你在用Chinglish写作吗？

总觉得我们中国人用英语写出来的东西和人家老外写的相比，有天壤之别。无论你的英语水平有多高，感觉有多好，其“大作”咀嚼起来始终不是原汁原味，不是正宗食品，他们的“月亮”的确比我们圆，所以总觉得我们是在用CHINGLISH写作，常常羞于见人。老外是怎样看待这个问题呢？鄙人为此特向Mr. Matt Vegh请教。他是一个加拿大老外，现在中国一家英语报纸当编辑。典型的一个英语专家。听听他的高见。

Dear Matt Vegh,

As a Chinese reader who often measures other’s corn with his own bushel, I believe that the biggest crowd puller in the local rag, English Weekly, is your paper. Personally, it’s hardball to me while reading a native speaker’s article that has a certain race and flavor peculiarly its own, both in phrase using and structure of sentence.

Somehow I feel a little bit awkward with my reading as if I’m dissecting an article from heaven or deducing a complicated formula or handling a hot potato rather than a relaxed reading in itself. I have to put in a long time to finish it even if having been a Chinese English teacher for several years. On the flip side, the paper written by a native speaker is easily distinguishable from those of Chinese editorial staff members or reporters that I can read like a blue streak and always consider them as Chinglish papers. Why is their English quite different from yours? Do we Chinese write in Chinglish?

Xichuangzhulei

Dear Xichuanzhulei,

"Dissecting an article from heaven?" Puhhh-lease! Some people say my head is big enough! It doesn't need to be swelled up any more by flattering my work in such biblical proportions. But, thanks all the same. Your use of some unusual phrases and sayings is to be applauded. Never be afraid to use any saying that you like. After all, who makes the rules? Are there any rules? My high school English teacher thought so. But yours truly never listened to that old battle-axe! She had rules up to her eyeballs. Hey, if she wants to live in a nightmarish fantasy world with dark minions enforcing the Golden Grammar Rulebook, that's her prob! That ain't gonna confine me. Or you, if that is what is desired. Hey, don't be so hard on the Chinese writing staff. Their English puts my sorry excuse for Chinese to shame. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a single Chinese character in my writing portfolio beyond the box with a vertical line through it that means China! That is what it means, isn't it? Of course, you're going to see some Chinglish. But, there is nothing wrong with Chinglish. Many times, it is alot handier to use then English. Many foreigners adopt some of it to take back home. You might realize when reading English language articles or books that not all foreign writers have the same style. By chance, you happen to appreciate mine, but others may think it's lame. Who knows? For some hints about my style, you've probably noticed that there are usually never any "I's" in my writing. Oops! My own rule! It's inexplicable. Some long time ago, this became ingrained in my writing, perhaps in rebellion against what is the norm. I can't stand when writers start sentences with "I". I hate it when they do that. I think they should try other ways. I think they should practice changing around their sentences. I will go to no end to see this practice of "I's" abolished. I think it is poor form. I think the "I's" are trying to take the rest of the alphabet hostage. I like to see complex sentence structures which don't conform, but instead, rebel! I think they should practice and re-write, practice and re-write. I really like writing. I want to continue..............but I, I, I, I, I ........ahhhhhhhh!

Matt Vegh