Linguistic False Friends: 03 (English / Chinese: Wordplay)

I've been teaching English conversation to a group of Hong Kong incomers at a community centre in north London, as a volunteer.

    For the lessons, I try and incorporate things British:  British English [vs American English, which a lot of people around the world are familiar with, having watched American films and videos];  British food;  British sense of humour;  etc.).

    One British trait, shared by the Chinese, that I've brought up in class is the love of wordplay, particularly in tabloid newspapers and adverts.

    When I first asked the students what "wordplay" meant, a number of them immediately said "crossword puzzle".  (That was in November last year when I took over the class -- their regular volunteer teacher had found paid work.)

    This is probably because the Chinese verb "玩(儿) wán(er) / to play" is used a lot in everyday life.  (The "儿 ér" is the tongue-curling sound that northern speakers add to the end of lots of sounds, both verbs and nouns -- not used by southern speakers.)

    It is another cultural-usage word that poses translation problems, which I shall cover in greater detail in a blog of its own.  For now, it's simpler just to say that to the Chinese-speaking brain, "wordplay" seems to = "word game" (from the "玩 wán / play" link), and therefore ends up being "crossword puzzle".

    The group has just started a new term, with fresh members.  For revision and for the newcomers to catch up on what they'd missed, I asked what "wordplay" meant.  One of the new students said: "Crossword puzzle".

    I shall have to start using "a play on words" from now on.  (It'll be interesting to see if they still think it's "crossword puzzle"...)

* (From googling)  Quote Word play is a broad literary technique used to manipulate sounds and meanings (like puns or riddles). A crossword puzzle is a structured, grid-based word game. The key distinction is that word play is a creative device, while a crossword is a formalized puzzle solved by deducing exact answers to fit an intersecting grid. Unquote

* (From googling)  Quote In the UK, "Hong Kong incomers" refers to individuals and families who have migrated from Hong Kong, typically arriving via the British National (Overseas) [BN(O)] humanitarian visa route. Over 180,000 Hong Kongers have used this pathway to relocate to the UK, settling into communities across the country. Unquote