Tuesday 18 August 2009

Pidgin English?

The Englishman in China (London : Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1860).
"Two old Chinamen (European residents, who, having been home, are now returning to China) sit one on either side of me at dinner, keeping me in one continual state of astronishment at their lagnauge towards the native servatns on board, to whom they speak 'pidgin-English.' As yet I am quite unable to make out what they say (to their great amusement, by the bye) when asking the 'boys' (for these servants, like our post-boys, are alwyas 'boys') for anything. They tell me I shall soon learn how to speak that, but never Chinese - this I am very sorry to hear, but, at all events, I shall have a try." (p. 15)
From the Victorian journal Notes and queries‎ in 1850, "Pidgin or Pigeon English (10 S. v. 46. 90, 116, 174, 454). - I have frequently heared a near relative of mine, who arrived at Hongkong in 1851, and finally quitted the colony for England in 1853, refer to the embarrassments that at that date arose...Pidgin English." (p. 38)

More:
Southern Literary Messenger, Volume 19 (1853)
Bayard Taylor, A visit to India, China, and Japan, in the year 1853 (1855)
George Francis Train, An American merchant in Europe, Asia and Australia (1857)
Robert Bowne Minturn, From New York to Delhi (1858)
Edward Henry Nolan, The illustrated history of the British empire in India and the East (1858)

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Currently reading...

Lan Pei-Chia, Global Cinderellas: migrant domestics and newly rich employers in Taiwan (Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2006). 中文翻譯:藍佩嘉:《跨國灰姑娘 : 當東南亞幫傭遇上台灣新富家庭》(台北:行人出版社,2008)。 Global Cinderellas, what a beautiful name; nevertheless, it's merely better than the global slaves.
Michèle Lamont, How professors think: inside the curious world of academic judgment (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, c2009). Illuminating. A must read to understand how professors work in the "black box".
Paul Gray and David E. Drew, What they didn't teach you in graduate school : 199 helpful hints for success in your academic career (Sterling, Va. : Stylus Pub, 2008). If you are a graduate student or are thinking to join the circle, read it along with this: Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius's "So what are you going to do with that?": finding careers outside academia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.)