老外博客文章：我在中国丢失了母语

我在中国已经生活了很长一段时间了……长得足以让我发现，我母语（英语）的各种能力都发生了退化。我那些以英语为母语的同伴们也发生了同样的情况。这种退化可表现为各种形式，其中之一就是英语词汇的总体衰退。前几天我想说“deport”（驱逐出境），结果却说出了“export”（出口），真可悲呀！发生这种情况的主要原因是，无论是与媒体还是与普通人交往中，都缺乏“原生态英语”环境。只要母语得不到足够多的运用，这种情况就会发生在任何国家和说任何语言的人身上。

这里我想谈的是一种更可怕的情况——英语的中国化。如果你母语是英语而且生活在中国，没准你已经成为受害者了。下面列举一下汉语环境“毁灭”英语母语语言能力的几种常见方式：

1、Net bar：汉语中的“网吧”，英语通常叫“internet café”，但在中国被译为“net bar”。很多生活在中国的粗心老外已经习惯了这种译法。

2、Name card：在英语国家，在商务会谈的场合，生意人相互交换特别印制的小张纸片叫“business card”。而在中国，人人都叫它“name card”。这恐怕是因为汉语称之为 “名片”。生活在中国的在和中国人做生意时，他们似乎立刻忘了地地道道的“business card”。

3、House：大多数中国人都住在单元住宅楼里，他们将这称为“家”（home）。中国人所说的买“房子”指的是套房，英语中叫做“condo”（分户出售公寓大厦）。此外，在中国，“房子”经常被翻译成“house”，但实际上它在英语中叫“apartment”或“condo”。只有富人拥有可以称得上是“house”的房子，这也就是中国人口中的“别墅”。

这样的例子还多得很。如果你的母语是英语，在中国住了一段时间并发现自己已经开始使用以上这些中式英语，那么你的处境就很危险了。回到你自己的祖国，你就可能“洋相”百出。

以下是原文

How China Destroys Your English

I’ve been living in China a while now… long enough to observe the long-term deterioration of my own native language abilities, as well as those of my fellow English speakers. This deterioration can take different forms, one of which is a general decay of one’s vocabulary. Although it is a very real phenomenon (the other day I used “export” when I meant to use “deport,” which is really kind of pathetic), this kind of loss of mastery is due to lack of exposure, whether it be through media or human interaction with other native speakers. It would happen in any country, to speakers of any language, given that one’s native language is not being sufficiently exercised.

What I’d like to talk about is a much more insidious form of linguistic deterioration. Its source is, specifically, Chinese culture, and its target is English speakers. If you are a native speaker of English living in China, you may have already fallen victim. Below I give some of the common ways that the Chinese environment strikes down the native speaker’s linguistic competence.

Net bar. In Chinese, they’re called 网吧. This is fine. We generally call them “internet cafes” in English. The Chinese seem to think that 网吧 should be translated as “net bar” in English,and many unwary foreigners haver even been beguiled by this idea. For English teachers, it’s usually one of the first nonstandard usage to creep in.

Name card. In the English-speaking world, business people have lots of business meetings to discuss business. On these occasions of business, said business people exchange specially printed pieces of paper known as business cards. In China everyone calls them “name cards”, ostensibly because in Chinese they are called 名片 and “name card” is a more direct translation. The use of “name card” is very widespread among foreigners living in China. In doing business with the Chinese, they seem to forget the word “business card” extremely quickly.

House. Most Chinese people live in apartments. They refer to these as their 家(homes). When they purchase these apartments(OK, technically, they should be called “condos” at this point, but these Chinese domiciles doesn’t really conform to any image of “condo” I’ve ever had), they say they are buying a 房子. This word is frequently translated as “house”, but in practice it, too, is just another apartment/condo. Only the wealthy own what one could really call a “house”, and they are called 别墅 by the Chinese. Yet we foreigners in China still find ourselves referring to Chinese apartments as a “house”. I might refer to “your house” when I really mean “your apartment”. It’s totally not a house, and it’s honestly kind of embarrassing.

Bean curd. It’s called “tofu,” OK? This English word comes from Chinese (by way of Japanese). I know all dictionaries sold in China will tell you 豆腐 is “bean curd” in English, and that may represent the two characters nicely, but “bean curd” is more a definition than a comfortable translation. And yet some foreigners start saying “bean curd” rather than tofu. Deplorable.

I think you see the pattern. The normal native speaker way of saying something (internet cafe, business card, tofu, etc.) is replaced by a more awkward way of saying it using other English words — a way that conforms nicely to some Chinese word.

There have got to be more of these, but this short list is a good start. If you’ve been living in China a while and find yourself using all of these, you might be on dangerous ground. You’re going to start making a fool of yourself on trips home. Be vigilant! Resist China’s attempts at sabotaging your own command of your mother tongue!

(If you have any more of these, I’d love to hear them. It’s not quite of the same class, but I find myself occasionally saying “mai” instead of “buy” because the Chinese word for “buy” (买) sounds almost the same as “buy,” except for the initial consonant. The point of articulation is even the same.)

Popularity: 32% [?]

Tags: 中式英语