Lost in translation
by Shang Zuo
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"Your bases are belonged to us."
The sentence, which originally came from a video game, is a classic mistranslation from Chinese to English. People who travel to
China find that there is a new evolving "language" called Chinglish, or Chinese English. If you are one of them, don't feel offended
when you see a park named the "Racist Park." All it means is, "Ethnic Minorities Park." Don't be surprised by a road sign reading, "To
Take Notice of Safe; The Slippery are Very Crafty." And please be assured that the "Government Abuse Chicken" on your dinner menu
doesn't involve the government or any abuse.
The Chinese can't speak English. That's a stereotype; but it is also embarrassing for many of us. The problem is mainly in China's
English education. Take my own experience as an example.
English was a major course like Chinese and Math in my middle and high school. Even though we had English class every day, the
language was almost non-existent in our lives. In the class, we learned a few words and sentences, and grammar rules, but we
rarely had the chance to use them to express ourselves. The education mainly focused on reading and less time on writing, listening
and speaking. "English is useful. You will read a lot of English papers and technical references. A lot!" So said my teachers.
Obviously, they never expected us to communicate with foreigners.
After I graduated from college, I decided to continue my education in the United States. To apply to a U.S. college, I had to pass the
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and GRE (Graduate Record Examinations). So I went to New Oriental, a then private
English school. The market for English education outside the public schools was, and still is, huge. A lot of students were eager to
study abroad, and New Oriental was their first choice to polish their English skills. The school was so successful that they went
public in the New York Stock Market last year.
The teacher of the school said they offered many programs, but the goal of the TOEFL and GRE programs, to be very clear, was to
pass the examinations, not to improve our English. The school had studied the exams thoroughly and exhaustively. "You only needed
to follow a few rules and immerse yourself in the language in order to succeed. The answers would reveal themselves in front of you."
So they said.
It sounded like advertising, but it worked on me. There were a few times I selected the right answer without even knowing the
question. I came to the U.S., not surprisingly, with high scores and very limited English. That was the beginning of my "real" English
education.
After all, what is the "Government Abuse Chicken" I mentioned earlier? It's nothing other than the familiar Kung Pow Chicken. To
understand why the name is so badly translated, you'll need a little basic knowledge of Chinese language.
Almost all Chinese characters have their own meanings, which are sometimes vague and ambiguous. They only become clear and
specific when they are combined together to form words. People could select characters and form a new word to create a meaning
and feeling. But the name "Kung Pow" is confusing even to a native speaker like me. The most common meaning of "kung" is
"palace." I suppose it is to boast that the dish originated from imperial families. I can imagine that "government" is possibly listed as
a translation to "kung" in a Chinese English dictionary, because the character could refer to many different things when combined
with other characters. And "government" happened to be considered an excellent word by a small restaurant owner who knew nothing
about English. For similar reasons, "pow," which means "protection," was translated as "abuse." The end result is the mind boggling
"Government Abuse Chicken" on the menu. Even the grammar of the name is wrong. Any English speaker would call it "Government
Abused Chicken," which would be a joke at least in correct grammar.
The fun part of translation doesn't end here. When foreign companies enter China, they have to endow their brands some
significance. The name of Google itself doesn't mean anything. It's only an invention. But when it's translated into Chinese, the
company had to consider it very carefully. Google's Chinese name is Guge, which means "Songs from the Valley." Out of the same
marketing consideration, Yahoo calls itself Yahu meaning "Elegant Tiger," and Coca Cola is Kekou Kele or "Tasty and Joyful."
Because of language and cultural differences, some complain that English is so incompatible with our mother language, that it's
much harder for a Chinese to master English than for a European. The argument has certain truth in it. But I have seen a growing
number of Westerners who speak decent Chinese (and use chopsticks very well). That makes me believe that the problem is how
we learn the language.