The Chinglish Files by olr

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2010-04-28T14:57:00.001+02:00

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Message from Big Apple

2010-04-14T18:55:00.009+02:00

Reader Diane Maas from New York City reconfirms part of my theory on the underlying motivation of the ongoing Chinglish production in connection with the Chinese tourism industry. Please find her guest comment below:

My husband, daughter and I were recently (April 2010) on vacation in Yunnan, where I'd like to report that Chinglish is alive, well,and thriving. From the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to the depths of the Jiuxiang Grottos we saw some wonderful examples (see pics below). As Yunnan is now opening up to tourism (though we saw mostly Asian tourists--no Westerners), signage is mostly bilingual Chinese-English, or in most cases, Chinese-Chinglish. Many places in northern Yunnan such as Zhongdian (now renamed by the Chinese government as 'Shangri-la' purely for tourism purposes) once sleepy little cities are getting on the tourist industry bandwagon reinventing themselves as necessary "destinations.' Therefore, most of the signs are relatively new (created in the past two years, when the Yunnan tourist industry has been in high gear) - so that made the Chinglish charm all the more poignant.

Here are two of her treasures:

Many thanks, Diane!

Shanghai EXPO English

2010-01-06T03:12:00.005+01:00

哇！What an interesting way to start the new year. This sign with its full name of 《卢湾区窗口服务与商业发展指挥部世博双语指南》(approximately: World Expo Bilingual Compass (issued by) Luwan District Commercial Development Headquarters) is a great window into the Chinese mind (at least into the one that deemed this sign necessary).

Clearly nothing (substantially) wrong with the English here. But using Chinese characters as a phonetic crutch to teach English pronounciation is a fascinating phenomenon. I thought this particular concept to be dead and buried, though. Clearly, I was wrong.

Here's a Pinyin transcription:

Welcome to our store! - weierkangmu tu aowo sidao!

Good morning - gude maoning
Good afternoon - gude afutenu
Good evening - gude yifuning

Can I help you? - kan ai hai'erpu you?

I'm sorry, I can only speak a little English. - anme saorui, ai kan wenglei sibike e leitou yinggelishi.

Just moment, please. - jiesite moumente pulisi

I'll find our colleague for help. - ai wei'o fande awo kaolige fou hai'erpu

Bye Bye! - bai bai

It's interesting to see that the Chinese phonetic transcription itself isn't consistent: in the first sentence the sign makers are using "澳窝 aowo" for "our" (welcome to our store) while in the last line they were voting for "阿窝 awo" (I'll find our colleague for help). It's a long sign, apparently.

Dear readers and Chinglish fans:
Please send me an original picture of this sign including its surroundings! Mail address is on the right.

Jackpot question:
who is the target audience?

Many sankesi!

Variations on a theme.

2009-10-10T15:35:00.000+02:00

"小心碰头" xiao3xin1 peng4tou2 - "mind your head" is a sign that you can't miss whereever you go in China. That is, if the translation comes out right, which is not really happening in many instances. Please find a selection below. I am really puzzled when it comes to the last one!

Many thanks to Kevin, Chris and Gordon for contributing to this selection!

The Chinglish Files go academic.

2009-09-30T16:23:00.003+02:00

I am happy to announce that the Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Cultural Studies (KJC) at Heidelberg University (Germany) has awarded me with a PhD scholarship and a seat in this year's Graduate Programme for Transcultural Studies.

The programme is part of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows". I quote:

Its aim is to analyse shifting asymmetries in cultural flows. The nongeographical use of both Asia and Europe and the concept of cultural flows are key elements of innovative theoretical debates on cultural exchange from the Bronze Age up to the present.

My topic: Chinglish, of course! I keep you informed.

Best,

olr.

Chinglish talk on China Radio International

2009-09-24T00:30:00.001+02:00

Program description:

Although Chinglish has caused some controversy among the Chinese, some foreigners are interested in them as well. Oliver Radtke is one of them. We have invited him to our studio to discuss Chinglish.

Thanks, CRI, for having me on the show!

Click to listen to the webcast.

Posting from Germany.

2009-06-28T13:15:00.002+02:00

Fellow Chinglish friends,

for the past few weeks it was almost impossible to post or moderate comments. Blogger blocked, Google blocked, Youtube blocked...

(Note to Internet cops: Guys, this is still the wrong way of doing it.)

Hope you continue your support while I figure out what technical solutions to use in the coming months.

Best from Heidelberg,

olr.

AFP 1, Reuters 0.

2009-05-05T18:21:00.008+02:00

AFP's Beijing correspondent Peter Harmsen and I had a wonderful linguistic conversation over a cup of freshly brewed coffee recently.
Here's the story:

Language lover on quest to save Chinglish
(posted May 5 2009)

Many thanks, Peter.

Compliments to the Huangpu River.

2009-05-05T05:18:00.006+02:00

Recently I did an interview with JFK Miller, Editorial Director of Urbanatomy.com, the website of that's Shanghai city magazine:

"The fine art of Chinglish"
(posted May 04 2009)

Many thanks, JFK!

Differing view from Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao.

2009-04-16T05:50:00.005+02:00

Many thanks, Yang Yongxin (杨永欣), for taking the time to comment on the Chinglish phenomenon in today's Lianhe Zaobao. I quote:

在我看来，中国式英文展现的并不是中国人的创意，更不是什么文化宝物，而是一些中国人不认真的工作态度，因此中国式英文的风气不能助长。(In my opinion, Chinglish isn't about Chinese creativity, even less about being a cultural treasure, it's about a lack of serious working attitude with some Chinese, therefore the common practice of Chinglish mustn't be fostered; my translation)

"a lack of serious working attitude", all granted, many examples prove that point. My point, however, is much more the lifelessness of most so-called standard translations, to challenge the notion of standard-English, who defines it, the intended or unintended ingenuity of some of the translations, the necessity to keep the Chineseness of the original content etc. Languages are inevitably changing, English has proven to be one of the most flexible idioms and Chinglish is already an inseparable part of it.

30 year-old Yang Yongxin who studied in the US and the UK should know that first hand. Since he's working as Zaobao's correspondent in Guangzhou I am looking forward to his personal contributions.

Front page story!

2009-04-15T12:49:00.008+02:00

Thanks to Erik Nilsson for a very good piece on my favorite pastime: "Chinglish has life, don't trample on it" in today's China Daily (April 15 2009).

I very much enjoy the vivid discussion in the comment section (apart from the usual racism discussion, of course).

No April Fool's joke - the sequel is here.

2009-04-01T17:10:00.000+02:00

"More Chinglish - Speaking in Tongues" is on the shelves!

Oliver Lutz Radtke
More Chinglish -
Speaking in Tongues
Paperback, 112 pages
English introduction
Gibbs Smith Publisher
ISBN: 978-1-4236-0584-3
7,99$/7,99€

You may order via Amazon.com or Amazon.de.

In Beijing it's available at The Bookworm and Wangfujing Shudian.

Postal code 00.

2009-02-12T15:58:00.005+01:00

The slightly boastful (and often rather uninformative) way of Chinese museum education seen at its best.

My suggestion: The former site of the emperor's washing room (I assume that he had a separate change room).

I still want to know what soap he was using ...

Taken at the imperial summer palace in Chengde. Many thanks, Patricia!

2009 - year of many anniversaries

2009-01-04T12:46:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year to all my dear and loyal Chinglish readers!

What better way to start 2009 by taking a look at this Chinglish beauty, shot on the way to Tian'anmen Square.

Until the late 70s China's underlying number one 主义 zhu3yi4 had been Marxism or some garbled form of it. We can also agree on that the other big 主义 has ruled the country ever since, Capitalism. No matter how many times Politburo leaders mention "socialism with Chinese characteristics" in their new year's eve speeches ...

Keep in mind, though, that a 主义 per se is just an "-ism".

Many people in China are left behind by the new C-ism, and many people are again longing for the older days of M-ism-ruled China.

So why not advocate a new version of it, for example, a "fragrant and hot" one?
xiang1 香 fragrant
la4 辣 hot

For me the most revealing aspect about this sign is that the noodle shop owner naturally thinks of Marxism when translating 主义.

Next time, I'll try their soup.

Many thanks, WR!

Christmas riddle.

2008-12-19T17:35:00.004+01:00

This, dear readers, is a highly creative and rather cryptical variant of the standard "Flush after use" (which is what it says in Chinese).

Not only did the Beijing restaurant owner take a "W" and turned it upside down. He seemed to have come up with a whole new word. Native speakers, what on earth is meant by "mang out"? Looking forward to your creative postings.

Many thanks, Namisan!

English books in China - Can't find what you're looking for?

2008-12-07T10:27:00.005+01:00

Cityweekend Shanghai has done a little interview with Frank Cai from Blue Fountain Imported Books, the company that distributes "Chinglish - Found in Translation" in China, too.

So if you are in the Middle Kingdom desperately needing a certain publication, Frank might help you import it.

Read the interview.

Going back in time.

2008-12-02T06:53:00.002+01:00

No, there ain't no chair vomiting around. "Regurgitant" and its Chinese counterpart 回流 hui2liu2 mean nothing more and nothing less than "flowing back". Except that you would find this Latin term in a medical report rather than at an antique market.

My suggestion: Chinese antiques returned from overseas.

My friend Silvano pointed out that hui2liu2 usually implies a historical perspective. Antiques taken, for example, by the 八国联军 ba1guo2 lian2jun1 or "Joint Army of the Eight Powers" after their successful suppression of the so-called Boxer Uprising in Beijing in 1900.

So from a nautical perspective the vomiting chairs and chaiselongues are basically booty.

I will have to go to that place and see for myself when the stuff actually had left China and under what circumstances.

Shot in Beijing. Many thanks, Wiltrud!

So sick of censorship.

2008-11-22T18:12:00.004+01:00

For whatever reason, I had a hard time uploading pictures in recent weeks.

Back to normal now, but still, so looking forward to the day, when China realizes censoring the internet is among the stupidest things to do on Earth (including even discussing an Alaskan vice-presidency and filing German tax reports).

So, for today, I leave you with this beauty from Guangzhou.

May it serve the purpose of reminding the Middle Kingdom's cyber watchdogs to go out and have a picnic in the sun (Guangzhou 25 degrees Celsius!) instead of sniffing around online.

Many thanks, as always, Patricia.

Best,

olr.

Procreation, anyone?

2008-09-17T21:14:00.002+02:00

Fellow friends of Chinglish,

I am urgently looking for any "f..." signs ...

Please send me your original contributions (not stuff downloaded from the Net) as soon as possible to chinglish at olliradtke.de.

Many thanks,

olr.

Agreed.

2008-09-09T09:38:00.002+02:00

Beautiful, indeed. This is a good example of why Chinglish (that doesn't lead to dangerous consequences) needs to stay. In the West, we are so used to a certain approach with public warning signs or Do's and Don'ts that we don't notice them anymore (and, in the end, often end up doing things that these signs tell us not to do).

But can you resist the charme of this approach, taken at the Great Wall?
It's part of a series visible at countless other spots along it.

Many thanks, Angi!

I will.

2008-08-20T09:22:00.003+02:00

The Longmen Grottoes - world famous site, tourist mecca and a haven for great public calls like this. I like the translation since it carries the original meaning rather well.

Many thanks, Björn!

Go where?

2008-08-04T18:35:00.006+02:00

They -pend billion- of dollar- and forget the "-"!

I mean it: 加some real油!

P.S. Big -ign, to be found everyhwhere at Terminal 3.

Thanks for the fox.

2008-07-23T12:46:00.009+02:00

This morning I had an hour-long interview with the news people from sohu.com at their headquarters in Zhongguancun.

Many thanks, 廖恒 and crew, for taking such an interest in this matter!

Here is the webcast interview (in Chinese):
德国朋友建网上博物馆保存中国式英语 part 1

德国朋友建网上博物馆保存中国式英语 part 2

And the transcript (in Chinese):
外国人如何看待中国式英语

Another great thing about coming to sohu.com is: after all the talking you get to bring a new friend home!

In the spirit of this website, what could his or her name be? Open for suggestions...

I try my best.

2008-07-12T16:35:00.006+02:00

Without a Chinese original, it's quite a challenge to reconstruct what the owner was actually referring to. Wondering about the Chinese original, I came up with these two possible candidates:

"一个感受茶道的新地方" or "一个感受新茶道的地方"。

Regarding feel gan3shou4 感受 take a look at the previous posting Synonyms are trouble.

Found next to Beijing's Drum Tower gu3lou2 鼓楼.

Pretty lost in translation in this hospital.

2008-07-11T18:21:00.006+02:00

Tricky one at first, makes sense if you know that mistakes like these result from a rather obvious lack of sensitivity for the various shapes of Latin characters. The mixup of "d" and "p" or "D" and "G" are classic examples.

First line is a "green first-aid passage".
The hospital is obviously operating on a color system.

The second one reads
"Administrative offices of all inpatient departments."
The only thing I don't get is the "oeira" at the end of this line.

Shot in a hospital in 成都 Chengdu. Many thanks, Christoph!