An Analysis of Chinglish and Countermeasures in English Major’s Writing

【Abstract】Chinglish is defined as English that is affected by Chinese thoughts and is not standardized or English that does not conform to English cultural habits. Chinglish has a negative meaning for English learning and international communication. It is the standard and principle that should be followed in accordance with the formal style of the mother tongues expression habits and cultural characteristics. Therefore， the means to improve students comprehensive use of English include： to find out the source of Chinglish in English writing and to solve this writing obstacle.

【Key words】Chinglish； writing； mistake； countermeasure

【作者簡介】武芷慧（1995.09），女，陕西西安人，宝鸡文理学院，大学本科，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学。

An Analysis of Chinglish and Countermeasures in English Majors Writing

With the further development of China， the communication between China and other countries has been more closer in various aspects like politics， economy， culture， etc. Foreign languages， especially English， play an important role in international communication. Chinglish is the English language learning and users in China who are subject to interference and influence in their mother tongue， rigidly adopt Chinese rules and habits， and have irregular English or English language irregularities in English communication.

1. The Emergence of Chinglish

The main reason for the formation of Chinglish is the influence of Chinese thinking and expression， as well as the lack of understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.

1.1 Differences between English and Chinese language structures

Differences between English and Chinese language structures cause learners to apply the target language vocabulary and language knowledge in the learning process according to their mother tongue language rules， and then translate them into target language. They neglected the fixed collocation and habit expression in the two languages， resulting in the production of Chinglish.

1.2 Different ways of thinking

English users and Chinese users have different way of thinking. Non-English speakers tend to look for corresponding expressions in English according to their mother tongues thinking habits， resulting in the production of “Chinglish”.

1.3 Differences in background cultures？

Because Chinese speakers do not understand British and American culture and customs， and are deeply influenced by the culture of their own people， learners often cannot grasp the essence of language. They can only speak or write inconspicuous English from their native language.

2. An Analysis of Chinglish Phenomenon

These aspects have caused Chinese English including lexical level， syntactic level and discourse level， etc.

2.1 Lexical level

Vocabulary is the most basic unit of English writing. The common Chinese English vocabulary errors include these problems.

2.1.1 Word repetition or redundancy

Most students have the specified number of words in their writing. And in order to achieve this goal， redundant phrases and sentences are used repeatedly.

2.1.2 Improper collocation

Many Chinese words in English are not arranged because of conventions. Therefore， in the writing that is influenced by Chinese， the mistakes in the collocation of vocabulary often include “Chinese English” with “take part in an examination”， “expensive price”， “crowded traffic” and so on.

2.2 Syntactic level

There are many kinds of errors at the syntactic level. The common mistakes caused by the influence of Chinese thinking and cultural conventions are as follows：

2.2.1 Inappropriate translation between Chinese and English

The phrase “make/let somebody do something” made up of the English make verbs “make” and “let” is often overused by Chinese students， which makes it difficult to avoid monotonous Chinese English sentence patterns. For example： This conversation let me have this opportunity to share their experience and knowledge. TV makes people have few chances to communicate with each other. And instead： this conversation allows me this opportunity to share their experience and knowledge. TV deprives people of the chance to communicate with each other is more in line with the English expression habits， but also makes the sentences more concise and lively.

2.3 Discourse level

Due to the influence of Chinese thinking， Chinese students have little awareness of paragraph topics， sentence sentences， and argument sentences. The same reason also caused students to lack the logic of argumentation in writing. Western thinking attaches importance to the factual basis， data， and the argumentative power of the example. The proof of the topic must be linked together to form a complete and consistent evidence chain. Chinese students are often used to subjective reasoning， language explanation， and lack of necessary facts and examples.

3. The countermeasures for English majors writing

The occurrence and existence of Chinglish is very normal， reflecting the inevitable laws of second language acquisition.

3.1 Enlargement of reading

Expanding reading and enhancing the influence of English language environment cultivate the English thinking mode and overcome the interference from the mother tongue， a large amount of English input is indispensable. For Chinese students， lack of English language environment， reading is the best way to input language.

3.2 Improving the way of writing practice

Writing as an important output skill must be improved through a great deal of time practice and repetition. Practice training， which requires us to design writing exercises more reasonable and refined. The subject of writing practice should be novel， able to keep up with the times， keep up with the current social hot spots， and the speed of information dissemination. It should be based on interesting practical topics in students social life. This will not only inspire students enthusiasm for writing， but also inspired students to think deeply and independently about real problems and social phenomena， and cultivate their logical thinking ability and ability to solve problems.

4. Conclusion

In short， to overcome the Chinglishs barrier in English writing， we have some ways to solve. On the one hand， we must pay attention to English language-based learning and give full play to the influence of the English environment. On the other hand， teacher should encourage the independence of students. Divergent and in-depth thinking issues can help students to develop their ability to solve problems， to form a complete and reasonable logical thinking system. This is an indispensable process for students of English majors in English writing and improving their comprehensive English proficiency.