Skip to main content
Donate

Chonglish

By Ophelia Chong
August 4, 2011
Support Provided By
cantonese

Chinglish: Chinglish refers to spoken or written English language that is influenced by the Chinese language. The term "Chinglish" is commonly applied to ungrammatical or nonsensical English in Chinese contexts - Wikipedia

It was an early Sunday morning in Chinatown, I was still sweaty from my workout and I was standing in line for take-out dim sum. The steam from the baskets of shrimp dumplings added to my already wet sock frowning face countenance. There was one person ahead of me, he was a very tall Chinese man, although anyone over 5'2" is tall to me. What struck me first was not his height but the sound of his voice; he was ordering dim sum with an American accent. It pained me to listen to him.

Every second generation has their shared story, mine is the rude Chinese waiter who slaps down a fork and not chopsticks or the feigned "I have no idea what you are trying to say" face from the busboy when you ask for more soy sauce in Cantonese. On one hand, I am proud that I can speak Cantonese, on the other I am hamstrung by my accent. It's not Chinese. Its a nasally Canadian/American twang of an accent and when I run my tongue over the nuances of Cantonese, instead of it sliding out like silk, it comes out like a goose's honk.

As the gentleman ahead of me ordered his BBQ Pork Buns, I cringed at every syllable. It struck me as why I made FOBs* cringe, I sounded terrible. When it came to my turn to order, I looked at the woman behind the counter, she looked at me with eyes that screamed "HEY!" I looked at her and ordered in Cantonese. Even though it was like nails across a chalkboard, I had earned the right to honk it out by the sheer fact that I learned it and kept it. Honk.

Chonglish: Chonglish refers to spoken Cantonese by an American Chinese; commonly applied to the grating sound of the Cantonese being uttered. - Wikipedia

*FOB: Fresh Off the Boat, Fob's are immigrants a.k.a. Fresh off the boat.

Image: Ophelia Chong / Forever Fresh (letterpress)

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News