This book can be used either in the classroom or for independent study. It is addressed primarily to Chinese translators and to advanced students of English who are practicing translation. I hope, however, that it will prove equally useful to other Chinese who are called upon to write English and who wish to improve their mastery of it — people working in journalism, foreign affairs, business, tourism, advertising, and many other fields.

 

    Naturally, readers who open this book will have reached varying levels of skill in their second language. But to one degree or another, the work of all but the most highly trained and experienced among them will inevitably contain elements of Chinglish. Chinglish, of course, is that misshapen, hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as “English with Chinese characteristics.”

 

    In writing this Guide, I have assumed that my Chinese readers have a basic knowledge of English grammar and that if they want a review of the subject, they can find it in other books. My purpose is rather to show translators — and, by extension, others who are writing directly in English — how to recognize elements of Chinglish in a first draft and how to revise it so as to eliminate those elements. In other words, this book is intended to help them turn their work into real English such as might have been written by an educated native speaker of the language.

 

    At institutions like Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, Foreign Language Press, and the Central Translation Bureau, this task is commonly entrusted to senior translators or editors or to foreign “polishers” (who may be more or less competent to perform it). But in principle, much of the work could be done by the original translators — or writers — themselves. That is why throughout these pages I have sometimes referred to the “translator,” sometimes to the “polisher” or “reviser.” The terms are not mutually exclusive: every translator rereading a first draft can and should be his or her own polisher.

 

    The examples of Chinglish presented here (the “A-version” in each case) are authentic. That is, although some of them have been simplified for instructional purposes, none are invented. Most were found in draft translations that were corrected before the text appeared in print. Some were found in published materials — official documents, China Daily, the several English-language magazines, and so on. The source of an example is indicated only when it appeared in a foreign publication, such as the Far Eastern Economic Review or a U.S. newspaper.

 

    When an example of Chinglish is taken from a draft translation, the revision offered here (the “B-version”) is, with few exceptions, the one decided upon by the polishers who revised it. If, however, the A-version appeared in print, the revision is one that I think should have been made and that I am suggesting now. In either case, the proposed B-version is not necessarily the only “correct” one. Translation is not a science but a craft, and craftsmen in any field may have different opinions as to the best solution to a given technical problem.

 

    It may seem presumptuous for a person who knows little of the Chinese language to proffer a work of this kind. My qualifications are that I am a lifelong student of English and a professional translator (from French to English) who has given much thought to problems of translation. In addition, during the 1980s and 1990s I spent eight years working as a polisher in Beijing, first at Foreign Languages Press and later at the Central Translation Bureau (Bureau for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin). During those years I had the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of Chinese translators, from beginners fresh out of school to the most capable senior professors. I learned much from them all.

 

    Even with this background, however, I could not have produced this Guide without the help of two invaluable consultants who have kindly read and reread my manuscript. The first is my good friend Jiang Guihua, the retired chief of the English section at the Central Translation Bureau, who has examined every example with the critical eye of a skilled reviser. The second is my husband Larry, who has given me the benefit of his expertise as a writer and as a professor of journalism who has had long experience both teaching and polishing in China. The criticism and advice of these two knowledgeable editors, one native speaker of each language, have been, quite simply, indispensable.

 

    Written by Joan Pinkham

    Amherst, Massachusetts

    1 April 1999

 

    From The Translator’s Guide to Chinglish

 

    Xinyi Translation Studio

 

    Website: http://www.xinyifanyi.com