Most Hilarious Examples of the Chinglish Phenomenon

The Chinglish phenomenon is known as a mix of Chinese and English languages. You may notice this in many big cities in China, where crowds of tourists appear. But from the linguistic point of view, why does this happen?

The Chinese language belongs to notional type, but English is a normative grammatical language, so different positions in a sentence have used different parts of speech for the English word. This grammar rule is strict and usually has a different suffix behind the root of the word. The different suffixes are the indicators to make different words with varying parts of speech. It is like a common misunderstanding between teacher and student. To avoid this, it is better to ask specialist from writing service: “Write a paper for me!” or learn Chinese, which is a hundred times easier than write papers on your own.

While the verbs and nouns can be changed according to the language environment, the form stays precisely the same in Chinese. If a translator has not manipulated the different grammar usage of parts of speech between the two languages, the phenomenon of “Chinglish” will emerge easily.  

Although some of the public signs are correct in diction and grammar, they do not comply with the idiomatic expressions of the target language. The phenomenon of literal translation is widespread in the translation of public signs, which not only dramatically reduces the authority of public signs. It also becomes the subject of jokes, so the public signs should never be translated literally according to the sample literal meaning of Chinese. For example:  

Maybe, the author of the translation meant: “Please follow the tourist route to avoid getting lost.”

It is more than true in our times of ecological and climate crisis. Rubbish brings a lot of poisoning and evilness in our lives. That’s why it is better to sort the trash or, at least, to throw it in the bin, not beside it.  

Even if you made such a decision to slip and to fall, please, do it carefully. Take it easy and with calmness in your heart. It wouldn’t save you from a broken leg or arm, but, at least, you tried taking care of yourself in the moment of falling.  

The traditional meal of Chinese cuisine. It is not important how many roasted husbands you had, six or seven, but never try roasted wife. This is dangerous and may be poisonous even in a small amount.

It is a little bit unclear: there is either a dangerous creature in the city, or some people can lose their feet. None of these perspectives are good to visit such a place.  

It is evident that everyone faces loneliness in their lives. It concerns all your purchases and all your payments. You can buy two, four, twenty things, but you will always be alone when paying for all this stuff.

If this fire extinguisher is so ironic, there is a hope that this person will not play a cruel joke with people in this building during a real fire.  

The Chinese government took a hostile stance towards Chinglish, criticizing it by arguing that “signage is to be useful, not amusing.” Organizing the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, there was a campaign to modify sloppy Chinglish signs in the city. The result of the revision was the improvement of 1,300 restaurant menus and 400,000 street signs. However, not everyone shares this disapproval or disagrees with it.

Many believe that Chinglish should not be perceived as an embarrassment to the purity of the English language, but more as a charming and humble effort to appeal to foreign English speakers. Moreover, it gives a new point of view of the monotonous words that surround our everyday lives. It should not be described by its linguistic lower rank, but by its fascinating traits and quirks. There aren’t many English speakers who wouldn’t find it refreshing to read “the slippery are very crafty” instead of “wet floor” at an underground station. The words’ meanings are more or less kept, and if nothing else, it brings a smile to our faces.