An Analysis on Deep—structure Language Problems in Chinese

李贝贝

【Abstract】 Most Chinese students have something in common in English writing. That is， they first think in Chinese before writing and then translate what they think in Chinese into English. Therefore， a lot of Chinglish has come into being. This paper is aimed at analyzing this kind of problems and in particular instructing teachers how to deal with deep-structure problems in English writing.

【Key words】English writing deep-structure correcting mistakes

In English writing， we often find some unnatural sentences written by students， which are not similar to the common mistakes made by English beginners . This phenomenon originates from the superficial understanding， which will be analyzed in this paper.

1. The false use of personification

It is common that personification is widely used in Chinese language. However， in English it is not the same. Therefore， your attention should be paid to this difference in writing in order to avoid the mistakes by the influence of Chinese .Let us take a look at some living examples by the students as follows：

l） Learning English， to us， has several difficulties.

Revised： We have several difficulties in English learning.

2） An advanced article often uses long sentences.

Revised： Long sentences are often used in an advanced article.

3） Our cause has won victories one after another.

Revised： We have won one victory after another for our cause.

In the above three sentences， subjects （learning English， an advanced article， our cause） are all lifeless， however， their predicates （has， use， win） usually should be collocated with living subjects. It doesnt accord with the English usage when putting these lifeless subjects and those predicates together .To some extent， these three Chinese sentences are right， so， we may infer that students wrote this kind of sentences mainly because of the Chinese thinking.

2. Short and continuous Chinese sentences

An important difference between Chinese sentences and English sentences is that English sentence structure is complete and normative， while in Chinese they are not connected together in grammar.

l） But sometimes， a word may have more than one meaning， you must choose the best to fit the sentences， you may understand the idea you cant choose the correct one.

Revised： But sometimes， a word may have more than one meaning， and you must choose the best to fit the sentence. Although you may understand the idea you cant choose the correct one.endprint

2） In the old society people didn't have food to eat and didn't have enough clothes to keep warm.

It was unlikely for a person to live long， now the living condition is different， people live a much better life.Revised： In the old society it was unlikely for person to live long because he didn't have enough food to eat and enough clothes to keep warm. Now， the living conditions are different and people live a much better life now.

It seems that evidently the two long unmodified sentences don't have grammatical mistakes. However， they are not from English sentence structure， especially the close relationship that the long English sentences exclusively have. The reason why the students wrote this kind of sentences is that they were influenced by the short and continuous Chinese sentence structure.

3. Sentences without subjects

A sentence without subject is from one of Chinese sentence structures. This kind of sentence is common in Chinese， while in English， it is considered to be a sentence with a seriously grammatical mistake.

l） As learning our mother language， only by means of reading or writing can't learn English well.

Revised： As learning our mother language， we can't learn English well only by means of reading and writing.

2） Especially when a word has lots of different meanings is much more difficult.

Revised： Especially when a word has lots of different meanings， it is much more difficult.

4. Unsuitable collocations

This phenomenon is common in students'writing because most students can't shake Chinese thought off while writing English compositions. Some students'writing process is actually a translating process directly from Chinese to English.

l） People do morning exercises to build up their body.

Revised： People do morning exercise to build up their health.

2） The students study in the school to learn knowledge.

Revised： The students today in the school to acquire knowledge.

3） This violates his intention.

Revised： This goes against his intention.

In the above three sentences， the correct English phrase of “锻炼身体”，“学习知识”，“违背意愿”are "build up their health"， "acquire knowledge" and "go against his intention". Unsuitable collocation is not illogical problem so much as an idiomatic language problem. Thus， we should pay more attention to it in teaching. If the students are not taught to know which words can be often combined， and which words are hardly collocated， the mistakes mentioned above will happen inevitably.endprint

5. Too much repetition

On average， trying to avoid repetition is the general tendency of English unless emphasis or rhetoric is needed. Many teachers teaching English composition even warn their students that they should never use the same word or write the same thing twice in a sentence unless they are repeating intentionally or for emphasis.

l） The people throughout the entire country are working hard for the four modernizations of our country.

Revised： The people throughout the country are working hard for the four modernizations of our country.

2） Nowadays， they can control many epidemic diseases to reduce the rate which they die.

Revised： Nowadays， they can reduce many epidemic diseases.

6. Translation from Chinese into English

Some English sentences written by Chinese students are evidently unnatural， but the grammar and words are both correct. The main cause of this phenomenon often found in students' compositions is that the students tend to translate something word for word， or sentence for sentence directly：

l） My vocabulary is very small.

Revised： I have a rather small vocabulary.

2） Although you spend a good deal of time in reciting， the effect is no good.

Revised： Although you spend a good deal of time in reciting， you dont get the desired result / effect.

3） Common English words are much more than Chinese ones.

Revised： There are much more common English words in English than common Chinese words in Chinese.

In order to get rid of mechanical translation， teaching should be fundamentally improved to make students understand words， phrases and idioms correctly. Besides， students writing requires a large amount of reading for the students to reinforce linguistic sense and to understand the different cultures as well.

As mentioned above， putting forward language mistakes about conception of surface and deep Structures can help teachers know the English proficiency of each student and even the whole class comprehensively at the same time； on the other hand， it will give teachers new requirements. Teachers should not only point out the grammatical mistakes but also analyze the reasons of deep-structure language mistakes， when commenting on students writing. Thereby， teachers language accomplishment can also be achieved.

【References】

[1] Cheng Zhenqiu. Collected works about skills of translating Chinese into English [M]. Chinese Translation Editor Department， China Foreign Language Translation Press，l992.

[2]Ma Bingyi. Primary analysis on the subject difference between Chinese and English [J]Foreign Language，l995（5）.endprint