Flowery language in the sea of happiness

Last month the students expressed their interest in another assembly where they could perform songs and skits. We were told that one could be scheduled in June. It will be next Monday, the day after Children’s Day (I'm not sure if it’s a Chinese holiday or a world holiday).

Today I was asked to edit the lines that the two emcees will read. Two high school students, one boy and one girl, will lead the assembly in English and Chinese. The English lines had me laughing out loud. Here’s your chance to read some flawless Chinglish. It’s exemplifies how Chinese grammar creates some awkward wording in English and how poetic and expressive Chinese can sound so awful in English.

Boy: Say goodbye to May and welcome the time of June!

Girl: Our hearts are like flowers in full bloom, the sea of happiness.

Boy: June is the cradle of childhood; June is the dreamland of childhood.

Girl: June has the wonderful land for growing; June brings sunshine for children.

Together: June is our festival, we will increase the brilliance for it.

Boy: During this festival that belongs to us, let’s express our respect with songs, let’s show our great ideals with dances.

Girl: We will use wisdom and enthusiasm, spread the seeds of hope; we will use dream and rainbow knit expectant flower fence.

Boy: We will use color pens to draw the blueprint of North Shanghai International School. The show starts now!

[And then each performance is introduced one by one:]

Please enjoy the song “The Lazy and the Diligent,” performers are students in grade one…

Thank you, lovely primary school students, next, please appreciate the solo piano “Practice Song” and “For Elise”…

Now, please appreciate… Thank you… Next, please enjoy…

[And the closing:]

Boy: Let us see the strings of our heart, to sing the glorious future.

Girl: With the childhood’s wish, we will draw the picture of bright future.

Boy: We are tomorrow’s eagle.

Girl: We are the future of our motherland.

Together: Our hearts beat together, with pulse of the times, we will use our actions to turn in a wonderful answer record.

Boy: This is the end of North Shanghai International School’s show.

Girl: Goodbye!

I give them credit for near perfect spelling and punctuation, but it simply sounds so unnatural. Looking at the Chinese characters that correspond to each English line didn’t help either; it uses the same words and phrases. I made a few edits but left much of it untouched; it’s simply so Chinese-sounding and I think it’s better left that way.

I might do sing a song, too. A Korean student named Pong, who is a big fan of American rap music, has been working with me on a multilingual rap song about life at school and in Taicang. We’ll perform as our alter egos, Killa Pong and Superman. We haven’t picked out the beats to play in the background nor have we been able to practice it much, but as they say, “Let us see the strings of our heart, to sing the glorious future!”