Chinglish
Chinglish is any poor or 'broken' English that is of Chinese origin. Chinglish is usually found in written form. Famous examples include Long time no see and ok lah. (The second example is both Chinglish and Singlish.)
Types of Chinglish
Deformed and 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. Samples include "Wipe out six injurious insect" (to wipe out six types of insects, including cockroaches and mosquitoes), as well as "enjoy stand" (a scenic viewpoint). Spoken Chinglish may also include such examples such as "You very like this?", when the original question in proper English may be "Do you like this a lot?".
Inaccurate pronounciation or misspellings through typos or poor pronounciation may also "create" Chinglish. For example, the word "temple" and "temper" may be confused, and someone could be pointed to a "temper" when "temple" was intended. Note that the 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 nothing like the original English word. For example, the company named "Zellers" (part of the Hudson's Bay Company) is often incorrectly pronounced as "Se La".
Chinglish could also be "created" by excessive use of either the article "the" when it is not needed, or the excessive use of verbs with the "-ing" ending. An excess use of "to", and wrong usage of verb tenses, may also give rise to Chinglish phrases. Finally, some completely wrong vocabulary usage (e.g. "to put in Jingzhang Expressway" instead of "entering Jingzhang Expressway") could also qualify as Chinglish.
Chinglish may possibly also refer to typos ("toll gtae" instead of "toll gate", for example) although whether a mere typo qualifies as Chinglish may be debatable.
Chinglish may also loosely refer to the distinctly Chinese-dominated accent spoken by speakers of English in China, although this definition may not be widely in acceptance or may only be gaining acceptance.
Language humor
Although most Chinglish phrases originated from poor English, plenty Chinglish phrases were created as Chinese idiom, meaning "to speak straightforwardly"). Another such example may be "five flowers eight doors" (in Chinese, wu hua ba men), which means "plentiful".
- Un-ding-able (it means "can't stand it". 頂 ding in Cantonese means "to stand against")
- You go see see la (Go and have a look.)
In early and mid-20th century, Chinglish was derogatorily called "pidgin" (洋泾浜) in Chinese.
Effects
Chinglish is becoming a problem for major cities such as Beijing. In Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, the city authorities are clamping down on the usage of Chinglish and replacing it with proper English. Thus, signs that previously read: "To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty" may read, in proper English, "Caution - slippery path", et cetera. Some other examples include: "Oil gate" (filling station), "confirming distance" (keep space, distance verification), and so on and so forth.
See also: Engrish
