2. Literature Review

Many scholars and English teachers at home and abroad have noticed the existence of Chinglish for a long time. At abroad, the American author of The Translator’s Guide to Chinglish, Joan Pinkham, pointed out in the book:“Chinglish, of course, is that misshapen, hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but might be described as ‘English with Chinese characteristics’.” (2000: 1) To support her analysis, she listed abundant and persuasive examples in the book. Famous British linguist and educator L.G. Alexander also presented his view on Chinglish: Chinglish is the version of English that reflects their (Chinese people’s) own culture… and if I, as a native speaker of English, were to learn Chinese, I would never think, speak and write as a Chinese do. I would always speak Engchin.” (1995: 12-18)

At home, Professor Deng Yanchang expressed his views on Chinglish:“Chinglish is speech or writing in English that shows the interference or influence of Chinese. Some sentences may be little or more than word for word translation of Chinese expressions. Chinglish may be grammatically correct, but the choice of words or phrases and the manner of expression do not conform to Standard English usage. Although understanding may not be a problem, Chinglish is unacceptable.” (1989: 15) Another scholar, Li Wenzhong, considered Chinglish as “a kind of misshaped English” (1993: 18-24). He maintained that Chinglish does not conform to the standard English expressions and results from Chinese learners of English imposing the Chinese grammatical rules and idiomatic expressions into English expressions. Misunderstanding in English, written by Cheng Lini, aims to teach readers suitable English expressions through correcting some typical mistakes in Chinglish. There are abundant and idiomatic English expressions in this book. From Chinglish to English written by He Mu combines 40 English passages. Through analyzing the English language and grammar points the author presented readers some valuable ways to learn and use English. As early as in 1980, Professor Ge Chuangui presented the term “China English” in his article Discussion on Chinese-English Translation. Besides, he suggested that much attention should be drawn to distinguish China English from Chinglish. Ge pointed out China English could be comprehended after it has been explained while Chinglish embodies Chinese users’ low proficiency in English and cannot be understood unless using another way of expression.来.自/751论|文-网www.751com.cn/

3. Features of Chinglish in Chinese-English Translation

3.1 Phonological Level

Because of using improper pronunciation organs and ways, Chinglish users cannot make them understood by native English speakers. When Chinese English learners do not master how to pronounce some phonemes in English, they tend to substitute them by similar but different pronunciation by rules of the Chinese sound system. Some Chinese English learners would pronounce “three” as “tree”, because there is no phoneme /θ/ in Chinese. To produce the sound /θ/, Chinese learners tend to use the sound /t/ in Chinese language system to replace it. As for certain consonants, Chinese people tend to combine the consonants with vowels whereas native English speakers will not do so. In English, there are the plosive consonants/p, b, t, d, k, g/, but in Chinese we articulate such consonants as p-o, b-o , t-e , d-e, k-e, g-e. Due to the influence of mother tongue pronunciation, many Chinese are inclined to produce an extra vowel sound at the end of the final plosive when they articulate English words. For example, their pronunciation of words “work” and “beg” may be represented phonetically as /w¬:k¬/ and /beg¬/.