ATentativeStudyoftheCausesofChinglishanditsSolutions

1、A Tentative Study of the Causes of Chinglish and itsSolutionsACKNOWLEDGMENTSI am extremely grateful to Lu Yanfang my tutor who revised my opening report elaborately and offered incisive suggestions on my drafts I could not have produced this thesis without her helpI also want to give thanks to my fr

2、iend Zhang Tian who wrote thesis with me in our dormitory We always helped each other on different aspects about writing thesis His accompany and help encouraged me to finish this thesis precisely and on timeI give particular thanks to those e-friends who kindly provided information and materials wh

3、ich were used as reference in this study Without their help this thesis wouldnt have been able to be finishedMy sincere gratitude also goes to all my teachers who have given me excellent lectures and great help during these four years learning Their hard work is indispensable to the completion of th

4、esisFinally I would like to express my appreciation to all the writers whose works have been referred to in this thesis摘要 當(dāng)代中國(guó)越來(lái)越多的人投入到學(xué)英語(yǔ)的熱潮中來(lái)然而由于受到中國(guó)文化和 漢語(yǔ)思維方式的雙重影響中國(guó)人在英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程中創(chuàng)造出了大量的漢式英語(yǔ)雖 然已有大量關(guān)于漢式英語(yǔ)的研究但是仍然存在著對(duì)漢式英語(yǔ)定義不清和成因分 析不明等問(wèn)題本文提供了大量漢式英語(yǔ)實(shí)例來(lái)呈現(xiàn)漢式英語(yǔ)的特點(diǎn)并在理論和 社會(huì)實(shí)際兩方面闡明漢式英語(yǔ)產(chǎn)生的原因在文章的結(jié)尾作者提供了幾點(diǎn)關(guān)于糾 正漢式英語(yǔ)

5、的建議來(lái)幫助英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者擺脫漢式英語(yǔ)的困擾關(guān)鍵詞漢式英語(yǔ)漢語(yǔ)思維方式英語(yǔ)初學(xué)者成因解決方案ABSTRACTMore and more people are learning English in China however under the influence of Chinese culture and thinking patterns Chinese people produce a large amount of Chinglish Though much research has been done in this field the definition and causes of

6、 it are still not clear This paper offers examples of Chinglish to give a clear description of the features of Chinglish and analyzes the causes of Chinglish from both academic and practical aspect Finally effective methods are proposed to help the English beginners get rid of the obstacles of Ching

7、lishKey words Chinglish Chinese way of thinking English beginners causes solutionsCONTENTS0Introduction11 Naissance and Features of Chinglish111 Naissance of Chinglish112 Features of Chinglish1121 Chinglish in pronunciation1122 Chinglish in words and phrases3123 Chinglish in sentence orders6124 Chin

8、glish in paragraph organization72 Causes of Chinglish721 The subjective aspects7211 The influence from Chinese way of thinking8212 The limitations of English learning levels8213 The confusion between Chinglish and China English8214 The creation of Chinglish for amusement1022 The objective aspects112

9、21 The big difference between Chinese and western society11222 The language environment of China13223 The education system13224 The improper use of on-line translators133 Suggested Solutions1331 Watch more English movies and TV drama programs1432 Adapt good ways in using dictionaries1433 Do more rea

10、ding speaking and writing practice1434 Learn more about western culture154 Conclusion15Works Cited170 IntroductionLearning a foreign language by no means would be affected by native culture and way of thinking It would be worse for the Chinese students because Chinese society and western society are

11、 extremely different from each other Chinglish is perhaps the biggest problem for the Chinese students in learning English The study of the causes of Chinglish and its solutions will contribute to the study of second language acquisition and help the Englishbeginners get rid of Chinglish With a bett

12、er understanding of Chinglish features and its causes English beginners will adjust their learning methods and adapt themselves to better ways of learning it What is Chinglish What are the features of Chinglish What makes Chinglish come into being What can we do about Chinglish These are the questio

13、ns we will discuss in this paper1 Naissance and Features of Chinglish11 Naissance of ChinglishUnlike American English one of the English varieties Chinese has been used by Chinese people for about five thousand years It has formed its own structural and grammatical system and influenced its users by

14、 Chinese way of thinking deeply Following the worldwide intercommunion millions of Chinese start to learn English since in middle school Now primary school students have English classes too However our deep rooted way of thinking is a stubborn block on the way of learning a foreign language which is

15、 extremely true in learning English whose cultural background greatly differs from Chinese As a result a kind of English with Chinese thinking patterns and English forms comes into being12 Features of ChinglishIf we listen to Chinese students speaking English or observe their attempt to write Englis

16、h we would soon notice that errors of pronunciation spelling grammar and vocabulary are likely to occurA relatively large percentage of errors are directly related to the learners mother tongue121 Chinglish in pronunciationWe always feel uncomfortable when we listen to the pronunciation of students

17、even English majors To sum up the reasons can be classified into three aspects speaking English with local accent stress in wrong places and difficulty in pronouncing particular soundsLocal accents play an important part not only when Chinese people speak Putonghua but also when they speak English A

18、ccording to the characteristics and the survey results of Chinese dialects modern Chinese can be divided into seven major dialects Northern Dialect Wu Dialect Hakka Dialects Min Dialect Cantonese Hunan Dialect and Gan Dialect Learning to speak Putonghua will contribute to better communication betwee

19、n different parts of the country but local accents often get involved Like speaking Putonghua people from different parts of China speak English with accents more or lessUnlike Chinese English has stress both in words and in sentences Word stress is the magic key to understanding spoken English Nati

20、ve speakers of English use word stress naturally Word stress is so natural for them that they dont even know they use it Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers without using word stress encounter two problems they find it difficult to understand native speakers especially those spe

21、aking fast and the native speakers may find it difficult to understand them Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or beat Word stress is accent on one syllable within a word Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentenceIn English people do not pronounce each syllable with t

22、he same force or strength In one word they accentuate one syllable They pronounce one syllable very loudly and all the other syllables very quietly While in Chinese every character has one tone so it is not easy to weaken it In multi-syllable characters stress is always over used and it is also true

23、 when Chinese students speak English He Shanfen 65-66Due to the physical defects or long-term habits people in particular areas have some problems in pronunciation Take Shandong Province for example People in Qingzhou always mistakenly pronounce r with l which causes a lot of misunderstandings Room

24、is pronounced to lum and road ld and s were two consonants difficult for the people in Jining The pronunciations of Chinese 4 and 10 are always the big block for communication Due to the lack ofi na nPdin yin theyare like to be replaced by s and z So Chinese students always pronounce thank with sk a

25、nd then zen122 Chinglish in words and phrasesIn this part several examples are used to give the reader a clear view of the features of Chinglish Most of them presented here are taken from published materials such as the model essays of TEM4 CET4 and CET6As Joan Pinkham pointed out in her work The Tr

26、anslators Guide to Chinglish All authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writing is concise Careful writers say what they mean in as few words as possible 1 A classic statement of this percept goes like this Vigorous writing is concise A sentence should contain no unnecessary words

27、 a paragraph no unnecessary sentences for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts Strunk and White 23 However Chinese students tend to write as many words as possible in compositions to reach the required length so their works are commonly f

28、ull of unnecessary wordsAmong all the unnecessary words unnecessary nouns are the commonest Here are a few examples A suggested revisions B and comments in parenthesisA Many people prefer to drive their cars to work becauset hey think cars are quicker and more convenientB Many people prefer to drive

29、 cars to work because they think it is quicker and more convenientTheir is unnecessary because theres no need to state whose cars they drive and it is impossible to drive others cars to work every day Cars cannot be quicker than bikes only when they are used by human so cars should be replaced by it

30、 which is standing for driving carsA I believe with quick safe and easy accesst o their destinations many people may turn to public transport and give up the idea of using their own carsB I believe with quick safe and easy access to their destinations many people will give up driving private carsTur

31、n to public transport and give up the idea of using their own cars are two aspects of one thing so may turn to public transport can be removed Give up driving private cars is the reflection of the idea which can be eliminated Driving private cars is apparently better than using their own carsA Its v

32、ery common to meet a stranger when we are onlineB Its very common to meet a stranger onlineThe adverb meaning of online can do the same job of when we are online so online is preferredA True friendship should be able to stand all kinds of testsB True friendship should stand all kinds of testsBe able

33、 to is usually favored by Chinese students to replace can in order to lengthen the paragraph Such phrases are first of all a large number of there is no denying that and the last but not the leastA I strongly believe that this is not the sort of knowledge students need to learn in the classroomB I s

34、trongly believe that this is not what students need to learn at schoolThe objective clause led by what is more concise than the attributive clause with a long antecedent In the classroom does not the meaning of in classA Students need to know and understand these phrases and expressions but never us

35、e themB Students need to know these phrases and expressions but never use themKnow means to have understanding of something so understand is redundanthereA Instead of isolating us from one another it serves to shorten or eliminate the distance between us and brings friends closerB Instead of isolati

36、ng us it eliminates the distance between us and brings friends closerAlthough isolate from one another is a fixed collection without from one another the meaning is still completed Serves to shorten or is redundant eliminate can do the job aloneFive more examples and suggested revisionsA It is widel

37、y believed that competition and cooperation are in opposition to each otherB It is widely believed that competition is oppose to cooperationA In many cases people need to cooperate with each other to overcome difficultiesB In many cases people need cooperation to overcome difficultiesA The pressure

38、of competition can force people to try their best and give people a sense of the pursuit of excellenceB The pressure of competition can force people to try their best and to pursue excellenceA Having a respect for other cultures is an effective way to promote international communicationB Respecting

39、other cultures promote international communication effectivelyChinese students are inclined to repeat words in English writing while some repetitions maybe redundant to some extent The repetition can be classified into three levels repeating same word repeating different words of same meaning and re

40、peating same meaning Here are three examples for these three conditionsA If students feel curious about it the teacher should provide some information and help students understand itB If students feel curious about it the teacher should provide some information to help themPronouns should be used to

41、 replace the noun occurred for the second time The teacher helps the students understand what they feel curious about so theres no need to say understand itA The private motor vehicle has given people a freedom to travel freely swiftly and comfortably in the worldB The private motor vehicle has enab

42、led people to travel freely swiftly and comfortablyThe meaning free is stated twice so one must be removed In the world is understoodA A non-native teacher usually knows better how to deal with their students learning problems and thus can provide useful suggestions in learningB Non-native teachers

43、usually know better in dealing with their students learning problemsDealing with students learning problems contains providing usefulsuggestions in learning so the latter can be left outMany English beginners have a limited vocabulary they usually express different meanings with the word they have l

44、earnt in all circumstances When a Chinese primary student learns the word look and connects its meaning to the Chinese character 看 he will put look into all kinds of visual actions such as look doctor see a doctor look movie watch a movie look book read a book and look door guard the entrance This i

45、s just an extreme case but it is also true in other circumstances Here are two more complex examplesA They pollute the air and cause road congestionB They pollute the air and cause traffic congestionroad is used to refer to an open generally public way for the passage of vehicles people and animals

46、while traffic means the passage of people or vehicles along routes of transportation Traffic congestion traffic jam and traffic problems are mostly usedA In short a harmonious dormitory life depends on the cooperation of all room membersB In short a happy dormitory life depends on the cooperation of

47、 all roommatesHarmonious is a little big for dormitory life happy is much better Roommate means a person with whom one shares a room or rooms while member refers to one that belongs to a group or an organization123 Chinglish in sentence ordersMany Chinese students especially the English beginners us

48、ually write or speak English with Chinese orders Sometimes the meaning would be just the other way aroundA It is the teacher who should help pupils be aware of the fact that the use of swear words is usually considered as more inappropriate when used by foreignersB It is the teacher who should remin

49、d pupils that it is extremely inappropriate for the foreigner to use swear wordsIn sentence A the order is too complex and difficult to follow To avoid it prepositions are usually usedA I believe its better to just tell them what they meanB I believe its better to tell them just what they meanSenten

50、ce A follows the Chinese constituent order but it means differently from what the writer intended to say124 Chinglish in paragraph organizationEnglish passages begin with a topic paragraph which is the main idea of the whole passage then in the following paragraphs detailed information is used to su

51、pport it And every paragraph begins with a topic sentence which is the main idea of the whole paragraph then the following sentences are written to support it Like this readers can understand the passage by paying attention to the first paragraph and the first sentence of each paragraph However Chin

52、ese students writings usually lack these features thus making them friable illogical incoherent and difficult to understandDifferent from Chinese English is a highly hypotactic language where connectives are essential in building a well organized paragraph Adverbs prepositions and conjunctions are c

53、ommonly used to connect different elements in English Although Chinese students tried to use connections to build long sentences they still cannot handle it flexibly The simple sentences connected by and are frequently used by Chinese students2 Causes of ChinglishChinglish is a mixture of two differ

54、ent languages based on two dissimilar societies where people think diversely and have widely different history to trace to The openness of Chinese society the educational system and the language environment in China also contribute to the emergency of Chinglish It is easy to see that Chinglish comes

55、 into being with various reasons They can be classified into two categories the subjective aspect and the objective aspect21 The subjective aspectsBefore Chinese start learning English at school they have been holding Chinese way of thinking for about a decade So Chinese students easily pattern Chin

56、ese in their English learning process Apart from the influence of Chinese way of thinking there are some other factors that affect the English acquisition for example the limitations of English learning levels More detailed analysis is laid out in the following paragraphs211 The influence from Chine

57、se way of thinkingUnder the influence of its location ideology and culture a nations thinking pattern is built gradually Tracing the difference between Chinese thinking pattern and Western thinking pattern natural environments and locations are of great importanceEnglish antecedents lived on an isla

58、nd where they suffered from the cruel and fierce environment and formed an ability to transform the world with an objective and rational attitude The geographical environment gave them expansive and adventurous characters They think nation opposes to human society and human beings are born to know a

59、nd to rule the world Compared with open marine-based natural environment China was a farming society in a closed continent-based environment Ancient Chinese relied on earth deeply no matter what they get from it bestows or natural disasters They gradually realized that man and nature are interrelate

60、d interdependent and correspond to each other The harmony between man and nature was highlighted and became Chinese basic thinking patternWhen Chinese begin to learn English they have already had Chinese pattern of thinking English is attached to the body of Chinese and is affected by Chinese langua