Causes and Countermeasures of Chinglish

Li Min

Abstract：“The so-called Chinglish is the kind of mixed language， neither Chinese nor English， it may also be called English with Chinese Characteristics.” They are deformities in English which are not consistent with the English expression （except a small number which have been included in the English dictionary）. It may also be grammatically correct， but the usage of the words， phrases or expressions is different from the Standard English. This paper explores the causes of Chinglish from the perspective of Chinese and Western thinking differences， and comes up with strategies to help English learners get a better understanding of Chinglish， thereby effectively overcome it.

Key words：Chinglish；language transfer；English；countermeasure

I.Introduction

Chinglish refers to spoken or written English language that is influenced by the Chinese language. The term “Chinglish” is commonly applied to ungrammatical or nonsensical English in Chinese contexts， and may have pejorative or deprecating connotations. Chinglish is the influenced by Chinese interference with speech or writing. Chinglish can be correct in grammar， some sentences can put the Chinese words more or less word for word translation， but in the choice of words or phrases as well as the expression does not conform to the standards usage of English. Although understanding may not be a problem， but Chinglish is unacceptable.

II.Causes of Chinglish

1.The Different Way of Thinking

Language and thinking is inseparable， thinking is the foundation of language， language is the carrier of thinking. As German English professor Butzkamm said： “first language is not a garment， and step into a foreign language learners classroom before mode of thinking brought by language， we must acknowledge its existence， should not only admits it interfere with the foreign language learning， also cant deny its positive transfer effect， but to make full use of its positive role better for language learning.” Chinese people used to feel the experience of thinking， namely to grasp the sentence according to intuitive relationship with the middle of a sentence. Consistent with this way of thinking is that Chinese is the language of themes dominate， heavy parataxis. Instead of English people thinking more rational， tend to do concrete analysis of the concept.

2.Cultural Diversity

Non-native speakers are often under the influence of native language transfer effect when using English to communicate. And they compared with the corresponding Chinese and English when translating， which is one of the causes of Chinglish. In practical translation， for example： I will wait for you in the lounge. According to Chinglish， we translate it as “I am waiting for you in the rest room.” In English countries， “rest room” is a euphemism for a bathroom. A lack of understanding of a countrys social history and culture， translation often let a person cause communication barriers.

3.Use the Rigid Mode

The phenomenon that several verb used in the same time appears in the Chinese language. The grammar does not require each verb changed. And in English， each sentence can only have one real verb， the other verbs must be in the predicate verb V-ing participles， V-ed participle or the infinitive. English belongs to the indo-European language， and Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language. So they are very different in many ways. These differences had an interference or negative transfer effect for English learning.

III.Countermeasures of Chinglish

1.Develop Good Habits of Language Use

In language learning， the attitude of Chinese is decided by the phase where the learners are. If they are in the advanced phase， they should try to avoid using Chinese as the auxiliary tool. If they are in the intermediate phase of learning English， Chinese as medium can help learners to acquire the target language faster. We can predict possible language mistakes in English interlingua study， and then input many comprehensible words to help learners to take the right way of generalization to integrate the old and new knowledge.

2.Distinguish Native Language and Second Language

Chinese language knowledge can make positive/negative transfer to English learning. It will also promote and interference it. Positive transfer function of Chinese social culture is due to the Chinglish. At the same time， Chinese and English have two different national values， non-standard， customs， religious beliefs， social system and so on caused the negative function of Chinese society and culture. Thus brings to the learners of English learning and communication difficulties and obstacles.

3.Create a Good English Environment

From the big environment， the school should create a good English environment， lets the student starts from the minor matter， start small contact English learn English， lets the student have a good understanding， can deal with spoken English corner at school， let the students under the guidance of the teacher to speak every day learning correct pronunciation and oral English， oneself also want right amount to remind yourself， read more writing practice. Providing original English books and English news paper or magazines， so that students can imitate writing in a precise way. Showing original English movies regularly.

4.Four Trainings for English

In addition， students should be encouraged to listen more， read more， speak and write more. In class the teacher should give students more opportunities to contact “four”. A large number of reading are accessible to the original reading， especially for beginners is helpful. First， teachers should encourage students to read widely， and pay attention to in the process of reading the author collaboration. The second step is to imitate， in fact， the acquisition of language as long as the route is imitation， write down some sentences. The final step is to should suggest the students when encounter a good sentence.

IV.Conclusion

The fundamental purpose of learning a language is to communicate， with the acceleration development of globalization， Chinas international status， more and more foreigners into China， the Chinese are more and more to the world， Chinese and foreign communication becomes more and more important， it also put forward higher requirements on our countrys foreign language teaching. Transformation of the mode of teaching and to promote university students from the “dumb English” to “Chinglish” to “real English”， cultivate the students cross-cultural communicative competence， which is the essential purpose of our study a foreign language.

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