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在各个英语学习论坛上，经常可以看到有关Chinglish（中式英语）的文章，但一般都是中国人写的。不过我看到一篇长文，也是有关Chinglish的，但却是美国人写的，很有意思。这篇长文的标题是Chinglish 2 English（从中式英语到标准英语），作者是浙江大学的美国外教Chuck Allanson，内容则是Chuck在中国五年任教期间所听到、所看到的各种Chinglish说法。 比如Chuck第一次来中国，下飞机后，负责接待他的东北某大学英语系陈老师说：您刚到，我们吃点饭吧。我们要点Chinese dumpling（饺子）和Chinese beancurd（豆腐），您看可以吗？Chuck以前从未听说过这两种东西，但出于好奇，就说可以，结果饭菜端上来一看，原来就是ravioli（饺子，来自意大利语）和tofu（豆腐，来自日语）。Chuck当时心里暗想，这两种东西，国际上早已经有通用的说法（ravioli和tofu），他们中国人为什么还要用那种生僻的说法呢？以后Chuck跟陈先生混熟了，就问他，当初你为什么不说ravioli和tofu呢？陈先生听了大吃一惊，连忙解释说，我真的不知道这两个词，而且我们的《英汉词典》上也没有这两个词。 于是Chuck开始意识到，中国的英语教师、英语课本、甚至英语词典肯定存在问题，否则不可能发生这种事情。在中国五年的任教期间，Chuck收集了大量的Chinglish说法，从中挑选出一组最常见的，编写了上面提到的那篇长文。下面就是这些Chinglish说法，其中每行第一部分是汉语说法，第二部分是Chinglish说法，第三部分则是英语的标准说法。 ① 欢迎你到... ② welcome you to ... ③ welcome to ... ① 永远记住你 ② remember you forever ③ always remember you（没有人能活到forever） ① 祝你有个... ② wish you have a ... ③ I wish you a ... ① 给你 ② give you ③ here you are ① 很喜欢... ② very like ... ③ like ... very much ① 黄头发 ② yellow hair ③ blond/blonde（西方人没有yellow hair的说法） ① 厕所 ② WC ③ men's room/women's room/restroom ① 真遗憾 ② it's a pity ③ that's too bad/it's a shame（it's a pity说法太老） ① 裤子 ② trousers ③ pants/slacks/jeans ① 修理 ② mend ③ fix/repair ① 入口 ② way in ③ entrance ① 出口 ② way out ③ exit（way out在口语中是crazy的意思） ① 勤奋 ② diligent ③ hardworking/studious/conscientious ① 应该 ② should ③ must/shall ① 火锅 ② chafing dish ③ hot pot ① 大厦 ② mansion ③ center/plaza ① 马马虎虎 ② so-so ③ average/fair/all right/not too bad/OK（西方人很少使用so-so） ① 好吃 ② delicious ③ good/nice/tasty/appetizing（delicious在中国被滥用） ① 尽我最大努力 ② try my best ③ try/strive（try的本意就是try my best） ① 有名 ② famous ③ well-known/renowned/legendary/popular（famous在中国被滥用） ① 滑稽 ② humorous ③ funny/witty/amusing/entertaining ① 欺骗 ② to cheat ③ to trick/to play a joke on/to con/to deceive/to rip off ① 车门 ② the door of the car ③ the car's door ① 怎么拼? ② how to spell? ③ how do you spell? ① 再见 ② bye-bye ③ bye/see you/see you later/later（bye-bye有些孩子气） ① 玩 ② play ③ go to/do（play在中国被滥用） ① 面条 ② noodles ③ pasta（noodles有些孩子气） ① 据说 ② it is said ③ I heard/I read/I was told ① 等等 ② and so on ③ etc. ① 直到现在 ② till now ③ recently/lately/thus far ① 农民 ② peasant ③ farmer I ' ve read a passage before, It described chinese 农民 as peasant, because chinese农民 work in poor condition.And European 农民 who work in large farm callled farmer. so I think the difference isn't the Chinglish but different political meaning In fact , some of the words on your list have different meaning! Such as peasant and farmer 前者更像是佃农，也就是没有土地的所有权。 而后者是有所有权的。 ① 宣传 ② propaganda ③ information QUOTE: 就问他，当初你为什么不说ravioli和tofu呢？陈先生听了大吃一惊，连忙解释说，我真的不知道这两个词，而且我们的《英汉词典》上也没有这两个词。 Either this post must have gone back quite a while, or Mr.Chan is quite uninformed. Tofu is in mainstream English for over a decade. Comedians used to make fun of the blend taste of tofu and dieting for quite some time. Here is a old post from the sunrain.net (the old one before this current new one.) ***There is one typo/misspelling in the message: bean curb should be bean curd. This is saved from a 专载：at http://www./data/hy02/messages/63017.html#63049 (sunrain.net bbs) From: calvin wang Date: June 28, 2002 at 1:44 pm Subject: 豆腐的故事 我曾邀请加拿大的一名教授到国内讲课，同时请了北京协和医院的一名医生做翻译。我们一起吃饭的时候，有一道菜很香，教授问是什么做的，翻译尝了一口说： "oh, it is bean curd. do you eat that in Canada?" 教授摇摇头，"no." 翻译便解释它的起源和制做方法。教授听完后 说："we eat tofu in canada which is similar to this." 翻译马上笑了："they are same, because the Chinese name of bean curd is dofu." 您读后有何感想？ ---- (in the following bean curb should be bean curd) From: ds Date: June 28, 2002 at 7:28 pm In Reply to: 豆腐的故事 This is a very interesting story. Now that you have mentioned it, I realize that it has been happening all over in North America. I do remember there was a time when tofu was indeed refer to as bean curb. In fact, I remember explaining to my colleagues what bean curb was. But what surprised me most is this professor did not know the name bean curb. No matters. I am sure if you go to a street corner in downtown "average North American big city" and do a survey as to how many people know what tofu is and how many know what bean curb is, I bet you top dollars that the majority will recognize what "tofu" is. I guess when an ethnic product becomes a generally accepted item by the population as a whole, the original name takes over. The same goes for English terms themselves. Jello, a brand name, replaces Jelly, the name of the substance. Xerox, the name of a company becomes a verb: xeroxing ( instead of photocopying.) -- From: calvin wang Date: July 01, 2002 at 02:11 am In Reply Re: 豆腐的故事 我完全同意ds. tofu及tofu一词在北美很普遍。就象由广东话的问候语“好久不见”? 演变的 "long time no see"一样，被西人接受。 由于你的惊讶我还想把我的故事的下半部讲完。由于这位教授的母语是法语。所以他不知 bean curd为何物. 他说他以为bean curd是豆和curd的混合产品或豆状的curd, something like jelly bean.因为他脑中的curd是牛奶中的凝固物，是什么奶制品。之后，我们在因特网上作了个 试验，用雅虎同时搜索bean curd 和tofu, 结果发现，bean curd的结果中几乎是中国的网站，而 tofu的结果中几乎是外国网站。 |
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