There, I said it, in perfect Chinglish. Or Jionglish, rather. In China, they’re obsessed about making people feel at home, so in perfect Chinglish, it’s not “Welcome to Tianjin”, but “Welcome to Visit Tianjin” or “Welcome to Take Express Train”. It’s a grammar thing.
It’s also a Chinglish thing. Chinglish is nothing less than a confused mix of both English and Chinese, but this doesn’t cut it well. To qualify as Chinglish, or Jionglish, rather, you need to mix up the English so bad that it starts not making sense. By the way, we’re also calling this Jionglish as it contains the Chinese expression Jiong (囧), which basically is an expression of shock, confusion, and “I’ve-lost-it”-ness. It also looks like an “upset facial expression” character — the kind you’d pull if you ran into a sign that went “DO NOT BE OCCUPYING WHILE STABILIZING” on trains.
Far from making fun of either languages or their hybrid and grammatically challenged hybrid, this blog hopes to help locals get things right. Unlike other Chinglish blogs, where all they do is post signs with clueless Chinglish and laugh at them, I’m also in the business of correcting mixed-up signs.
It’s a personal thing. For one thing, I feel much happier when train announcements in China go through without a bit of Chinglish…
Here goes…
2 Responses to Welcome To Visit Jionglish.com