Let's Speak Chinglish
-Lesson 1.1-
In this lesson, you will learn the core of Chinglish, also the most noticeable feature of Chinese language(especially Mandarin), is the rare case of final consonants in any syllables. So far, I can tell you that there are only n and ng (as [n] and [ŋ]. However, the [n] in Chinese language is usually done by the middle instead of the tip of the tongue. And Mandarin [n] has less vertical space.) One must wonder, what happens to the final consonant(s) in the syllables while people speak Chinglish? The very first way to produce Chinglish is to drop off the final consonant(s).
ex
| English words | often done in Chinglish as | special note |
| Chinese food | Chinese foo [tʃainis fu] | Chinglish speakers often use [s] in the case of Chinese |
| fried rice | fry rice [fɻai ɻais] or fry rye [fɻai ɻai] | [s] can be related to ㄙ or [sɨ] in Mandarin. Most of Chinglish speakers have the ability to successfully pronounce [s] |
| tall | to [tɔ] | Chinglish speakers can identify the space [l] needs in the back of the tongue, but not necessarily able to hear the tip of the tongue making [l] |
| want | wan [wan] | There are two consonants at the end of the same syllable. Chinglish people can use their similar [n] sound in Mandarin but they could still omit the ending [t] while speaking. |
| Robert | ruber [ɻabɚ] | |
| rectangle | retango [ɻɛtɛngɔ] | [k] in the first syllable and the [l] at the end are dropped. |
| cup | ca [kʌ] | There could be a [p] formed to stop the vowel without being audible. |
| breath | brea [bɻɛ] | There could be a [t] formed to stop the vowel without being audible. |
Try this!
I love Chinese food.
I want fried rice.
*For Minnan speakers, there are more final consonants, [t], [p], [k], [h] and [~](nasal sounds based on different vowels). However, [t, p, k, h] would be formed by the articulators to stop the previous vowels and make them shorter without actually being audible. Nasal sounds other than ng[ŋ] also exist in Mandarin but I never learned to identify them from the education system other than living my instinct. (For instance, the word, 它, is spelled as ㄊㄚ or [ta], but many native Chinese speakers pronounce it like [tã]. *[ã] here does not mean the same as the [ã] in French. This one is just based on [a] with nasal sound.).
There are also double or more than double consonants at the end of one syllable. We will discuss them in the next lesson!
"Thanks to my parents, every Chinglish speaker, and every diction coach in my life for being my inspiration."
"Thanks to my parents, every Chinglish speaker, and every diction coach in my life for being my inspiration."
