The Translator's Guide To Chinglish

by Joan Pinkham, 姜桂平 (Contributor)

"Chinglish" or English with Chinese characteristics, is the result of a translation of original Chinese text by someone whose English may not be good. While the results may be humorous, it also may lead to critical errors of misunderstanding. Joan Pinkham's guide is the first of its kind to address the many issues of translation, including unnecessary words, confusing sentence structures, dangling modifiers, and much more. Using actual translations as examples, and providing examples for practice.
This book is recommended for students as well as professionals engaged in translation and anyone interested in understanding the complexities of rendering Chinese into English.

561 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[木 · Rating 4 out of 5]

英语进阶的必读之书，很多高翻也会犯“中式英语”的错误，这本书讲解很清楚，也配了一些习题，有助于进一步理解“英语思维”和“汉语思维”的不同

[Lupeng Jin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It isn't easy to turn the Chinese logic into the English one unless he/she suffers from what the wolverine experienced. The style of writing, speaking, and thinking is rooted in the Chinese people's genes so that we cannot always use the English language in its proper way. However, the skills can be obtained from practices. Through training, we can choose appropriate words in writing. The native speakers will not misunderstand the sentences we write on paper or type on the screen. This book provides us with many useful suggestions, and in it, the examples are typical, some of which are the same as what I am writing. I learned a lot from this book and would like to recommend it to you if your mother language is not English.

[Yilia W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic guidebook. Some chapters overlap what I read in "The Elements of Style", so it's like revision to me. I read all general introductions as the book abounds with examples, some of which are a bit dry and wooden to read. I do think I have to get hang of the principles explained in practice before I revisit these examples. I'll keep this guidebook at hand.

[Nautile · Rating 3 out of 5]

还挺中式的……
观其大略了一下，能理解但感觉用不太上。

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Bible for Chinese translator

[Xiaomeiyangle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject is easy and essential，but the writting is good and handy.

[P M · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a great book for Chinese-English translators to learn how to express in a more native way. It’s actually a must-read textbook for Chinese-English translators.