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Friday, January 17, 2003
Lee: English in China
By Kelvin Lee
However, we shouldn't make too much fun of the native Chinese. The fact that there are so many mistakes in English here means that there are many people who want to learn the language. In fact, the English learning industry is one of the fastest growing in China.
BEIJING -- One must pity the grammarian in Beijing. He would never survive even just a day here. Although if one were to think of it, a grammarian wouldn't last long in the Philippines either, but that's another story.
One would think, however, that in a city as infested with Foreigners as Beijing is, the level of English as well as English grammar would be perfect or near perfect. In theory anyway. What has actually happened is that you get grammatical gems which the world deserves to see, even if just to get a laugh or two out of it.
The mistake of many Beijingers when they speak in English is that they directly translate what they want to say from Chinese. Thus you are given brilliant phrases like: "Beijingers are friends to all the world." This phrase is pasted on just about every Bus stop in Beijing, by the way.
And then there are the times when the English experts here get carried away. One time when I was passing by the Hard Rock cafe, plastered over its entrance was "No Drugs and Nuclear Weapons Allowed." If I had nukes, I think I can find a better target than the Hard Rock cafe, thank you.
Then there is the phrase my friend showed me outside the Henderson Centre, a very nice mall near the center of the city. It was a sign warning about slippery paths. In any case that was the intent. However, what came out was something like this: "Be careful of pathway, the slippery are crafty."
Another time, a British friend of mine was interviewing a Native Chinese girl for an exam.
According to him, the short conversation went very quickly:
My friend: Good Morning.
Girl: Good Morning.
My friend: So, what's your name?
Girl (perhaps out of nervousness): I come from Beijing.
My friend: Uh, ok. So, could you please tell me your name?
Girl: Beijing is a beautiful city.
My friend: Right. What is your name?
Girl: There are many foreigners living in Beijing.
My friend: Ok. My name is Mark. What is your name?
Girl: Beijing people are very friendly and smart.
My friend: (moving very near her as he said this): Ok, can I please, have your NAME?
Girl: blushing and turning away demurely: heeheehee.. I don't think I can do that, we would get in trouble if we had a date. Obviously, the girl didn't pass the oral exam. However, we shouldn't make too much fun of the native Chinese. The fact that there are so many mistakes in English here means that there are many people who want to learn the language. In fact, the English learning industry is one of the fastest growing in China.
Everyone here wants to learn how to speak and write it. It has become a status symbol to be able to speak at least one foreign language in China and currently, the language of choice is English.
In fact, many twenty and thirty something professionals have mastered English to such a degree that the once burgeoning Foreigner job market has all but dried up, with a new industry emphasis on localization. Meaning, companies in China now prefer to hire Native Chinese who can speak English rather than foreigners who can speak (often) awful Chinese.
I would not be surprised if twenty years down the line, China will have more English speakers than even America. And with a current population of 1.3 Billion people compared to only around 300 million or so in America, this is quite possible. If even just the .3 in the population could master English, that would already be a formidable number.
We in the Philippines, especially in the Education sector, should definitely wake up then. We are a tiny island nation with English as a second language, yet we are not using that fact to out advantage. For now, the average Filipino can speak and read English better than the average Chinese.
But the way things are going, that is going to change very soon, especially with some of our politicians pushing for a return to Filipino in our once English laden curriculum. I am all for Nationalism, especially with regard to our
National language, but can we truly afford to fall behind in the English sector which we were once on top of in Asia?
Think about it, we are a country whose laws are in English. Our constitution, our major newspapers, our major language of choice in business as well as in Education is English. Yet nobody in the world believes that Filipinos are of any considerable worth with regard to the language.
On one side there's the Chinese, trying desperately to learn the language, making mistakes the whole way but still forging on nevertheless. On the other side there are the Filipinos, who seem to take English for granted and are making no efforts to improve or even maintain our advantage.
Kind of makes you wonder about us, huh? (Visit the writer's website at www.babbleon5.blogspot.com or email him at babbleon@atenista.net) |
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