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anonymous
Q: What are some common Chinglish pronunciation mistakes that have lead you into awkward situations?
The day when my TA attempted to help me out by practicing the vocabulary word "horse" with the students, and spent five minutes walking around the room randomly shouting "whore! whore! whore!" at the wee kidlets... then I had to explain to her why she should be careful with that word... and then what a whore was....
The difference between "ty" and "teen." Example: something only costs 17, but they say seventy...
Mispronouncing "gum" when trying to say "I like to eat gum." 
Mispronouncing "insect." 
MissA:
That's a common mistake among learners from pretty much any linguistic background. Really emphasize that the stress patterns are very different i.e. SE-ven-ty versus se-ven-TEEN, that should help a bit.
Hulk:
Thanks, MissA! I emphasize this every time I encounter it. I usually have to ask, "Do you mean seven zero, or one seven?" And then I give them the correct pronunciation. Good tip!
snacks snakes
JustinF:
wow! Beef aside, that's exactly what I was going to say. One minute late though
JustinF:
that's the only comment i didn't fix today. I blame it on alcohol.
Most of the Chinglish I can understand. It is trying to work out what some of the non-native speaking English teachers are trying to say that confuses me.
One of my students said he wanted to be "eunuch".
He meant to say "unique"...
peanuts
mArtiAn:
Yep, i've heard that one, as well as 'fork / can't / sheet' the list goes on. Also any responsible teacher has to recognize that teaching their young students the word 'cow' is all well and good, but when they go out in the countryside they see very few cows at all - but a great many 'bullocks'.
Me, some other foreigners and a Chinese guy wanted to go a place none of us had been before. The Chinese guy told us that he knew how we can get there, we got on a bus and he started fretting "This is the long way, this is the long way". Then he wanted us to get off at the next stop. Then we realized he actually tried to say "This is the WRONG way".
I had to watch a demo class for a non native English teacher last week who pronounced toes as toys and called a star fruit a mango. The worst part was when he drilled it. Is it any wonder that so many mistakes are made?
One of my (female) students told me about when she went back home for the holiday, but all her friends were away, so she had to "play with herself"...
She will never make that mistake again 
DaqingDevil:
That "play" word got me into some trouble early in my days here. "Can we go out and play?"
"I can come around to your apartment and we can play together."
I thought all my dreams had come true. Bloody language!!
national is international
chinese friends confusing signs when visiting england 'to let' thinks its toilet.
the student who took the ielts and asked about his pet did not know the word lizard so he tells the examiner he has a pet dragon and he likes to pet his head everyday.
Peanuts and penis. I'm sure half the women say it on purpose - "I want some peanuts"
ravster09:
Nice one. Especially when these women claim to be wanting some peanuts or "penis" everyday.
Had some interesting situations with my class yesterday. Instead of saying "Brush my teeth", I thought that they said "Brush my tits" and even "Brush my dick".
There you go. Hope you enjoy yourself laughing it out.
