Edward McDonald

Language Consultant, China Central Television

English and Chinglish at China's CNN: issues of literacy at an international second-language broadcaster

China Central Television (CCTV) 9 is an English-language broadcaster which broadcasts a range of news, current affairs, and documentary programs in China itself and internationally via satellite. From May 2004, it will be recast as a mainly news-based channel, in direct competition with other international services such as CNN and BBC World. Like other foreign language services in China it employs a staff of foreign ""experts"" whose main job is, in a significant metaphor, to""polish"" copy produced by Chinese journalists directly in English, or translated from Chinese. In such a context where the higher-level generic and registerial variables are largely controlled by non-native speakers , with the lexicogrammatical variables being monitored by native speakers, how are issues of ""correctness"" and ""idiomaticity"" negotiated, and what sort of ""appropriateness"" is being aimed at for what sort of audience? What, in sum, is the meaning of ""literacy"" in such a context? The present paper, by a comparison of various original and ""polished"" texts, as well as through interviews with various Chinese and English native speaker participants in this process, will attempt to provide a profile of typical texts produced and shed some light on the literacy requirements of a genuinely ""World English"" context.