Showing posts with label mispronunciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mispronunciation. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

"Is this whiskey?"

Obviously a stereotype of Chinese people speaking English. Hmph.

That being said, Chinese people around the world hardly speak English like this! Somehow this stereotype from maybe before World War II, has carried on till today.

The world of spoken English has changed.

Looks like stereotypes need to be updated too!

P.S. In case you are wondering what the joke is all about, this is the text in proper English:
Two Chinese dudes break into a distillery.

One turns to the other and says, 'Is this whiskey?'

The other one says 'Yes, but not as Risky as robbing a bank'!!




(Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153781743927174&set=gm.1537916159833865&type=3&theater)

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Ling and bling

My Sydney cousin posted this photo on Facebook. She felt the line "You ling, we bling" was either a grammatical error or a rather racist statement. I can't blame her. In today's politically correct world, we really shouldn't be playing up stereotypes.

Well, as it turns out, Miss Chu wrote a very clever tagline and has won a copyright for it! (How do I know? One of my cousin's friends said so.)

While I am all for good grammar, proper spelling, and absolutely NO LAUGHING at someone's inability to pronounce English words correctly, my first thought when I saw the line "You ling, we bling" was more a play up of stereotypes to create maximum impact in marketing and promotion. In this case, it is an Asian (Vietnamese, to be specific) making fun of Chinese people who find difficulty in distinguishing between "r" and "l". Does that make it forgivable? Maybe.

Since the owner of this place is far from offended by this stereotyping, I can safely say the rest of us should not take offence either. After all, she does have a court-approved document to use her tagline!

In the name of fun, why don't "you ling" for some bánh cuốn (Vietnamese rice rolls) and Miss Chu will gladly "bling" them to you. Just make sure you have cash handy to pay for it.

Bon apetit!

Note: This post was entirely inspired by the photo. I have never been to Miss Chu, nor tried the food there; neither have I been paid to write this post.

Friday, 8 January 2016

Magic Tree???

In response to my last post on mangled pronunciations of English, +Lloyd Estrada    made a comment about this classic Gospel song Majesty.

The full lyrics of the song are:
Majesty
Worship His majesty
Unto Jesus, be all glory, honor and praise

Majesty
Kingdom authority
Flows from His throne, unto His own, His anthem raise

Chorus
So exalt, lift up on high the Name of Jesus
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King

Majesty, worship His majesty
Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings

Ending
Jesus who died, now glorified
Jesus who died, now glorified
King of all kings

(Lyrics and music by Jack W Hayford)


Here is Lloyd's comment:
A song leader in one of the language groups led his congregation in singing that song but with these words...

Magic tree, worship his magic tree
Uncle Jesus be all glory, power and praise


Incorrect hearing.
Mangled pronunciation.
Don't know whether to laugh or cry!

Be careful what you say! The consequences may lead people astray!

It does pay to check original sources before you say anything.

Have fun learning this crazy language called English!

Monday, 21 September 2015

Facebook = "no choice but to die"

My Taiwanese friend got a job that requires her to write marketing articles for the bookstore where she works. Among other places, those articles will be posted on the store's Facebook page. Suddenly, posting things on Facebook has become a serious piece of work that must be done responsibly. No more spur-of-the-moment posts. This is what pays her. No more frivolous stuff.

Her first piece of work was given an "ok" by her supervisor, but with a warning that she had to think seriously about what she was writing. Suddenly, writing became such a burden. So she wrote, "我非死不可 (Facebook) ..."

It took me a while to figure out what she was saying. Then it dawned on me! 非死不可 is a mangled Chinese pronunciation of the English word "Facebook". (Loosely translated "no choice but to die".) Of course, it was also a play on the words that she now has no choice but to die to her personal desire to write anything that comes to mind.

Brilliant play on words and translation! It also brings a sobering message that anything posted on social media can be used against you. Post responsibly. Post at your own risk. The whole world is watching. A thoughtless remark can go viral in minutes. It could even cost you your job (as has been in two cases in Singapore).

Writing conveys a message. Write well. Write wisely.

Have fun with words!

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Mangled pronunciations

Very often, one language will borrow a word from another until it becomes part of the everyday language. After many (mis)pronunciations in the new language, it becomes unrecognisable from the original.

A good example would be: croissant (a flaky, buttery French pastry that is popular around the world). In Japanese, a croissant is known as クロワッサン (pronounced "kurowassan"). The only way we can tell it is a borrowed word is in the writing. The use of Katakana tells me that this is not a native Japanese word. (Katakana is used when writing foreign words in Japanese text.)

When I was studying second year Japanese, I had a Frenchman in my class. When the teacher was talking about "kurowassan" in the lesson, none of us understood what she was talking about. After several more descriptions, a few of us went, "Oh! Croissant!" The teacher replied, "Hai, kurowassan desu." ("Yes, it is croissant.") Our French classmate almost fell off the chair! He felt as though the Japanese had completely violated and destroyed his language! He left the class that day rather disgusted at this new discovery.

My Filipino friend +Lloyd Estrada studied Spanish in Costa Rica. One day, he wore a t-shirt with the word "tunais" printed on it, to class. His Spanish teacher was not too happy when she saw this. "This is because, over the years, the English expression "too nice" evolved into "tuanis" in their country!" Today, "tunais" in Costa Rica may mean excellent, great, or nice. Well, borrow a word here and there and very soon, we may all be speaking only one language around the world!

Here's to speaking "Globish" or bad English!