Amglish In, Like, Ten Easy Lessons_ A Celebration of the New World Lingo - Arthur E. Rowse [67]
Now, there are Web-based devices that allow a writer of English, for example, to automatically type an Anglicized form of Arabic that can then be transcribed automatically into Arabic. This is not strictly a natural blending of Arabic and English but a halfway point between the two that uses English letters and Arabic numbers. The numbers are used to represent Arabic images that have no counterparts in English.
In Arablish, the word English becomes Engliziya, yes becomes Na3am, no becomes La, hello becomes Mar7aban, good-bye becomes ma3a alsalamah, I don’t know becomes La a3rif, the number one becomes wa7id, two is ethnan, three is thalatha, four is arba3ah, and five is 5amsah. So “Hello, what’s your name please? I don’t understand,” could be transliterated into something like “madr7aban ma esmok arjook la afham.”
Arablish is increasingly used on the Internet and in other types of international communications, such as advertisements by multinational firms. In addition, there is an Arabic chat alphabet for encoding Arabic into Arablish in order to send SMS messages over the Internet or by cell phone.
CHINGLISH
English has become a national craze in China despite the difficult learning process and growing opposition from the government.
As stated earlier, children must take lessons in English through the ninth grade. But phonetics can be difficult, since most Chinese cannot pronounce certain English letters. In the Cantonese dialect, for example, the letters l and n are considered interchangeable. So the cartoon character Snoopy can become “Sloopy,” and Emily’s name may sound like “Eminy.” The th sound is nonexistent in Chinese, often causing the word three to emerge as “shree.” The English letter v is often pronounced like a w.
Many other problems stem from the built-in defects and irregularities of English. The result is a conglomeration of errors in sound and spelling. Mistakes are often attributed to thinking in Chinese while writing or speaking in English.
FOR A LAUGH, PUT AMGLISH ON A SIGN
When it comes to lettering signs throughout much of the world, the fractured language of Amglish is often worth a hearty laugh. The humor is so great that it has spawned many fabrications, especially on the Internet. The following words are from photographs taken by American Alex Michaelson in China:
THE TROLLEY HAS NO BRAKE. PLEASE KEEP IT OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. PLEASE DON’T GO DOWNSTAIRS WITH TROLLY.
PLEASE DIAL 68346000 IF YOU FIND THE WATER PROBLEM.
STAR RATED TOILET.
A sign on the wall of Silk Street Market, a shopping center in Beijing with 1,700 vendors, warns clerks against using certain “Forbidden Words” on customers. They include You are crazy, Shit, Just go away, and Stupid guys.
Food labels can also be giggly sometimes because of transliterating problems. Samples include a label on a jar of plums saying, “Hey, so delicious, let us try it fast,” and a package of crackers labeled “Burned Meat Biscuits.”
A supermarket sign meant to draw customers to a delicious display of food items read, “It is gluttonous to come quickly.” Another item was labeled “Fried Enema.” A public sign warning hikers of danger said, “Please do not climbing.” Another common sign at the end of a tour or pathway says “Welcome Again” instead of “Come Again.”
One bank offered two signs, one for “cash withdrawing,” which made sense, and one that didn’t, “cash recycling.” And a clothing store offered some large-size clothes unbelievably labeled “Fatso” and “Lard Bucket.”
Sign Police Get Mixed Results
With the Olympics looming in 2008, the government set up the Commission for the Management of Language Use to eliminate the most embarrassing signs before the crowds appeared. With some six hundred volunteers, the commission claimed that it fixed more than 10,000 signs. Among those affected was a sign for the Dongda Anus Hospital. It was changed to Dongda Proctology Hospital. And Racist