Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-06-03
CHINESE ENGLISH.
sono arissas-s That Ars Mado by wr,,ors
OF DiaIeos storie.

ok BiAiect StOrtoA.
1t Is we'll known that tho Chinese
cannot master the sound OF tho letter
"r," but this has proved tho rock on
which many protested writer's Of tho
Chinese dialect has come to grief.
They do recognize the fact that while
John Chinaman cannot make the "rn
sound he is fertile in expedients to
avoid it. Two illustrations will show
how easy it is to blunder on this
point. In an early edition of ono Of
Bret Harte's stories-altcred we be.
lieve in later editions-hc makes a
Chinese servant cali himself "Ah RI"
which is II manifest impossibility.
His name would certainly have been
"Ah LII" for the initial ''R" would
not only como trippingly from his
tongue, but not ut all. But in tho
same or another story he makes II
Chinaman call his employer mir.
Fostcl," his name being Foster. Now,
no "Chinese person." to quote the re-
striction act, would ever say 'FostcI."
He would soften the last syllable OF
the name and call it "Fostah," Just
as the name 'Portcr" III his mouth
would become "Potah," very like the
negro pronunciation of the Same
word.
The authorcSs OF ga Summer I'm n
Canon" has given very good exam
pie of the difficulties OF the Chinese
with the letter az" She makes one
of hcroines, mischcyious girl, select
Il reading lesson for the Chinese cook,
who wants to learn English. Tho
lesson is made up OF such sentences as
"Thc grass is green" "The rose is
red," and tho like. or course, they
became i'll Hop Sings mouth "Tho
glass is glccn," "rThc lose is led" and
SO on. The whole scene is excellent
study in broken China, saws the San
Francisco Chronicle, and is COM
mended to ambitious Eastern writer's
who want to try their hands ut En-
glish as she is spoken by the Chinese
in California.
The letter 50" is another which
presents difficulties to John, which,
however, he usually resolves by max
ing it into sch" 1t may be slightly
exaggerated to say that Chinese schol.
ars in Sunday-school know the author
and founder of the Christian faith as
"Chce City," but it is not very far out
of the way. An American OF this
city, an interpreter of the Chinese
language, whose given name is "Jer-
ONE" is Usually known among the
Chinese as "Chec Loam," they, per-
haps, imagining that that is all tho
name that belongs to him.
1t should be noted, too, that tho
Chinese in California do not use tho
lingua franca called 'pigeon ELL
glish," which is employed in China.
Such an expression rs "NIy b'long
topsidc," meaning III live higher up, Z"
is never heard here. The Chinese i'm
this State try to talk English, and
some of them succeed fairly well, al
though the ''r'' and u" are too much
for them.
This is not an attempt at an cx-
haustiyc study of Chinese English,
hut rather a note Of warming to am
bilious dialect from books. If they
Will but bear in mind that or" does
not become 81" unless it carries the
genuine or" sound, and that such a
word, for example, as 'Dcrklcy" is
not Buckley" in the Chinese tongue,
but something more nearly rescm-
bling "Bahklcy," they will he saved
from plumbers which make their
sketches and stories rather ludicrous
than humorous to those who are ac-
customcd to the dialect.