The New English.
Oxford English, American English, European business English and now the birth of Chinese English. Language purist all over the world worry about the development or rather downfall of their languages. Probably fed by the speed and unlimited distance of internet and the way of communicating; not by spoken word but by typing which needs a more efficient way of using language.
Oxford English, American English, European business English and now the birth of Chinese English. Language purist all over the world worry about the development or rather downfall of their languages. Probably fed by the speed and unlimited distance of internet and the way of communicating; not by spoken word but by typing which needs a more efficient way of using language.
The result is both rather confusing and funny sometimes:
In a hotel in Ningbo on the East Coast of China I am welcomed on my hotel room with the rather puzzling text on my TV screen “The Fubong Hotel welcomes you to the arrival”. I assume it is meant to be friendly and meant to wish me a warm welcome in a good Chinese tradition but I guess it is closer to Chinese than to English.
Another sentence which kept me busy for a while was on a pack of cookies I received on an inland flight; “Welcome you to fly the flightnumber” it said. Really, till this day I have no clue to whatever the author of the text meant. Maybe even more puzzling however is that within this cookie company there was obviously nobody who questioned this sentence.
One sentence, this time spoken, not written, made me burst out in laughs: When arriving In a hotel I was welcomed with the words “Please wait a second minute sir”. It took me and my companion 5 minutes before we could speak any language properly again.
Column: Economic growth in China
“China is a sleeping Giant” Napoleon said already ages ago. It is...
>> Read more
