“How English Is Evolving…” and “From English To Chinglish”

Two articles about how English is being used in combination with other languages and how this will make for new hybrid languages are “How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand” by Michael Erard for Wired Magazine (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VaoThcLBjpHnGMDnZpasE7m4vOPjV39mrTYw7_9yOuw/edit) and, “From English to Chinglish: The Globalization of Languages”  (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jswvh4RL1MYkwqr6cxUkeT40LfuSPxJJcANssSxSU6g/edit?pli=1).

“How English is Evolving…” is about English becoming more like Chinese such as with grammar and there will be more of a mingling of vocabulary as well.  There are Cantonese/English, Mandarin/English, and Singapore/English where each dialect has its own spin on the marriage of the two languages.

“From English to Chinglish…” is a article about the blending of languages in this current global market where mostly nonnative English speakers are having most of their business conversations in English and increasingly in Chinese.  The blending of these two languages makes a new adaptation called Chinglish.  The article uses the 2008 Summer Olympics in China as an example of how translations from one language to another can sometime become askew.   Simple signs, such as one for the handicapped restroom in English can be mistranslated, in Chinese it would translate into “Deformed Man Lavatory”.  Also, it is common to use English words and phrases when speaking Chinese, for example, if working late, in Chinese you would say you had to work “O.T.” for the English word overtime.  This combining of languages will create new languages ultimately and there will be a disappearance of old languages.  

One reason for the disappearance of old languages, or even indigenous languages that are in use but due to conflicting decisions on which dialect to apply, most countries will chose to use English as their primary language.  A project which has found language hotspots around the globe where at least five places where people are losing their language is the Enduring Voices which is a subsidiary of National Geographic and Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Tongues.  

A dialect of Chinese I have noticed a great decline in use is Toy San. “San” means mountain, and it is a dialect from the suburbs of China by the mountains.   When I was a child, my grandfather spoke Toy San and my mother would translate into Cantonese for me to understand.  I finally got it one day and by then, grandfather was not around anymore to practice with.  One thing my grandfather did was use English to express his Toy San thoughts.  Whenever I did or say something unintelligent, he would say that I had M.O.N.O., which in Toy San sounds like “mo-no” which means no brains.  Toy San people are very caustic in humor.  Every now and then I will hear Toy San spoken and I have to look at the one speaking it and wonder if they are related to me.