Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-05-06
CHINESE ENGLISH.
some Mistakes That Are Made by WRITER
of Dialect stories.

OF D1aieCt StOrless
1t is well known that the Chinese
cannot master the sound of the letter
"r," but this has proved the rock on
which many prOfessed writers of the
Chinese dialect has come to griet
They do recognize the fact that whilo
John Chinaman cannot make the ''r'
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 one OF
Bret Harte's Stories-altered we be-
lieve in later editions-he makes
Chinese servant call himself "Ah ri,
which is manifest impossibility
His name would certainly have been
"Ah Lii" for the initial "R' would
not only come trippingly from his
tongue, but not at all. But in the
same or another story he makes a
Cbinaman call his employer 'Mr
Fostel," his name being Foster Now,
no 'Chinese person." to quote the re-
striction act, would ever say ''Fostel."
lie would soften the last syllable of
the name and call it "Fostah," just
as the name Porter" IN his mouth
would become "POtah," very like tho
negro pronunciation of the same
word.
The authoreSs OF ga Summer In a
Canon" has given very good exam
pie of the difficulties of the Chinese
with the letter ST." She makes one
of heroineS, a mischcvi0us girl, select
reading lesson for the Chinese cook,
who wants to learn English. The
lesson is made up of such sentences as
''The grass is green" ''The rose is
red" and the like. OF course, they
became in Hop Sings mouth "The
glass is glcen," "Thc lose is led," and
so on. The whole scene is a excellent
study in broken China, SAYS the San
Francisco Chronicle, and is COM
mended to ambitious Eastern writers
who want to try their hands at En-
glsh as she is spoken by the Chinese
i'm California.
The letter 81" 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 schOl4
ars in Sunday-school know the author
and founder of the Christian faith as
"Chee 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 ''Chee Loan" they, per-
hapS, imagining that that is all the
name that belongs to him.
1t should be noted, too, that the
Chinese in California do not use the
lingua franca called pigeon En-
glsh, " which is employed in China.
Such an expression as "My blOng
topside, " meaning 81 live higher up y
is never heard here. The Chinese in
this State try to talk English, and
some of them succeed fairly well, al
though the or" and ~ are too much
for them.
This is not an attempt at an cX-
haustiye study of Chinese English,
but rather a note Of warning to am
bilious dialect from books. If they
will but bear in mind that 'r' does
not become "a" unless it carries the
genuine ''r" sound, and that such a
word, for example, as "Berkley' il
not "Bc. kley" in the Chinese tongue,
but something more nearly resem,
bling "BahkleY," they will he saved
from blunders which make their
sketches and stories rather ludicrous
than humorous to those who are ac-
custOmcd to the dialect