Can Top 0.1% Students in China Speak fluent English? | Street Interview

[@AsianBoss]

For the holidays, we’ve made several exclusive videos from our membership platform available to you for FREE. Enjoy: asianboss.io/yt/123-exclusivevideos. To have your say in the topics we cover next, visit AsianBoss.io and join our exclusive community, where you can connect with other like-minded members. We’re on an important mission, so please watch this important message video as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/babOl3-Doq5rjrs

[@Anonymous-tq2iu]

4:31 social credit -8964

[@Anonymous-tq2iu]

4:42 social credit - 10000000

[@Anonymous-tq2iu]

10:50 Saying England: social credit -999

[@irritatedanglosaxon1705]

Why pushing Chinese around to speak imperialist language? Whether u like it or not, Chinese will be the future

[@Dreamy25750]

​@@irritatedanglosaxon1705 Ok but English is still the most widely spoken language in the world. I am Chinese but I still use English in KZbin.

[@vath5150]

Now ask top 0.1% students in America if they speak any other languages other than English. Edit: To those offended in the replies, this is just a video idea suggestion lmao. I get it, some of yall are very proud to speak only English xD

[@defectivemonk3884]

Considering the amount of Americans with a multi-cultural background… There are plenty of Americans who speak another language. Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, etc….and they are in those top schools.

[@esparda07]

And that, my friends, is why the pen is not mightier than the bullet...I mean sword.

[@Ssv714]

you mean the other koreans, chinese, and japanese?

[@Sorrow653]

And spanish.

[@keikaku9298]

Plenty of people speak more than one language in top 0.1%. Many would speak spanish, many take classes on european languages like french or german or italian, many from Asian heritage can likely speak their mother tongue. However, reading/writing in those language may not be as good since they are not really tested upon.

[@AzureSteel]

The female student with the blonde fringe is actually so impressive. Only a six months exchange program during her junior year in uni in Berkley to achieve that level of pronunciation and articulation? I would have thought she lived in the US for the majority of her schooling career. 😮 Definitely a language genius.

[@Spencer0090]

yup definitely agree,. and shes the only one i would say deserves a high score on their english skills!!

[@fatheryoda]

yes agree, not just pronunciation but her vocab and articulation was very impressive

[@QiWu_migo1942]

I wish I could have a chance to be an exchange.

[@KaterinaBarrie]

Definitely a genius overall. She said she studied 8 hours a day as compared to the other students who were doing 11-12. She knows she is brilliant, too, you can tell from the way she holds herself.

[@lei-ic5ig]

Chinese students have very good basic posibility of English, such as vocabulary， writting，grammar and reading. The only reason why our oral English is not good is that oral English is useless for our Entrance Exam. So I think Chinese students can improve very fast when we go abroad.

[@phr33k4z01D]

I actually do find this culturally insightful. I just wish I could speak Chinese as good as they speak English. Well done guys. We need more unity in the world and this is helping bridge that gap.

[@ralfzacherl9942]

I think almost all STEM students in the world are at least bilingual except for English speakers and partly French. It's not that hard to have your mother tongue and a second language.

[@phr33k4z01D]

@@ralfzacherl9942 you're right it's not that hard. I actually speak 2 languages outside of English and I've never attended some prestigious university. Chinese is just a difficult language for me to learn for some reason. That in no way means having a second language is impossible for native English speakers. Sorry for any confusion.

[@vasylfedchyk]

Yeah, good luck with that, you go focus on unity and bridging the gap while the party continues to tighten up the screws and demonizing the collective west, helps russia invade and genocide Ukraine. It's devastating and sad but unfortunately that's what it is.

[@PitFriedman]

@@ralfzacherl9942 中国学生口语表达是弱项 因为没有足够的联系环境

[@KS-yn5zw]

@@ralfzacherl9942 Most STEM students who speak two languages don't have to learn a language so far from their native language... some people have no idea how difficult it is for a Chinese person to learn English

[@sortehuse]

I'm from Denmark. I met a 7 year old chinese girl and her mother in a park in Beijing. They offered to take my photo, because I was travelling alone. The 7 year old girl spoke better english than me, in fact her english was perfect as far as I could tell. She told me that she had a teacher from UK. Her mother was very proud of her.

[@rong8645]

in top cities in China, kids receive better english education. Also, parents are willing to spend money on their extra english class.

[@sortehuse]

@@rong8645 Late on my trip I meet two english nuns that where teaching regular chinese kids english

[@AllUpOns]

Yeah the richest Chinese students get sent to schools with native English speakers, and the results speak for themselves. I've worked with one or two who had legitimately perfect American accents despite only living here for a few years.

[@yijunwei7902]

As a student at Tsinghua University (one of the two best universities in China), English is completely necessary in your studies. Some courses are taught in English, and almost all courseware, textbooks, assignments and examinations for senior undergraduate courses are in English. Scientific research and reading papers require English even more. Therefore, the students' English proficiency is quite high, but the spoken English is not used at all in daily life, so the accent will be strange.

[@jammed_yam]

Definitely, in the end being surrounded by accurate pronunciations and native level speech is the most important for conversation but most of the practical uses are in writing papers etc

[@Coldspring233]

they don't speak, just using English to read and write paper

[@CharlsonCKim]

especially at the graduate level, where there are many foreign professors that teach exclusively in english.

[@TheFeederG]

I think spoken English is kind of overrated. Those who use English on a daily basis should have no problem formulating and speaking a sentence, albeit some may have very heavy accent which I do not think have a huge impact on the effectiveness of communication. I live in Hong Kong and I struggled to understand someone speaking English translated from Chinese with little accent so much more than someone speaking fluent English with a very heavy Indian accent.

[@Republicanmouse]

We hired a straight A English major from Tsinghua University to teach English to our new hire engineers. She was good, but not nearly as good as her boss (who reported to me), a Chinese woman who had attended Edinburgh University in Scotland.

[@MarkSalhany]

I'm an American guy--mad respect to my Chinese brothers and sisters! I just visited mainland China for the first time a couple weeks ago (a short visit to Guangzhou) and on multiple occasions I was approached by people asking if I needed help with directions or help using Alipay 😅. Such a beautiful and fascinating country. I hope to make a proper visit around the provinces someday (after I learn a bit more Mandarin)!

[@newtrend114]

Love from India

[@wenbo595]

alipay is useful in nyc

[@h0tyyAlcatel]

@@newtrend114 love also from US to India

[@Jasonishere409]

Welcome to china!

[@ChineseNational]

About the girl with the blonde fringe, I'm pretty sure that the 6 months in Berkley were just icing on the cake. I noticed that in public schools here in China, in almost every grade, there are a few students who are really good at the language. Some are due to the fact that they lived abroad for a few years with their parents when they were little, others simply because of how much emphasis their parents put on the subject early on. Language skills can be acquired at an early age, with enough exposure it's a pretty natural process.

[@willv88]

Agreed, she may have forgotten (or didn't mention) some of the exposure she had as a young child. The vast majority of Chinese folks I've met in China with good English skills had additional opportunities - special lessons or going abroad at a young age - that others didn't.

[@defectivemonk3884]

The light haired girl with glasses was spot on with her rating. Six months in an English-speaking country and her English might be undistinguishable from a native.

[@slowmakes]

Yeah oh my goodness she sounds really close to native

[@KayAnderson888]

​@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_Oh yes. 2 month old west propaganda smurf account

[@NO1xANIMExFAN]

no, its very unlikely for her to become indistinguishable from a native speaker, but nonetheless her oral english is still very comprehensible and easy to understand

[@slowmakes]

@@NO1xANIMExFAN I have friends who were born in Canada but English was their second language and their English is a bit accented but still... They are absolutely fluent as this woman is. Besides... Native is really a subjective term because Singaporean English is going to sound different from Canadian English, and even Canadian English will sound different from one province to another 😅 Let me rephrase... This lady is fluent ✨✨

[@arsenal_84]

She got some slight American accent though which is not common among the china students.

[@ncochran01]

The girl with the blone streak in her hair had amazing English skills. Her pronunciation was great and very understandable. If I didn't hear her speak Mandarin first, I would have thought she was born in the US.

[@simonjp873]

English is the three major subjects in high school,Chinese spend a lot of time to learn it,,West media always spread fake news about china ,So here is not a lot of english speaker ,We alwasy see US movie and tv plays to practice our english

[@mpandunky]

Well their accent may be foreign but these kids are extremely intelligent & opinionated. Their pov on China vs. the US is more enlightened than most adults in any parts of the world.

[@bradcarr1606]

Well remember these are some of the most intelligent and educated young people in China.

[@PitFriedman]

哈哈 中国学生比较注重英语的阅读能力

[@4x4r974]

its word for word propoganda answers, if you have ever had any experience with CCP material taught to students. That is why they kinda slowed down when speaking about this, they were translating word for word from Chinese.

[@James-jh3sz]

@@4x4r974 What? I don't think it's takes propaganda to convince people that they want improve their countries standard of living. If they were repeating propaganda they would have said China was the world superpower, and yet, they didn't. Ironically, your inability to seperate the chinese people from their government's media outlets almost certainly means that you have consumed far too much propaganda yourself.

[@eseem336]

Their accent is not foreign, it is indeed alien!!! My ears are bleeding. I wish they would stop declaring that they can speak in english. But, I totally agree that they are smart and opinionated.

[@ndwolfwood09]

Great interview, gave us a better insight on the younger people in China. Also, not everything needs to be political, at the end of the day we are all human and being able to communicate, relate, and enjoy ourselves is the key to better understand each other!

[@fireheart6267]

I don't think anyone has any problem with the Chinese people. On the contrary I feel sorry for them. Thier government on the other hand.. they shouldn't exist

[@sportsonwheelss]

and there lie the problem with the West.@@fireheart6267

[@sportsonwheelss]

you have a nation that had been stagnant for decades while China has been moving forward, yet you think their gov is the problem.@@fireheart6267

[@Cafeston]

What they say at 4:50 is a prevalent idea in China: to mind their own business and keep improving. That's what the West refuses to understand.

[@johnanhmmiii]

I totally agree with you, some people just suddenly mentioned politics topics that are not related to the video at all to stir up some drama tbh

[@Sunbirder]

What I find most interesting is that among the 2 best English speakers in the video, one had a very American and one had a very British leaning accent.

[@xincao95]

Isn't this a matter of course? Because people in China do not use English when talking to each other, people who speak English well have most likely had experience abroad. Among them, the United States and the United Kingdom are the most common, so one has an American accent and the other has a British accent.

[@Sunbirder]

​@@xincao95yes, it certainly isn't surprising with some top students having spent time abroad, but nonetheless something that's always interesting to observe imo. Sometimes it's a matter of media exposure (which typically favors an American accent) as well. Just on a side note: In terms of proficiency, one could have a strong Chinese accent while still being completely fluent in English. I have had Chinese professors who fall in this category. I myself would say that I'm fairly proficient in English, but still speak with a noticeable German accent in an otherwise mainly American English pronunciation but with some British pronounced words sprinkled in (due to one of my HS English teachers having taught in British English). Interestingly the half year I lived in New Zealand during my teens hasn't influenced my English pronounciation 😅

[@xincao95]

From my personal understanding, when a person learns English in his own country, he has no accent, or he has the accent of his own country. So in the first country he goes to after going abroad, he will probably learn the accent of that country. There won’t be any big changes in the future.@@Sunbirder

[@Ripcraze]

Can only speak from my own experience but when I was growing up in Sweden we were taught Brittish english, so it probably depends on the school too. In Asia it seems that many english teachers might also be people that came from the US or UK to teach, here in Sweden as far as I know and from my own experiences the english teachers are pretty much all Swedish as well, could be differnet in private schools though.

[@xincao95]

@@Ripcraze This has nothing to do with teachers and schools. The vast majority of English teachers in China are Chinese, and many of them have never been abroad. As you can see in the video, those who speak English at a low level have no accent because they learned English from Chinese people, so of course they will not have an accent. People who have been abroad will have a higher level of spoken language, and their accent will blend with foreigners, so they will have an American or British accent.

[@jenn8767]

Incredibly proud of these young people, as a former ESL teacher in China. Truth is most young people would have had English classes at either kindergarten or at a training center, have an English teacher at school or an online tutor. It also depends a lot on the city. Someone born in Shanghai will generally be exposed to more foreigners and will be more fluent than say someone from Lianyungang. Chinese students work very hard in a highly competitive environment.

[@yvngwav]

they did really well tbh. makes me wanna get out there and learn more languages. the first language I learned was a little bit of italian in middle school and then some spanish in high school. but to hear that they’re learning english from kindergarten is amazing. and shoutout to these students for being cool enough to be interviewed in a language that obviously isn’t their first.

[@wolfzmusic9706]

Learning a language takes so much time and effort 😭. I do enjoy learning German, but I think it'll be the only language I'll learn for a while, because it's also harder to pursue other hobbies (like learning an instrument) when doing this.

[@fleetingmoment]

@4:07: The interviewee's English was correct: "We still have to spare no effort...," but for some reason, Asian Boss incorrectly wrote, "We still have to spare more effort..." in the subtitles.

[@emmazhao5186]

Thanks

[@joey3291]

I came from China and spent a lot of time abroad, and from my observations, everyday people in China know a lot better about the world than those in the west know about China. That's why on the one hand we know we have a lot of problems domestically and internationally to deal with, but on the other hand we also know our strength relative to other countries and we are optimistic about our future.

[@l-ox6ct]

China is the future

[@001sepwsp]

The world needs to learn more about China

[@Sep-ty9hl]

You should, China has done amazingly well in the past decades.

[@gravityissues5210]

Well that’s OK, I’m sure the Wumao will do a fantastic job of letting us know all about how everything is perfect in China. No homeless, no poverty, nothing but shiny new infrastructure, right? Also that girl who’s going on about VPN? Yeah I hope the authorities don’t see that. They gotta keep that Internet safe from CIA plots to overthrow the government, so they need that Great Firewall, eh?

[@joey3291]

@@gravityissues5210 pretty lame reply, dude, take it easy😂

[@camille2141]

They all did fantastic!! Way to go!!!

[@felixb6]

@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_ Hello rajeet

[@sophiazheng-oe3hv]

I speak both Chinese and English because my parents are from China but I'm from the U.S. I usually have to speak Chinese to my parents when we talk, but at school I speak English. Sometimes when I speak English I accidentally speak Chinese, and sometimes it's the opposite.😅 I get messed up.... but to me it's really cool to be able to speak both languages. When I was a baby (like a few months old) my parents had to work and so they had no time to take care of me, so then the only choice that they had was to send me to China and let my grandparents take care of me. I stayed in China up until I was 5 years old. That's when I came to the U.S. And the funny thing is that I didn't know any English, the only words I know were "hi", "thank you", and "you're welcome".😭 But eventually I got the hang of it and started to understand the language better as time pasted by. Now I improved and became a better me, and I will continue to do that.

[@weiliu-ov2yl]

5岁开始学英文算早的了，中国大部分孩子都是三年级大概九岁左右才开始接触到英语。当然现在竞争激烈大家都在追求精英式教育很多幼儿园的孩子就开始学英文了

[@yushi911]

Practice is the key. Our family left China for many generations now. My cousins who live in California speak fluently Cantonese, English and Spanish. Me and my sibling grew up here in Montreal (Canada). We all speak fluently French, English and Cantonese.

[@willv88]

A lot of foreign-born Chinese may have great pronunciation and fundamentals, but if you drop them into a purely Chinese/Cantonese speaking environment, a formal environment, they'd struggle. 别误解 I'm not saying this to discount their abilities, just the measure of fluency is pretty subjective. This is coming from someone who has lived 10+ years in both the US and China.

[@sunni.potatoes5959]

Their English is so good, it makes me want to work hard to get better at Chinese! I think another part of the reason for low english proficiency in China is simply because our languages are so different from each other. Even if you study a foreign language from a young age, if you don't enjoy learning languages, then something so difficult can be come very frustrating and discouraging and may make people not want to continue anymore. It's like math! You have to do it in school, but if it's not your thing, then you're relieved when you're finally done with it, and you don't use it any more than you need to for the rest of your life 😂

[@Joey-dj4cd]

you mean so bad ?

[@sunni.potatoes5959]

@@Joey-dj4cd Most of them were pretty good

[@bruce1998168]

我英文不好，我學生時被同學霸凌，讓我對英文沒興趣，我的英文很爛😢

[@CharlsonCKim]

the one student nailed it on the head - china has a huge population much of which remains rural with restricted opportunities for education . the nations ahead of china are smaller with a smaller rural fraction and probably a longer history of european colonialization .

[@CuracaoChic]

My man there with the poshest English accent. Dude must have been learning with British foreigners. I love it.

[@thesands4963]

This was great to watch. Certainly impressed by some of the speakers. I was so glad to hear though from the one guy that China is not at war with the U.S. they want to improve themselves. I truly think there's just too much of a need to be THE global power. It highlighted how no matter what culture you come from, we all have a greater purpose than asserting dominance.

[@questionmarkyim1749]

I am an English teacher in China, cn students have pretty good grammar and vocab basics, I could even say they're better than most of non-native speakers of English in other countries, they just don't get to use them in actual conversation because of GAOKAO, so it's totally the fault of education system. but on the other hand, considering the large population, it's understandable.

[@weiliu-ov2yl]

因为英语口语不作为考试的要求，所以不重视

[@patrickwangrui]

5:35 the student here, im not kidding, *has a british accent*. thats crazy

[@FANYI-q1i]

I still remember the BBC interviewing a group of young people living in China a long time ago who said they had been oppressed by the CCP and had not received a good education. So I've always wondered how the BBC found a group of Chinese people who hadn't received a good education, but were as fluent in English as Americans are

[@ngfamily1397]

Impressive! It's not just about how good their English is, is how well-informed they are of the world, and their self awareness. China's success is never accidental, apart from sheer hard work, its thinking and attitude are underpinned by Confucius teaching which is ingrained in the Chinese psychic. It's not taught, but has been internalised over centuries of influence in arts and literature.

[@ChicagoTurtle1]

China is currently being hated by some groups of people. I’ve been more and more curious about the actual China. Thank you for showing this.

[@crankblitz8149]

China is huge and has a large population, if you ask different Chinese people you can get very different answers.

[@jacksonyu1313]

@@crankblitz8149 as a chinese , i agree with you , china has good and bad aspects

[@chinathesideyoudontsee8157]

Language proficiency is all about practice . I have met 8 year olds that can hold a semi decent chat in English and taught 14 year olds that can't initiate a conversation and only answer in short form. I have had students score 7+ in ELTS and others that wouldn't even be able to take the exam. In most cases it is not so much the student's intelligence , but the fact that they love and immerse themselves in the language. A big hurdle here is basically English isn't used in daily life so unless as I described in the previous sentence applies, the students forget faster than they learn .

[@ajz2436]

@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_ LOL

[@russelfang7434]

@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_ How much do you get from Godi media?

[@mqkt01]

I have a friend who runs a team for a large US chip company. His team is in China. He learned Chinese and runs meetings in Chinese. He’s been at it for 15 years and doesn’t sense any political barriers. We need leaders among this crowd on both sides to bring people together. We can avoid taking steps backwards and accomplish more.

[@RainyDayBookshelf]

This is a fascinating video. How incredible are these students. Not only is their English almost fluent, their pronunciation is also fantastic. The student with the black-rimmed glasses and the orange toggle on his jacket as the student with the blonde fringe are phenomenal.

[@fleurpisano4563]

Any language is difficult without constant exposure. I have a chinese employee moved to Australia a couple of years ago, she thinks her english is bad but within 2 years she has gone from struggling to fluent and also reads quite well. I doubt I'd do as well in China being a monolingual english speaker.

[@宿清安]

In fact, all Chinese students start to learn English in kindergarten and primary school. As a compulsory course, it occupies a large score in the high school entrance examination and the college entrance examination.

[@Ile-des-Soeurs_Verdun]

Damn! Some of those people have a really nice accent, eg the gentleman at 2:16 and the lady at 2:28. I’d say that it’s pretty impressive for native Chinese speakers to have such a clear and flawless pronunciation. For me, a native Chinese that had been living in Canada since 2010 and in an English-majority area of Québec province, it’s quite normal to hear such good English. However, for these two, it’s actually breathtaking.

[@jehgelo]

Love knowing their stories. Watched from Philippines

[@RoyFJ65]

They are honest and that seems to be a general trait in China.

[@willsandrew815]

You will find much better English speaking students in language or literature-focused programs and colleges that probably ranked after 100s in Chinese Universities. These students interviewed in the video were simply not trained to 'speak' English, but I am pretty sure they have no issue understanding English-written journals and database when they do their research. It is not important at all for Chinese institutions to have all students good English speakers where English is just a tool for them to learn from online resources.

[@silverchairsg]

I once met a girl who was majoring in English literature in Fudan. To say I was extremely impressed is an understatement.

[@nameisamine]

She was majoring in English, wouldn’t it be pretty embarrassing to the university if her English wasn’t up to par? 😅

[@silverchairsg]

@@nameisamine A Chinese person who chooses to study English literature, in a culture where most people have limited proficiency in English, doesn't impress you? You truly have very high standards...

[@nameisamine]

@@silverchairsg I once met a white dude in London who studies at SOAS and spoke fluent Swahili because of it. If you’re spending lots of time and money to learn something, you should learn it well right. I’m not spend money on a university degree specialising in a language and come out not being fluent in it. That would just be a waste of my time and money.

[@silverchairsg]

@@nameisamine The part that is truly impressive to me is that she voluntarily chose to major in English lit.

[@iamnemoo]

I've lived in international dorms in 2 non-English speaking countries and I remember all the Chinese students spoke near perfect English on top of the 3rd language we were there to study for. They're scary smart.

[@davidyoung7869]

I'm 64 and a second generation overseas born Chinese. I must say that the young Chinese of today has improved leaps and bounds compared to the last generation or two. Well done. If I can speak Mandarin as well as they speak English.... I'll be delighted

[@usshelenacl-50]

I'm from China. I love languages, so I always tried to make chance to speak or read English in my daily life when I was a child, although most of my friends and relatives don't understand English. I got 148 marks in English in gaokao, which is 2 marks lower than full marks. (But I had totally disasters in Maths and Science.) After that I learned German and now I'm studying in the university in Germany. I'm learning Russian in my spare time, but I can only count from 1 to 10 now. I always think a language is not only a way of speaking. Further more, it's a new way of thinking. Those who speaks 2 languages are free travelers between two parallel universes. And English is not everything. There are 6000~8000 languages in the world. I don't want to force anyone to learn 8 or 10 languages. Everyone has his own things to do after all. Even English do I not want to force anyone to learn. But I think everyone must learn at least 1 foreign language other than his mother tongue(s). Trust me: you will have fun with that.

[@平-i3w]

Grüße aus Indonesien!!! bin zufällig chinesischstämmiger Indonesier (die 3. Generation, Teochew) und studiere nächstes Jahr auch in Deutschland!! which part of Germany are u studying in? how long have u been there for? this is really making me excited my goodness. we're literally monsters, wenn es darum geht, neue Sprache zu lernen und beherrschen xD. manchmal erlebe ich aber Sprachverlust. ehrlich gesagt, ist es ganz schwierig, mit den Sprachen, die ich spreche, Schritt zu halten😭 the joy of being able to speak 7 languages ig because I can barely speak Bahasa Indonesia anymore now :(

[@razerv.228]

Respect, currently learning Mandarin for my year abroad next year.

[@tomorrowsun8491]

@@平-i3w 华人不需要说印尼语

[@tomorrowsun8491]

@@平-i3w 印尼人对你们又不好

[@benhelmuth]

I was surprised at how well all of these students spoke English. For a lot of them you could tell it was difficult or they used grammar slightly wrong but overall very impressive. I was especially impressed with the lady that had the blonde in her bangs. I thought for sure she had spent a long time in the USA with her fluency. I was surprised when she said she had been here only 6 months. She is very fluent and should feel very confident in her English skills.

[@BeyondMediocreMandarin]

Somehow when the lady with blonde streaks said 七八分 (7 or 8 out of 10), I knew she was going to nail it.

[@osagiee.guobadia-secondytc4624]

These Asian students can speak Japanese very fluent. For me, I don't understand their language very well, to be honest. Maybe I can learn how to understand what they are saying. : )

[@ImmersiveChinesewithLuyang]

I agree with the boy who mentioned China focuses on improve itself instead of challenging the US. On the personal level, it's the same logic. We all know it's pointless to compare ourselves with other people.

[@EoDuque]

I'm actually applying for Chinese Universities as of now, mostly they have English taught majors which is what I'm signing up for, my mandarin is still kind of basic, so this video kind of hits home because im hoping my English can kind of help me out there.

[@Razear]

If that guy is truly studying 12 hours per day, it's a minor miracle that he's still sane. Most kids in the West can't even sit still for a two-hour lecture without their minds wandering.

[@Sep-ty9hl]

that's pretty much true, Chines student start their first class at 8 am and the last at 10 pm, minus 2 hours lunch break.

[@gao_yuan]

Chinese students usually study from 6:30am to 11pm in high school, it's pretty common and insane. I've went through that, still a nightmare to me. I sometimes still dreamed about that, that's a common PTSD of Chinese.

[@zuriyel5368]

They also have that kind of school schedule in South Korea. It's absolutely insane.

[@Jules-z4e]

How can the student be productive throughout the whole 12 hours? Come on man quantity and quality are two different things

[@jimmyjiang7494]

@@Jules-z4e Yeah that is how dictorship work

[@GuranPurin]

They're all able to say very complex sentences quickly and clearly. Even if they don't consider themselves fluent, they're more than conversational at a professional level.

[@Starstreak170]

They speak much better than the Japanese students from Tokyo University in the other video.

[@kakalika413]

Chinese people are easier to learn English than Japanese people, because the English grammar is similar to Chinese grammar.

[@faiqsabih3215]

far better than Korean top students as well, when you account for the variables. And here I thought that its just the actors in K-Dramas who are on average terrible at it, because its often claimed that they are the best at it among Asians besides former British/American Colonies.

[@Garfield_Minecraft]

5:43 200 words per day? what? dude how you even remember starting few words first?

[@RayMak]

Most of us in Asia speak multiple languages. I speak 6. I’d be really happy if my friends back in the states speak more than one.

[@eseem336]

Exactly. I speak in 5.

[@coolorochi]

6!? Wow

[@angelozhangS]

As a Chinese guy, I grow up learning English only because of my personal interest, I barely pay attention to English class and still get really high grade after exams... I'm quite the weird one. Even after I went to Italy to study, I can't really learn Italian that well as my English is, so I asked the school to transfer me to their English-speaking class, I'd say English is the international language is because it's too easy to learn.

[@ymhktravel]

Children may have started learning English in primary school these days, even in schools as far as Xinjiang remote areas, they still lack the ability to speak fluently. The reason being the national language there is Mandarin (or they called Putonghua) and it's used in public and schools across the entire nation. So there isn't a conducive learning environment to practise the oral English they have acquired on a daily basis. To be able to speak confidently and fluently a language you've picked up, you need a "speaking" environment, otherwise it will fall into disuse over time. Having said so, within China, knowing English is not important since it's not the main medium of communication. However, if they want to venture overseas, English being a lingua franca, would seem to be the common denominator for people from different nations to at least have some level of communication. Foreigners going into China, however, should not complain or lament people there can't speak English, because they needn't have to. It's not an English-speaking country. Instead, foreigners (tourists) should learn some very basic Mandarin phrases to get by and have a oral translation app on their phone to get around.

[@flyawayhome3]

I think that one thing that is very important for learning English especially is the availability of (subtitled) English language TV programmes and videos. This can be evidenced by the incredible English of the girl who watched a lot of KZbin, and by the amazing English language skills of the Scandinavian countries despite them not using English in their day to day lives as children. Media is so restricted in China that it’s hard to access without real intention (and often a VPN). Completely agree though that if you are Chinese and living in China and someone visits your country, there is no onus to speak English in your own country! It’s just useful when travelling or trying to communicate with people from other countries.

[@JamesOliver-k7r]

As a college student in China, I really want to communicate with foreigners in English fluently. Although I work hard in English, it's difficult to improve my listening skills and oral English due to lacking of language circumstances. It wuold be fine if I have a foreign friend who can chat with me in English. If there are someone interested in Chinese, we can make friends.

[@finleyy]

I totally understand you!! It's hard to make friends to speak in new languages, especially when you're not confident that you can be understood

[@Priya3]

Hey! Although I'm Indian, I am very interested in learning more about China. I want to tell you despite what you hear in the media we Indians have deep respect for the Chinese people. Although I am not a native speaker, I would love to chat with you about Chinese culture, history and day to day life. On a side note, your English is very good!

[@emmazhao5186]

Very happy and proud to see that our young students are quite open-minded despite the political backwardness of the last decade. Thanks @AsianBoss for the great interview!

[@luisanthonychau]

Chinese, be confident! We worked our asses off for generations to achieve our current status. We don't need to speak fluent English!

[@Cafeston]

It's important to emphasize how hard they worked to get where they are. The level of competition in China is no joke.

[@jonnnyren6245]

It fascinates me other nationalities can speak English. Kind of heartwarming actually.

[@Korea4Me]

I taught English at a polytechnic college in Beijing. The level of English was incredibly low. I asked a student how long she had been learning English and she told me 8 years (after a slow start while she tried to understand what I had asked her). She wasn't alone. Out of all the students studying English at this polytechnic, there were only 2 or 3 who could speak it well enough.

[@3mKay]

not surprisingly if there is no one to speak to on a daily casual basis, especially if people around you are not a native speaker.

[@МартинД-ш3ф]

Students who go to polytechnics in china generally didn’t do well, otherwise they would’ve went to high school

[@piyo4341]

That is actually quite normal. Most Chinese English reading is much better than speaking. Not many chances to practice their oral speaking.

[@Korea4Me]

@@3mKay This polytechnic employed about a dozen native English speakers. They had plenty of chances to speak to us but I can hazard a good guess that this wasn't the case at their former schools.

[@Korea4Me]

@@МартинД-ш3ф They generally don't do well. Yes, I witnessed this myself and I can honestly say that this broke my heart. Many students displayed autistic tendencies and were not getting any support. However, there were some students who were extremely intelligent and the reasons why they were there were ludicrous.

[@JBobbyB]

This is a really good video!

[@jayshen84]

Pertaining to the question about access to English language material. Truth be told I found it easier to find a bookstore in a major Chinese city than in many other western countries. And many of these bookstores do sell English or Bilingual versions of many bestsellers or classics.

[@sportsonwheelss]

English speaking nation kids no longer read

[@mandy11254]

Well, no duh... Bookstores are completely different from the Internet. One you can't regulate and the other you can.

[@Randomguy-ru7fn]

@@mandy11254 quite a well thought out and insightful comment

[@XZ1.]

Ok? That bookstore is still definetly filtered. In free countries you can just download a .pdf of any book that you want

[@Charlielinja]

@@XZ1. half-truth, still can be limited/often need to pay, plus places like America censor books and teachings in schools which is painfully backwards for a country which purports itself as being 'free' (just using it as an example because it's the classic archetype)

[@wyc4934]

When you speak one of the world most spoken language, and when most major airports now have Chinese signs and translator, it is no longer necessary for them to learn English really.

[@dbuc4671]

The thing is, as long as any non-anglophone country _teaches_ english as a foreign language in the curriculum, most _young_ people can speak it somewhat, or at least fairly well. Its the same in many non anglophone countries (both primary and secondary usage) not just in china.

[@biancaportillo6552]

this makes me interested in teaching in china 😂 i teach a dual language program 7 hours in spanish and 1 in english for kindergartners. you’d be surprised how fast language develops and how essential those early years are for kids.

[@ragnarokws2670]

To be honest when a place you live on with 1.3billon people who speaking mandarin they dont bother to learn much about english 😂

[@kaustavmandal24]

Fudan university is one of the top unis in mainland china with really high standards. all these students are no less than geniuses in their fields. As someone who has lived in china for 9 years, their level of english is quite good compared to uni students in general of shy away from speaking any amount of english at all

[@CautionCU]

Very impressive 👍

[@PumpkinHead2593]

As an American, we need to do better. These are very bright and motivated people. We are losing our foothold.

[@jaspalah]

i think u mean lost. take a careful look at your country again. make it simple, can the top 0.1% students of the USA replicate this video in mandarin chinese/spanish/hindi?

[@PumpkinHead2593]

⁠@@jaspalahDoes it matter? Our influence on the world is strong enough that the rest of the world speaks English 😂. Plus, we learn Spanish in school and it is the second language. Nice try tho.

[@redneckscumbags4422]

@@PumpkinHead2593 English became the international language because of the British Empire. It predates American global influence. Most kids in American ivy league schools can't hold a convo in Spanish. The bigger issue is ivy league students are focused on gender pronouns and the right to allow gender affirming surgery.

[@Ubuntujukk]

Can top 0.1% students in England/US speak fluent chinese?

[@AmerikiDork]

I don't think the top 0.1% study Chinese

[@weiliu-ov2yl]

I don`t think so.

[@Q-BOT]

Damn, there are so many disciplined students in Asia, especially in China. Those hours are unreal.

[@life4trinity]

Massive respect, learning a latin language as a non-latin native speaker is incredibly difficult and vice versa. Tried learning Japanese for 2 months and it felt I got no where. Gonna pick it up again sometime.

[@SouthbankBlvd]

To be fair . What about trying to do this in America or England? Asking the top 0.1% of student in university if they can speak Mandarin?

[@panyaboonc5621]

Just give them another 10 to 15 years, we will see allots more Chinese young students speaking fluent English.

[@ScoobieDoo-zy1rh]

Nah. In 10-15 years Spanish will be king. English is going downhill.

[@alicelian]

For Asian countries that native language is the only official language, there is no foreign language environment for us, these students can talk with you in English, maybe not that fluently but can express what they want to say, this has already proved they are the top students.

[@ElinaNoodles]

Experience and finding other people to speak the same language to is almost everything. As someone who was born in China but lived abroad for most of my life, my English proficiency far exceeded my Mandarin proficiency, and I now have to make up for that by speaking to some of the chinese-speaking peers in my university.

[@jichenghan4791]

This is an interesting interview!

[@raygun1414]

I hope you do most of the countries in asia like in South East Asia too and not just East Asia

[@qa1e2r4]

Knowing a language and speaking it fluently are different things. To be fluent you need to actually speak it daily to become confident and learn to modulate your own voice. Doing one liners in school is not going to make you fluent in any language.

[@zphy6558]

Why not interview students from top foreign universities and ask them if they can speak Chinese? This selection of materials is entirely a culturally strong thinking inertia.

[@priscillangan4838]

The journalist's question is not correct. It should be how hard did you study? But not how much did you study.

[@glasgowmcglasgowfacevotegr7049]

As an english speaker - most of them are really good! some of them even have v good accent. I am pretty certain our top 0.1% students cant speak any chinese, or actually any other language for that matter.

[@TinaRuan]

Good job!! future of Chinese ❤

[@timchan334]

So humble and smart, Americans are still trying to figure out their gender!

[@refreshyourpage._.0]

The rest of the world still has a prejudice against Chinese people's international outlook but I am happy to see them learning english at their own pace rather than to impress foreigners

[@sleefy2343]

Really? i didn’t know that I’m Chinese and went to Australia Everyone was so kind and friendly.

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

Prnounciation dosn't matter. They have clear thinking, and can articulate their thoughts for us to understand. (by the way I'm also not fluent in English, so my grammar might have mistakes too, but I hope you understand me)

[@letsgowalk]

Your English is great as well! And yes, as they say, fluency is based on whether you can THINK in said language, instead of having to process in your native language, then translating in your head.

[@abc_0_10_11]

It does matter in professional environment, because sometimes their accent might be so bad that it's impossible to understand what they are saying. In general though, it's not a huge issue, but for instance highly technical presentations for the whole team might waste quite a bit of resources because lack of clarity.

[@duozuo]

@@abc_0_10_11 Pronounciation isn't really that important, it's intonation what matters, the way whole sentences sound. Every language has lots of regional varieties with different pronounciations, but it's still perfectly intelligible because intonation is the same. Trust me, I'm not a native English speaker, and when I discovered what proper intonation can achieve, I stopped caring about pronunciation, obtaining better results.

[@abc_0_10_11]

@@duozuo I'm also not a native speaker, and I've gotten used to hundreds of different accents. I agree that intonation has a huge effect, but it's usually not a problem if the pronunciation is good enough. Why I state this is because I have Chinese colleagues and some of them are hard to understand.

[@duozuo]

@@abc_0_10_11 I take myself as an example: I lived in the Czech Republic for more than 9 years, but since we used English at work I never really progressed too much with Czech. However, my teachers said my pronunciation was almost native, except my h sounded too strong. But most people wouldn't understand me when expressing concepts longer than 1 sentence, because not only my intonation was off, I also wouldn't use proper grammar, or didn't know many words. These are aspects that in my experience take precedence over pronunciation. There are so many hugely different pronunciations in massive languages like English, Mandarin or my native Spanish that there isn't a correct one to choose as an example, all are correct, a phenomenon that also happens in less spoken languages to some extent. For example, those Chinese might be speaking Geordie accent, which would be a totally native English accent, and most native English speakers still wouldn't understand.

[@demef758]

There are two parts to language: the spoken part, and the writing/reading part. Each uses different parts of the brain. Everyone grows up speaking a language. It starts at birth. We listen, we parrot words back, and from that we learn to speak. By the time you are 4 or 5, you can speak and communicate well enough to function in life. On the other hand, the reading and writing part uses a different part of the brain. You start these skills a few years after having learned the speaking part-you learn to read and write because your instructions are spoken. We call the writing/reading part "literacy." If you cannot read or write a language, you are called illiterate. However, even illiterates know how to speak. With this in mind, I find schools that try to teach English have it all backwards. They START with the reading/writing part while ignoring the speaking part. That's not how ANY language is initially learned! This is why most non-natives have a difficult time SPEAKING English, or any other language assuming the teaching system is backwards like this! I have read that in Japan, for instance, if you go up to someone and ask "where is the train station?" they do not understand. But if you WRITE it, they understand and can answer. It's that backwards thing! You need to speak it BEFORE you can learn the read/write part!

[@kenyup7936]

Well, English is difficult chat , As Chinese I understand English , I have no problem with watching English language KZbin videos but I don’t speak well, my mind always goes blank once I need to speak English immediately, instantly

[@rickyboy6390]

I understand English but not chinese

[@lionheart199]

Try speaking with urself a bit here and there, worked for me😊

[@duozuo]

加油！It's just a matter of exposing yourself to the spoken languages, copying what you hear, and little by little making your own sentences. I'm not a native English speaker either, and for me what worked was watching series and movies with English subtitles (to confirm what I just listened), 2-3 hours a day, in a period of 1 and a half years. There was one day that I forgot to activate the subtitles, and I realised I didn't need them any more. 现在我学中文。比如说我喜欢看直播在抖音，我的听力越来越好，我也能都聊天。我只学了中文四年了，但是我不想结束。

[@kenyup7936]

@@duozuo ty for that, but im not that level yet atm, dramas and movies are really challenges for me, because they have phrase and slang I totally not understand, I hope I could you know reached my english level like yours someday

[@kenyup7936]

@@lionheart199 ty so much

[@user-polaris684]

I am a chinese, and i can speak english pretty fluently, im currently living in canada, a lot of my classmate didn't believe that I am actually learned english in china, they thought I grew up in canada.

[@sleefy2343]

Probably because you don’t have the typical Chinese English accent if you know what I mean.

[@theglobetrottersv]

Wow almost all of them are good in English, I watched the previous interview for the 1% top students from Japan and I think only one of them was able to follow a conversation. Chineses students did really good. 👏👏 I think China education system is giving important for his students to also learn on languages so that they can be involved on international business with no struggles, the result says a lot.

[@王肖毅-m4t]

Many people in China can speak English, but few Americans can speak Chinese. Americans don't know China at all and can't compete with China.

[@Bightrecommended]

Sooo, can Harvard uni students speak Chinese ?

[@Priya3]

Yup cuz most of them are Chinese anyway

[@visumetvanitas]

I feel for the girl in the final cut, saying that the overseas stereotype of China is "closed and behind". Media outlets tend to downplay or even outright barrage China's advancements and its impact to the world to the extent that some Chinese come to feel that way. Wish more people can be insightful and be willing to cover both sides.

[@stephenroy4144]

Could anybody lmk which province the guy with black glasses, blue hoodie and gummy smile's accent might be from? I haven't heard one like that.

[@julioduan7130]

I guess he may come from North of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu or Ningxia.

[@Vintage_Recreations]

Definitely Northerner.

[@JoshSaysStuff]

Oh my gosh, that girl’s accent is phenomenal! It caught me completely off-guard!

[@longcimb]

Chinese took the trouble to learn another language as an asset. English is popular n they learn this with an open mind. I cannot say about the West learning Mandarin, they are so proud of English or Spanish, really sad they are so living in an enclose thought trap environment

[@haochengzhai7156]

中国学英语是因为考试要考。

[@ambarvalia9757]

at least the china kids are humble and know their position, while the indians are so convinced they speak english perfectly and yet the accents are just very not understandable all the time

[@rany6542]

1:07 This is very true- in some of the provinces in China top students compete to go to Fudan, but in some other geographic locations, Fudan was not commonly considered as prestigious as a top-3 university. Anyway I am very proud of these students who can express themselves so well ♥I could barely put together a complete sentence when I was their age lol

[@donl1279]

Frankly speaking, the majority of provinces in China consider Fudan as a top 3 university.

[@Bipedalduck]

I didn't even know Fudan, I thought Jiaoda was the third best in China until I watched the video. Anecdotally, most people in Canton/Southern region actually think Sun Yat-sen was the top one, as regional superiority creates a huge bias in surveys.

[@donl1279]

@@Bipedalduck How come you don’t know Fudan? That’s so funny. The score required to get into Fudan has always been higher than Jiaotong in the most of provinces in China. Sun-Yatsen is not at the same level with Fudan and Jiaotong.

[@Bipedalduck]

@@donl1279 people living in Guangzhou or Shenzhen are already living well off so there is no point in studying out of province, instead they look for universities closest to them. In my case, I've never been indoctrinated in Chinese education so I only knew Jiaoda through Jiang Zemin. On the other hand, Fudan and Tongji are older brands which were only talked about by families which were less wealthy, as they have to get top scores in order to lessen the tuition cost( and they usually have scholarship on top of it).

[@donl1279]

@@Bipedalduck I see. Jiaotong has a longer history than Fudan. Both universities are excellent. In general, Fudan and Jiaotong are top 3 and top 4 in the majority of provinces in China when it comes the enrollment score. Zhejiang is not challenging to get in.

[@raymondhartono]

Girl with spectacles! So pretty and smart!

[@お節介じい]

比日本人说的英语还要好。日本的大学生大多数不会讲英语。东京大学的学生也不例外。日本人的英文口语表达能力跟北朝鲜人差不多。

[@gao_yuan]

看了上一期的采访东京大学的视频，真的英语口语水平堪忧。整个日本的英语水平都好低

[@お節介じい]

​我也看过这集视频。我有一位东大毕业的朋友。他不太会讲英语。

[@chan6565]

来了来了，有人要来酸了

[@tsexport1583]

Todai students have spent most of their lives focussed on getting into a top uni, which doesn't require high levels of spoken English. Go to other Japanese unis and you'll find some students with good spoken English. e.g. doing weekly Eikaiwa classes since they were a kid and/ or going to international schools.

[@no-distraction]

泰国越南顶尖大学学生是不是口语普遍比中日顶尖学生都强

[@emorysumi]

They all spoke relatively well. Keep up the good work. 👍