English language getting Chinese twist

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A California-based consulting firm says China's rising global influence is extending to the English language.

Global Language Monitor president Paul J.J. Payack says translation mistakes made by some 250 million Chinese who speak English as a second-language are being absorbed into "Global English," China Daily reported.

For example, Payack said "Long time no see" is a word-for-word Chinese-English translation that is now a standard English phrase.

Payack said "Chinglish" has contributed 5 to 20 percent of the words added to Global English since 1994.

The newspaper said GLM uses the the Elizabethan definition of a word as "a thing spoken and understood."