Differing view from Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao.
Many thanks, Yang Yongxin (杨永欣), for taking the time to comment on the Chinglish phenomenon in today's Lianhe Zaobao. I quote:在我看来，中国式英文展现的并不是中国人的创意，更不是什么文化宝物，而是一些中国人不认真的工作态度，因此中国式英文的风气不能助长。(In my opinion, Chinglish isn't about Chinese creativity, even less about being a cultural treasure, it's about a lack of serious working attitude with some Chinese, therefore the common practice of Chinglish mustn't be fostered; my translation)"a lack of serious working attitude", all granted, many examples prove that point. My point, however, is much more the lifelessness of most so-called standard translations, to challenge the notion of standard-English, who defines it, the intended or unintended ingenuity of some of the translations, the necessity to keep the Chineseness of the original content etc. Languages are inevitably changing, English has proven to be one of the most flexible idioms and Chinglish is already an inseparable part of it.
30 year-old Yang Yongxin who studied in the US and the UK should know that first hand. Since he's working as Zaobao's correspondent in Guangzhou I am looking forward to his personal contributions.
posted by olr — 纪韶融 @ 4/16/2009
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