Words Chinese people think are English (eg. High, Fighting, PK)

[Yang Rui]

It's a minor one, but I've heard people using "fashion" to mean "fashionable": 她是很fashion的一个人.

Also, when I used to watch the Taiwanese Pop Idol/X Factor/American Idol equivalent 超级星光大道 the judges would sometimes say something about "grooving", using grooving as a noun:你的grooving不错,而且你唱歌非常有爆发力跟穿透力. I still don't really know what they meant by "grooving". I doubt it's a word that your students would throw into everyday conversation though.

[Hugh]

I used to tell them to say 'hawberry', but didn't dare explain why.

From Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: haw

Pronunciation: \ˈhȯ\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English hawe, from Old English haga — more at hedge

Date: before 12th century

1 : a hawthorn berry

2 : hawthorn

Yes, haw does mean hawthorn, but it really doesn't sound great spoken. Most native English speakers would probably laugh if someone just used 'haw' and not 'hawthorn'.

[David Wong]

Nothing wrong with that. The use of the word 'chop' in English to mean a seal or stamp has been around since the early 17th century. It comes from the Hindi "chhāp' meaning an impression, print, stamp, brand, etc.

It's an uncommon usage in English. And I've heard it used as a verb too. Eg. 这张票要拿去chop一下.

[liuzhou]

It's an uncommon usage in English.

That doesn't make it wrong.

(Although, I think it's perhaps more common than you think. I happened to be on the phone to my 80 year old mother in the UK when I read your comment and asked her what a "chop" is. Her second answer was a seal or stamp. She has never been to China.)

[David Wong]

That doesn't make it wrong.

No it doesn't. The first post in this thread gave me the impression that the OP was starting a discussion of English usage among the Chinese, with highlights on the quirky and the unconventional. I didnt think it was restricted to incorrect usage only.

It doesn't surprise me that your grandmother is aware of that meaning. Ask an 18-year-old on the other hand...

[liuzhou]

My grandmother? She died in the 2nd World War. A bit late for interrogation on chops.

Please read my comments before criticising them.

Ask an 18-year-old on the other hand.

I have done. Two in fact. Both got it on the 3rd attempt.

[Lu]

China is actually the only place I've ever heard the phrase "go Dutch" used. I know it's supposedly a valid English phrase, but to me it has a strong sound of Chinglish to it.

Definitely not Chinglish. The OED dates it to 1915 and says it is of American origin.

It's that young? I always thought it was of English origin, dating back from when they had wars with the Dutch and wanted to make them look bad, and used this term for sharing the cost of something because the Dutch are supposedly stingy. This is one of the questions on English that Chinese people like to ask their Dutch language partner, so I've told this story quite often.

[David Wong]

Please read my comments before criticising them.

Criticism? No criticism intended. Sorry if you read it that way.

My bad on the grandmother/mother slip-up. I apologize for that.

[bob22222]

'你很MAN' to mean 'you are very masculine' is one that gets on my nerves...

Interesting note, 'MAN' in Chinese is the 4th tone...Guess that way it sounds 更MAN...

[Mouseneb]

Guess my post from yesterday didn't come through but what I wanted to say was I've heard them use DVD in a Chinese sentence to mean DVD player. Then I was thinking about how my laowai friends and I throw Chinese words into our English conversation and wonder if we sound as bad as our Chinese friends throwing English into Chinese.

Just yesterday I threw everybody at the table (Chinese and laowai alike) when I turned from talking to the waitress and said "She's fen kai-ing the bill."

[xiaocai]

But DVD is not just an "English word" any more. Have a look on Wikipedia and you will find out that all most all the languages universally refer this media format as "DVD", including Chinese. At least no one in China would use the official translation, which is 數位多功能影音光碟 (I can't even remember this name without looking it up...), in daily life. Of course the full name should be DVD光碟機/DVD機 in Chinese, but I think it is fine to drop the second half if is the clear that one's referring the player but not the disks.

[Hugh]

@Mouseneb

We do that sort of thing in our class quite a lot. The library is usually "the toosh", and we now say "booj" instead of "dunno". Also "a last minute zhunbei" is becoming quite popular.

[AlexBlackman]

Well， I've completed it, feel free to share it with anyone you think might benefit.

High=/=高兴

在标准英文，如果你用high解释感情， 我们以为你在抽大麻， 你应该说happy。 Lets get high=让我们抽大麻。 我们应该做/的活动= Lets do something fun.

Fighting! =/= 加油！

在标准英文，Fighting的意思是战斗, 你应该用什么词鼓励？ 在比赛，你可以说“Come on! you can do it!”， 在考试前，你应该说“good luck"还是All the best!.

AV=/= 毛片儿

在正确英文， AV是Audio-Visual的简称(视听/影音）， 去年我告诉了一个朋友我在图书馆的”AV section“（影音室）等他， 他说我是色鬼. (>,<)

很Man=/= 很有男人味儿

在正确英文你不会说”very man"和“very woman”，因为是中式英文，如果你要说“有男人味儿”，你 可以说“manly"或者”masculine", 如果你要说“有女人味儿”，你可以说“feminine", 你可不可以用Girly和womanly呢？是呀, 但是你得小心. Girly也有不成熟的含义. 在有些上下文,womenly是胖的婉词, 如果你说一个女人的身体very womanly, 她肯定以为你说她是胖子

玩儿cosplay=/=全装衣服的活动

在英国,cosplay只包括装日本动画者, 我们用"fancy dress"表示其它的。

AA=/= AA制

在标准英文，你不会说AA。 如果一个英国人听到AA，他肯定以为你说“automobile association"（,车辆协会）。 果你要AA制，你应该说“let's split the bill"或者”let‘s go dutch"

很Fashion的=/=很时髦的

Fashion是个名词，Fashionable是个形容词

CCTV=/=中央电视台

在标准英文，CCTV=Close-Circuit Television(闭路电视/监视录像），英国有许多闭路电视机。 如果你要说中央电视台，你应该说the Chinese national TV channel. (很少外国人知道中央电视台，）

Toast=/=面包

你只可以叫烤面包toast，如果是不烤的，你不会用toast。

Feel=/=感觉

在正确英文，我对她有感觉= I have feelings for her.

VS=/=和

在标准英文，VS/V.的意思是对决，如果你要说“和”你应该用and

Marathon=/=跑步比赛

你只可以用marathon表示26英里（46.2公里）的跑步比赛。 如果比赛是13英里的，你可以说"half-marathon", 有些短比赛用mini-marathon。

PK=/=对决战

在英文，我们不常常说对决战，但是，如果你要说， 你应该说Head-to-head elimination round， 对决=head-to-head, 决战=elimination round.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks for sharing, Alex.

Your input is very useful.

[Mouseneb]

Alex, I love your list. I'm an ESL teacher, do you mind if I share your list with my students/repost on my blog? I will link back to here or to your blog if you have one and give you credit

[AlexBlackman]

@Mousenap - of course you can! it was a group effort after all.

The address is http://www.caowulong.com/?p=713

[Lu]

CCTV=/=中央电视台

Huh? Of course CCTV = 中央电视台, it's called CCTV, it even says so on the screen. An abbreviation can have more than one meaning, depending on context.

As for the others, they would be wrong if used in English, but used when one is otherwise speaking Chinese, they're perfectly fine in my opinion. They are simply words borrowed from English and then assigned a slightly different meaning.

[AlexBlackman]

@Lu

I don't think you quite understand what I was trying to do. Please reread the OP