English in China

English in China is a second-language variety developing due to the importance of English in international trade and as a lingua franca. The degree of competence of speakers varies greatly (depending on exposure to English and contact with Englsh speakers) and is not anywhere near that found in other anglophone locations of South-East Asia such as Hong Kong and the Phillipines. There is much phonetic interference from background languages. In the case of Chinese English, vowel length is not distinctive and consonant clusters are greatly simplified. In addition the intonation used is quite different from native forms of English, something which relates to the systemic tonal distinctions in Chinese language but impairs comprehensibility. Note that the speaker on the sound file here is a Chinese native speaker from Taiwan.

   Sample sound file