Is the phrase "Welcome to join us" Chinglish?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

“Welcome to join us” is a very wildly used phrase within Chinese community.
It sounds weird when I heard it the first time just like the phrase “long time no see”
But as long as a phrase makes sense, it will probably live on.
What should an English teaching professional do?
Ignore it? or “join them?”

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish

[i]“Welcome to”
One of the more noticeable cases of Chinglish, especially on mainland China, is the phrase welcome to. This is used as a direct translation in Chinese, “歡迎”. It actually means “we invite you to” or “you are welcome to”, and is used more as an incentive to the activity introduced or as a form of “thank you”. Its use is almost always cordial, inviting, or otherwise positive. A more confusing matter arises with the usage of the phrase welcome again. The phrase is typically displayed in such a manner that it is seen at the end of activities such as bus rides or visits to bookstores, and would be translated as a message of thanks, and that the visitor is welcome back at any time. An equivalent phrase in English-speaking countries might be “Please come again.”

Examples:

Welcome to ride Line 52 Bus = Thank you for riding Bus Line 52.
Welcome to ride Line 13 again = Thank you for riding Line 13, and we would be pleased to welcome you back aboard at any time.
Welcome to take my taxi = Thank you for taking my taxi.
Welcome to listen to my news = Thanks for tuning in!
Welcome to use ATM service = found very often on ATMs, means thanks for using this ATM. [/i]

2

Not teach it.

Teach them the differences: Welcome is not the same as You’re welcome is not the same as You’re welcome to (join us). Then explain how it’s perhaps better to say Please join us or Feel free to join us.

3

It’s obviously Chinglish. I would try to eradicate its use in my students. Teach them what to say instead, but be prepared to keep hearing it.

4

You are welcome to join us is correct.

5

[quote=“technobabel”]“Welcome to join us” is a very wildly used phrase within Chinese community.
It sounds weird when I heard it the first time just like the phrase “long time no see”
But as long as a phrase makes sense, it will probably live on.
[/quote]

possibly, but only here.

long time no see is believed to have originated from Chinese Pidgin English (HK - some 300 years ago). the key there is that native speakers also adopted it. i don’t see that happening in this case.

perhaps while you’re working on this with students, you can spend a minute or two on the line that often precedes it: new open.

6

I often ran into this when editing advertising copy and corrected it to “you are welcome…”, “please…” etc. as suggested by others above.

7

You can teach them like this:

“Welcome to” can only be followed by a place name, like “Taiwan”.
“You are welcome to” can be followed by a verb like “join us”.

8

And Welcome is followed by Let me take your coat.