Meanings
- rareThe form of broken English proverbially encountered in the user manuals and technical documentation accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan.
Eventually, after much reading of badly-translated taiwanglish ‘manuals’ I discovered that the Dallas 12887…had had its CMOS reset pin snipped off.
2006, “Jim Howes”, “Re: BIOS Flash Help”, in uk.comp.homebuilt (Usenet)2 more examples
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.”
1988, Alfred Poor, “The Cheapest ATs Ever” in PC Magazine VII, № 3, ‘786 Computer Systems: 786 Stanford Systems 286‒10’, page 160/3Maybe 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.
1995, “Hung Michael Nguyen” (username), “Re: Calvin and Hobbes” in rec.bicycles.misc, Usenet
Origin
Blend of Taiwan + English, after Chinglish etc.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Taiwanglish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taiwanglish
“Taiwanglish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taiwanglish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Taiwanglish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Taiwanglish.
Source: Taiwanglish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.