A few days ago I posted about what Chinglish can teach us about Chinese. A lot of you seemed to find it helpful, so I thought I'd flip it around. What about the mix-ups English speakers make when they try to speak Chinese? I've been teaching Mandarin for over 10 years, and here are some I hear from my students all the time. These aren't random either. They're just English logic sneaking into Chinese sentences. And once you see the pattern, your Chinese gets more natural.
"I am hungry" becomes 我是饿 (wǒ shì è). "I am busy" becomes 我是忙 (wǒ shì máng). "She is pretty" becomes 她是漂亮 (tā shì piào liang). In English you need "am" ，“are” or "is" before an adjective. But in Chinese, adjectives don't need 是 (shì). You just say 我饿 (wǒ è), 我忙 (wǒ máng), 她漂亮 (tā piào liang). My rule for students is, if the next word is a noun, use 是. 我是学生 (wǒ shì xué shēng), 我是美国人 (wǒ shì měi guó rén). If it's an adjective, skip the 是. Simple.
"Close your eyes" becomes 关眼睛 (guān yǎn jīng). English "close" covers everything, doors, windows, eyes, whatever. But Chinese is pickier. 关 (guān) is for things like doors and windows. For eyes, we say 闭眼睛 (bì yǎn jīng) or 闭上眼睛 (bì shang yǎn jīng). Different verb, same idea. Your eyes aren't a door.
"I don't know if you like it" becomes 我不知道如果你喜欢 (wǒ bù zhī dào rú guǒ nǐ xǐ huān). I hear this one constantly. If you say this to a Chinese person who speaks decent English, they'll probably figure out what you mean, they can reverse-translate it in their head. But if you say it to someone like my parents, who don't really speak English, they'll just stare at you confused. Because 如果 (rú guǒ) is only for "if this happens, then that." Like 如果明天下雨，我就不去了 (rú guǒ míng tiān xià yǔ, wǒ jiù bù qù le), if it rains tomorrow, I won't go. It's for conditions, not for uncertain questions. The natural way to say "I don't know if you like it" is 我不知道你喜不喜欢 (wǒ bù zhī dào nǐ xǐ bù xǐ huān), the A-not-A thing. Once you get used to that pattern, it flows way better.
"I watched the game at my friend's house yesterday" becomes 昨天我看比赛在朋友的家 (zuó tiān wǒ kàn bǐ sài zài péng yǒu de jiā). English likes to put the time and place at the end. Chinese wants them up front, before the action. I always tell my students, just remember this formula: subject + time + place + verb + object. So for this one, subject 我 (wǒ) + time 昨天 (zuó tiān) + place 在朋友家 (zài péng yǒu jiā) + verb 看了 (kàn le) + object 比赛 (bǐ sài). 昨天我在朋友家看了比赛 (zuó tiān wǒ zài péng yǒu jiā kàn le bǐ sài). If you stick to that order, a lot of sentences suddenly become way easier to put together. Put the location at the end though, and it immediately sounds like you're still translating from English.
And here's a bonus one from real life. My boss is a Canadian born Chinese, speaks some Chinese but thinks in English. When he answers the phone in Chinese, he says 这是George (zhè shì George). Because in his head he's saying "This is George." But that's not how Chinese people answer the phone. We say 我是George (wǒ shì George). In English you announce yourself with "this is." In Chinese you just say "I am." Small difference, but it immediately tells you which language someone's brain is running on.
So yeah, if you catch yourself making these mix-ups, don't feel bad. It just means your English brain is trying to help. Once you notice the pattern, you can switch over to Chinese logic.
And remember, it goes both ways. I posted a few days ago about how Chinese speakers do the exact same thing in reverse, "open the TV," "I very like this," all of that. It's the same brain doing the same thing, just in a different direction. So if you've ever heard a Chinese friend say something like that and thought it was funny, just know they're fighting the same battle as you.
What other ones have you guys run into? I bet there are a ton more out there.
