Words “Borrowed” from Chinese
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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