Chinglish is ugly. Let’s just say it.
It’s the English of bad translations. The English of menus that say “The Sauce Drenches the Intestines.” The English of signs warning you to “Slip Carefully.” It’s awkward. It’s wrong. It makes native speakers laugh—and sometimes, it makes them cringe.
But here’s the thing: Chinglish is also alive.
It’s the English that 1.4 billion people produce when they think in Chinese and write in English. It’s the English of a civilization trying to speak across a linguistic canyon. Every mistake is a fossil—a trace of how one language refuses to lie down inside another.
Chinglish is the Past. Zhonglish is the Future.
Chinglish happens when Chinese speakers fail at English. Zhonglish happens when Chinese speakers choose their own English.
Chinglish is accidental. Zhonglish is intentional.
Chinglish is an error. Zhonglish is a voice.
Here at Zhonglish, we don’t want to fix your English. We want to give you a new relationship with it. One where you’re not apologizing for your accent or second-guessing your grammar. One where English is a tool you use, not a test you pass.
We believe that the future of English doesn’t belong to London or New York. It belongs to the billions of people who speak it as a second language—and who are already reshaping it, right now, with every “long time no see” and every “people mountain people sea.”
What We Do Here
- We dig up ancient words that English forgot—words that were beautiful, precise, and unjustly retired.
- We rebuild broken bridges between Chinese and English—the meanings that get lost in translation and deserve to be found again.
- We retell classics through a Zhonglish lens—because every language brings its own wisdom to a story.
The Name
Zhong (中) is the Chinese word for “middle”—but it’s also the word for China. And “Zhonglish” sounds almost exactly like “Chinglish”—just with one letter changed.
One letter. That’s the difference between being embarrassed by your English and being proud of it.
Chinglish is ugly. Zhonglish is better. Welcome to the future.
— The Zhonglish Team