Westernised Chinese language

Common Chinese-language errors by non-native learners of Chinese (sometimes called Westernised Chinese (Chinese: 西式中文)), usually refers to a pattern of written or spoken Chinese language, characterised by the significant influence from European languages, with regards to grammar, vocabulary, syntax and word order. Influences from English are particularly noticeable, especially in translations of literary works and documents in English. Westernised Chinese lacks the characteristics of traditional Chinese writing, and sometimes poses reading or understanding difficulties to readers because of its awkwardness and/or wordiness. It is probable that most Westernized Chinese translations are a very direct translation from English into Chinese by native Chinese speakers, given the virtually non-existent demand for native English speakers to perform written translation into Chinese. In the first half of the 20th century, Lu Xun advocated that translations of Western works into Chinese closely follow the Western structure, but Lu Xun's arguments failed to be persuasive, and translators subsequently used a more natural translation style from English to Chinese.

In Taiwan, another symptom is sentence prolonging. A possible source is Japanese working class greeting phrases, where longer sentences equate to more polite. In addition, the Taiwan restaurant industry has been heavily influenced by Japanese counterpart, combined with more demanding 'service attitude' has deepened the belief of long sentences mean politeness.^[1] However, longer sentences take more time to read and response, which can have the opposite effect of the 'politeness' attempt.^[2] In addition, Japanese customers value convenience stores with shorter greetings.^[3]

Examples

• Abstract nouns as subject. e.g.:
  • "The decline in his income has led to changes in his lifestyle."
  • "他的收入的减少改变了他的生活方式。" (他的收入的減少改變了他的生活方式。)
  • (he NOM income NOM decline change PERF he NOM life style.)
  • Better translation: "他因收入减少而改变生活方式。" (他因收入減少而改變生活方式。) (lit. he because [of] income declines, CONJ change life style.)
• Overuse of abstract verbs. e.g.:
  • "Audience responded very enthusiastically to the visiting professor."
  • "听众对访问教授作出了十分热烈的反应。" (聼衆對訪問教授做出了十分熱烈的反應)
  • (audience to visiting professor make PERF very enthusiastic response.)
  • Better translation: "听众对访问教授反应十分热烈。" (聼眾對訪問教授反應十分熱烈) (lit. audience to visiting professor respond very enthusiastically.)
• Overuse of "a/an" (一). e.g.:
  • "He is a good man."
  • "他是一个好人。" (他是一個好人)
  • (he is one-CL good person.)
  • Better translation: "他是好人。" (lit. he is good person.)
• Overuse of the subordinating particle "的" (NOM). In Chinese language, adjective words placed immediately ahead of noun words do not require '的'. e.g.
  • 'White duck', 'deep water'
  • '白色的鸭', '深深的水'
  • Better translation: '白鸭' ('白' is already used as a colour name, so '色' can be eliminated), '深水' (the second '深' is not necessary, unless it is used as emphasis, which would require '的' after the second '深')
• Overuse of nouns or gerunds when verb-based phrases are simpler.^[4][5] e.g.:
  • 做一個處理的動作 (performs a processing activity)
  • Better translation: 處理一下/一次 (processes once) ('處理' is already a verb)
  • 'He is reading.'
  • '他進行閱讀的動作。'
  • Better translation: '他正在閱讀。'
• Overuse of the passive voice (被动句/被動句).
  • In Chinese, it is also associated with negative connotations. e.g.:
    • "He is called ..."
    • "他被称为…"
    • (he COVERB call (to-)be...)
    • Better translation: "他叫…" (lit. he calls)
  • In Chinese, it is more often to use active phrase except in journals where objectivity is expected. e.g.:^[6]
    • 'For the questionnaire portion, please help us to fill it.'
    • '問卷的部份請幫我們做一個填寫。'
    • Better translation: '請幫我們填寫問卷的部份。' (Please help us fill in the questionnaire portion.)
• Overuse of adpositions such as "关于" (about).
• Semantic overlap.
  • 'Male adult'
  • '雄性男人'
  • Better translation: '男人' ('男' already implies '雄性' (male))
• Overuse of "性" (-ity, lit. property).
• Overuse of group suffix '們'.
  • In Chinese, explicit group suffix is not used if number of members in a group is stated. e.g.:
    • 'Three oranges'
    • '三個橙們'
    • Better translation: '三個橙' (Three (units of)/individual oranges. The classifier '個' must be added between number and the base noun.)
  • If number is not stated in second base noun, but if a number is already applied to first noun, and the first noun is used to describe the second noun, '們' is not used. e.g.:
    • 'Two boxes of oranges'
    • '二盒橙們'
    • Better translation: '二盒橙'
  • Certain alternate group words can be used without altering meaning depending on context. e.g.:
    • 'Everyone'
    • Proper translation: '各位', '諸位' (In both English and Chinese, the words apply to singular and plural audiences.)
    • '諸', '等', '眾', '群' are also applicable to groups.

See also

• Chinglish

References