Going Cracker Over Chinglish

I was reading this post (a blog of a student of Translation at Hong Kong University) about a funny but common phenonemon that prevails the former British-colonized Hong Kong: people speaking "Chinglish." Chinglish is a portmanteau of the words Chinese and English. It is the humorous version of English that appears (often in instructions for assembling or using products) after a translation from the original Chinese (or any other language) fails to come across in "normal" English.

Chinglish is not a racist or bigoted term and should not be taken as such. If anything, The Chinglish Files are a way of poking fun at how difficult our flawed English language can be to translate at times. It is not intended as a dig at the intelligence or linguistic capabilities of other nations. Some deem it a bombardment of assaults on English but I think they can be pretty darn funny.

"Small potato" is good example. It refers to trivial characters whom we call "you are nothing." "Jetso" in Cantonese means perks. I heard a Chinese man asking a store clerk if paying by his credit card would ensue "any jetso?" I tried to hold back cracking up. Usage like "jetso", "CD carry case" or the bizarre "a member gets member program" are all examples of Hong Kong English. The term is sometimes used to refer to the accent and characteristics of English spoken by some of the ethnic Chinese residents of Hong Kong. It is not a mixed, creole or pidgin language, nor a dialect of English. It is only a variant of English with some local influence.

Grammatically erroneous usage of English, which shows the writer "thinking in Chinese while writing in English", may also be considered Chinglish. Such examples include verbatim word-for-word translation. Two English words, when poorly pronounced, may resemble each other to the extent that the two are indistinguishable; this further creates confusion. Sometimes, the poor pronunciation of a single English word can create a Chinglish pronunciation that is almost nothing like the original English word.

Although most Chinglish phrases originated from poor translations, many were created deliberately as language humor. "You go see see lah" (Go and have a look). Other phrases stem from misunderstanding of the meaning of words. For examples,

The price for the jacket was too expensive.
I feel very painful in my right hand.

Another common mistake is not being aware that Chinese is a verb-abundant language while English is a preposition-and noun-oriented one. Conjunctions, pronouns and other substitutional or introductory words are more frequently used in English than in Chinese.

He ran out when it was raining hard.
We were shown in by those who wore uniforms.

And this is my all-time favorite. From the wrapper of instant noodle, it reads,

Instruction:
The products are well known as the smooth. Delicious taste. It's favorable for breakfast or dinner,at home or travel.It's quick to prepair, soup noodles or fried noodles,as you like.

Directions:
1.Instant noodles:
Put noodles and sauce into a bowl add with boiling water,cover for 3 minutes,then mix and serve.
2.Soup noodles:
Cook the noodles in boiling water for about 2 minutes add in sauce and cooked vegetables, chicken,eggs etc.
3.Fried noodles:
Cook the noodles in boiling water for 1 minutes,rinse,then fry the noodles roith cooking oil and sauce,cooked vegetables,chicken, eggs for 2-3 minutes.

I am convinced that the best way to master a language is through reading and writing.