Chinglish and Engrish Speakers

[SHiNKiROU]

I have a Chinese and a Japanese character in my VN. It is a pre-space opera science fiction with a multinational cast that talk using English as a second language.
While they have studied English for several years, they still demonstrate subtle forms of Chinglish and Engrish. I don't want things like "Harro Amelica! Me vely happy!", but I want use distorted English in everyday conversation to give personality to them, since conversations are too fast to police grammar. Someone said Chinese English learners talk like a professor (lack of colloquial vocabulary) but writes like an elementary school student (lack of sophisticated vocabulary).

So what the line between a unique speaking style that enhances the experience and distractive and confusing Chinglish? If butchering word order distracts reading, I may resort to weird word choice only.

Here are some examples of Chinglish:

Long time no see: I long time no eating dinner at McDonald's
Omission of subject: Went to toilet
Word order: I tomorrow go to Shanghai
Word order: Yesterday I with my friend go park
No A No B: No money no food
No future tense: Tomorrow, we go shopping

More examples:
- A walk and you will feel better (vs. "Take a walk, and you will feel better")
- China, EU vow to deepen cooperation (language influence word choice?)
- paper tiger
- Don't tyrant [over] the TV (don't hog the TV)
- eat dinner, drink soup
- close the lights
- Swimming is very interesting (definition of interesting in Japanese http://ezinearticles.com/?Five-Common-E ... id=3917570 )

If you have a guide that lists all Chinglish grammar and diction mistakes, tell me.

[arachni42]

While they have studied English for several years, they still demonstrate subtle forms of Chinglish and Engrish. I don't want things like "Harro Amelica! Me vely happy!", but I want use distorted English in everyday conversation to give personality to them, since conversations are too fast to police grammar. Someone said Chinese English learners talk like a professor (lack of colloquial vocabulary) but writes like an elementary school student (lack of sophisticated vocabulary).

That sounds like a very interesting idea. I like it. Tricky, though... not just because it might be distracting at times, but also you want it to sound true-to-life but not stereotyped. How much do you have written so far? What is you experience with English (native and non-native speakers)?

As a native English speaker I might be able to help on a case-by-case basis as to what sounds too confusing, but I'm not familiar enough with exactly what types of Chinglish/Engrish mistakes are made to help with those.

Long time no see: I long time no eating dinner at McDonald's

This one sounds particularly stereotypical to me (and therefore distracting), though it may be realistic, I don't know.

Omission of subject: Went to toilet

This may depend on how clear from the context that the subject is

Word order: I tomorrow go to Shanghai
Word order: Yesterday I with my friend go park
No A No B: No money no food
No future tense: Tomorrow, we go shopping

I think these would work.
Definitely get multiple people to look over it when it's written.

[Laniessa]

Well! I know a few Korean people who learned English, and I know a few examples of mistakes they make :
Plurals - adding 's' when it's not needed, forgetting it when it is.
Tense - they mix up past tense and present tense, etc! (They don't really omit it, but they usually just speak Korean to me, so I wouldn't know.)
Awkward use of words! It sounds fine to them, since they're mentally translating it, but they often use odd words.
Rephrasing what they said - sometimes, they realize what they said makes no sense, so they just take a sentence and repeat it, with clearer wording.
I'm not sure if it's just Koreans, but they cannot figure out how to place 'the's. There's either too many or too little.

Also! It depends on the friends they hang out with - obviously, if they stay in the Asian crowd, their English is a lot less fluent than those who are with actual English speakers, since they hear and use more accurate English. If this is the case, they'll be pretty good if they learnt it for a few years, trust me!

For Chinese people, their writing is very structured! They use phrases because they remember them, not because it comes naturally. Or something, it's been a while since I've been in a school environment in China.

[Gear]

I've seen this work before; sometimes, if you want to include a character's unfamiliarity with the language, but are trying to limit their mispronounciations and other speech problems, you could use mangled idioms. It can be cliché, I'll admit, but if played correctly and sparingly, it can indicate their unfamiliarity without as much worry about crossing over into stereotypical interpretations.

They use an example (a little too frequently) in NCIS, with their Israeli agent, Ziva.

Ziva: Whatever floats your ship.
Tony: Boat, Ziva. Whatever floats your boat.

EDIT: An example played for humor-
Tony: I'm not getting any reception. How about you?
Ziva: No, I'm braless.
Tony: I noticed that earlier. But on your phone they're "bars."

Just an idea.

[Greeny]

I've seen this work before; sometimes, if you want to include a character's unfamiliarity with the language, but are trying to limit their mispronounciations and other speech problems, you could use mangled idioms. It can be cliché, I'll admit, but if played correctly and sparingly, it can indicate their unfamiliarity without as much worry about crossing over into stereotypical interpretations.

They use an example (a little too frequently) in NCIS, with their Israeli agent, Ziva.

Ziva: Whatever floats your ship.
Tony: Boat, Ziva. Whatever floats your boat.

Just an idea.

This. I love this technique, and it adds for comedic potential as well.

[ebi brain]

Have you actually observed the way non-natives deal with English?
That could really help.

Looking at my Chinese friends' writing/speaking (over a 7 month span where they went from high beginner English to.....somewhat intermediate), this is what I notice:
- some problems with tense ( e.g. Talking about something in the past like it's happening in the present : when we go outside, people are holding camera)
-Using single where you should use plural, see above example.
- using he where you should use she ( but never the other way around)
- lots of problems with "the", this is the one thing they forget to use the most.
- mix ups or plain leaving out of this/that/those.
- mix ups with at/in e.g. "I'm in my friend's place"
- When asked what they think of something ( this happened especially at the beginning of the school year) they say: "stupid enough", "boring enough", "funny enough" etc.
- using words that native speakers have never heard of before or that make you sound silly, like I dunno, saying "Can you convey to me..." instead of "Could you tell me ..."
- mispronunciation e.g. "parametric" becomes "parametic", "asymptote" becomes "A-simp-totty".
- when they become really worked up over something they start speaking Chinese lol.
- not spoken/written but where in the west you'd hold up both hands to represent the number 10, they make a cross with their index fingers.
- they will surprise you with a very complex sentence that sounds completely natural... Only to follow up with something that'll make you scratch your head and that makes them go: "... You don't understand, do you T^T."

I've never noticed messed up word order as extreme as your examples, nor the "long time no X".
Nor, in fact, have I noticed anything similar to the extra examples you listed.

[animedaisuki]

this is a good idea, but it might offend some people. most chinese or japanese who play your game will be bilingual and the stereotypes might offend them. so the truth is, chinese or japanese who really can't speak good english won't be playing a game in english (they will play games in japanese however lol). the ones who do play english games will be pretty much fluent in the language

[TrickWithAKnife]

All day, every day, all I hear is Japanese English.

For most people who speak English well, they tend to have problems with articles, especially "a" and "the". Singular and plural can often be a problem too, as they don't exist in Japanese.

Other things are often dependant on the person. Some people may use only present tense "Yesterday I eat a lunch with my friend." For others, perhaps they use one particular way for talking when talking about everything. Another that is common is that people will make very short sentences. "I went to the cinema. I watched the movie. The movie's name is Iron Man 3. The movie is interesting."

Another thing that is noticable is set phrases. Expect to hear "Hello, my name is ****** ****** (people always say their full name, at machine gun speed), nice to meet you." 75% of the time the answer to "How're you?" Will be "I'm fine thank you. And you?" People are often taught one way to say things. Not everyone is like this though, especially if they've spent a reasonable amount of time abroad.

Often I hear Japanese expressions translated into English. Expect to hear a lot if things like "It can't be helped", "sorry" in reply to everything, "yes" being said first when asked a question, "so-so", etc.

Oh, and if you ask a Japanese person if they can speak English, the answer is generally no, unless they are fluent. Doesn't matter if you've just spent the last three hours chatting away in English.

[dramspringfeald]

Actually I find NCIS dose it well with getting terms and lexicon wrong. Things like "I am" usually just become "I" your best bet would be going to an Asian restaurant and just strike up a conversation with them. Also make sure they are actually Asians. My local Asian restaurant is ran by Mexicans, My whole town is messed, Nothing gets cooked right.