Chinese Teacher Reacts to Shang-Chi Stars Speaking Mandarin Chinese! | Simu Liu & Awkwafina

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Heya, Rita aka Fàn Lǎoshī here! The first Asian superhero MCU movie "Shang-Chi" is in theaters now! And it's FIRE!
Whether you have watched it or not, the official trailers have showed us that the Canadian lead Simu Liu and the beloved Awkwafina speak REAL Chinese(let alone other Mandarin-speaking cast!)!
Time for us to dive into the clips and talk about:
00:00 The first ever Asian superhero
1:11 How's Simu Liu's Chinese
9:59 How's Awkwafina's Mandarin?
All Chinese heritage language learners, you are very welcome to share your Mandarin learning stories here in the comments! Or leave your thoughts or any questions about Chinese learning that you have! They may be answered in my next videos!
And keep this in mind - the point of this video and any other Chinese analysis videos on my channel is never to insult or praise an individual Chinese learner’s current Chinese level, but to help all passionate and hardworking Mandarin learners see how to improve more efficiently and where to work on.
Your SUBSCRIPTION, LIKE and SHARE are the BEST support for my original content! The more my videos are promoted to Chinese learners by KZbin algorithm, the more motivated I will be to make content for you all! It means the world to me. 谢谢！
Remember, with Fàn lǎoshī, Chinese makes perfect sense!
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#LearnChinese #ChineseTones #MandarinChinese #ChinesePronunciation #HowtoLearnChinese #ChineseLearning #ChineseTeacher #AprenderChino #AprenderMandarin #Shang-Chi #SimuLiu #Awkwafina

[@RitaChinese]

Heya, this is Rita, aka Fàn Lǎoshī! FINALLY, let's meet up in my BRAND NEW Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation course: Finding Your Mandarin Voice! 35% Off Lifetime Membership pre-sale going on here! 👉 www.ritachinese.com

[@JoyandSerenity.]

I watched the film today and I was very impressed by how much actual Mandarin was used. The film opens in full Mandarin with subtitles and then it switches between Mandarin and English throughout, I'm glad they didn't just make an English film acted by Chinese people, I'm glad it wasn't like Iron Fist... It is a beautiful film and worth the watch!

[@RitaChinese]

Ahhh that sounds AWESOME! Can't wait to watch it! 😄👏

[@lauriey6089]

Should be Cantonese in SF

[@Hardmanferdead]

Speaking of Iron Fist those rings put Shang Chi pretty close to Danny Rand’s level in terms of stats and striking power. Something tells me those rings will be gracing the pages of the comics in the future given how well received this movie was.

[@LilyUnicorn]

@@lauriey6089 thats true. Bit more mandarin speakers nowadays but they sure as hell not going to admit. Dude straight from china pretended he didnt know any mandarin because the first few times he replied he didnt speak canto in chinatown....so much death glare and rudeness. 🤣🤣🤣 of course its all 2nd gen chinese waiters and not ones actually born in china. The elderly are just disappointed not sending death glares. But it was really weird knowing when the boba tea shop was owned by mando or canto speakers just by listening to what the employees spoke. First time the boba shop changed everything including employees... i was like....this language sounds totally different.

[@aflow-]

Spoiler alert?

[@sof6527]

I saw another language deep dive video about the mandarin in Shang Chi and they commented that having a variety of Mandarin accents (from mainland Chinese, Taiwan, Hong Kong and “american-ised” mandarin) and different levels of speaking fluency actually helps to reflect the diversity of Mandarin in our world today and that was a nice change from it being a standard Beijing accent which most films or tv shows tend to use. And I totally agree with the guy!

[@JaYoeNation]

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was one of the best hybrid Chinese/western movies I had seen. Thought they did a great job bringing the two cultures together.

[@weizhang2834]

He and his parents are all firm anti China supporters. Just Another political correction Hollywood movie .

[@Jordan18561]

@@weizhang2834 Have you seen the movie?

[@saurelius5217]

@@weizhang2834 You mean he and his parents are against the cancer(PRC) that pervades the Earth? Well he just became one of my favorite actors.

[@stevenlk]

yo Matt nice to see you here!.it is indeed good xD

[@chrisgarner3714]

I think Awkwafina’s character in the Farewell movie is supposed to highlight the disconnection to the old world so she probably was exaggerating the English accent aspects. She is a great talent. Her Nora show is hilarious. Sure, she highlights her Asian-identity but it doesn’t constrain her.

[@RitaChinese]

Yeah probably! She is absolutely talented😊👏

[@midnighteye05]

Yeah I believe the statement that she made about not going to use an accent was being used out of context to create a cancel culture.

[@user-xe7dx8un3i]

i agree 100%, i can relate to that disconnection entirely and i rly love seeing it in her acting

[@MMayer-vn3vv]

Maybe but are there any videos of her speaking Mandarin well? In The Farewell, it looked a lot like someone reciting phonetics. The movie is excellent, but I didn’t find her Mandarin convincing, even assuming she wanted to exaggerate an American accent.

[@sherryillk]

@@MMayer-vn3vv She's Cantonese, right? It would make sense if she was sounding words out.

[@EagleEyedSheLion]

I just watched Shang chi in Hong Kong this weekend and the whole theater was cracking up at the part where Liu Simu was correcting awkwafina and thought about how an Audience in America probably wouldn’t have found that scene as funny

[@RitaChinese]

Haha I watched it in the theater yesterday! And yeah, the jokes didn't work as well in Chinese-speaking places I think haha. But it's just a great movie that everyone would enjoy watching! Now I wanna watch it again on Disney+ when it's out online😄

[@jajefan123456789]

haha same! the hong kong audiences know what's up lol

[@rwbrwb5086]

I watched the movie here in America. We laughed at that scene too as it was relatable 😂

[@MagicalKid]

I think the joke should translate well as non-chinese speakers can relate to having their Chinese pronunciation corrected by a native speaker, especially when it comes to pronouncing Chinese names.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

@@MagicalKid yes😂

[@amandastevens1117]

I am adopted from China and I've been trying to learn Chinese and it was really satisfying to be able to understand small bits of Mandarin in the movie.

[@appa609]

Something I notice in a lot of Chinese dubs of English films is they'll get someone who speaks super standard Chinese where the character is supposed to be someone kinda rural. Like the Chinese version of Mulan. It's the same feeling as if you were watching a Western and the ex-confederate soldier had the voice of a radio host.

[@GraceLum]

I like how clear and non judgemental you approached observing how they spoke cause sometimes I feel people can be so overtly critical without giving proper advice. I'm on a small journey to try to learn more mandarin but also try my best to maintain amd learn more cantonese, since my grandparents speak guangdong hua. The way you explain and pronounce words are really helpful :^)

[@RitaChinese]

The reason why I make these videos is nothing else but to help Chinese learners to realize the difference and maybe speak a little better, so I'm really happy to hear that you find my content helpful😊 Keep up the good work! 🙌💪

[@whowantsusernames]

My Chinese must have improved, because I remember watching Awkwafina’s performance and wondering why characters in the movie were saying her Chinese is not very good. Now I can actually hear that she does sound very American. I guess one’s ability to hear language can really improve a lot with practice and exposure!

[@whowantsusernames]

Btw. I think her performance was and is great.

[@RitaChinese]

That's definitely happening! It takes time for language learners to train their ears for the language - hear the nuances that don't matter in our mother tongue while make difference in our target language! And it matters even more when communicating with natives!

[@nicoleraheem1195]

True

[@Amdragfan2]

Oh, I definitely agree with you on your last point. I practice Spanish on my own time since I live in Florida and sometimes (but rarely) I come across Spanish accents I cannot comprehend (or vice versa where Spanish speakers cannot comprehend my Spanish accent). I've gotten better to the point where this happens a lot less at least

[@HansYuan]

I moved to the Toronto area from Shenyang when I was 7, so my experience matches Simu's quite closely (he was 5 and was born in Harbin). In fact, I even studied at a well-known business school in Canada similar to him. In some way, I felt like this movie was made for me and those like me and Simu, more so than for Chinese from China or 2nd-gen (or later) Chinese diaspora. We straddle both cultures comfortably and are equal parts accepted and rejected by both. I spent the entire movie whispering to my friend (who emigrated when he was 3, but for all intents and purposes has Awkwafina's level of Mandarin) about whose Mandarin was authentic and which actors had which accent. I imagine it got quite annoying for him, but I relished every second. 真是发自内心欣赏这部电影，希望以后电影里能看到更多我们所谓的1.5代移民，甚至能在西方和东方一起发展，那就了不得了。根在东，心向西，可以随心所欲!

[@hunhun1164]

1.5 代!!

[@niajef]

pretty much in the same boat...except not business school, i was in life sci in UT, and also the russian user name

[@ccaiti1057]

Awkwafina is actually a Chinese-Korean American. This is emphasized in Nora from Queens.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

When I have first seen her I thought she was she was totally Korean but discovered she was Chinese but now I see that she's actually both😂😂

[@penaltygallery]

Yes but I'd guess she could be more Chinese culturally given her Korean mum died early on in her childhood and she was mostly brought up by her paternal (Chinese) family

[@catherinetong4472]

Thank you so much for this vid. I'm an American-Chinese or Taiwanese, depending how specific you want to be, my Mandarin is not the best. Born and raised in US but speak Chinese to my parents. Even with limited Chinese, its jarring to hear English-accented Chinese. I sooo appreciate Simu and majority of the cast actually pronounce Mandarin well.

[@echelon2k8]

If you're born and raised in the US, you're not Chinese or Taiwanese, you're American. Only your parents, who I assume were born in China (?), are Chinese, not you.

[@fabiomora6491]

"You can clearly hear that Simu and Awkwafina are pronouncing Shang-Chi pretty different" Me watching the movie: she is saying the same!

[@maxwong6222]

Awkwafina was born and bred in New York so can't fault her for not speaking Mandarin as her native language. Her real name is Nora Lum, which suggests she is of Cantonese stock.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

That explains alot😂 She feels so American to me. I mean street American.

[@SantomPh]

@@nicoleraheem1195 she is literally from Queens, she speaks like an Italian-American at times

[@jasphersamson3772]

In 7:14, Awkwafina was pronouncing Shangqi as it was spelled Shanqi. That's why her tongue is placed more forward than Simu Li. The English and Chinese "ng" sound is actually the same.

[@Lrivas765]

I still can't believe they translated 白酒 into whiskey. haha But as a mandarin learner I was excited to see how I was able to understand some of the parts that were spoken in Mandarin.

[@RitaChinese]

Hahah yeah I heard there's something lost in translation in the movie! Can't wait to see it! And great! Seems you're doing pretty good👏😄

[@soofeii4966]

I was watching this movie with Swedish subtitles and luckily they kept it as “baijiu” 👏

[@florancenoel]

Thank you for the video! Also, a small detail I want to compliment on the editing. I love the colorful timeline on the bottom of the video! And you are one of the few teachers who uses a model of the mouth to teach Chinese phonetics. It's super useful! Thank you for your hard work!

[@fdssdf9300]

For me as a Singaporean, I think Simu Liu just sounds like a native Mandarin speaker, and Awkwafina has a strong American accent but still much better than when foreigners speak Chinese.

[@alishamcg]

Maybe her father's side spoke some mandarin which would give anyone an upper chance.

[@GraceLum]

actually, awkwafina is half korean so there might be something that affects that too

[@nicoleraheem1195]

😂I feel attacked

[@SantomPh]

Awkwafina was born and raised in New York, even her English has the strong New York tinge (talk = taaaawk, where = wheeeey). She is also only half Chinese, her mother is Korean. She actually went to Beijing to study Mandarin but didn't finish the course, apparently. And not to nitpick but her posture with the neck slooping down doesn't help pronunciation either For American actors who do speak Mandarin, Lucy Liu is likely much better at it.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

@@SantomPh I would be considered as a foreigner but Awkwafina would not be considered as a foreigner because she's Asian. I think. Maybe. I'm not sure😂

[@EdricHsu]

I think when he was making that first appearance announcing his casting, they hadn’t confirmed what the Chinese characters for “Shang Chi” would be yet (上氣/上奇/尚奇/尚氣 etc), hence why he pronounced it differently from the final version. Not sure about 漫威 though, but he probably never had to say “Marvel” in Chinese before. I must say it is really unnecessary to comment on whether you find him attractive or not. He is an actor, and is cast as a regular guy with a superhero identity, not a fashion model. But good teaching video otherwise.

[@Challe337]

Would be interesting to hear your perspective on Michelle Yeoh's and Tony Leung's Mandarin in the movie too. To me, it sounded like they've both improved their Mandarin a ton over their careers.

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks for your suggestion! That’d be interesting to see how their accents have changed over years😊

[@ridzz]

Michelle Yeoh's mother tongue is not mandarin i believe. Hers is Cantonese or might be Hokkien since she cones from the northern states of Malaysia. So I'd say she learned it along the way as her career progresses. Also, i suspect that she has the south east asian mandarin accent more than a pure Chinese (as in China based) accent. That's my two cents on it.

[@francisloh6110]

If I am not mistaken, Michelle Yeoh went to a Chinese Mandarin school at a very young age. Mandarin is not an issue with her. There are different accents of Mandarin besides the Beijing accent. She may have a different accent from the Beijing accent and modified her accent to reflect the Beijing accent more in later years. Would one call that an improvement? If that is, it would imply that that is only one acceptable Mandarin accent, ie the Beijing accent which I am inclined to disagree with.

[@RitaChinese]

@@francisloh6110 thank you for sharing your thoughts! I’m not sure what Michelle Yeoh’s learning process was, but I know Beijing accent is actually different from Putonghua/Standard Mandarin that was spoken by most people from different dialect regions living in China to facilitate our communication😊

[@angeliquewu8318]

@@francisloh6110 Beijing accents are different than putonghua, aka Standard Mandarin. Standard Mandarin is what is encouraged, because this way everyone understands each other.

[@sneedmando186]

Congratulations on having representation for your diaspora, I know how much it meant for me, I’m glad you get something cool to share too, ignore the haters, I am very excited Great video! I learned a lot ♥️

[@pastense]

I’m not Chinese. And I’m from the Bay Area, California where there’s many generations of Asian Americans. Awkwafina being from NYC AND Simu from Toronto. All these metropolitan, urban areas Have many generations of Americanization over the past hundred years or so, and of course there will be a variation in pronunciation in fluency.

[@KeithHoranParkour]

Best breakdowns on the net!

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks! I'm so happy to see the movie finally in theaters now and just couldn't wait to make a video talking about it😄🙌

[@KeithHoranParkour]

@@RitaChinese so awesome, enjoy! I haven't seen most of the Marvel movies, but if this one has some Mandarin in it...Maybe I'll check it out! It's always reinforcing when you mention tongue position, voiceless consonants, vocal placement etc. Your breakdowns do above and beyond! Thanks!

[@drbryant23]

I remember seeing a movie called Rising Sun starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, in a theater in Tokyo back in the mid-90's. The Japanese used by Sean Connery and Asian American Actors was so bad it was like a comedy, and the whole theater was laughing.

[@RitaChinese]

Haha I can imagines that, so I'm so happy that Marvel made this film featuring someone who speaks real Chinese😄

[@troyortiz2414]

Very informative video. Thanks

[@beagru5706]

Thank you very much for shearing 🌻🍀

[@RitaChinese]

You are so welcome!

[@yuezhao7487]

Liu pronounced Marvel and Shang-Chi like his parents would do. I don’t think he was nervous on stage. Maybe he just didn’t know how to pronounce them in Chinese. Being in Canada for so long his mandarin is kinda rusty. But a native speaker, period.

[@MagicalKid]

Yeah it sounds like how a person from the countryside would pronounce them, not a problem though.

[@nexus3d108]

Love your videos!

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks Nexus! Hope you fined them useful!

[@weilunkang]

@@RitaChinese "find"..... NOT "fined". This is the US, you really should focus on improving your English pronunciation also.

[@chadbailey7038]

Great video 👍🏾

[@MarkusBlue]

Can’t wait for the program!

[@RitaChinese]

Coming soon!

[@canchrper]

Thank you for this video.

[@RitaChinese]

My huge pleasure!

[@rachelblenkin437]

I've been "learning" Mandarin via Netflix/KZbin after discovering wuxia series... and was really excited to be able to pick up the odd phrase in the movie! I could absolutely look this stuff up or use a language learning app, but I'm having so much fun working it out on my own!

[@glumpink4106]

I freaking love Wuxia too ! 😂 I'm suprised you can pick up chinese from it at all - it's got a lot of archaic chinese that even I find hard to wrap my head around even though im a heritage speaker.

[@rachelblenkin437]

@@glumpink4106 my sister says I'm going to end up speaking old-fashioned stuff! 😆 I don't know much, mostly the odd word or phrase (don't worry, don't be afraid, I can count, etc). I also found a database online that helps a lot - but only if I know what the word sounds like!

[@rachelblenkin437]

@@glumpink4106 also which series is your favourite? Mine is Handsome Siblings.

[@carmenchen3588]

loved your video about this and really really want to watch this movie

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks!! It's a great movie to watch for sure!

[@peterc66]

I am Chinese Chinese 😂 and I love this analysis!! Amazing work Rita!!

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks Peter!

[@PopDasKorn]

The film launches on Friday in my country. Can't wait!

[@RitaChinese]

Yayyyy! I enjoyed it a lot!

[@appa609]

I mean there's really no point critiquing the authenticity of the Chinese of a native Chinese speaker. Even if he spoke off-standard that would just be dialectal, not a mistake.

[@SherYTF]

Oh that's an interesting take. I thought she did it to show the tone differences as some who aren't native speakers struggle with. But I guess dialectal does relate to the tone being used.

[@julescosby2000]

你的视频超级有趣啊！You're right about us 歪果仁 finding the 2nd tone challenging. But I was just outside listening to a couple train their dog: Sit! is clearly a 4th tone in Mandarin. Stay is a rising tone, and since dogs never listen, dog owners always have to repeat it: "stáy...stáy...no, stáy..st...good dog". Thanks for the great content!

[@RitaChinese]

Hahaha that's the most interesting comparison of English intonation and Chinese tones! Thank you for sharing!

[@nicoleraheem1195]

😂True

[@LateNiteAlum]

I was surprised by how much Mandarin was spoken in this film. The beautiful thing is, you don't have to be a fan of Marvel films or comics to enjoy it. Very well done overall. It's just too bad that it sounds like the film will be banned in China. Audiences will miss out.

[@RitaChinese]

Ah I can’t wait to watch it! Gonna watch it tomorrow no matter what! I really hope Chinese audience will get to watch it, too🙏

[@LateNiteAlum]

@@RitaChinese If you can, I highly recommend seeing it in either IMAX or Dolby. Would love to hear your thoughts and you to revisit or make a second part of this video about Shang Chi stars speaking Mandarin after the viewing.

[@lealexander]

Solid content

[@stapler942]

It's interesting hearing the perspective of people of one country on the accents of native speakers who grew up elsewhere. The nearest analogue I can make in Canada (official languages at least) is how Quebec French speakers and French French speakers have trouble understanding each other sometimes. And I think if you talk to elders from FN reserves, etc., it is probably obvious when someone grew up off-reserve, if they speak their ancestral language at all.

[@Arkainum]

I can't understand Mandarin to save my life, but I find it really pleasant to listen to. XD

[@clcl8]

Tony Leung is one of the reasons my mom let me watch the movie cause he’s a famous HK actor

[@RitaChinese]

He’s one of the best!

[@lia-hf8jq]

i'm a native chinese speaker, why am i watching this? 呵呵谢谢老师，跟你学了不少的知识点

[@glumpink4106]

♥️♥️♥️ 谢谢Rita姐姐

[@harley6144]

Great video and very relatable points! My parents often worked most of the time so I didn't spend much time conversing with them growing up so my grandparents took care us. Unfortunately their Mandarin wasn't that good so we spoke in Wenzhounese, which does help a bit in my Mandarin learning. NYC has a notable Wenzhounese population.

[@RitaChinese]

❤❤❤ thank you for sharing your story! Yeah I heard there're big Wenzhounese communities in NYC and in some European cities! Being distant dialect from putonghua, lots of northern Chinese natives find it really difficult to understand Wenzhouhua! 😆

[@carpelinguae9097]

Tony Leung's mother tongue is Cantonese. How does his Mandarin sound?!?

[@brunopillar1825]

12:37 Muito engraçado aparecer o Chris Tucker, amo os filmes dele com o Jackie, poderia trazer mais vídeos sobre eles? inclusive sobre essa filme, em que ele tenta falar Chinês... tentar é o primeiro passo kkkkkk

[@jytan740]

lived at haerbin, no wonder the chinese pronounciation is wow

[@Destiny-tv8ox]

Simu Liu is one of the shining gems of the Asian-Canadian community! Loved the video.

[@RitaChinese]

He is AWESOME! The more interviews and videos about him I watch, the more I like him! 😄❤

[@pault9544]

I love watching your videos! 谢谢范老师!

[@RitaChinese]

Awesome!! Glad you're liking my content! 😄🙌

[@uuuu281]

I am pretty sure he has been practicing the 5-mins open talk for tons of times.The tone is super hard and if you don't get the logic and word compound meaning in mandarin, the mistake happen all the times for non Chinese speaker.

[@byrin]

Can consider going into Tony Leung's chinese in the movie since he is a native cantonese speaker.

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks for your suggestion! Yeah definitely will make a video about Cantonese accent!

[@larry_yang]

He didn't learn Mandarin until later - that's why he was mute in A City of Sadness.

[@heesingsia4634]

@@RitaChinese have you done Ronnie Chieng with his Malaysian accent?

[@vickylikesthis]

His mistake of using english phrases (my name is...) when speaking mandarin is so relatable to me as an Indonesian who has been in the US too long

[@notalot22]

As a beginner, the Chinese 'r' like in "ren" has definitely been the hardest sound to make

[@RitaChinese]

"r" is definitely a sound that every language learner need to pay more attention to no matter what the target language is - says someone who's been trying to master the Spanish "r/rr" for quite a while haha. When you pronounce the Chinese "r," your lips, you tongue position and how wide you open your mouth all need an adjustment😊 Practice makes perfect!

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks for your comments! I'd suggest learners to try not to compare it with the English "r," and the term retroflex might cause people curl up their tongues towards back too much in their mouths😊

[@notalot22]

@@RitaChinese thanks for the feedback! I have no hope of ever being able to roll my rr's like on Spanish. The Chinese 'r' is really hard, but at least I know it's attainable 😅

[@rooooooby]

For an English-speaker, the "r" in Chinese is a hybrid "r"/"z" sound.

[@xiaotao9319]

@@notalot22 发音r更多在北京口音中，实际上在中国南方r不是那么明显，甚至zi、ci、si在南方也和zhi、chi、shi区分不明显，所以不用害怕，加油~

[@Animaxx010]

Yeah the subtitles didn’t bother me at all. Makes me wonder why they didn’t just do this with Mulan.

[@HyperLuigi37]

It’s really fascinating to see how accurate the Chinese is in the movie, and it was really cool to see so much of a foreign language in a movie, and as a Japanese learner it would be neat if there was a similar movie with Japanese and Japan.

[@RitaChinese]

For real! The Mandarin Chinese is the movie is phenomenal!

[@plushie2007]

That's an awesome T-shirt you are wearing. Can you share where it can be purchased?

[@RitaChinese]

Haha it’s from a brand called Plastered T-shirts

[@michaelmunawng8508]

范老师，你好棒！

[@RitaChinese]

谢谢Michael！

[@seventhheaven3738]

尚气imax版独占1.9满屏画幅，你在D+只能看2.39画幅的，所以还是得去IMAX看才能开到完整画幅

[@RitaChinese]

啊还好昨天看的是IMAX！👏😄

[@LetsBuildThatApp]

能在美国电影听到标准的中文算是很难得啦 👍

[@RitaChinese]

同意！

[@magicmonk]

哇，他的中文說的實在太好了

[@psyrmc]

2:28 hahaha I didn't expect that tool.

[@RitaChinese]

hahah I just needed a bigger mouth to show how it works clearly😆

[@randomCADstuff]

Harbin + Toronto is a really unique and interesting background; not to take away from the success/talent. People/culture wise, you'll have an amazing experience in Northern China. I've been to Dalian myself. The food, culture and people were absolutely amazing. I've never experienced Shanghai, Beijing, The Great Wall, nor the amazing wonders of Xian. But not regrets, I was really impressed and at awe with everything I've seen in Northern China. Amazing and unique place in the world :-)

[@FerretJohn]

I've been reading the Shang Chi comic book and following the character since the late 70s, and only when the movie came out did I realize I was speaking the name wrong for the past 45 years.

[@RitaChinese]

😆😆 Better late than never

[@rstuio]

I think he turned those words in his introduction speech into second tones because he's ending that sentence by raising that tone, without intending to make those words wrong. it's how some speeches are sometimes when he's nervous. Just raise the end of every sentence.

[@EugWanker]

I saw him make a mistake in the Shang-qi pronunciation somewhere else too, but IIRC it was correct in the actual movie. One of the problems though for that particular clip is that almost everywhere it was just the romanized spelling, with no tones listed of course, and that comic-con reveal was just a couple of days after he was cast so I don’t know how much time he had to research. (I don’t think he was even allowed to tell his parents before the reveal, so if true, he wouldn’t have been able to consult them.) BTW, with regards to the romanization, it’s like Wade-Giles, whereas almost everyone else in the movie gets pinyin names.

[@RitaChinese]

Yeah sometimes it's hard to tell if it's an influence from tones or intonation. And you are right - when English speakers are nervous or wanna cheer up the room, they tend to raise the intonation which could translate into the 2nd tone sometimes.

[@RitaChinese]

@EugWanker Hahah I think I watched the same interview, where he said he was not allowed to tell anyone that he'd be Shang Chi couple days before the comic con, and he called his best friend telling it right away😆 He is so funny. And I agree, he might not have had time to really figure out which characters, therefore which tones, the words really are in Chinese back then!

[@aaronlee1189]

Wow every time I hear simu liu or shang chi in english my brain gets soo confused. Its like "what are the tones????" Thanks for clarifying the pronunciations !! maybe in a few years time... Singlish in marvel :O

[@Skara159]

Could you do a reaction/review when the movie is out? When I watched it, I noticed that the name "Shang-Chi" was pronounced differently troughout the movie...

[@RitaChinese]

I watched it yesterday! And yeah, they pronounced the name both in English and in Chinese, so they sound different😊

[@Skara159]

@@RitaChinese Ah OK! thanks for the answer! His mother pronounced it different. It sounded to me like "Shang-Chie" But I'm a absolute beginner in Mandarin, sometimes I'm not even sure if I heard it right 😂

[@MattCantSpeakIt]

omg thank you so much! I always wondered why they say "Shang Chee"... I was like... that's not how you pronounce "Chi"... If there is ONE think I get right with my Mandarin is my "shi" and "chi" sounds... but this is actually Qi, not Chi! Now the pronunciation makes sense... I'm a bit angry they didn't spell it Shang Qi... come on. That's what it is! People will learn after hearing the name 20 times in the movie XD

[@KennethPorio]

I think the tones of Simu Liu... or rather 刘思慕 in 威 being 1st tone in 漫威 , or 气 being 2nd tone in 尚气, or how he said "我不想惹麻烦“ as "Wǒ bùxiǎng'r máfan'r" in one of the movie trailers, is quite expected, considering he comes from 哈尔滨, which is in northeastern China. I find people from the northeast like 黑龙江，吉林，and 辽宁 tend to be either speak softer or harder in pronunciating syllables (depending on which part they lived in), and shift tones wildly, that's why I get very, very confused with conversing with them because I might misinterpret some of their syllables. I suggest watching how he spoke Mandarin in 血与水 "Blood and Water", a Canadian drama series, and I can tell he softens his syllables and shifts tones most of the time, that I had to check in the dictionary if the subtitles were correct.

[@RitaChinese]

Wow thank you for sharing your insights! 👍👍

[@qiaowang7147]

It's a good movie and the cast is great but I don't really like the naming of the movie. The title of the movie 尚气 sounds awfully similar to the word 丧气. Not the greatest name for an Asian superhero character. The meaning behind the character's name 尚气 is not that well thought out by Marvel.

[@cupguin]

@@qiaowang7147 the character is very loosely based on a Marvel comic character created in the 70s by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin and inspired by the David Carradine series Kung Fu. It's also horrible. Just absolutely horrible. In early issues his father is Fu Manchu, a character Marvel had bought the rights to. Because they thought that was a good addition. The writer and director said they read the comics to come up with a list of things they did not want to include. Which is good because again a lot of really horrible comics. They were given a lot of freedom to change things but the character name was always going to have to be Shang Chi.

[@keilee9644]

真是北京妞！第一次听你说英文，北京人说英文辨识音很明确，听一会儿就好了。特别说Chinese这个词…

[@jasonreviews]

he has an accent. he probably memorized the chinese. They do that a lot in old hong kong films. Maggie Q know zero cantonese, but they had her memorize the lines. LOLs.

[@akunbuangan2992]

Actually Chi is Wade-giles romanization that was de facto standard during Republic of China Era. Qi is Hanyu Pinyin spelling, and it's recent creation.

[@RitaChinese]

Good point!

[@sudhanshusingh9391]

Hello mam! I have been learning Chinese for 2 months. I can write Chinese well but my listening skill and speaking skill is not much good. Could you pls suggest me some movies that can help me out in listening to Chinese to grab my listening skill. Pls tell me the name of some movies in which actors speak slow Chinese. Thank you in advance!

[@RitaChinese]

Hey thank you for your question! Listening is definitely a skill that needs time and effort to hone. And I'm pretty sure that my upcoming course will help you out with it! In the meantime, you can check out this video where I recommended some movies as well as how to practice: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaeYY4R6npV6g5Y

[@martinphipps2]

What do you think of Vincent Denofrio's Chinese in Daredevil?

[@roberttemme6162]

Hi Rita, if possible I would love to see you break down my favorite singer, Deng zi qi (G.E.M), speaking Mandarin. I have learned to sing Chinese songs by listening to her sing them and following along with pinyin lyrics. I would like to know what you think of her pronunciation. Thank you, Baobo

[@NO1xANIMExFAN]

Her Mandarin pronunciation is good, but not perfect as her native language is Cantonese

[@RitaChinese]

你好Bao Bo! Will do! I think her putonghua pronunciation is pretty good!

[@choiwaynekiet]

@@NO1xANIMExFAN gem is from Mainland (Shanghai). She emegrated to HK at 4. She speaks like that because she has a receding jaw which causes her to have a little bit of a lisp. Even when she speaks Cantonese you can hear her lisp. Some people in HK don't believe that she is from there because of her lisp.

[@NO1xANIMExFAN]

@@choiwaynekiet exactly. she moved to hk at 4. so her mandarin isn't as good as her cantonese. thats exactly what i said

[@choiwaynekiet]

@@NO1xANIMExFAN I don't think that is the case. With her mom speaking Mandarin with her, so she should be able to speak pretty well. It all comes down to her having a lisp when she speaks. There might be a little bit but I don't think it would the main reason why her Mandarin is not as good.

[@joeymelbourne]

excellent, though he lost Haerbin accent, still good enough lol

[@relaxwhc]

I think they should hire you to be the accent expert in hollywood movies 😁

[@RitaChinese]

That would be fun! I've done it in China, and it feels great to help them nail their lines!

[@teamsinagcosplay]

Please react to Don Cheadle speaking Cantonese with Jackie Chan in Rush Hour

[@RitaChinese]

Thank you for your recommendation!

[@sarahs7669]

Simu does a delightful google translate commercial where his mom scolds him in Mandarin and he translates it with his phone.

[@RitaChinese]

Haha that's genius!

[@RainbowFishSaysHello]

Do soon and cool have the same vowel? They sound quite different.

[@zookytar]

Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh speak with light Cantonese accents, which I built up a backstory in my mind because Mandarin is a newer dialect so in-universe I thought their native dialects were older than Mandarin.

[@RitaChinese]

Haha that’s true, if “Mandarin” refers to the standard Mandarin/Putonghua. But the development of dialects in China is very complicated, and “Mandarin” also refers to different dialects mostly in Northern China, including Northeastern Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin, Shandong Mandarin, and even Sichuan Mandarin, and they have their own history as long as Cantonese😊

[@kathyaavila5694]

Please review Mindy Chen’s Chinese from Emily in Paris.

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks for your recommendation! TBH her Mandarin is not so good, but it would be interesting to talk about it and help Mandarin learners to improve!

[@Chris_Tian.R.G]

I just watch it in cinema last night, and when i go home i just watch mandarin lesson on youtube. Cause im Chinese-Indonesian, and can't speak Mandarin 😂😂😂

[@RitaChinese]

You can always learn something from the internet😄🙌

[@rcc8347]

I love Chinese.. chin chun Yun chi.. don't know what that is.. sounds like Chinese 😊

[@SoroushTorkian]

I was lucky to understand enough mandarin that I forgot there were subtitles. Lol

[@IOADESTOYER]

I liked the video the second you puled that mouth with tongue toy to show pronunciation lol

[@azdajajeanne]

I've been wondering about this! I'd definitely watch more videos explaining how to pronounce vowels (assuming that when she says "course", she means new content on her channel). Does anyone know if she has a video on the difference between Zh (as in "Zhao") and the R in "ren" (as in "person")? They sound the same to me, but I'm not sure they are...especially since they're romanized differently.

[@RitaChinese]

I'm gonna launch a real training course that will be on a course website, in the meantime I'll keep making KZbin videos/free content here on KZbin😊 And the difference between "zh and "r" will be covered in the course for sure! Stay tuned🙌😄

[@azdajajeanne]

@@RitaChinese Oh, wow, you personally replied! Thank you! I'll look forward to that. 😁

[@meijiOrO]

Hypothetical (since we know it'll never happen), if Simu were ever in a costume c-drama, would his pronunciations be good enough to dub his own lines?

[@user-ie7vo1hj3j]

Good question! Would love to see him in a c-drama. Tho not even native chinese speaking actors use their voice for that. Which is a shame bc having the same voices for like 20 different titles is a bit tiring...

[@soaringaegis]

Probably not. China is super strict about the "proper" accent allowed in media. Not even native speakers get to dub their own lines.

[@RitaChinese]

Hahah that's a really interesting idea tho! I think characters in costume drams are expected to speak in a more "ancient" way, which needs them to slow down and enunciate words in a proper way, and it's hard for even some young Chinese native actors. So I guess it'd be quite challenging for Simu! But nothing is impossible, and the movie where I helped the foreign actors with their accent is actually a costume one!

[@SantomPh]

@@RitaChinese a dialect coach and practice will really help. It's a very formal way of speaking so anyone should train. I think he can read Chinese as well, so this will help

[@chrisXDfull]

Do you teach chinese one on one? , and if a young girl wants to listen to someone who has a northern chinese accent or beijing accent who should she listen to?

[@RitaChinese]

I don't take more tutoring students for the time being, cuz I'm focusing on my Chinese pronunciation course. I think this video might be helpful for what you are looking for: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWfPqmp6ab2Khas

[@choiwaynekiet]

To be fair they had not decided on what character to use for Shang Qi at the time @ comic con

[@RitaChinese]

Yeah that's probably true!

[@dbzfan200270]

Chinese is very difficult to learn. I either cannot hear all the tones when someone is speaking to me, misunderstand what is said, or others don't always understand everything I say. Working on tones, since I don't always even have different tones when speaking English. Ugh. There are a lot of words that sound very similar as well

[@RitaChinese]

There truly are a lot of similar syllables in Chinese, which is exactly why tones matter so much to differentiate meanings! And your ears for tones can definitely be trained! Have faith and keep up the hard work! (My upcoming pronunciation course might be helpful, too)

[@SantomPh]

well Chinese is a tonal language, so it's very important.

[@Ludifant]

Since you did a martial arts movie, I want to ask you something silly about KUNG FU... I noticed Confucius (孔子, Kǒng Fūzǐ,) is being pronounced to my ear KungFu-ci (功夫; pinyin: gōngfu) . I don´t speak Chinese, but it´s probably a coincidence, right? Would a character named 功夫子 be considered an acceptable word joke or is it too obvious? I never realised Akwafina was Asian until ShangChi and actually until you just said it.. She has such a gravelly voice and somehow I don´t associate that with Asian. Strange.

[@RitaChinese]

Haha 功夫子 is a fun name to me! And you are right, Confucius 孔夫子Kǒng Fūzǐ is just a coincidence😊

[@crazymonkeyvk714]

I think my chinese improved by watching the entired series of untamed! i can at least say wei wu xian!!!!

[@nicoleraheem1195]

Same. I've been learning inconsistently for 2 years. I am attempting to study immensely this time around.

[@sanjayaufdermauer7884]

Wo lianshi zhongguo wushu😁 I have a zhongguo Shifu were I live but also one in China. So I am trying to learn zhongwen to understand wushu better😁 P.S. ni hen piao liang😊

[@RitaChinese]

That's awesome! Good luck with your studies!

[@sanjayaufdermauer7884]

@@RitaChinese xie xie ni ☯️👊⛩🙏

[@danymann95]

Can you react please to the videogame trailer of Wuchang Fallen Feathers? I’d appreciate it if you do

[@RitaChinese]

Thanks for your recommendation!

[@relaxwhc]

I think many Chinese-Americans are actually from the southern provinces like Fujian and Guangdong.

[@RitaChinese]

On the east coast, I believe so. There are a lot more recent Chinese immigrants who are from the northern China and somewhere else

[@MrNothingButAir]

yeah i'm ABC and most of my ABC friends are either from Guangdong, Fuzhou, Taiwan or Wenzhou.

[@Zhishan929]

My family is from fujian.

[@SantomPh]

most Chinese Americans do come from the south, because this is historically where the ports to foreign countries were, like Canton (Guangzhou) , Shenzen, Fujian with Shanghai being an exception as a northern city. Then there is of course Hong Kong, Macao and countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore who have a huge Chinese population, also mostly of Southern ancestry also migrating to the US an Canada. To this day, a "Malaysian" restaurant or "Indonesian" restaurant would normally be run by a Chinese person from there. It was only really after the 80s that Northern Chinese could more easily move around the country and thus to the bigger coastal cities- apart from Shanghai most Northern cities are not sea port cities and crucially, allowed to travel overseas on their own.

[@MrNothingButAir]

@@Zhishan929 Shanghai is actually considered South but yeah I agree with what you said

[@pdraggy]

I will always remember, it is NOT Sea Moo it's Simo

[@tombro2022]

给马师母请安~

[@RitaChinese]

哈哈不敢不敢

[@QuizmasterLaw]

I might start calling you "Miss Pronunciation" :) Yeah, anglos have no idea about tones let alone certain initials (lookin at u ZH Q X) I found a song which corrctly produces Chinese tones and posted its link on your "don't use songs" video :)

[@RitaChinese]

Hahaha! Thanks, and I'll check out the song you posted in a bit!