Saturday, August 30, 2008

Chinglish a dialect or the new English?

After spending so many nights transported to China watching the Olympics on TV, in the news, and online, many emails have circulated to me of not only all the strange food choices available but some of China's "English" signage. This reminded me of an article in Wired about Chinglish. While we were in Maine on vaca with our friends the Danglers, we discussed the article Dan had found. China often is a topic of discussion among us, as it is Dan and Anne Marie's beautiful daughter Hannah's native country.

Chinglish, I've learned, is English influenced by Chinese. This isn't the first adaptation or variation of our language, there are many - Spanglish, Japlish, Greeklish, Konglish, Franglish, Manglish, and Denglisch to name a few. What's the difference with Chinglish you should know about? There are an estimated 300 million Chinese learning English, roughly the equivalent of the US population. There are signs that because of this, Chinglish could not only be a dialect, but could potentially become the lead in how the English language is spoken. Our English could therefore become just a regional dialect. Interesting.

I, personally, have found the signage I've seen very entertaining. Moreso because it very innocently erases many of the political correctness our language has evolved to. When the Chinese say "Deformed Man's Passage", they mean "Handicapped Men's Room", with no intention to offend. It makes me think we have taken the meaning of language so far that word choices are often a laborous endeavor. We have to make sure we use the "correct" word meaning for handicapped and not one of the dozen synonyms that mean the same but really mean something entirely different to Americans.

The other appealing thing about Chinglish and other dialects like Singlish and Manglish, they feed my laziness. Not using subjects and verbs allow for more efficient speech. Instead of wasting energy on sentences like, "Where would you like me to paint?", I can just ask, "Where paint?" Isn't that green speech? My only concern, the lack of need for elaborate writing might just put me out of a job! I'm thinking I might try and do my next post using one of these dialects. Then, you can let me know if you understand it.









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