Chinese Reacts to Futurama Amy Wong Speaking Chinese

[@oldeskul]

Where I live, there's a growing Cantonese and Mandarin population, and I've talked to some of the younger people who've seen the show. They've said Amy's dialect is a very Americanized Cantonese.

[@Matuse]

Which is only logical, since Lauren Tom, Amy's VA was born in the US but her grandparents emigrated from China.

[@paulm3952]

@@Matuse Her grandparents are from Guangdong, so definitely Cantonese speaking.

[@tadhgmcgrath1409]

@@paulm3952 san francisco cantonese is a little different though, it has anachronisms

[@wildfireedits5799]

What constitutes as Americanized Cantonese? It is like Spanglish?

[@tadhgmcgrath1409]

@@wildfireedits5799 it seems faster and sounds super intense

[@Reallytallsocks]

She is mixing together three different languages with what can be described as a hick accent/pronunciation. It's like meeting somebody who speaks spanglish with a hard core Texas accent.

[@beefy74]

@@danjoredd if that were the case, then everyone in the show would be speaking in a non-recognizable english dialect. i don’t think they paid attention to the amy’s language and just made up some Chinese sounding phrases because they knew only a small group of fans would care.

[@weebjeez]

I mean... have you seen her dad and mom? They'r Texas AF

[@Hun_Uinaq]

I like to died laughing at your example. I live in Texas. There’s a whole lot of us here with heavy Texas accents who use Spanglish on a daily basis. Ahi te watcho. 😀 👋 👍🏼

[@alextv2944]

Hola y'all! 🤠

[@wildfireedits5799]

@@beefy74 Except the show was made for a modern English speaking demographic, so obviously they wouldn't be using some newly-created and made up English dialect lol Also Amy uses "Martian" slang so I like believing that the show creators put some thought into her speaking even if it is technically incorrect

[@yugioht42]

Amy is actually part Cantonese and part mandarin. Her dad is Cantonese but her mom is mandarin so she mixes them a little but she was raised on a ranch on Mars which is like Texas or a Midwest state and work on earth in New York. Though her parents own 3/4 of the planet mars and are very rich. Amy is a weird combination of stark differences as she acts like a surfer chick but has a physics master’s degree. She also is hip and trendy but has a weak boyfriend. Amy chooses to live in a middle class apartment not a luxury one on billionaire row because she just likes it despite being a science officer and office person for the delivery company where she works. Her language is quite a reflection of this as she mixes American slang (for that time), English, and sometimes random Chinese into her speech.

[@liinyourmom3498]

Cantonese are dialects, the way you worded this made it seem like they are two races 😭😭

[@nicoleraheem1195]

🎉🎊

[@ruedelta]

Just keep in mind, cantonese and mandarin are dialects, not cultures/ethnicities/races.

[@drummondjwall9509]

Literally yeah I was thinking that

[@sabikikasuko6636]

Hi. No, that is wrong, Cantonese is not a race but it's DEFINITELY not a dialect. Cantonese is a language entirely in its own right. It has its own vocabulary, its own time system which is far more complex than Mandarin's, and so on and so forth. It's a different language, and it's not mutually ineligible with Mandarin.

[@sjukfan]

Since Futurama is pretty well thought out (at times at least) it might be intentional that Amy speak like that. It's set in the year 3000 so Mandarin and Cantonese might've blended together a bit, and also gained parts from other Asian languages. I don't speak neither, but to me it also sounds like she has an almost Japanese intonation sometimes. Anyway, great video.

[@shotakonkin2047]

After roughly 7 months worth of Japanese listening I started to notice the Japanese intonation/pitch accent feeling to her dialogue.

[@joatanpereira4272]

true

[@DazraelArianos]

.... You don't speak neither? So you do speak both? Nah. You just can't speak English well either. Don't speak either or speak neither but don't speak neither is a double negative which makes the statement positive. This has been a public service announcement from the Grammar Nazi Party.

[@BboyDrMadison]

I heard that too, but didn't want to sound like a weeb by saying something.

[@jacencade4019]

Edit: Stop crying over a cartoon. If this comment upset you so much you had to screech like a banshee and insult anyone who agrees with it. First get over yourself. Second. Get a life. And finally. Grow up you tool. Your arguing over the logic of a show that is often illogical ON PURPOSE. You're making an ass of yourself.

[@johnjones_1501]

She's actually from Mars, so she is speaking Martian Chinese, as spoken by the Chinese people living on Mars in the year 3000

[@urphakeandgey6308]

Will they finally have "real communism" on "The Red Planet?" Or is that just a pipe dream?

[@Joest75]

No, that would be wenzhounese. People from Wenzhou would definitely take the first rocket to Mars in order to open the very first take-away on Mars

[@Hellooo134]

@@urphakeandgey6308 it’s incredibly capitalist in the show lmao

[@theothertonydutch]

@@Hellooo134 They knew what they were doing

[@SeanLaMontagne]

@@urphakeandgey6308 definitely a pipe dream. Amy's families are hard-core feudalists when they can get away with it, willing capitalists when they can't.

[@RUNESANEINTHEBRAIN]

As a Cantonese speaker I never really got what Amy fully said! Her VA is Cantonese (Lauren Tom) but finding out she's second generation so it makes sense she has a bit of an accent speaking it since she didn't grow up speaking Canto at home! Thank you for making this video!

[@QQ251647742]

You're delusional. Her Cantonese is impossible to be understood. Not just "a bit of an accent"

[@Cupcake4me]

Julie from Friends !

[@spicybeantofu]

It's not a real language its mixed up languages

[@burntgrahamcracker2866]

Ah she played lady masako from ghost of tsushima

[@mw3579]

Well she’s technically speaking Martian and whatever version of it that exists in the year 3000 lol. It’s not really meant to be understood

[@HelloNotMe9999]

"It looks like the Simpsons." Good call. It was done by the same person!

[@squirmybubble]

Matt groening The creator

[@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072]

The style is still fairly distinct from it

[@ppuddiing]

@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 Its from the creators of the simpsons this is a re-create from the Orginal

[@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072]

@@ppuddiing ?

[@Kiib_]

Eee

[@SPatrickRoss]

Jessie: "WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SWEAR IN CHINESE!?!" Answer: Because American Censors don't understand what they are saying... Like with the word Frak in Battlestar Galactica, it lets them swear on screen without it getting cut out.

[@CanItAlready]

The same thing is done with Spanish. I've heard characters on tv shows say things in Spanish that they wouldn't get away with in English. LOL

[@siubhanmora-bruce2952]

She says this at the end of this video

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

I'd use German myself. Even telling someone you love them sounds kinds angry in German! Ich Laube dich!

[@IamGrimalkin]

In-universe you could also say it's because swearing can be involuntary. I would expect people to be more likely to go to a language they were brought up in when they are making involuntary expressions they don't intend for other people to hear.

[@CanItAlready]

@@IamGrimalkin Good point. My mother would often swear in Spanish, which was her first language, even though she'd learned English as a kid and was perfectly fluent in it.

[@riverghost]

Amy is speaking with a Martian dialect.

[@PenneySounds]

Not native Martian though

[@chanceDdog2009]

Very good point. Elon musk and his settlers must have been the natives. Having Chinese as the first nation would make sense. Because it's likely the Chinese government will be backing musk More than other countries.

[@walker1812]

Martian + Mandarin = Martiran?

[@SpiralSine6]

Specifically Western Martian dialect. That the best Martian dialect!

[@Wolf1979]

It’s 1000 years in the future and imagine Chinese and all its dialects have evolved since 20-21st centuries.

[@Gardenofsen]

Amy is speaking Martian, which appears to take inspiration from Cantonese. Here is a passage from the wiki: Additionally, while not very fluent, she can speak a bit of Martian. For example, "Aieyah! Jung lei! ngo da sei lei!" in Cantonese slang translates to: "Good Grief, I hate you! I will beat you senseless!" (Despite roughly translating to "Gah! I hate you! I will beat you to death!") In the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", Amy angrily twists Bender's arm when he refuses to help reprogram the Femputer, saying "Fa te fung chi gu li da si ne!" which means in Cantonese: "You better do it or I'll kill you!".

[@allyyiu4774]

as a speaker of both Cantonese and Mandarin, I had literally no idea what Amy was saying--whether in the clips Jessie showed or the 'text' version in your comment (and "Fa te fung chi gu li da si ne" really doesn't mean anything in Cantonese at all) I'm so confused hahahaa

[@kawardt6784]

I dont understand too. All I can understand is 打死你. Her's "diu lei" doesnt even sound like the one I use.

[@LordIronfist]

Wait, is that true? It never even occurred to me that it could and even should be Martian... There aren't even any examples of her parents using any Chinese dialect, I don't think, so, it would make perfect sense for her to be using Martian

[@jw6451]

she sounds like an american that has a tiny bit of cantonese background trying to speak cantonese very loudly n obnoxiously. thats probably why it sounds like nonsense to almost everyone

[@garrys248]

What!

[@SavageGreywolf]

Amy's speaking Cantonese with a Midwestern American accent. In-universe, the reason for this is that she is from Mars; Amy's ancestors colonized Mars and became ranchers, and now her family acts very much like rich Texans. Her voice actress Lauren Tom is of Yue descent, her grandparents were born in Guangdong.

[@howardtom1421]

"jaam ni ga hao" is "chop off your head" in Kaiping (Hoiping) dialect which is a subset of Toisan dialect

[@freakyflow]

Kaiping, Guangdong, China is where the actress's grandparents are from

[@eturnerx]

That's interesting. I learned standard Cantonese from my wife's family and yet, the variety of Yue-family dialects outside of HK and GZ never cease to amaze me. It can take a day or two of careful listening for my ears to adjust to simple phrases.

[@scmtkings4]

Came here to say this same thing lol she is definitely speaking some toisan there

[@christiebreeechelon]

Jeeze, that is violent.

[@scmtkings4]

@@christiebreeechelon it's actually not as violent as it sounds lol. Its a generic saying. It's kinda like if you said to a sibling "I'm gona kill you!" It's not rly gona happen though haha

[@charleslee8313]

The last word in the last clip is "Leela," since that is the name of the character Amy was yelling at.

[@Broockle]

thx for that

[@teleportingpotatoe]

duhh

[@OddsTheo]

@@teleportingpotatoe It's not so duhh for a person who doesn't know the show, as the creator of this video appears not to

[@TheRhuen]

Futurama did (at times) claim some English had changed, but it wasn't always consistent, which being aimed at an American audience makes sense. I have heard Amy's dialogue to confuse censors mixed together Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese. So kind of like those *somewhere in Europe* characters that mix togethers bits and pieces of Dutch, German, Austrian, Polish, and Slavic; making it pretty hard to understand; especially grammatically to figure out what the writer thought they were having the characters say.

[@mountaindewherbert]

I'ma axe you a question on my cell phone telephone

[@ATurnip]

Yeah, it was mostly brought up as a joke. Like they said the pronunciation of ask was now axe and Christmas was an archaic pronunciation of "Ecksmas." (X-mas)

[@QueerCripple]

Yeah there are a few references, such as everyone says "ax" instead of "ask" and "xmas" being literally pronounced "ex-mass" and Christmas itself being a word that basically stopped existing

[@QuietRiverBear]

She’s speaking German in a few of those. “Das Sind niche fur dich.” “That is not for you.”

[@rikjamesguitare]

You're correct. Though the spelling is "Das sind nicht(s)* für* dich." So sprichst du ,,hochdeutsch"? Oder vielleicht ein anderer Dialekt? I know that in other German dialects (wie Schweizerdeutsch), some spellings can be different.

[@sameash3153]

Which one? I'm trying to hear it

[@rikjamesguitare]

@@sameash3153 the perfume scene. Although to make things clear, she is NOT speaking actual German (it just faintly sounds like it), it is most likely some Chinese dialect, be it Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. We just thought it was odd that it sounded a tiny bit like German.

[@teleportingpotatoe]

you are spreading very dubious claims

[@bradleydillabough4823]

Well, if that's her German line, then it lends credibility to Amy's aural problems...

[@yogurtmantotherescue]

To be fair, Lauren Tom, the voice actress of the character Amy Wong, is second generation American. Her father, who was born in Chicago and her mother I believe is Caucasian, so I am not surprised that her Chinese is very good at all, assuming English was the primary language spoken at home when she was growing up. My other assumption is that the reason Groening and his team chose Lauren is because she was probably one of the only few Asian American voice actresses at the time that could speak some Chinese (albeit broken in my opinion). I don't think she was expected to speak any Chinese until it was written in the script to do so, like scenes above.

[@amandaconstanza]

they could look up for someone native to help in the script and practice with the correct phonetics the phrases. this kind of problems happens every time they want to put another language in a tv show or movie.

[@yogurtmantotherescue]

​@@amandaconstanza Yeah they could have done that but, since Futurama was created around the turn of the 21st century, I don't think the creators even considered something like that at all. Different times, different societal paradigm. To be fair, it was until recent times that film studios and Hollywood started to show much more diversity in their casting (whether it is race, gender, or sexual orientation). A good comparison can be the recent Shang-Chi of the MCU or even a sitcom like Fresh Off the Boat. Both exhibit excellent casting choices as the directors and producters have given it much more thought about their choices for whom to cast in comparison to 90s works like Futurama for the roles of East-Asian characters.

[@heyitsnasira]

Wouldn't that make her third gen? First gen is defined as the first to hold citizenship not birthright

[@yogurtmantotherescue]

@@heyitsnasira I guess so, but that doesn't really matter as it still proves my point of her not being to speak Chinese fluently or even at a level where we can try to understand it.

[@HimeBurrito]

maxbe but amy speaks martian texas cantomandarin which is made up future language for the show so i don't think it needs to be accurate

[@Poe168]

Chinese speaking in American movies Made up words : 95% Actual Chinese : 5%

[@cyberpet9385]

fr 😩 :/

[@Towkeeyoh]

5% Chinese swearing

[@BeanSparrow]

little better then the swedish chef from muppets for us swedes 100 percent made up words 0 actual swedish

[@Towkeeyoh]

@@BeanSparrow bork bork

[@Towkeeyoh]

@@BeanSparrow lol sorry, a little light teasing, love the Swedish chef but I'll share in your pain 😅

[@Piedude73]

The line Jessie thought included 好 is actually 斬你的頭 in taishanese (chop off your head), which is a common curse expression. (頭 sounds kinda like 侯 in jiangmen dialect) Apparently the actress has ancestry from the area (like most Chinese abcs who have been in America long enough to not know any Chinese）

[@Piedude73]

but yeah.. its really clear she only knows those 2-3 phrases in cantonese/taishanese and literally nothing else

[@nicoleraheem1195]

After I master Mandarin C2 level, I had planned on Learning Cantonese and Fuzhonese... Now, I have just learned that TAISHANESE exists!!! 😖😳

[@jungleng]

That's a really good observation, 開平 is part of seiyap, right? So could be similar

[@cameron1729]

Thanks! I was trying so hard to find a satisfying explanation (and the actual 汉字) for what Amy Wong says. Knowing that Taishanese immigrated to North America, and the actress is an American born Chinese explains why it was basically impossible to figure out :D

[@faervas1234]

It's like me using Spanish cursing I just repeat the words but i don't know were to put the emphasis.

[@johnjones_1501]

All kidding aside, the American actress is third generation American, meaning her grandparents are from China. Lots of people in America have grandparents who were born speaking another language, and none of them can really speak it. What happens is the first person moves here, they have kids, they teach their kids their language, but the kids only use the parent's native language at home, because school, TV, and all their friends speak English. Their kid then either doesn't bother teaching the grandparents the old language, or they do a poor job of it, because they don't even speak the old language at home with their children, and the grandparent normally knows enough English by then, since they have lived her for at least twenty to thirty plus years at that point, so it isn't really that important to them. Besides by three generations, you are typically a mix of at least two other countries in your ancestry, because heritage is important, but your heart doesn't consider it when it decides who you love.

[@TjPhysicist]

This made me think - when i have kids i should teach them our mother tongue (I'm a 1.5Gen immigrant - i immigrated during my teens)...then i realized that not having actually been educated in the language (i just know what i know from speaking it at home and movies) I really don't know enough to teach someone, maybe a few words and phrases? Damn i can see how a 3rd gen immigrant would maybe know a few words and pretty much butcher pronunciation/accent etc.

[@johnjones_1501]

@@TjPhysicist When I was a kid, I thought language was just a chore to learn, and I wasn't interested in learning a second language. I really wish I had learned French though. Most of my ancestors are English, but I have a smattering of French ancestry, and the more I learn about French culture and history, and the areas where my ancestors came from, the more I really want to be able to read books and listen to stories in that language. I can understand wanting to speak an ancestor language. I suck at learning new languages though.

[@SlimThrull]

"All kidding aside, the American actress is third generation American, meaning her grandparents are from China. Lots of people in America have grandparents who were born speaking another language, and none of them can really speak it" NEIN!

[@tweakypoppy]

That makes her second generation, not third.

[@emminet]

@@johnjones_1501 Same, I never picked it up since I was never like told to or anything, and it was never in my school. Nowadays I wish I could actually speak in Yiddish like my family apparently did. I know phrases that we use but I've never been able to learn the language much. So while I can easily say something like a phrase, I can't even speak it or begin to read it!

[@12DAMDO]

"it sounds more korean" i think it's confirmed that Amy speaks multiple languages which of itself is (on the show) considered a Martian dialect

[@poingly]

This also makes me think this is a subtle parody of Sulu on Star Trek, who was meant to represent "all of Asia." Which is weird when something like 60% of the world lives in Asia, have multiple different cultures, languages, etc...but let's see how that gets represented in a single person.

[@SantomPh]

In Futurama things don't make sense at all. They make a point to show the fact that New York hasn't changed despite being filled by aliens and out of worlders, and Fry can instantly connect with New Yorkers

[@gildardorivasvalles6368]

You mean New New York is almost the same as New York -- which is buried under New New York 😉

[@keyboardwarrior3702]

Lol Earth is now one giant country ruled by Nixons preserved head. Baseball has become Blurnsball. Phone booths were replaced with "su!cide booths" Pine trees went extinct, Christmas is now Xmas, and Santa is a murderous robot who lives on Neptune.

[@abelq8008]

That all checks out.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

I assume that's the joke in itself, as New York is perceived as not giving a s**t about anyone else, and would steadfastly refuse to change and not absorb anything from other influences.

[@Platypi007]

"Matt Gro-en-ing... Doesn't sound right but maybe that's how it sounds a thousand years in the future!" I'm not sure if you were saying that about how you pronounced his name but the timing was just perfect for a joke. :D

[@andreyv116]

I recall from some interview that he pronounces it as G-raining

[@nobodyimportant5789]

@@andreyv116 i thought it was groan-ing 😫

[@andreyv116]

@@nobodyimportant5789 well at least he's not Dutch because then there would've been a third candidate - khrooning

[@footofjuniper8212]

Before the Simpsons, he wrote a comic called "Life in Hell." In one strip, he made a point of announcing that his name "rhymes with complaining."

[@filipinoparadigm]

Firefly uses Chinese in the show because in the story in the future its said that the predominant language in English and Chinese on Earth as people began to move into space. That's why a lot of the clothing in Firefly has Chinese style accents as well.

[@TheZoenGaming]

I think I remember a commentary on the DVDs saying that Amy's "Chinese" was a mix of several languages because she was a stereotype of the "foreign non-english speaker"

[@jama3997]

I think it’s also to be included that she was raised on mars in the end of the 30th century. A lot of countries in the show don’t exist anymore or joined with other countries.

[@peaceandloveusa6656]

I like how you just casually plot hole solved two shows, then explained the plot hole of your solution, in a matter of minutes. I love your mind and these videos.

[@allanmhanson]

I’ve always watched Futurama in Spanish, so I had no idea she speaks “Chinese”. In the Latin American version she just speaks Spanish with an Chinese accent. The original voice acting is extremely different haha

[@gcolombelli]

Same, but in Brazil, I've watched both with audio in brazilian portuguese and in english and I don't really recall any of this. Maybe it's just my memory failing, as it was quite a while ago, or there was another English audio track they used for other countries?

[@AbeM.]

Watching in Latin American Spanish I mostly just remember her exclaiming "Ho Chi Minh!" a lot.

[@fixedfunshow]

@@AbeM. 好哦吃迷路?

[@davidholden4543]

I liked watching Los Simpson in Spanish…..Krusty el payaso jeje

[@averagenpc1959]

Little extra info: both the names 黄 and 王 are pronounced Wong in Cantonese. Both are common family names in Hong Kong.

[@utha2665]

Yes, I knew a girl in Australia, who funnily enough was named Amy Wong (from Hong Kong) and her surname character was 黄 (Huang in Mandarin which means yellow).

[@Somnifacious]

I‘ve heard a joke(?) in Mandarin (slightly making fun of so-called 广谱）that goes: "我姓王，黄色的黄“ Only works if you put on the appropriate southern accent though

[@christopherlarock9062]

Maybe the writers assumed that people would be combing Asian languages and dialects like that in the year 3000? Sort of like how Greek, Latin, and a few other languages were combined to make languages like English?

[@calebfuller4713]

@@dimethyltryptamin5983 In fairness, have you ever tried to read Old English from 1000 years ago? It WAS Germanic but 1000 years has changed things a LOT!

[@ahhh4117]

@@dimethyltryptamin5983 Which is why early modern english is my jam, it's very latin

[@zeon_zaku]

@@calebfuller4713 It is still Germanic. That is its genetic classification. It has North West Germanic phonology, and it still uses almost entirely Germanic grammar. Loanwords do not change the genetic classification of a language. If that were so, then Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese would all be classified as Chinese. The spelling system makes Old English seem much more different, but we can write modern English with the same spelling system, and you can see, that modern English is still quite similar to Old English: Þis is modern Englisc, būt I am wrīting it wið Old Englisc spelling. Speakest þou Englisc alsō? Now in Old English: Þis is heodaeglig Englisc, būtan ic eam wrītende hit wið Ealdum Engliscum spellinge. Spricst þū Englisc eallswā?

[@calebfuller4713]

@@zeon_zaku I studied Beowulf in high school, so I get what you are saying. We also did Chaucer which was interesting to see the changes after the Norman conquest and the birth of middle English.

[@abelq8008]

Asian languages and English mixing is itself an allusion to Blade Runner.

[@HokageSama13]

Matt Groening (pronounced gray-ning) created The Simpsons and Futurama (and yes, you said it correctly)

[@CaptainObvious0000]

didn't she say grow-ee-ning? there is no oe in english, so technically they all pronounce it wrong.

[@thaumaTurtles]

@@CaptainObvious0000 i think they meant that she said futurama correctly, not groening

[@dethhollow]

Okay, yeah, it seems like the joke is absolutely meant to be that Amy just mixes all kinds of eastern phrases and dialects together because western audiences can't tell that the difference, lol. That's super on-brand for the comedy of this show, to just take subtle jabs at the audience like that.

[@minijabi2973]

Well in the show she is from mars and speaks Martian dialect which is blended version of many eastern languages and some new words added in which makes sense considering they say language had changed over time and they replace words like “ask” with “axe” a lot, also it takes place 1000 years in the future so assuming language hadn’t changed at all would be naive

[@lukejuarez6594]

Yea, they did the same with the bumble bee dude in the Simpsons

[@LeftyConspirator]

I find it interesting and a little amusing that a Chinese person thinks Korean sounds much the same way as I, a Norwegian guy, think Korean sounds.

[@eunsollee8209]

As a Korean speaker, that sentence sounded like decent fake Korean, which was surprising

[@nicoleraheem1195]

I am an American learning Korean and Mandarin, and this is what Korean sounds like to me😂

[@KCKingdomCreateGreatTrekAgain]

It's all Greek to me!

[@bunnycakes2305]

My minor is in Korean language and I was confused trying to figure it out, but it sounds like Korean to me instead of Mandarin or Cantonese

[@Kiridiam]

Flashbacks of my mom swearing at the family in Cantonese everyday 👁👄👁

[@thevashfan12392]

I like how for years amy was basically cursing twice over! it's nice to uncover secret knowledge.

[@Mechadondada]

I’ve always suspected Amy was dropping F-Bombs.

[@magister343]

The English in 1000 years has changed a little bit. For example, no one ever uses the word "Ask" as it has shifted to become "Axe" instead. That mispronunciation is not uncommon today, but it is so universal in Futurama that no one understand what Fry means when he says it the right way.

[@coolguy132435]

more properly, pronouncing "ask" like "axe" isn't a mispronunciation, it's just dialectal. In linguistics, reversal of sounds like that is called metathesis. In general, linguistics considers anything that a large enough group of people say to be legitimate, as opposed to an error.

[@LG123ABC]

@@coolguy132435 I always thought it was just another example of "ebonics".

[@TomSFox]

_Ask_ and _aks_ actually have two different etymologies. _Ask_ comes from Old English _ascian_ , while _aks_ comes from Old English _axian_ . Not only that, the latter was originally the standard form.

[@jpbaley2016]

Fry is from Brooklyn. Of course, he says “axe”.

[@CheapBastard1988]

Also Christmas is called X-mas.

[@38thstreetLindo]

I love watching these for some reason😂

[@piscesmikey]

Thank you for this video. I find myself imitating these phrases (or more specifically the ones from Firefly) at work quite often. It's nice to actually see them written out with and explanation so it makes it easier!

[@Seth9809]

I love how he just looks at her and just says "Nope".

[@Aurich88]

On the one hand, I completely understand your frustration. On the other, Futurama is one of mankind's great works and anyone who disparages it will catch a gold-plated ass-whooping.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

Hahahahahaha True

[@thisisntsergio1352]

Anyone who disparages can kiss my shiny metal ass

[@Dommommy]

They need to locate the nearest suicide booth and choose slow and painful mode.

[@nwat1993]

4:04 I read on another video that this scene Amy said "you better do it"

[@MrNic919]

Perhaps in the distant future, many Asian languages and cultures have had more time to mix and mesh, so Amy speaks a little bit of a few types.

[@ultimateprime]

There’s an interview Lauren did in 1994. She said “I felt more Jewish than Chinese. My parents wanted us to-that’s why we moved to the burbs. I still don’t speak Cantonese.” So there you have it. She is not speaking Cantonese (correctly :)). Her lines might pass as mandarin, but it’s definitely not Cantonese. My best guess is she strung together some words she vaguely remembered from when she was a little kid.

[@veronicatoothpaste8576]

the writing staff of Futurama held three Ph.D.s, seven masters degrees, and all together had more than 50 years at Harvard. They even developed a math theorem to solve a plot for an episode. I am confident there is a lot of thought behind Amy that crew was insanely smart

[@squirmybubble]

Say it louder for the people in the back

[@MellowJelly]

I doubt that honestly. People in the west respect science yes, but not languages especially eastern language

[@jadencore]

@@MellowJelly All you need to do is look at some Chinese T-shirts to see how much they respect English. Sword cuts both ways.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

@@MellowJelly 'People in the west' aren't all the same, just like anywhere.

[@stevenjames5874]

@@MellowJelly You're using the same ignorance you denounce others

[@clintoncavallaro9249]

This is the absolute best video I've seen of yours. I really enjoyed watching you think it through. Jessie you're the best. I always have a smile at the end of your videos. ❤❤❤❤❤

[@Oskenonton]

if both her parents own a majority of the planet mars and her parents main two languages are Cantonese and Mandarin the planet would have signs and other things written in that language. Which overtime would create people who can commonly speak and blend the two in a normal day to day conversation or in her case swearing.

[@indoorkite651]

"is this set in the future"-talking about a show called "Futurama"

[@chanceDdog2009]

In the Futurama show. Rap becomes classical music and ask becomes ax .

[@musicianwren9248]

I love that running joke of aks instead of ask 🙃

[@Mx.Fluffers]

It was always my understanding from the show that the languages began to blend over the centuries. So its possible its a mix of all of them at times

[@Antares2]

You are very funny. I love videos like these. I watched a lot of Futurama, and I never thought Amy sounded chinese. I thought she spoke Japanese because of the high pitch voice.

[@nobodyimportant2470]

I thought she was supposed to be of Korean decent.

[@KittiLumpo]

i always just assumed amy was speaking random words; that the directors/writers just wrote "say something angry here, in an asian language" on the script and left it up to the actress to figure out what to actually say

[@JuanWonOne]

I'm really impressed with how well your pronunciation is with English consents and vowels. I wish I could speak any other other language as well as you could speak English. 👍

[@Krokodilius]

they hit you with that "groening" lmao, pronounced like GRAINing; gotta love english.

[@Reddest1000]

3:57 She actually said: "Fa te fung chi gu li da si ne!" Meaning You better do it or I'll kill you!

[@Moonshinehearts]

You're so fun to listen to. I appreciate your personality

[@LadyNikitaShark]

I feel you pain. Whenever my mother tongue is in a film/series it hurts my head. Like, you either do it correctly or don't do it at all. I'm Portuguese and there is an episode in the Simpsons that has 2 characters that look stereotypical Portuguese but they speak Brazilian Portuguese. Nice way to offend 2 nations at the same time/s. I do get that there are way more speakers of Brazilian Portuguese then European Portuguese, but, in this case, why make the characters look Portuguese if you are going to make them sound Brazilian? I know it's a stupid thing to be mad about, but I am lol

[@carlosandleon]

Jesus christ, stay offended. I'm not as bitchy about it as you. What the fuck is up with this snowflake generation

[@angieyeah1793]

@@carlosandleon feel you lmao

[@Crazypixiness]

But aren't there Portuguese descendants still living in Brazil? I know one woman who moved to the US from Brazil and she's about 90% Portuguese.

[@donl3500]

Yeah it's a very stupid thing to be mad at.

[@catarina1639]

@@Crazypixiness Most in Brazil have Portuguese ancestry, however you could obviously tell that the characters were supposed to be native Portuguese. As a Portuguese I was annoyed by it, it’s like having a British character speak American English.

[@jeepeeboo951]

These videos are so funny! Thank you!! 😂

[@Taliysin]

I loved that, in a 1000 years English remains the same but Chinese is a mystery. That is amazing

[@sadlobster1]

It's also worth noting that Amy is from Mars; so, her language could be a mix of Chinese and...whatever way Martians sound like in Futurama

[@michaelnemo7629]

This show takes place ONE THOUSAND years in the future.

[@calmdown9094]

Amy speaks multiple languages including Yeti,[7] and she often swears in Cantonese. She also adds extra consonants to certain words or even substitutes consonants, such as "smeesh" (a variant of the exclamation "sheesh!"). Additionally, while not very fluent, she can speak a bit of Martian. For example, "Aieyah! Jung lei! ngo da sei lei!" in Cantonese slang translates to: "Good Grief, I hate you! I will beat you senseless!" (Despite roughly translating to "Gah! I hate you! I will beat you to death!") In the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", Amy angrily twists Bender's arm when he refuses to help reprogram the Femputer, saying "Fa te fung chi gu li da si ne!" which means in Cantonese: "You better do it or I'll kill you!".

[@viperjay1]

I love how you say so casually "how do you say *swear word* " without any reaction from either you or your friend. I am now an Instead subscriber

[@ZDVictim]

You have such a delightful sense of humor. Thank you for the smile. I needed it. :)

[@davidveillon7726]

The thing to remember with Futurerama is that it takes place a thousand years on the future and is from Mars. She is speaking a Martian dialect of Chinese which combines Mandarin, Cantonese, and some new words.

[@Matty002]

YES to pointing out how shows like firefly like to show 'future' versions of other languages but never english this is where i love the 100 cause they show english changing alot in a few hundred years AND people actually have to learn and use it to survive

[@MrsFurbalicious]

I've seen the 100 and loved it but can't recall, what english changed? Not trying to be rude at all, did you have any examples off the top of your head? Or is it from even first episode so I can watch again to see the English evolving/changing terms ?

[@Matty002]

@@MrsFurbalicious its as soon as they meet the grounders, which isnt until episode 2 i think. only example off the top of my head is they drop Rs in certain words, like prime fiyAH instread of fiyER. theres an interview with the guy who developed the english changes and he goes into detail why he chose the sound changes and word choices for their version of english

[@MrsFurbalicious]

@@Matty002 oh! Thank you, yes I forgot there were some noticeable differences in grounder culture for understandable reasons. But now I do want to go back and watch to take it in and kind of analyze it further, as well as the interviews. Thank you

[@DeutschlandGuy]

Jessie, you just crack me up (in a good way). You are so honest and sincere. You are like a breath of fresh air on youTube (where there is so much negativity). By the way, you were absolutely right when you commented at 0:30 that "It looks like the Simpsons". Both shows (Futurama and the Simpons) were created and developed by a guy named "Matt Groening". By the way, I see you had a little trouble pronouncing his family name "Groening". It's easy. Just think of how to say the past-tense of the verb to-grow. That is "grew"... such as "I grew a flower in my window". Then just take "grew" and add "ning" to the end... grew-ning. Easy! You are welcome! 😇 Thank you for brightening our days! - Coolblueice 😉

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Thank you! It's good to see your comment again. Is there a controversial version called "gray-ning"?

[@Laywew]

@@ChinesewithJessie Gray-ning is the correct way. Matt has said it himself, he’s kind of made a running joke out of how often he has to correct people.

[@carafurry7862]

It's possible the reason they mix the language because it's supposed to be the future, and over time languages mix

[@chikid8645]

Considering the kind of show Futurama is and how it's written I wouldn't be surprised if Amy only knows two phrases in Chinese and fakes everything else

[@cocoanutte]

Loved this video. Keep them coming. Big Fan.

[@thamonito]

4:57 haha I love his response

[@sambeawesome]

I was watching Arrow when there was a scene with him speaking Chinese. The scene has him hiding his identity, pretending to be Chinese, and the native speakers all around him were fooled. I don't know a lick of Chinese, but I could tell he had a hard American English accent. x'D If you're looking for more media to listen to, that could be another :) (Just found your channel, great videos by the way!)

[@bojeelll9192]

This is my all-time favorite series I love Futurama knowing what Amy Wong is actually saying now funny as hell especially the first clip "f you beat you to death " video gets a like from me

[@mariannenelson855]

I love Futurama thank you so much for your beautiful video

[@LegionIvory]

For Futurama, I think Amy's broken/mixed likely stems from the fact that she is from Mars, rather than Earth. I think having her native tongue be a mixture of Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean was intentional to show her detachment from Earth. However, I do also understand how frustrating it can be to see American shows be rather lazy with Chinese languages. It is indeed quite common.

[@JustaRandomGuy890]

7:35 actually english is changed a bit in Futurama my favorite example is how the word "ask" is prononunced "axe" as in, "may I axe a question?"

[@azzamatic4190]

Crazy how English is still intelligible 1000 years in the future like it never evolved..but if I was to travel 500 years to Shakespeare's time, nobody would understand what I'm saying

[@slimeyscumrag555]

could be that the prevalence of recording technology, government standardization and influence of older popular culture has kept english from deviating too far from what we understand today. wewewew

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

And don't forget in futurama both star trek and star wars are still around

[@Boredman567]

And even though English is still the same, French is dead and forgotten.

[@vectorm4]

This was great. I really liked your frustration; I mean it made the video entertaining.

[@yehdssdgsdg7790]

It’s honestly one of the most well written, and emotional pieces of American animated TV shows. A true classic that ended when it should have, verses dragging on like the simpsons.

[@anthonygarrido4269]

This was fun to watch great breakdown and explanation of what Amy says I always wondered what she meant great show😀👍

[@johnnythao]

Actress Lauren Tom who is the voice of the character Amy Wong is of Canton descent, her grandparents moved to the US from Kaiping, Guandong, Mainland China, but it's not very clear about how much of this info is accurate, because there is so little of it. The character Amy Wong just shouts out gibberish, because Mrs. Tom herself isn't very fluent in her native language.

[@eishunken]

Lauren Tom is perfectly fluent in her native language. Lauren Tom is American. Her native language is English.

[@vortexoverdrive9385]

in general isn't it a sci-fi and future fiction trope that some languages become mixed. It's seen in Blade Runner, Clockwork Orange, Idiocracy, the two examples in this video and others.

[@livein101112]

Amy is really intelligent to be able to have a rage outburst in multiple dialects (and multiple languages?). She's shows everyone she is a clutz who is a sweetheart. I feel like her outbursts are supposed to give you an idea of what all those men were in for in the bedroom lol. It's a really well designed character. You bet your ass she earned her post grad, especially under the worst teacher of all time.

[@xtruzen]

😆 Your realization near the end was gold. Subbed.

[@3DJapan]

"looks like the Simpsons" Because it's by the same creator, Matt Groening.

[@trusodapop]

Ah she inspires such happiness. Idk I just really appreciate her personality

[@happyslapsgiving5421]

"You've come to the Wong place."

[@veronkrahss482]

I always thought she was supposed to just be saying martian jibberish. Because she does that too.

[@G1manime]

Several years ago, I tried to teach myself mandarin and get help from Chinese penpals. I was overwhelmed when I got different information from each penpal and I learned there are so many different dialects and I think I got so discouraged on what to do and I stopped.

[@compman34]

I just found your channel, and you are awesome. As someone who learned some Cantonese, your vids are great fun!

[@nicoleraheem1195]

3:47 If she spoke Korean, cantonese and Mandarin, that would make this show even more hilarious😂😂😂 It's like, "Asian is Asian", "Black is Black", "White is white." Only language separates us.

[@animemaster8751]

just found this channel awesome been thinking about learning it

[@TheInfiniteVoid]

Amy isn't Chinese, she is from Mars, she speaks Martian.

[@marcanteny8522]

Thanks allot for that video you had me laughing quite hard. It was nice to laugh like that again. Keep up the good works.

[@jungkayy]

in the scene where amy is recording temperature, she says "jaam nei ga hao ah" to leela which sounds like cut off your head in Cantonese

[@BBarNavi]

Toisanese

[@Mr-pn2eh]

The reason why it looks like the Simpsons is because it's made by the same people. Both shows were made by Matt Groening.

[@sourcererseven3858]

When you saw that Matt Groening was the creator of Futurama, I was totally sure you'd then check his other works and close the whole circle back to your first thought after seeing what Futurama looks like 😁

[@nicoleraheem1195]

😂Some people do not have the time for that. She probably spent most of her time editing these clips!😂

[@scarletb.1031]

In the Latin Spanish dubbing they didn't think much about it, they just made her say: "Ho Chi Ming!" When she speaks Chinese (as I can remember).

[@ReiKoko]

I think she was trying to speak canto in each clip. Even the 打死你 part sounds more like cantonese than mandarin (daa2 sei2 nei5), but yeah...most of it is pretty unintelligible 😂 The actress herself probably doesn't speak cantonese very well at all.

[@PsyQoBoy]

Actually I speak Cantonese, the 打死你 part sounds more like Mandarin than Cantonese. And the Cantonese is unintelligible for the most part. He pronunciation is too sharp and high for Cantonese. Cantonese is more mellow and smoothed out and generally of a lower pitch.

[@ReiKoko]

@@PsyQoBoy I speak canto too

[@PsyQoBoy]

@@ReiKoko Well if that's so, clearly she said "ni" and not "nei", the 打死 part is debatable.

[@ReiKoko]

@@PsyQoBoy could've swore I heard "nei" but like you said, it was pretty much all unintelligible 🤷

[@mercurywoodrose]

this is really fascinating content. totally new angle. very sharp. thanks

[@sgtjohnson]

1:16 this is like being a Quebecer. We flip from French to English in mid-sentence

[@centralscoop583]

This is the first video I’ve seen from you, and I like it