時差N小時:中式英文令老師頭痛

Local newspapers jumped on a story this week on thetopic of Chinglish. "Chinglish" is not a new word. Iheard it for the first time 30 years ago. At timesChinglish can be charming. At the wrong moment,however, Chinglish can annoy readers, andembarrass non-native English speakers.

本周，本地報紙紛紛報道了一個關(guān)于中式英文話題的故事。“中式英文”并不是新鮮的詞語。我30年前就聽說過這個詞語。有時候中式英文很迷人。然而在有些場合，中式英文惹人惱怒，并讓非英語國家的人士尷尬。

A fellow named Oliver Radtke published "Chinglish: Found in Translation" in 2007. He isparticularly interested in the Chinglish he finds on a spate of signs, menus and the like inChina. Radtke said recently that Chinglish is "so much more than just incompetent or incorrectEnglish," but communicates "a certain Chinese way of thinking," and he may be right.

2007年，一位名叫奧利弗·瑞克的人出版了一本名為《中國式英語》的圖書。他對中國的許多標志、菜單上出現(xiàn)的中式英語特別感興趣。近來瑞克說道：中式英語“不僅僅體現(xiàn)了英文水平差，使用錯誤”，更體現(xiàn)了一種“中式思維”，他也許是對的。

Many English teachers believe that Chinglish may indicate some Chinese sensitivities aboutnature or human behavior, and charm or a gentle humor may be a pleasant byproduct ofthose indications. But Chinglish can also be a kick in the pants to anyone who wants to learnEnglish well.

許多英文教師認為中式英文暗示了對自然，對人類行為的敏感性，這種暗示可能會衍生出令人愉悅的品質(zhì)，例如魅力和幽默。但對于想要學好英語的人來說，中式英語也可以是意想不到的挫折。

One of my students recently wrote: "This poem is point out that her appearance is of lookbeauty under moonlight." My student's meaning is clear. But I owe it to my students to tellthem the truth: bad English is bad English. We can all improve in our second languages, myselfincluded. We'll never do that if native speakers won't tell us when we're wrong.

我的一名學生近日寫道：“This poem is point out that her appearance is of look beauty undermoonlight.”他的意思一目了然。但我有必要告訴他：糟糕的英語就是糟糕的英語。我們都能提高自己的第二外語水平，包括我在內(nèi)。如果說母語人士不指出我們的錯誤，我們永遠不會取得進步。