Whispering Stories was established in 2015. The blog is here to share our love of books and the bookish world, alongside our other passions in life. We are based in the UK. I will admit that I struggle to read books for my own leisure, but as an easy-read that delves into friendships, family and culture I found it to be a great story. Fused with humour and intermingled with engaging illustrations, Chinglish is a book that should not be disregarded even if you are not Chinese or Asian. It is capable of offering so much more than a child’s narrative and so I encourage anyone to spare some time in giving a piece like this a chance. Speak / Say: This is similar to “hear/listen” (#20 above). There is ONE word in Chinese for this: (说 Shuō). These two words both mean: “words coming out of a mouth.” However, you use them at different times and for slightly different meanings. One criticism I have of the book is that it’s aim is not at all clear. Around half way through there is a major plot twist and the story becomes much darker. There are many references to domestic abuse and we never find out the outcome of this. I feel the ending was a little abrupt and unexpected and I wanted a little more. The loose ends are especially disconcerting since this is mostly autobiographical and many events would be deeply traumatising! This book definitely lends itself to becoming a series as there are lots of characters’ stories which remain unfinished.

Chinglish by Sue Cheung (9781783448395/Paperback) | LoveReading

Do you want to improve your English listening skills? Listen to my Life App Podcast–it’s convenient and free! Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor (2006). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z, p. 1229.Chinglish can be compared with other interlanguage varieties of English, such as Britalian (from Italian), Czenglish (from Czech), Denglisch (German), Dunglish ( Dutch), Franglais (French), Last nameIn western culture, the given name comes first, and the family name comes last. (ie. John Smith)However, since in Chinese the family name comes first, this can easily lead to misunderstandings.Therefore, a girl named Wang Ya-fan in Chinese would render her name in English as Ya-fan Wang.If a person or form asks you for your last name, give your family name. Larry loves to be active and outdoors, so I just can’t see him being happy on a job where he has to stay in a small office all day.

BOOK CLUB - Speakers for Schools NATIONAL TEEN BOOK CLUB - Speakers for Schools

But we do NOT use “to” with “here” or “there.” So, common Chinglish sentences are “I have been to there” or “I have come to here before.” Instead, we say: To make matters worse, the “simplified” version of Chinese adopted by the Communists (not used in Hong Kong or Taiwan), consolidated a lot of totally unrelated characters together that have the same spoken sound. In other words, we all have to cobble together tiny bits of English and Chinese into a rubbish new language I call 'Chinglish'. It is very awkward. The recently popular expression "you can you up" (if you can do it, you should go up and do it) is another typical example, Smith said.

English is a wonderful language for several reasons, one of which is, you can make up new words. “Chinglish” is one such made-up word . cook vs. cooker. This is one of my favorite examples, and it came up in a conversation class today. English is a crazy language. Many jobs in English DO end with -er or -or (teacher, manager, waiter, presenter, builder, lawyer, carpenter, hairdresser, porter, director, doctor, tailor.) However, cooker is not one of them. In English, a cooker is an electric device used to cook things. Most Chinese kitchens have a rice cooker. In contrast, the job where a person cooks is a cook.(You can also call this person a chef.) So, the cooker is the thing, and the cook is the person. Ok where was this book when I was 14? Reading this book made me all the more aware of why diversity in literature is needed. I was born and raised in London but am half Chinese, half English. I have often been made to feel somewhat other in my life and never in my teenage years did I ever read any fiction where I could really relate to a character’s family life. What I was reading was what I aspired for my life to be like (i.e. a normal white teenage girl’s life) and was not my actual life or experience.

Chinglish by Sue Cheung (9781783448395/Paperback

Yesterday night / Last night– The Chinese for “yesterday” is昨天,and you CAN say “yesterday morning” or “yesterday afternoon,” but you cannot say “yesterday night.” With Grandparents who don’t speak any English, a Mother who barely speaks English, a Father who just doesn’t speak and Jo and her siblings not being able to speak Chinese this is the start of the wild, unpredictable and often hilarious goings-on in Jo’s life.

When to use “to” with a verb…and when NOT to.Use “to” before an infinitive verb (不定式動詞).That is, use “to” before a verb in its normal form, without -ing, -ed, -es, etc.For example: