A brief analysis of Chinglish

楊津哲?楊習悅

With the continuous development of Chinas national strength and mass media， the communication between China and foreign countries come out in peoples lives .Chinese produces a great influence in English. As a result， there is a new kind of language --- Chinglish.Gradually，it epitomizes todays power of language.This paper summarizes the influences of Chinglish by analyzing its birth， sperformances ，the way to avoid ， influences and its usage.

1. The reasons：After building up foreign settlement in Shanghai ，many foreign firms which used to be in Guangzhou ，Nanyang were transferred to Shanghai .Because there are some differences between Chinese and English ，some Guangdong people who worked in the foreign firms went to Shanghai‘s foreign settlements to work as translators for they at least know little about English.At the same time， in order to direct contacts with foreign investors among the upper classes ， Shanghai and other local businessmen began to learn simple English .Since then ， it became popular in Shanghai that business people say English .Although it sounds strange with local accent and does not fit the grammar which called “Yang jingbang English”.Mr Yao gonghe once provided a definition for “Yang jingbang English” in book/上海閑話/that “yang jingbang is in western pronunciation but from Chinese grammarHowever ，Chinglish is still not regular language . At the beginning of the twentieth century ，many students who went aboard to study came back to China ，they started to teach formal English.Finally， the use of Chinglish gradually disappeared and were looked down upon by many people .They fell into oblivion at last.

2. Misusing in vocabulary：Memorizing vocabularies is the most essential task for we students in learning English. As a result， a sizable percentage of students hold the view that we can achieve higher-level English only by memorizing words. Certainly words are basics， and useful to examination， whereas we will make mistakes of inappropriate collocation if we only combine words meaning to form a sentence. Misusing the associated word is a general phenomenon， too. In Chinese we can use several associated words together or constantly for our culture is more focused on the context. But in English， we are not permitted to use associated word just to express what come up to our mind. Every sentence has their own logical pattern.

3. The Influence of Chinglish： Chinglish is a compound word ，the old view thinks that it is a wrong way to convey English by using wrong grammar and speaking in wrong pronunciation .But in new point ，Chinglish is regarded as a new way which can convey the meanings clearly .They think that Chinglish keeps its own features and it is in accordance with the Chinese intellect which can be used thoroughly in communications between China and western countries.

Positive Influence：Promote the communications between China and foreign country： Chinglish lowers the threshold of speaking English .It is the era of learning English ，almost everyone can speak English .And English is a required course in school .Because of the differences between Chinese and English ，it is inevitable to speak Chinglish in some way.

Negative Influence：Chinglish breaks the purity of language： Recently， many Chinglish words come into the English dictionary .For example ，“no zuo no die .”always appears in social media which is used to warn somebody not to do things that will make you in trouble .Mainstream media thinks it will destroy the original usages of English and as result the purity of English will be destroyed .

4. How to avoid speaking Chinglish：There are many English learners who are worried about the problem that they can not convey their meanings correctly to the foreigners .Here are some useful suggestions about how to avoid Chinglish in daily life.Understand the local conditions and customs in the west：It will make the social contact meaningful only after emphasizing the importance of understanding the differences between different countries.Remember to speak in a respectful mood： We always give suggestions to other people，the purpose is being adopted.Of course whether our suggestions are adopted or not depends on feasibility and our relationship between each other .Just avoid speaking with a tone of command .For example：in groups you （not）to do sth，You must/should and so on.Do remember to use the most tactful words to give suggestions.

References：

[1]林語堂.My Country and My People[J].1939：100-120.

[2]祝畹瑾.An Introduction To Sociolinguistics》Hunan Education Press，1992，19：120-130.

[3]束定芳，莊智象 （1996 ）《Modern Foreign Language Teaching——Theories and Methods》Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，1996.

【作者簡介】楊津哲，楊習悅，北京華北電力大學。