Urbanatomy caught up with Oliver Lutz Radtke, the Beijing-based author of publishing sensation Chinglish: Found in Translation and its recently published sequel, More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues.

More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues has shot to the top of the local bestseller charts, and Chinglish: Found in Translation (2007) is now in its seventh edition with sales of 50,000. Has the success of the books surprised you?
It’s a delightful surprise, indeed. I explain the books’ success with their combination of humor and substance. The books are fun but also try to seriously introduce and explain an intriguing linguistic phenomenon. Since it is selling worldwide, my readers are – as far as I can see –  mainly people with a developed sense of humor who are interested in the unexpected twist and turns of the English language, Utah residents as much as German tourists.

You say, “This is about passion, not mockery," i.e. your purpose is not to put down China or the Chinese. But do you think Chinese people feel the same way? Have you ever encountered any negative feedback?
When I started the blog in 2005 there was quite some resistance from Chinese netizens, stuff that I can’t quote in a family magazine like Urbanatomy. In general, the Internet in China is a pretty wild place and a lot of less rational discussions are happening under the supposed anonymity of bulletin boards and blog comment functions. With increasing media coverage and more opportunities to deliver my message, this has all changed. I now receive overwhelming support from both foreigners and Chinese alike. I think this has also to do with China’s growing self-confidence, with the post-'80s/post-'90s generation’s more relaxed attitude towards certain comments regarding their motherland. Perhaps most striking is the growing amount of self-humor with many young Chinese. I like it.

What are your own favorite Chinglish signs?
青青的草,怕你的脚 “Green grass dreading your feet” (seen near the Inner Mongolian border in Hebei)

花前月下时,请注意你的挎包 “When you are getting off with your lover, please by attention to your bag” (spotted in Shanghai's Xujiahui District)

欢迎光临 "Welcome to Presence“ (opposite Beijing’s National Art Museum)

便后请冲洗 "Wash after relief“ (found in Xi’an)

What’s the worst mangling of your own mother tongue – German?
It usually needs a trip abroad to realize that nobody apart from us uses the word “handy” to describe one’s mobile phone. Besides that, all those horrible half-cooked terms coined by PR companies: "Infopoint" (information desk in German train stations), the trendy hairdresser’s slogan of “Cut&Go,” all that isn’t very creative, just plain incompetent und uninspired.

Ever considered extending the concept to cover other linguistic variations of English? A book on Singlish or Manglish, perhaps?
Having lived in Singapore for a while I'm quite fluent in Singlish myself (laughing), the big difference is: Singlish, Hinglish, Manglish, they are all oral phenomena, not produced as 10 million billboards across the highway! My next project is a new take on Chinese slang, the best answer to the misconception that Chinese aren’t creative people…

They say Bad English is the fastest growing language in the world today. True or not?
Question is: what is Bad English? Who defines it? The Englishman who nobody understands or the French and the Italian managers who hold a meeting in a tongue foreign to both of them? I'm not arguing for the dissolution of English grammar, but a more relaxed attitude when it comes to the cultural influence of another language. I think both sides can very much profit from that.

What did you think of the moves in Beijing ahead of last year’s Olympics to eradicate Chinglish from restaurant menus and the like, and now the similar efforts to prepare Shanghai for the Expo?
Well… the games were the games, the 100-year-old dream, a unique PR opportunity for the country, so it is very understandable that the government wanted to present the most polished apple the world has ever seen. Nevertheless it’s a pity. Luckily, restaurant owners, shop keepers, private companies will continue to produce Chinglish for years to come.

Buy Chinglish: Found in Translation and More Chinglish: Speaking in Tongues

Comments (7)

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written by OG, July 01, 2009

Deformed person's toilet is my all time fave

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written by Chris, June 08, 2009

I am a native English speaker, I find some of the Chinglish phrases amusing but I have a deep respect for the people who put up a sign catering to tourists. I have never been in China but in Seoul, Korea I saw a sign in a department store apparently giving directions to the maternity and children's wear department that read "pregnant children's clothes".

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written by autumn, June 02, 2009

Sometimes,it's very difficultt to find an equivalent or exact translation for some chinese expressions,so i think it's the reason why chinglish appears. The existence of chinglish just shows that English is spreaded worldwild.The varieties of English,like chinglish and singlish,will develop English itself.

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written by meg, May 16, 2009

lol one of the funniest i remembered was in a restaurant. can't remember the chinese name, however, the translation was "server not found". apparently,it's the result of GOOGLE language tools.

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written by some more interstings, May 11, 2009

very funy !There are more chinglish in oral.

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written by Ysleng, May 10, 2009

I like reading your blog, it's a good way to find out the differences between English and Chinese. You know as a Chinese it's impossible to speak like a native English speaker, so the fact is that when you are unable to change it, you have to learn to get involved in it.

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written by Anonymous, May 07, 2009

If you use Google Chinese--English "translate text" function, the translation also very hilarious, so what's the point? also preserve it?

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