The native speaking English teachers make jokes all the time about all the Konglish around here, even though they have terrible spelling and grammar as well (but I digress).
An article in the New York Times discusses the annoyances the Chinese government is facing with their own combo language known as Chinglish. For example, make sure you get some fried anus when you're checking out the urine district!
Check out a slideshow of fun pics here!
This article gives a couple perspectives on what to do. Some language purists are put off by the Chinglish they see on signs not only because it's utterly useless, but because it's also slightly embarrassing when foreigners think you're an idiot. I don't think Koreans share that sentiment. Haha.
The other side of the coin is offered in that the mixed up phrases offer a unique cultural perspective into the way Chinese people think.
For a long time, I HATED Konglish here in Korea. But then I started taking the opposite side and understanding that things get translated a certain way not only out of ignorance, but out of the way a certain group of people think and say things in their own language.
A simple one, and not really humorous in any way, is how Koreans use the word "almost." They'll say, "Almost people like barbecue." In America, we'd say, "Almost all people like barbecue." Koreans leave the word "all" out of sentences like this.
I used to think it was a lack of undertstanding, but now I know better. The reason they say it like that, is because that's the way they use the word "almost" in Korean. You don't need the modifier of "all." It's just part of their thinking that by saying "almost," you mean "almost all."
It's something interesting when learning another language from such a vastly different culture.
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