Analyzing the Objective Causes of Oral Chinglish and Error Avoidance

梁方娣

Abstract：Due to the inevitable influence of the mother tongue and some other objective causes， Chinglish is troubling Chinese learners of English in various ways， which has an bad effect on quality of oral communication. Therefore， minimizing or eliminating oral Chinglish will greatly improve the quality of communication. This paper will firstly explain the definition of Chinglish，then focus on description and analyzing of oral Chinglish mistakes， whats more， the objective causes of oral Chinglish will be analyzed and founded， especially on the aspect of negative transfer. At last， some avoidance of oral Chinglish will be offered.

Key Words： oral English； oral Chinglish； negative transfer

中图分类号：G632.0 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1992-7711（2016）01-0015

Ⅰ. The definition of Chinglish

There is no such word as “Chinglish” in a lot of published dictionaries. However， it is well known among Chinese learners of English. To be more authoritative， I will provide some authorities definitions in the first place.

Mrs. Joan Pinkham （1998）， an experienced American translator and an expert in this field， defines Chinglish in this way： Chinglish is a hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as “English with Chinese characters”. While Professor Deng Yanchang （1988） describes “Chinglish” as “speech or writing in English that shows the interference of Chinese.

Though being defined by different authorities in different ways， we can still find some similarities between them. Firstly， both of the definitions state that Chinglish refers to the language that is influenced by Chinese peoples mother language. Secondly， although Chinglish might be understood in some certain way， it is unacceptable in standard language use.

Ⅱ. The objective causes of oral Chinglish

In this part， I will discuss the objective causes of oral Chinglish in several areas：

1. The negative transfer of mother tongue

We get “negative transfer” when the two languages have similarity and difference. In this case， first-language-induced errors occur. In linguistics opinions， the more differences the two languages have， the more negative transfer there will be. So， in the following parts， I will discuss the negative transfer in three parts .

（1）The negative transfer in pronunciation

As we all know， Chinese and English belong to different language families. English belongs to India-European Language family and Chinese belongs to Han-Zang Language family. Whats more， we use different organs to pronounce the consonants and vowels in English and Chinese， For instance， Chinese students often pronounce “thing” to “sing” and “the” to “de”.

（2）The negative transfer in vocabulary

There are many negative transfers in vocabulary choosing while the Chinese English learners try to use English to express themselves. Take the words “borrow” and “lend” for example， in Chinese， borrow（借进） and lend（借出） are both explained as “借”， so Chinese students often translate the sentence “借我自行车用用” into “borrow me your bike”， Besides， “black tea” is not the Chinese “黑茶” but “红茶”.This kind of usage is very common in oral English communication.

（3）The negative transfer in culture

As Zheng Jing pointed out that language is the carrier of culture， different language expression patterns may reflect different cultural backgrounds. If we ignore cultural differences between Chinese and English， oral Chinglish may occur. Some errors are caused by not knowing cultural habits of daily life in English society， for example， asking persons “Are you married？” “How old are you？” This is what we called “privacy” in western culture and its regarded as taboo. （Li Boli， 2005）. And some errors are caused by not knowing the traditional culture of English society. In Chinese culture， we treat mouse as a timid animal， but in English， we can only say “as timid as a hare”. Besides， Chinese speak English according to Chinese culture. For example， when a guest is going to leave， the host will say “let me see you off”. Or when the guest praises the host is a good cook， the host will say “nothing”. These are oral Chinglish. If the host is English， he will say “Im very glad you like it， I cooked it especially for you！” Thus， cultural difference also can cause negative transfer and lead people make oral Chinglish.

2. The inflexible oral English teaching style in China

In China， Oral English teachers often choose the teacher-centered approach to give their classes， such as introducing the history or culture of English countries， so that students just listen and remember the knowledge but have little time to practice oral English. Sometimes， English teachers just give students a topic to discuss but not give advice， so the students dont practice very well and some even discuss the topic in Chinese. These improper teaching methods are all harmful to students improvement of oral English， so that oral Chinglish occurs.

Ⅲ. The ways of avoiding oral Chinglish

As has been noted， Chinglish has influenced Chinese learners of English in various ways， which， undoubtedly， makes it more commanding to put forward some solutions.

1. Understanding the accurate meaning of English words

To solve the problem of oral Chinglish on vocabulary， dictionary is surely a helpful tool. Chinese learners of English usually refer to English-Chinese dictionary， which is helpful for the beginners or learners of lower level. Nevertheless， if one continues to do so when he is an advanced learner， he will then be confused by such kind of dictionary only relying on the Chinese translation. Therefore， an English-English dictionary is in great demand to solve this problem. English-English dictionary helps English learners to understand the meaning of words better， avoiding making Chinglish mistakes. And if one usually consults a monolingual dictionary， he can form a habit of thinking in an English way step by step， which， undoubtedly， is helpful to eliminate Chinglish in speech.

2. Being acquainted with the culture of English countries

There is the dialectical relationship between language and culture. Language is part of culture and plays a very important role in it. On the other hand， language is influenced and shaped by culture. Therefore， learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation， grammar， words and idioms. It means learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas， customs， and behaviors of their society， and learning to understand their “language of the mind”. If we learn English culture very well， we will not speak Chinglish because of having little knowledge about their culture.

3. Changing the teaching style

The coming of the new millennium needs effective communicators who are fostered by qualified English teachers. Therefore， the teachers have to become competent for adopting Interactive Approach.

First of all， Oral English teachers must be researchers at the same time. Since the ultimate goal of English teaching is to develop the students communicative competence， it is desirable for a teacher of oral English to be more learned in the areas of linguistics， literary criticism， or the application of computers. That is to say， teachers of oral English should have a good command of the language with very high intercultural awareness， and pay more attention to language in use rather than to grammar.

Secondly， oral English teachers should take a proper attitude toward Chinglish. When you focus on the fluency of speaking English， you had better not correct students errors immediately； instead， you may look them as indications of the actual acquisition process in action.

Thirdly， games and role-plays should be introduced into oral English class to form a mini-circumstance of the second language. In other words， oral English teachers are demanded to create appropriate language context to involve students in “authentic” communicative activities .The teachers should encourage students to practice English bravely.

4. Imitating the idiomatic oral English

Imitation is a useful tool to solve oral Chinglish problem especially on phonetic level. However， only pronouncing some certain phonetic symbols correctly never means the success in conquering oral Chinglish. By employing this method， people should learn to speak natively in two levels-word level and sentence level. The former refers to the correct pronunciation of phonetic symbols in a word， including stress， rhythms while the latter indicates the right pronunciation of sentences， embracing intonation， linking， strong form and weak form. Chinese can imitate idiomatic English in many ways， such as on internet， people can make friends and talk with foreigners， learning the style and speed of their talks， and then people will avoid oral Chinglish on pronunciation level.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Everything goes step by step. Like human growth， we learn from errors. Language learning is no exception. Therefore， firstly， we should admit that we cannot totally avoid making mistakes. Secondly， we should have a clear mind of what kinds of errors they are. Thirdly， we should find the causes of the mistakes and finally get the ways to avoid these mistakes as we can.

In a word， we can feel that oral Chinglish is everywhere， and has an absolute negative influence on cross-cultural communication. Therefore， both teachers and students should be well aware of this irregular language and try hard to correct it as much as possible so that they can speak in an English way.

References：

[1] Barbara A Fennell. A History of English-A Sociolinguistic Approach[M]. Beijing：Peking University Press， 2005.

[2] Joan Pinkham.The Translators Guide to Chinglish[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Department，2003.

[3] Pinkham， Joan J. The Translators Guide to Chinglish[M]. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2000.

[4] Yin Li & Han Xiaoling. English-Chinese Idioms and Folk Cultures[M]. Beijing：Peking University Press， 2007.

（作者单位：浙江省绍兴市上虞区东关中学 312000）