Taiwanglish

English

Alternative forms

• Also nonstandardly with an initial minuscule t.

Etymology

Blend of Taiwan +‎ English, after Chinglish etc.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /taɪˈwaŋɡlɪʃ/

Proper noun

Taiwanglish

1. (rare) The form of broken English proverbially encountered in the user manuals and technical documentation accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan.
   • 1988, Alfred Poor, “The Cheapest ATs Ever” in PC Magazine VII, № 3, ‘786 Computer Systems: 786 Stanford Systems 286‒10’, page 160/3:

     The motherboard configuration is explained in a tiny 25-page pamphlet, written in classic “Taiwanglish.” For example, there is a rubber-stamped notice on the title page: “IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT are registeled trademarks of.”

   • 1995, “Hung Michael Nguyen” (username), “Re: Calvin and Hobbes” in rec.bicycles.misc, Usenet:

     Maybe he meant “Taiwanglish”, the barely comprehensible English that used to be common on manuals, instructions, etc., from Taiwanese and Japanese (Japanglish) products, although in recent years, I have noticed it to be a lot better.

   • 2006, “Jim Howes”, “Re: BIOS Flash Help”, in uk.comp.homebuilt (Usenet):

     Eventually, after much reading of badly-translated taiwanglish ‘manuals’ I discovered that the Dallas 12887…had had its CMOS reset pin snipped off.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Taiwanglish.

Translations

broken English encountered in documents accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan