Code-switching is a linguistic term for when speakers of two languages (like say Chinese and English) who can each speak both languages mix words and phrases from the languages together. While code-switching is a still controversial area for linguists most agree that code-switching is a thing. For example, one of my classmates commented "the 天气 today is 不好" or in English English "the weather today isn't good" or my friends will say "yesterday the 阿姨 was 很麻烦" or "the maid was being troublesome." These sentences aren't really English but they also aren't really Chinese ether, they is a mix of both languages. I myself will great people, even my English speaking foreign friends, with a 你好, say goodbye with a 再见, and say "thanks" with a 谢谢. Sometimes people will also throw in whole Chinese sentences in an English conversation. So for instance today when I had to answer a question for a classmate I commented to my friends who I was talking to "他是我的同学" or "he is my classmate." In general, I have noticed the more confidence someone has in their Chinese the more code-switching happens. My friends who just started studying the language use Chinese words far less than my friends who have studied Chinese for some time. I even noticed I have been code-switching more in my second semester at ECNU than my first. Apparently this is just a normal part of speaking multiple languages with others who speak the same multiple languages. It is apparently super noticeable in Hong Kong where most of the population speaks Cantonese and English so they will often use English words or phrases embedded in otherwise Cantonese sentences. I have also noticed I will embed more Yiddish in my English the longer I spend at Chabad, at home, or talking with other Jews in general. At Chabad, a comment like "oy vai ist mir, he's a schmuch" or "ugh, he is an idiot" is not uncommon. I am glad most of the people at Chabad don't have the best Chinese, I don't even wan't to know what my English would be like then. I think some people back at Juniata will lose me when I mention "chhhh! Our 服务员 is a putz" or "ugh, our waiter/waitress is an idiot."
1 Comment
Dad
5/15/2017 10:11:28 pm
You great grandparents were code switching fluently long before linguists had a word for it.
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AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
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