How Good Is Daniel Wu's Chinese?

[@ShShShDoDoDo]

Wow it's amazing hearing someone so fluent and using slang in Cantonese as an adult learner. I grew up with Cantonese and always thought it was too hard to learn!

[@Mimi-si6qk]

Spoken Cantonese is almost all slang. You should watch movies to learn it rather than study books. I can speak Cantonese and write (traditional), but when I buy books in Hong Kong, they are definitely not written the way they would be spoken. An obvious example would be 什麼事 (what’s the matter)? Which is never used in Cantonese. It would be said 你點呀 (nei deem ah) or 咩事啊 (mieh see ah)? But you would never see these in books.

[@davidcdun8896]

Daniel Wu's parents are from Shanghai. And he has worked with Jackie Chan in Hong Kong for many years, so he does have Cantonese. I'm wondering if he speaks Shanghai accent as well.

[@dinghaoroyhu7516]

His Shanghainese is kind of that old-school, traditional one, more authentic than what now the young people aree speaking

[@larshofler8298]

Daniel Wu's native tongue is Wu (Shanghainese). His second language is English. He learnt Cantonese in HK, and he doesn't really speak Mandarin.

[@cathycai]

Isn't WU the language from wenzhou ?

[@anakitiktokwi2939]

Really?

[@blueskiies]

Damn Daniel Wu trading his cool Chinese lunches in the US while I just got bullied and laughed at as an Australian born Chinese. 😔😔

[@okazay]

The way you say “Mandarin” in Mandarin literally translates to “normal speech” in Korean :D as many of you know Korean borrows a lot of Chinese words. “Botong” means normal and depending on the character, hwa can refer to speech and dialogues. (Just a language nerd here XD)

[@jujn4l]

I think his Canto is better, but that could be my bias since I understand one and not much of the other. 😂

[@davidsanders5652]

And Mr Wu will play Sun Wu Kong... my favourite character. I have a three volume translation of Journey to the West and have seen him in many films and TV shows. I shall certainly watch out for his interpretation - actually my real favourite is Guan Yin 'cause she is gorgeous.

[@Mimi-si6qk]

That’s blasphemy. She’s a buddhist deity who everyone has prayed to since they were little. Nobody thinks of her that way. That’s like saying Jesus is a hottie. I guess some things are lost in cultural translation, haha.

[@davidsanders5652]

@@Mimi-si6qk Bodhisattva, NOT a deity. And, by folklore, chose that herself.

[@SuzanneM4Y]

@@davidsanders5652 Well, Guan Yin is believed to be a form of the Avalokitasvara bodhisattva, who is technically believed to be male (in Buddhism, only males can become bodhisattva). It is said that he took a female form to represent compassion and kindness.

[@davidsanders5652]

@@SuzanneM4Y Yup, I knew that but could never remember the Indian name...too many syllables for my mind.

[@misubi]

I was at a Asian American film festival fifteen years ago and at the after party I was standing in line to buy a drink. There was a guy standing in front of me and I was like …wow that guy is really handsome. Turns out it was Daniel Wu buying a beer.

[@DoomyRei]

Glad to see your back after a long time

[@winxie3498]

His Cantonese is definitely better than his Mandarin 😅. He speaks Cantonese almost as good as his English, like his native language.

[@daoyang223]

I forget that English can very well be his native language as he was born and raised here in the states lol

[@jeffreytsao5710]

Wow. My recollection of his Cantonese was from 新警察故事，where it was accented but understandable. I can’t believe this is the same guy. Amazing.

[@JamitMan]

He's been in many Hong Kong movies. What do you expect lol

[@buyungadil1]

He's good in both. In his earlier movies, his Cantonese had an accent.

[@yunqin3407]

Let me be the first to say you look gorgeous Jessie ❤

[@pinowsky]

I'm a fan of Daniel Wu since I watched "One night in Mongkok"

[@xva]

吳彥祖的聲線很厚沉，說廣東話時有連音such like speaking english，好溫柔，好sexy。

[@BB-xy5nd]

It’s funny when your cat injects himself in your videos 🤣 🐈

[@eileenyyy6158]

太巧了，我的猫刚进门来找我的时候，你低头看了一下说“it's my cat” ! 吓我一跳

[@randomname931]

his cantonese is very good for a non-native, just the slightest bit of accent (not sure what kind of accent).

[@kazewendy12]

As a 100% HK people I guess that probably be considered what we call ABC accent (竹升口音）

[@Ohmygawdddde]

@@kazewendy12he doesn’t have an accent at all sounds like a native speaker

[@Ohmygawdddde]

@@kazewendy12watch his 4 hour interview when speaking Cantonese

[@jansonleung3393]

如堕我不知道，我还以为为他是香港人。Salute!

[@OhGeeGanksta]

I guess his Canto improved a bit, but his Canto used to be really bad. I still wouldn't exactly say his Canto is good though. Good compared to a foreign speaker? I guess.

[@letsgowalk]

Haha... it was terrible in Gen-X cops and Y&D: The Prequel. Full immersion living in HK all those years has definitely helped though.

[@Blindswordsman1994]

It’s pretty good even though he has an accent, he definitely doesn’t struggle to find the Chinese words if you watch his interviews

[@Ohmygawdddde]

@@Blindswordsman1994you can’t judge someone’s speaking ability from an accent. As long as he feels comfortable using the language and can express himself an accent is irrelevant.

[@MultiFinlayson]

What a smile!!

[@rb4108]

Two words: Daniel Wu.

[@bohu4020]

吴彦祖说中文的时候实在太帅太正能量了！

[@markfisher2683]

“ ok. You’re dismissed now”🤔🤔😉😂 Intentionally funny?

[@vampyrelycan99]

Yeah such a great Orinda native...... If only he could contribute more to the SF Bay film industry......

[@humble_integrity]

well actually, cantonese is more similar to vietnamese. while mandarin has 4 tones, vietnamese has 7. cantonese has 6. there's not that many similarities between mandarin and cantonese.

[@hingginchu]

吳彥祖說吳語的地道程度，超過大多數的上海人，他的話是老派的，用詞發音都很正宗。

[@tonyli564]

you are genius.so lovely

[@disneymarvelfans1993]

Are you come form Hong Kong ？

[@chongleongchua4059]

She is from mainland China (definitely not from Guangdong) That's why she's not good in Cantonese. Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong & parts of Guangdong.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@chongleongchua4059 she's from jiangxi

[@minnielee3399]

@@chongleongchua4059 You forgot Macau and Guangxi too!!

[@yblmisc]

@@chongleongchua4059 Wonder where she learned her English, it’s perfect and she mentioned she never studied in the US.

[@JamJim]

2:51

[@laurenlee4904]

What are your views on American Born Chinese as a drama being translated as 美生中國人？Kind of a bad translation?

[@SebastianMorath]

I wonder how is his Orcish, cuz he played Gul'dan in Warcraft

[@tonyli564]

you and your boyfriend are so lovely

[@EndlessXConcertgoers88]

You just don't know Cantonese that's why you assume his mandarin is better. 🤣😂...

[@TwoBrotherKH0]

u are beautyful

[@buyungadil1]

Jessie, where did learn to speak English?

[@aranerem3767]

Hello

[@受活]

这就是我们中国男人的作用……😄😄😄

[@jasonreviews]

Chinese is so hard that Chinese people can't even speak it. This evidence that english and cantonese should be taught instead. haha!

[@mikedaniels3009]

You ought to cut out English, and talk in Chinese only.

[@anakitiktokwi2939]

Y