History of Chinglish
English arrived in China in 1637 when British traders went to Macao and other Cantonese speaking places like Guangzhou. They struggled to communicate due to language differences. Finally, in the 17th century, a new way of communicating was invented- Chinese Pidgin English (grammatically simplified form of Chinese). It was invented to communicate between British people and Chinese people who mostly speak Cantonese.
After the First and Second Opium War between 1839 and 1842, Chinese Pidgin English spread to Shanghai and other places that deported goods. The usage of Chinese Pidgin English began to decrease in the late 19th century when Chinese schools started teaching Standard English.
Chinglish may have also influenced some modern English expressions that are similar to Chinese Pidgin English. Examples include "lose face" from the Chinese phrase 丟臉 (be humiliated). Some people say that the phrase "long time no see" is a Chinglish term from 好久不見. A few years ago, Chinese officials also carried out campaigns to get rid of all forms of Chinglish for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
After the International Olympic Committee selected in Beijing during 2001, the Beijing Tourism Bureau set up a hotline for reports on Chinglish mistakes on street signs, such as emergency exits at the Beijing airport that say "No Entry On Peacetime". In 2007, a lot of different companies working on this problem said they had worked out pieces of standard English translations to replace the Chinglish ones on signs around Beijing. For example, "Be careful, road slippery" was used instead of "To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty."
But, Ben Macintyre complained about the loss of signs like "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass" because he said that many of the Chinglish signs are really funny and show the results when two different languages collide. But the Global Language Monitor doubted that China's attempt to get rid of Chinglish could succeed.
In Shanghai for the World Expo 2010, officials also made an attempt to replace the Chinglish signs. They succeeded at fixing more than 10,000 public signs that say things like "Teliot" and "Urine District." But there were still some signs that reflect the results on using translating softwares as they say things like "餐廳 Translate server error" (餐廳 means restaurant). This shows that people don't usually ask a native-English speaker to check their translation before putting them up on signs.
Chinglish is still here in present-day China on public notices in parks and at tourist locations; on shop names, in advertisements and on packages. They are basically everywhere is China and Hong Kong. However, the problem of incorrect signage is less obvious in Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong's problem with Chinglish is the everyday use and Chinglish is actually affecting Hong Kong's education.
English arrived in China in 1637 when British traders went to Macao and other Cantonese speaking places like Guangzhou. They struggled to communicate due to language differences. Finally, in the 17th century, a new way of communicating was invented- Chinese Pidgin English (grammatically simplified form of Chinese). It was invented to communicate between British people and Chinese people who mostly speak Cantonese.
After the First and Second Opium War between 1839 and 1842, Chinese Pidgin English spread to Shanghai and other places that deported goods. The usage of Chinese Pidgin English began to decrease in the late 19th century when Chinese schools started teaching Standard English.
Chinglish may have also influenced some modern English expressions that are similar to Chinese Pidgin English. Examples include "lose face" from the Chinese phrase 丟臉 (be humiliated). Some people say that the phrase "long time no see" is a Chinglish term from 好久不見. A few years ago, Chinese officials also carried out campaigns to get rid of all forms of Chinglish for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
After the International Olympic Committee selected in Beijing during 2001, the Beijing Tourism Bureau set up a hotline for reports on Chinglish mistakes on street signs, such as emergency exits at the Beijing airport that say "No Entry On Peacetime". In 2007, a lot of different companies working on this problem said they had worked out pieces of standard English translations to replace the Chinglish ones on signs around Beijing. For example, "Be careful, road slippery" was used instead of "To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty."
But, Ben Macintyre complained about the loss of signs like "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass" because he said that many of the Chinglish signs are really funny and show the results when two different languages collide. But the Global Language Monitor doubted that China's attempt to get rid of Chinglish could succeed.
In Shanghai for the World Expo 2010, officials also made an attempt to replace the Chinglish signs. They succeeded at fixing more than 10,000 public signs that say things like "Teliot" and "Urine District." But there were still some signs that reflect the results on using translating softwares as they say things like "餐廳 Translate server error" (餐廳 means restaurant). This shows that people don't usually ask a native-English speaker to check their translation before putting them up on signs.
Chinglish is still here in present-day China on public notices in parks and at tourist locations; on shop names, in advertisements and on packages. They are basically everywhere is China and Hong Kong. However, the problem of incorrect signage is less obvious in Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong's problem with Chinglish is the everyday use and Chinglish is actually affecting Hong Kong's education.