Preserving words...

A few weeks ago, my mom pointed out that I haven't shared this semester many of the funny things that my students say to me...and I realized that I have stopped noticing many of the odd turns of phrase that make up what we call Chenglish (or is it Chinglish?...it's pronounced Chee-nglish). This is worrisome as it is technically my job to correct these students of their little language quirks--and I've become unable to spot them!

In fact, some phrases are so common that I and many of my fellow foreign friends have begun to incorporate them into our own dialogue! "You better take care." "Perhaps you will have a rest?" "Oohhh...have a look!" "Ahhh, what a pity!" "Here, have a try..." "Hope you much success."

I wonder what will happen the first time on my vacation to the States when, while getting ready for a nap, I say, "Well, perhaps I will go have a rest." Or on noticing a cloudy sky when mom is leaving, I say, "You must take care, it looks much like rain."

Many of these phrases are not necessarily incorrect, they just aren't common to American English. A few of our British friends here have shared that they aren't British English either! Chenglish is the only answer...

The difficulty with Chenglish, and with teaching ESL in general, is that not only am I picking up the common phrases of my students, but I am also constantly simplifying my language--both vocabulary and sentence structure--to help my students or friends follow my conversation. After slipping past multiple high school and college essays based on my ability to transform the English language into felicitously phrased BS, and after working in an industry that relies on the correct, correct, CORRECT grammar usage, I find myself afraid that I'm losing, albeit in tiny increments, my employable skill sets!

I was thinking about all this today when I noticed that I've unconsciously been fighting back against the slow atrophy of my lexicon. I previously blamed my voracious appetite for American literature on the absence of TV...but now I think that my joy in a well-phrased English line is also to blame! So...for the purpose of filling another blog post, I thought I'd share what I've been reading during the past 8 months (red titles are books that I've read multiple times before but always pick up again):

What I've Read:

Mao: The Unknown Story -Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
Ancient China -FP Fitzgerald
The Lonely Planet: CHINA -The LP travel gods
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down -Anne Fadiman
When Heaven and Earth Traded Places -Le Ly Hayslip
The Bonesetter's Daughter -Amy Tan
Waiting -Ha Jin
Tropic of Cancer -Henry Miller
Black Spring -Henry Miller
Breakfast at Tiffany's -Truman Capote
The Thurber Carnival -James Thurber
All the King's Men -Robert Penn Warren
Jane Eyre -Charlotte Bronte
Their Eyes Were Watching God -Zora Neale Hurston
Middlesex -Jeffry Eugenides
The Irresistible Revolution -Shane Claiborne
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire -Jim Cymbala
Home by Another Way -Barbara Brown Taylor
On Writing Well -William K. Zinsser
The Meaning of Everything:
the story of the Oxford English Dictionary -Simon Winchester


What is sitting in my pile waiting to be read:

Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants
In Cold Blood -Truman Capote
Boom! Voices of the 60s -Tom Brokaw


My Wish List--Books to pick up when I'm home this summer (ahem...or good b-day gifts...hint hint):

You are Special -Max Lucado
Lonely Planet: INDIA
Lonely Planet: Trans-Siberian Railway
River Town -Peter Hessler
God's Chinese Son -Jonathan Spence
Fried Eggs with Chopsticks -Polly Evans
Tropic of Capricorn -Henry Miller
Here is New York -E.B. White
Writings from The New Yorker: 1927-1976 -E.B. White
In My Own Words, A Simple Path, No Greater Love etc.... -Mother Teresa


As a final note--I will share a note that a student shyly handed to me on her way out of class--I love this student but am not sure what she's talking about...not sure AT ALL. And for the record...uhhh, I don't really dance. Certainly not in front of students!

Hello, have you seen the film scent of woman! I think you have the same quality and smile as the heroine. Beautiful Smile. The dancing makes me exciting. "Just tango on." I do want to appreciating your dancing. So hope we can meet again.