@Harry: So there’s a double standard?
For example, if I wasn’t all that good at English I would be seen as cute, as in “Oh you’re so cute say that again” but if a man did it people would be disgusted by him.
(BTW not trying to offend anyone here but-- at least in older movies set in "exotic"countries there’s always a female character who speaks broken English and falls in love with the White hero or the hero falls in love with her…which is probably related to that.)
Only if you’re already cute to the person on the other end; wit that kid in one of the Indiana Jones movies. He’s cute without the aksent, the aksent is supposed to be cuter.
One of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s aphorisms deals with this.
Going by memory, 'twas something along the lines of that “there is nothing more lovable and endearing in the world than the small mistakes foreign ladies make when they attempt to speak our language.” Not his wittiest one by far, but I remember nodding in approval when I read it. (I’d dig it out in the original German, but alas I’m traveling over Christmas and so can’t get a hold of my books.)
I guess it’s cute in the sense that someone is trying to adopt a language, but for obvious reasons which aren’t their fault, they overextend their vocabulary and create interesting new meanings for words. I’ve experienced it as both the native and non-native speaker, while traveling or entertaining visitors. So there is a bit of innocence and fostered understanding to it, which as stated, isn’t so different than dealing with a child.
But I also agree with Doughbag, because not all of it is viewed as cute-- when people have an issue and are on the phone with support, they certainly change their attitude about how cute it is.
On a more personal level, I encounter it on a very regular basis, and while it’s understandable, on the flip-side, situations can get annoying when fluent English speakers start to use broken English, instead of attempting to teach the person through immersion. Despite it not being their native language, the person is still an adult and possesses comprehension skills, so they’ll learn. Worst cases occur when people mimic the broken English, and/or speak louder and emphasize syllables.:smack:
Big time.
Compare the above mentioned Charo, and … heck, anybody speaking broken English. End of story.
The only time I saw Charo on TV was on an episode of That 70s Show (the one where Red turns the Forman house into a fortress because Hyde got arrested for possessing marijuana). Her English didn’t sound all that broken to me.
I don’t think broken English is cute, necessarily, but it does mean the person is trying to communicate in your language (assuming of course your language is English) and that’s endearing.
When I was abroad I tried to speak the local language, and I noticed that French people don’t much like it when you mangle their language but Italians will hug you because you are trying. Or maybe that was just me…
I do think accents are quite charming.
I’m referencing the real 70s, when she wobbled her wobblers and said “Cuchi, Cuchi” all the time.
Probably her English improved since the 70s.
At any rate, she did say that on the show. What’s broken about her English? I don’t hear anything broken about it. Am I missing anything?
My husband is Irish and most Koreans are delighted whenever he attempts to speak Korean. They think it’s adorable. Once on This American Life an American guy was talking about trying to speak Chinese in China and he said people treated him like a monkey trying to sing opera - it doesn’t matter if you’re good at it; people will be impressed/amused anyway.
On the flip side, it amuses me to no end when we go abroad and people speak to me in English very slowly as if I were a five year old. I know they mean well, but it’s hard not to laugh at the look on their face when they hear my extremely American accent.
Sometimes the mistakes are silly, too, and silliness is endearing.
Lots of people who grow up in ostensibly English-speaking countries speak broken English, and that’s not cute at all.
Stop saying “like” all the time!
Conjugate the verb “to be,” please!
The word is “ask,” not “ax/axe/aks!” Yes, I am aware of the history on that one, but that was then, and this is now.
“Who” refers to the subject, and “whom” to the object!
Antisocial does not mean asocial. The Brits still say that one correctly.
I could go on and on. It’s not cute at all.
IMO that’s not really broken English-- at least pronouncing “ask” as “axe” or “aks” or using “be” in a sentence like “He be over there right now” are.
But do they think it’s adorable that his Korean is bad, or that it’s adorable he actually bothers?
A bit of both, I think.
My wife uses “how can?” a lot. As in "how can that be true’ “how can it be so cheap”…seems much better than native English actually. More economic and to the point.
When we were first married 20 years ago, she recorded our answering phone message as “leave a message and we’ll get you back as soon as possible.” 
So, there is perhaps a more logical way of speaking English, which is non native, odd and oddly cute. There is also mistakes that have a double entendre.
I think the “don’t torture me with your English” is a good rule of thumb. As in, I’m cool if you insist on speaking English with me as long as your English isn’t painful to hear when I know my Chinese is pretty good.
No! Nooooooo!!
The reason why anything is cute: it reminds us of children. Kittens are cute because their facial features, movements and playfulness remind us of kids. Women are cuter than men because they’re smaller and higher pitched voices. Broken English can be cute if it reminds us of the way a child would speak it.
It’s not "broken’ English, it is a correct translation from Chinese to English. Chinese does not have same pronouns, plural endings, articles such as “a” and “the”, and ing and ed endings, or tenses, to name a few. So yes, it is ‘broken’ in a sense, but not childish - it would be the same for an adult learner. If we were learning Chinese we may well sound childish or ‘cute’. The correct way to treat it would be the same way you would for your native speaking English-speaking children. Repeat what they said, politely, including the correct grammar. That, plus listening to you over time, will help them evolve as mature speakers. No one would want their 13-year old English-speaking teen, for instance, to attend school sounding like a ‘cute’ two-year-old. If they were mentally handicapped, that would be understandable. Grow Up! (chuckle).