Wishing You A Very Chinglish Christmas (BLOG #100)
What you are reading is a bit of a milestone here at Downtown Chinatown. This is our 100th blog, and we're proud to bring you something particularly awesome and appropriate to mark the occasion.
China loves English. The reasons for this are varied. I admit that while I don't completely understand the fascination, I'm grateful for it. Cause, you know, it gives me a job and all.
You can see their love everywhere. Most signs, all across the country, are labeled in both Chinese characters and in English. Students begin studying English in early grade school and must pass English exams to even think about going to college. And, as anyone who has spent time here knows, Chinese everywhere love to greet the passing foreigner with a friendly "Ha-llo!"
And while we certainly can't fault the Chinese for their enthusiasm for English, their accuracy with it is another matter. There's a name for this well-meaning-but-often-incorrect attempt at English, called "Chinglish," as it is a product of Chinese and English haphazardly mashed together.
As foreigners, we encounter Chinglish at every turn. From students in class to public notices in parks to advertisements at the local grocery store. It's a great source of amusement, as quite often the mistakes lead to rather hilarious results. Type "chinglish signs" into any search engine and you'll see what I mean.
But with Christmas approaching, I'm happy to bring a very special Chinglish Christmas presentation, as brought to you by some fellow Americans living in southern China. These friends of ours were shopping at their local Wal-Mart (yes, the real Wal-Mart) and found a DVD of karaoke Christmas songs, some of which were in English. Their instincts told them that this might be a fine source of amusement, and they proved correct. You can find the longer version of this video at their blog here: , but I've shortened it here to my personal favorite piece.
You may be familiar with the Christmas song, "Oh, Christmas Tree." Originally written in German and with a 500 year history, it is also known as "Oh, Tannenbaum." But the lyrics, while providing their own humor (The line, "To think of you and then be gay," would certainly light up any Jr. High Christmas Party), are taken to a higher degree in the Chinglish version.
Now I don't know where these lyrics came from. Possibly, they are a terrible translation from German or just a random mixture of gibberish, but the fact that they rhyme makes me think that the author put some thought into them. See for yourself:
But it gets even better. A little research reveals that there are actually two more verses in this special Chinglish version. They are:
VERSE 1 (not so bad, really): Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree So bring our all your granting Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree So bring our all your granting Not only in the summer days But also when the snow flake chase Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree So bring our all your granting
VERSE 3 (my personal favorite): Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree You shall be pray forever Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree You shall be pray forever We're not the rhyme of Christmas eve I'll think of you Oh,Christmas tree Oh,Christmas tree And I'll forget you never
Now I don't know if that's a misspelling or not, but I can't think of a phrase that sends more joy and togetherness in anyone's heart than to whisper into the ear of that special someone, "You shall be prey forever." Creepy.
We hope you enjoyed this special treat of a little bit of life on our side. We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, no matter how you actually say it.
Oh I'm about in tears here...
I'll never again forget the Christmas tree's ability to light the glue.
I'm just curious where they got the people to get together and sing it?