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1、February10th,2007HowChinaDestroysYourEnglishI’vebeenlivinginChinaawhilenow…longenoughtoobservethelong-termdeteriorationofmyownnativelanguageabilities,aswellasthoseofmyfellowEnglishspeakers.Thisdeteriorationcantakedifferentforms,oneofwhichisageneraldecayof
2、one’svocabulary.Althoughitisaveryrealphenomenon(theotherdayIused“export”whenImeanttouse“deport,”whichisreallykindofpathetic),thiskindoflossofmasteryisduetolackofexposure,whetheritbethroughmediaorhumaninteractionwithothernativespeakers.Itwouldhappeninanyco
3、untry,tospeakersofanylanguage,giventhatone’snativelanguageisnotbeingsufficientlyexercised.WhatI’dliketotalkaboutisamuchmoreinsidiousformoflinguisticdeterioration.Itssourceis,specifically,Chineseculture,anditstargetisEnglishspeakers.Ifyouareanativespeakero
4、fEnglishlivinginChina,youmayhavealreadyfallenvictim.BelowIgivesomeofthecommonwaysthattheChineseenvironmentstrikesdownthenativespeaker’slinguisticcompetence.1.Netbar.InChinese,they’recalled网吧.Thisisfine.Wegenerallycallthem“internetcafes”inEnglish.TheChines
5、eseemtothinkthat网吧shouldbetranslatedas“netbar”inEnglish,andmanyunwaryforeignershaveevenbeenbeguiledbythisidea.ForEnglishteachers,it’susuallyoneofthefirstnonstandardusagetocreepin.2.Namecard.IntheEnglish-speakingworld,businesspeoplehavelotsofbusinessmeetin
6、gstodiscussbusiness.Ontheseoccasionsofbusiness,saidbusinesspeopleexchangespeciallyprintedpiecesofpaperknownasbusinesscards.InChinaeveryonecallsthem“namecards,”ostensiblybecauseinChinesetheyarecalled名片and“namecard”isamoredirecttranslation.Theuseof“namecard
7、”isverywidespreadamongforeignerslivinginChina.IndoingbusinesswiththeChinese,theyseemtoforgettheword“businesscard”extremelyquickly.3.House.MostChinesepeopleliveinapartments.Theyrefertotheseastheir家(homes).Whentheypurchasetheseapartments(OK,technically,they
8、shouldbecalled“condos”atthispoint,buttheseChinesedomicilesdoesn’treallyconformtoanyimageof“condo”I’veeverhad),theysaytheyarebuyinga房子.Thiswordisfrequentlytranslatedas“house,”butinpracticeit,too,isjustanotherapartmen
