从公式语看中式英语的成因【毕业论文】.doc

1、 本科毕业论文 （ 20 届） 英语 从公式语看中式英语的成因 An Analysis of the Reasons of Chinglish in Public Signs 诚 信 声 明 我声明，所呈交的论文 (设计 )是本人在老师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。据我查证，除了文中特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，论文 (设计 )中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包含为获得 或其他教育机构的学位或证书而使用过的材料。我承诺，论文 (设计 )中的所有内容均真实、可信。 论文 (设计 )作者签名： 签名日期： 年 月 日 授 权 声 明 学校有权保留送交论文（设计）的原件，允许论文

2、（设计）被查阅和借阅，学校可以公布论文（设计）的全部或部分内容，可以影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文（设计），学校必须严格按照授权对论文 (设计 )进行处理，不得超越授权对论文（设计）进行任意处置。 论文 (设计 )作者签名： 签名日期： 年 月 日 摘要 中式英语，是一个热门的词汇，指不合英语规范或不 合英语文化习惯的具有中国特色的畸形英语。该现象在很多领域都有出现，如口头交际，学生的作文，文章的译文，公共标识牌的翻译等。 中式英语影响国家的形象，其现象不容忽视。本文首先阐述了中式英语的概念及其与中国英语的区别，并且罗列了公共标识语里中式英语的类型。然后 本文拟从影响因素角度，分析公共标识语

3、中中式英语产生的原因，其中影响因素将从汉语负迁移和已经习得的有关英语方面知识的影响入手。最后，本文也对如何避免中式英语提出了几点建议。 关键词： 中式英语；公共标识语；汉语负迁移；二语习得 Abstract Chinglish, a hot word, refers to those English which is not in conformity with the laws and customs of English ways of thinking but with Chinese characteristics. It appears in many areas, such as

4、oral communication, students composition, the translation of an article or a sign and so on. Chinglish in the bilingual public signs cannot be ignored for it is related with the image of a country. In this thesis, the author first defines Chinglish, states the differences between Chinglish and China

5、 English for a better understanding of Chinglish, and lists the types of Chinglish in the translation of public signs and illustrates them by citing several examples. Then, the author tries to analysis the reason of Chinglish appearing in public signs from the point of influencing factors. The influ

6、encing factors are discussed from two points which are the negative transfer of Chinese and the already acquired knowledge of English. Finally, there are also some suggestions on how to avoid Chinglish. Key Word: Chinglish; public signs; negative transfer of Chinese; the acquisition of a second lang

7、uage Contents 1. Introduction . 1 2. Chinglish and China English . 1 2.1. The definition of Chinglish . 1 2.2. The differences between Chinglish and China English . 1 3. Chinglish in Public Signs . 2 3.1. The definition of public signs . 2 3.2. The types of Chinglish in public signs . 3 3.2.1. Ching

8、lish expressions on lexical level . 3 3.2.2. Chinglish expressions on grammar level . 4 3.2.3. Chinglish expressions on cultural level . 5 4. The Reasons for the Occurance of Chinglish in Public Signs. 6 4.1. The influence of negative transfer of Chinese . 6 4.1.1. Negative transfer of morphology of

9、 nouns . 7 4.1.2. Negative transfer of Chinese structures . 7 4.2. The influence of acquired knowledge of English. . 8 5. The Suggestions on Avoiding Chinglish . 9 6. Conclusion . 10 Bibliography.11 Acknowledgements . 12 1 1. Introduction With the globalization of English, bilingual public signs, as

10、 a window to show China itself, begin to attract more and more attention. There are a lot of cooperation between China and other countries since Chinas opening to the world. Therefore, there are many more bilingual public signs in public places in a city. Public signs provide a way for foreigners to

11、 get to know China. The translation of public signs somehow has a certain practical significance for they are related to the establishment of an international language environment. Though many of the translations have been standardized, still many problems exist as the levels of tanslators vary from

12、 place to place. There are problems like the mistranslations, mechanical translations, unidiomatic translations, redundant translations, Chinglish and so on. Among all the listed errors, Chinglish is a main error which has aroused much concern from the public. 2. Chinglish and China English 2.1. The

13、 definition of Chinglish The word Chinglish, is a blending word of two words-Chinese and English. It is also known as “Sinicized English”. Influenced by Chinese ways of thinking and the culture-related background, English learners in China tend to apply the language rules and habits of their mother

14、tongue to their study, communication and daily use. The Dictionary of Translation Studies defines “Chinese English” as oral or written expression of non-native English, not in conformity with the laws and customs of English ways of thinking. The selction of words and the way of expression are featur

15、ed with Chinese characteristics. That is to say, Chinglish is the misshapened, hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but described as English with Chinese characteristics (quoted from Li Shumin, 2005:4). It is said to be the mechanical translation, word for word translation. To put it

16、simply, Chinglish is not authentic. It is not up to the standard English, and sometimes obscure. Two instances are listed here to help us understand the term better: 好好学习，天天向上 good good study, day day up. 咱俩谁跟谁啊 We two who and who? 2.2. Chinglish and China English Both Chinglish and China English ca

17、n be regarded as a kind of English with Chinese characteristics. Before we list the differences of the two, let us first come to the 2 definition of China English. China English has standard English as its core and is used to express the things and phenomena unique to China as a variant of English.

18、It is a kind of English combined with Chinas unique combination of social and cultural features. China English includes unique vocabulary, sentence typecognitive style and the way passages are formed. Here are some typical examples which allow us a better understanding of China English: 科学发展观 Scient

19、ific Outlook on Development, 与时俱进 advance with the times, 台风 typhoon, 饺子 jiaozi, 呕心沥血 work ones heart out, 小康水平 fairly comfortable standard of living. The main differences of the two lie in the fact that whether they are standard, whether they conform to the idiomatic expression, and whether they ca

20、n be accepted by English-speaking countries. We can put it in specific ways as follows: From the point of formation: Chinglish is formed from pidgin which is originated from 18th century. It is an imperative stage for a second language learners and users. However, the occurring of China English is n

21、ot accidental for English has become urbanized as it is globalizing. The urbanization of English means that English learners integrate English with Chinese ways of thinking and Chinese culture. During the process of learning and adapting, Chinas distinguished vocabulary has been created. From the po

22、int of nature: Chinglish is a kind of the pragmatic failures in the course of learning. China English can be treated as standard English on the whole, for it has a positive effect on the international cultural exchange. From the point of acceptability: Chinglish, to the native speakers of English, i

23、s incomprehensible and unacceptable for it is not standard. The better the English text is accepted, the more standardized it is, thus it can be regarded as China English. Otherwise it is often seen as Chinglish. In the sense of it, Chinglish may develop into China English due to the deeper access t

24、o English, educators efforts and the governments concern. 3. Chinglish in Public Signs 3.1. The definition of public signs Public signs, also known as road signs, shop signs, the language of publicity, the brief introduction of Places of Interest and so on, have social communicative functions. In Lo

25、ngman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a sign refers to a piece of paper or metal in a public place, with words or drawings on it that give people information, warn them not to do something etc. Public signs play an important role in modern 3 China and their translation constitutes an indispensab

26、le part of international communication. Whether or not their translation is idiomatic or effective concerns the effect of international communications The standardization of public signs can largely affect a citys image as well as a countrys. Thus the necessity and significance of the quality of pub

27、lic signs translation can not be neglected. 3.2. The types of Chinglish in public signs An obvious form of Chinglish expression is the existence of direct translation, which is a word-to-word or phrase-to-phrase translation of the Chinese version. Then how about Chinglish in public signs? We can sum

28、marize the types as follows: 3.1.1. Chinglish expressions on lexical level 1. Wrong allocation of words The concept of allocation was first put forward by R. Firth in 1957. It refers to usual and typical environment in which a word is used. It is a repeated co-occurrence of two or more words under a

29、 grammatical form, especially nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (quoted from Pu Jianzhong, 2003:443). And as Lu Guoqiang define “allocation” in his book Modern English Lexicology as the syntagmatic relationship among words, which is the collocation use of words. During our learning of English, we

30、 come across the allocations between subjects and predicates, linking verbs and adjectives, attributes and nouns, verbs and objectives, and such kind of allocations. It is between a verb and an object that the most errors lies in when translating the public signs. Chinglish can be easily found if we

31、 apply the Chinese allocation and structure to the English version directly. For example, (1)乘船向前 25 米 Boat forward 25 meters The word “forward” means “向前” only when it is an adverb. That is to say “forward” (as an adverb) and “向前” coexist. However the word “forward” is obviously a verb in the Engli

32、sh version. Therefore, there is something missing in the co-occurrence with “forward”, and something is wrong with its allocation in the translation. The translators simply reflected one of the Chinese meaning of “forward”“ 向前” in the translation, but missed its allocation. Thats how Chinglish appea

33、rs. The proper translation should be “Boarding at 25 meters ahead.” (2)开车前 5 分钟停止检票 Check in Stops 5 minutes Before Train Departure (example quoted from Wang Yin, Lv Hefa, Chinese-English Translation of Signs) The phrase “check in” is often used to announce ones arrival at hotels or airports. In oth

34、er words, it goes with “airport” or “hotel”. “check in”, “airport” or “hotel” form the 4 co-occurrence environment together. When there is something different in the co-occurrence environment, mistakes are easily made. The proper translation of this Chinese version should be “ Gates Close 5 Minutes

35、before Departure.” 2. Lexical redundancy Another level of Chinglish is the lexical redundancy, ie the redundancy of words. As William Strunk and E.B.White(1979:23, quoted from Zheng Dawei, 2007:455) said :Vigorous writing is concise A sentence should contain no unnecessary words， a paragraph no unne

36、cessary sentences， for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. In the phenomenon of words redundancy, verbiage can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb and so on. For instance, (3)票价 Ticket Price The verbiage is the word “price”. The “Ticket

37、Price” means the value of a ticket, but not merely means the price. We can just put it as “Ticket”. 3. Improper words Some English words may have the same corresponding meaning when translated into Chinese. From the point of their Chinese meaning, there seems to be so little difference that we can h

38、ardly separate them from each other. Thus improper words may be used in translating the English version into Chinese. For example, (4)发生 火险时 ， 请按下 When Fire Occurs, Click The translation seems to be a proper one for it follows the origin pattern of the Chinese version. However, the word “click” mean

39、s “to move or strike with a noise”. Though it seems close to “按” , it is not a proper English word for “按” . “Click” does not work for the fire alarm. We would likely to say “Press the Alarm during Fire”. (5) 临时休息 Interim Place This sign can be found in a hotel. Looking up in the dictionary, we can

40、see that the word “interim” do have the meaning of “临时的” , which is close to the meaning of “过渡期 (transitional period)” . It is often used in the phrases like “interim government”, “interim leaders”. From the sense of it, “interim” is not a proper word. However, the more proper translation is “Hourly Room”. 3.2.2. Grammar level There are some differences in grammar between the two languages. Firstly, there is something different in nouns. In English, nouns can be singular or plural while it is not