Foreigner Tests Chinese Locals on Their Chinese

My buddy Jayme has been living here for ten+ years, and one of his favorite things to do is test Chinese people on their Chinese language skills. Today, we're on the super busy Nanjing Road in Shanghai, putting Chinese locals to the ultimate language test!
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Music: Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com)
#chineselanguage #china #mandarin

[@alphaic1448]

There is a Chinese guy walking around London telling English people how to read and write English

[@Monkeyabroad]

I'd watch that video

[@hongxia2708]

Where do I find that video?

[@monpetitgarcon]

Alpha i know! Crazy right?

[@truezyf]

what an world we r living.

[@andy4an]

I'd watch that video if the chinese guy was as respectful and encouraging as this white guy.

[@fadedphilosphy]

I’m Chinese and I always correct Americans with their, there, and they’re.

[@iant419]

My dad asked me how to spell 'unit' the other day 🤨. I grew up reading constantly so not knowing there, they're and their is just a mind boggling display of incompetence.

[@daywalker3735]

Fair enough lol

[@lgeiger]

Native German speaker here. Not to forget about "then" and "than".

[@theblueskyisstolensunlight]

Do not forget about your and you’re

[@audiogeneral]

to,too,and two

[@uwuben]

The kid's reaction to the huge word is so cute!!

[@PuNicAdbo]

Its is

[@ジョウドなの筍]

Ikr

[@nicoleraheem1195]

Yes it made me laugh such an hideously, boisterous laughter.

[@CIA_Killed_JFK]

Yesssss

[@Glassandcandy]

Genuinely made me happy to see it

[@ryannjoshi]

nang made me laugh out loud it’s like this CRAZY insane long character and it’s said “nang” 💀

[@hyakuyon]

Two things I can't believe: how damn good his Chinese is, and that our names are the same

[@JaymeLawman]

Jayme Wheeler little secret: my passport name is James but I wanna be just like you🤗

[@skux20]

Jayme Wheeler I'm pretty sure you're the Jayme in the description lol

[@drowswolley4661]

你的声音跟王力宏很像，厉害了我的哥！ 另：纹身“天佑英王”？ 没听出你有英式英语口音。

[@cny463]

not that good really, but he isshowing off indeed

[@layslifestyle2265]

Jian Huang 一个英国人在一个英国的美国人聚集地长大，然后在此基础上学习中文

[@akersoltions]

Dude. How long have you been studying Chinese? I am Chinese but damn! You speak and write better than I do. I am 57 years old and living in the U.S. Awesome man. Keep it up. Cheers!

[@juandenz2008]

It says he lived in China for 9 years, and I guess maybe started studying before that. He is obviously a true scholar of the Chinese language.

[@TooChillery]

USPInx he is speaking Mandarin :)

[@YummYakitori]

USPInx Most people in China speak Mandarin. It’s the national language for inter-ethnic and inter-dialectal communication. Cantonese is merely one of many Chinese dialects that are all not mutually intelligible with one another but it’s very popular amongst overseas Chinese communities because most overseas Chinese originally migrated out of Cantonese speaking areas along the coast of southern China. Just about everyone can speak Mandarin in China but only about 80 to 90 million people can speak Cantonese in China. I speak Southern Min (aka Taiwanese dialect in Taiwan) for instance, which is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin Chinese, Shanghainese or Cantonese

[@eamoncat]

I think he is not only good at language skills. Have you watched his another video about how is he learning Chinese? His efforts and methods of self-education reached a level that average people can't even imagine. I think he is capable of doing anything very good without an expert's coaching. I learn English kinda like him, I've never taken formal English courses. But my efforts are nothing comparing to him. Wonderful dude.

[@brandonneumann5294]

I never heard of a guy named grant Smith that was chinese? Did you grab your friends account

[@jesseshum1388]

wow, this dude has superb Chinese proficiency

[@nicfreeman4582]

ka hing Shum I've lived in China for like 20 years . But this dude has a better pronunciation than me. Incredible!!!

[@BeepBeep72]

Nic Freeman 你知道我说什么吗？

[@nicfreeman4582]

你觉得呢？

[@ОлексаСтрицький]

His chinese is just so-so.

[@jesseshum1388]

wow, dude, you are really good at being critical. hats off to you

[@shawnthomas1375]

You know when you're native you're bound to make mistakes except if you're a professional or something because the dialects vary too much,but when you are an outsider you learn exactly from the book not from the people surrounding you that makes the difference. But no matter the difference in dialects the common term pronunciations must be known. Traditional is the way to go to get the exact essence of this beautiful culture. By the way I'm Indian I don't know shit about the language but I love China and feel connected somehow.

[@zvezdoblyat]

Shawn Thomas do you know Sanskrit?

[@alantan9863]

@@zvezdoblyat lol. Sanskrit is akin to Latin.

[@mpforeverunlimited]

You feel connected because you share a border lol

[@luna498-h5z]

I think it’s because both India and China are extremely old civilizations with over a billion people. I am Chinese and feel like I can relate so well to Indian culture. For example both Indians and Chinese people are extremely family oriented and good at math 😂 I think Hindi is a beautiful language. I do not understand any Indian languages but I feel like we are cousins in terms of our lifestyle, population, values, etc.

[@xDisaaster]

this dudes speaking and writing chinese meanwhile im here on youtube watching random videos...makes me wanna do something with my life

[@kekw9928]

lol

[@ando1135]

i believe he grew up in china from another video...or at least lived there for a long time.

[@jakel3812]

Damn gotta say his Chinese pronunciation is really good

[@monpetitgarcon]

Tong Liu no they r not

[@jakel3812]

lol, as a guy from Beijing, I think it's pretty good. I don't know how good is good in your standard

[@monpetitgarcon]

Tong Liu there are a very few caucasian work n live in China as an entertainer one of them is Da Shan. Do u see him walk around in BJ educating the locals? No he doesn't even though his Chinese accent is 100 times better than this dick in the video

[@JaymeLawman]

Chloe Cheung sounds like you really need a hug

[@MrBlue-ib7oi]

+chloe - wow, you sound salty as hell!

[@bylcreem5]

I appreciate you making a translation for people like us to watch your videos.

[@VoxStoica]

2:49 that reaction!

[@poptartzz1989]

INTPWorld also the dude at 4:52 😂😂 his face is priceless lol

[@afarasmr764]

thelilvoiceinarmysheadthat makessureuknowurbtstrash omg he was like “what? what’s happening?”

[@matthewxue3608]

INTPWorld 简体字的好处是显而易见的，降低了交流成本，更容易让13亿人脱盲。更何况，简体字只是简化了一些字的写法，对汉字体系根本没有影响。与时俱进不光是文字上，更应该是思想上。学中文请学简体字，因为中国没人用繁体字了

[@axrdeardido]

Me when I look at Chinese in general.

[@miguelmarquez4192]

That really was cute

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

His English is very confusing.. He has a very americanized British accent

[@keir92]

요하너ᅵ스ᄋ he has an American accent full stop

[@tonyspecv3445]

Keir no he does have a alight british accent

[@JasherClark]

I don't get how it is confusing

[@AlliRayy]

Sounds Australian to me

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Keir No he doesn't. Australian could be right, but I still think it's a very americanised British accent

[@alZiiHardstylez]

N

[@culllol]

alZiiHardstylez damn he really loves chinese culture and chinese etc anything chinese damng

[@GraysonMMO]

Hes not European is he? sounds American to me.

[@alZiiHardstylez]

I

[@alZiiHardstylez]

G

[@alZiiHardstylez]

G

[@timxu6631]

Oh shit his Chinese pronunciation is fucking perfect

[@markli6065]

dont think so,chinese can hardly speak english without accent.

[@markli6065]

especially those chinese who speak Mandarin as mother tongue

[@L33tw0rk]

Why would he be mocked?

[@hzhang1954]

As a Chinese, I have to say that Jayme speaks brilliant mandarin.

[@whythissucks829]

naive 121 well he should. hes been living in china for 9 years.

[@SarangKdancecovers]

i've lived in Britain for 12 years and my spoken english is still very crap. considering english is different to mandarin by a mile, he's done well

[@bakeryssoul]

Definitely does. It sounds like Taiwanese mandarin too.

[@brotherbig4651]

Man I have to say your Chinese amazed me. You almost have no accent. I really wish my English can be as good as your Chinese.

[@salty1467]

Brother Big he still has a bit of accent but pretty good considering he's not chinese

[@salty1467]

Kikai Shinobu I don't hear any Taiwan accent from him

[@ZLL668]

This dude writes in traditional Chinese!

[@filmhk177]

yes, mainland China now uses simplified Chinese only, the traditional is too hard and complicated for them.

[@zachjarsle4606]

60 years ago, in order to reduce the illiteracy rate, government simplied the character. Now simplified Chinese is commonly used in mailand China. However, mainland people do recognize some of the traditional Chinese but probably write them imprecisely.

[@AQuestioner]

He wrote 粗獷 instead of the simplified 粗犷 cū guǎng.

[@minge9]

Zachary Ji Commonly used all over the world** apart from Taiwan, HK and Macau.

[@blee04524]

Film too hard? you dont even know the reason kid

[@minco04]

2:50 the kid is so cute

[@AndegaHV]

Mmm hello fbi, i think i found this one.

[@okaeritr]

Ikr XD

[@turtlepetal]

Yes he is

[@BothHands1]

Omg right?! He's really smart too for a kid, he was getting ones right that the adults messed up :o

[@Odinsday]

That kid made my day.

[@vejamoxdan]

That proves those characters are extremely dificult even for local people. Imagine for us, dealing with it. I was really impressed watching the guy on video teaching they.

[@mz0g]

no it just means that natives forgot things as they grow older. students of a language can actually correct natives because grammar is still fresh in our mind and because we are trying to speak and write like official textbooks. whereas natives are more colloquial and used to slang and spoken structures. don't give up!

[@vejamoxdan]

@@mz0g I already speak portuguese, english and spanish. I also studied french, but it doesn't enter in my head. Maybe I should try harder in the next year. But chinese or japonese? I know that I never will learn those ones. I do not have any chance even to use it. I'm get shocked when I see a foreign speaking clearly like this guy in the video.

[@shamanbeartwo3819]

I mentioned to a neighbor once about Mandarin having 3,000 characters to learn. He just smiled and said it was about 50,000.

[@marshy_5406]

It is more you just need 3000 characters to function everyday life so thee is no point learning all of it

[@littleidiotka]

It's not remembering it, as we get older, we will forget some things and don't use it in our everyday life

[@ZhangtheGreat]

This isn't surprising. In many cases, native speakers of any language may not consciously know about the little nuances and aspects of their own tongue simply because they take what they speak for granted. Meanwhile, non-native speakers may have studied the language in detail due to high interest and motivation, so they're passionate enough to actually learn deeper. In fact, there is a Chinese game show now where non-native Chinese speakers compete against each other to test their knowledge of Chinese, and some of those questions are so deep that the everyday native speaker wouldn't be able to answer them.

[@sjappiyah4071]

ZhangtheGreat Very True, Although I’d say it’s especially harder with a Ideographic/Symbolic writing system like Chinese because the symbols don’t tell you ‘how’ to pronounce it. At least in English or most other latin based languages, *most* of the time you can ‘say it as it is spelled ‘

[@chatnoire89]

Actually the characters do give an idea of how it should be pronounced, based on their most basic form's sound, so characters like 辉 and 挥 are pronounced the same while 绷 and 棚 are pronounced similar. There are many exceptions, of course, but you can guess your way to pronounce a character if you know enough characters.

[@daireen_anya]

Ooh shows like what? That'd be interesting to watch

[@gcnubian]

Yep! Like 请清青情晴 哈哈哈哈哈

[@Alusnovalotus]

ZhangtheGreat yes. Generally foreign students are pressured to learn the proper way I. Writing and grammar. Native speakers generally forget or ignore the lessons.

[@Omar-yt7zf]

literally everyone: xiao xang the guy: no it's xiao xang

[@RogueEvasion]

Omar 去る you want an Oscar?

[@froggiesandkitties]

Omar 去る well it’s a tonal language so the wrong tone means the wrong meaning or even a different word

[@prima808]

@Alexandra Petri, ikr, like the #4 in Cantonese could also mean die if said in a different tone. My grandmother's favorite joke is about the white guy giving a speech in Chinese, who tried to say "I want to know you all" but ended up saying " I want to eat you all" 😆

[@2ixu4nana]

Its xiao xiang tho, u missed the "i"

[@makelong8674]

It's the tone that's wrong .

[@RangerAmateur]

When you know a foreigner can write chinese character better than you do, you know you fvcked up.

[@Monkeyabroad]

Haha

[@TUBESTEAKNIG]

Lol it must be like "wtf" for these locals to have some white guy correcting them.

[@icedearth3332]

TUBESTEAKNIG they were wtf whole day.

[@davidtaylor4989]

Probably more than wtf for them. I live in China too. I can't tell you how many Chinese people have told me it's impossible for a foreigner to learn Chinese because Chinese is the hardest language in the world. So to have that kind of mindset, that only a certain race can really know a language, and then to have someone from another land correct you on it has to be like the ultimate humiliation for them.

[@icedearth3332]

David Taylor Yeah. Can you tell how worse thing is that kind of so called humiliation for chinese? Becose in western world is not so big deal. They not seem react very hard. Of corse this man talks chinese like the native language.

[@enchongliu4339]

Iced Earth o

[@karolajohnson9284]

i dont think so ... it's just shows that who appreciate chinese and who has passion for the language more ... i guess

[@slaywee]

2:50 exactly my reaction when i see the first question in my examination.

[@自由之聲]

slaywee 2333333

[@khai3024]

💀💀💀💀 I'm dead

[@Figureight]

That was really interesting to watch. Also made me miss China. Great video.

[@Monkeyabroad]

Thank you

[@rachaeldugan2025]

Figureight I also missed Taiwan as I watched this! :(

[@唐懋]

Uvuvwevwevwe Onyetenyevwe Ugwemubwem Ossas 你的头像，哈哈哈哈哈，是那个

[@ManHeyuan]

Taiwan is a part of China. 😁

[@ManHeyuan]

I think using a "Western pen" to write traditional Chinese is ugly. 😋 Also, wearing Western clothes is ugly. ☺️ Just trying to follow your logic on traditional Chinese. Remember that it is Qin Shihuang who unified the traditional Chinese writing systems, which had evolved through millennia of history. But, why create such a fuss when it comes to simplified Chinese? Punctuation marks also did not exist in traditional form of Chinese writing.

[@mz0g]

that kid is sooooo cute. his shocked face at 2:39. omg never change kid. you so cuuute

[@raey3838]

They are not wrong. It's just how people pronounce it in conversation, not dictionary pronunciation. It's called connected speech. These are not wrong pronunciation in my opinion.

[@questionreality6003]

yes, 'free use' - he's just being fun and I hope spreading good will - nice he loves Chinese so much

[@tonsofskelly2751]

Exactly. It isn't wrong it's like an accent. It's just like in London we pronounce "Water" Without the "T" This is technically wrong pronunciation but it's our accent. and it makes sense to us just like it does to them.

[@aidanchambers6317]

Heath Sims yeah fck off, we don't except you as an Aussie

[@James-mn2pk]

Exactly, chinese is a living language, that is the language that people actually speak. You can't say what everybody says is wrong, it's a nonsens. In that case, by definition, the dictionary is wrong.

[@alexgandy2488]

It’s like telling someone from Liverpool they’re wrong how they pronounce words when I’m from London. Don’t make any sense

[@epiphadipity]

2:50 OMG THAT BOY. SO CUTE AHAHAHHAHAH.

[@jklee982]

I am a malaysian Chinese,but i think that guys mandrian is top class I even dont know the mandrian word, is extremely for me

[@degaldo4apek]

Tao Lai im malaysian chinese too n I struggle with the language xD

[@alyciakhor9497]

Tao Lai me 2

[@paanazmi8062]

Tao Lai hi sir..im from malaysia too..im malay..i just start to learn mandarin few weeks ago..its a lot harder than i think..i remember the sound of the words,but i keep forgetting how to write the word :(

[@hayalperest1056]

Good luck broooö ıve been wantıng to learn Chınese myself tooo

[@UmUhKet26]

Nyampuk aja Who Dis ni.

[@wbgames7406]

The little boys reaction to nàng was priceless 🥰

[@zsh6986]

Let me walk around the American streets and asking everyone GRE vocab

[@thugasaurusrex6004]

鍾益飛 except that he's not.

[@prestokrs1]

Go for it

[@PrimetimeNut]

At least we could probably pronounce it/say it?

[@PrimetimeNut]

鍾益飛 none of those examples you just gave are true English words. One is French, one is Welsh, and one is Zulu/From South Africa. That being said I could still pronounce them. I get your point, but clearly the whole pictograph/character + tonal system adds unnecessary complexity to a language.

[@sergio4660]

@Crispy Cream Graduate Record Examinations on analytical writing, quantitative reasoning and verbal reasoning.

[@huihui8235]

i'm japanese. and we also can't write 龜 too. in japan, we write 亀. i'm studying chinese. i want to speak chinese fluently like Jayme.

[@tao9770]

Try to watch Chinese tv, i think you can.

[@FalconWindblader]

I'm the other way around. I'm a ethnic Chinese (nationality being Malaysian) who speaks Chinese, & learning Japanese instead. & i second Franco Fang's comment, as i myself got conversational with Japanese (not quite yet can call myself fluent) from watching thousands of hours of Japanese movies & tv & anime.

[@huihui8235]

Franco fang yes, i will. actually i really like to watch chinese variety tv since before. watching chinese tv is good to learn i think so! thank u〜

[@huihui8235]

Falcon Windblade yes. i'm studying chinese from chinese variety tv. it's very good way to learn foreign language. i will keep trying my best! thanks for your comment. 日文加油！

[@ra1nyl515]

中文勉強！I think you can understand it~wwwwwww

[@mackzhang]

Jayme should make his own channel!

[@JaymeLawman]

Mack Zhang my channel is mostly basketball ;)

[@mackzhang]

Jayme Lawman well I'm into the nba ☺️

[@KpopM2]

i'm interested in how you learn Chinese! you seem to have very solid background knowledge of the characters! your handwriting is good as well. i've been quite bummed out on learning Chinese recently but I just feel motivated again after this video :D

[@JaymeLawman]

Minah Guo stick at it. Language learning is never a steady road. You're going to see huge improvements some days and then none for months. Keep at it!

[@doolittlesy1]

That's a very cool way of thinking about it, I ave been practicing for 4 months and still barely understand whats said, I have hope that there'll be some improvement soon.

[@sheepgardeny]

2:49 me everytime see a chinese character😂😂

[@boozesensation]

That biang character is just pure evil, I tell you. Evil!

[@Correctrix]

It was the only one I knew! Haha.

[@DesertDweller31]

None of my Chinese friends are able to write it (obviously I can't either).

[@jaloe02]

Yes, most of us cant write that character.

[@ra1nyl515]

but we can read it lol

[@Jorg]

Write it in a 1x1cm square, the one we learn Chinese on, I guess it will be a black dot :)

[@JohnnyAllison]

Holy Christ Dude.. Not sure how I stumbled across your page but I'm glad I did. My wife, (Taiwanese), has been "encouraging" me to learn 中文. I guess I have no excuse now. Thank-You for providing the motivation I needed. Cheers!

[@Monkeyabroad]

Glad you're feeling motivated man!

[@shaolin89]

Good luck, may I recommend you try out Glossika (Glossika.com) It's a bit expensive, but really effective!

[@PhilipHowson]

I'm learning 普通话 currently and this definitely motivates me to keep going. My finacé was amazed at this guy's speaking as well as writing, she says he speaks with virtually no accent (if anything I find his English accent a bit odd). My recommendation would be Yoyo Chinese. I think that's this is pretty much the definitive beginners course, although once you get to intermediate level, there's a lot of choice and a lot of good courses out there (you might just want to swap to traditional HSK3/4 syllabuses for example).

[@SocialistMafia]

Johnny Allison You mean your wife （Chinese）？

[@JohnnyAllison]

zjs kju Taiwanese, wife is Taiwanese..

[@MB-fh1dc]

2:15 this kid is impressive, he knows better than adults lol

[@joventlk7300]

that doesn't mean he knows more than adult just becuz he know some hard words haha

[@cathyhe2881]

becuz generally kids learn the proper pronunciations in their primary schools, its a thing to do, i used to always show off my 'proper' chinese to my parents lol

[@KarlyKitten]

HiMyNameIs What 2:49 Lmao

[@shawnl7923]

The reason is he is still learning this in school, the adults never use most of these words after graduating. Is like people testing you traditional British words in Shakespeare, you learnt it in high school but never used it again.

[@PewPewPlasmagun]

But those are wondrous words worthy of being used. I for one deem the effort worthwhile.

[@panerai123]

Just proves that no one is perfect-whatever language you speak/write or whether you are a native speaker or not. This shows that even native speakers are not perfect on their own language.

[@amirbenshams3550]

panerai123 because nobody can master their own native language (speak/write) 100% all of words that exist in their language.

[@spikebaltar5071]

Not everybody can master 100% on their language just like how english people don't know very long english scientific words

[@Mintshake_bunny]

Exactly, my native language is one of the most difficult ones in the world (Finnish, there are not many languages with the same grammar structure) and I have never met a person who would speak it perfectly. I speak my own language wrong most of the time so all my sympathy is with those learning it!

[@lintsivideot]

Mint C mitä tarkotat sillä et puhut muka väärin? :D

[@kahhowkon6139]

Funny thing is, mandarin is not even a native language for most people in china, because the dialects they speak don't even sound like mandarin most of the time. It's just something they can speak, because it is required. Doesnt mean it is pronounced perfectly most of the time.

[@kalyanaram4787]

2:50 the kids reaction... hahahahah I was laughing out loud. From India. Yindu.. Peace!!

[@vexilligerave9356]

im a 100% chinese and i found chinese frickin hard, not only the commonly mispronounced characters, but the tests on chinese are also really tricky. i ranked among the top in subjects like math n english in high school n failed almost every chinese test. Wtf

[@randomwanderer3715]

vexilligera ve hahaha this is so funny.

[@slamdunk406]

vexilligera ve 對不起

[@kyumixsleek]

me too

[@StrangerHappened]

The fact you were top in math proves that you are Chinese, not the level of your Chinese language. J/k, though I love positive racial prejudices. :) BTW, I also think that Chinese is super hard so I have to hopes to learn it, really. But at least I can appreciate just how beautiful the hieroglyphs are, and how cute it sounds.

[@chengwengcw8813]

The only thing Chinese is hard in is the vocab, there's unlimited of words apart from the dictionary and we won't even know some of them, feeling lucky I'm born Chinese lmao… 木 林 森 四个木谁知道我不知道哈哈 火 炎 And more and more fuck I don't even know how to read damn hhahhaa

[@Jeremy-pf3bb]

Best video on China that I have seen recently

[@Monkeyabroad]

Glad you like it

[@masulnando5886]

Lolll, recently!

[@QuackDragon]

i reccomend the channels serpentza, laowhy86 and avd china also

[@flashmedia8953]

wong fei hung

[@jzvr5842]

The Jayoe Nation is much better than the Winston trio.

[@EHolly-sm1kx]

Great job but the 2nd set 2nd word is typed wrongly at the top right corner. 1:21 Cu2 Guang3 E.g. 狗 拘 looks similar but totally different.

[@nefelibatas9371]

His Chinese is better than me.And i was born and raised in China.

[@degaldo4apek]

Lucas S what?! ahahaha im malaysian chinese n I struggle with the language itself. bt I found that english is easier. do most china chinese know english? im curious

[@MaxLohMusic]

better than MINE*. Asian grammar nazi reporting for duty

[@vangmx]

People shouldn't take this video the wrong way like "Why the puck is there a laowai (or "gweilo" if you speak Cantonese) going around Shanghai disgracing Chinese on their Chinese?". You don't have a Chinese guy going around USA or UK asking the locals how to spell or pronounce words. Instead, it just shows you how freakin' difficult Chinese is. Trust me. I've been studying Chinese for over 20 years (from middle school, to high school, studied at Peking University and Peking Foreign Language University, majored Chinese language in college) and now working in China as a translator and I'm still learning new things everyday. Anyway, enjoyed the fun video! Gonna show it to my wife later. Haha

[@PRODingleballz]

Meng Vang Actually, a Chinese guy walks around in London asking English speakers about English

[@vangmx]

Really? I'd like to check out THAT video. :)

[@Jorg]

Why don't Chinese go out in US or Europe and do this? It's a free world... :) Would be fun I guess

[@underwearpower]

no, the gweilo and hakgwei will beat me up

[@puellanivis]

I like this thinking... Show up in NY Times Square, and ask people to pronounce "comfortable". Hint: "comf-turble" is how nearly everyone says it, even though it's "com-for-tuble". Why? It's how everyone says it. (This is the same phenomena that happend with "nuclear", but people don't write dictionaries about the former, only the later, because it has hit meme status.) I'm not at all surprised that various dialects have either different tone sandhi rules than the Standard Mandarin, or different tone production. Also the "kuang" vs. "guang" thing... like... dude, Americans say "chruck" not "truck"... and few even realize that they're saying it that way at all. Getting all "righteous" about other people having different allophones than you, or the Standard Dialect is pretty lame...

[@eemstobe8179]

As a Chinese, your handwriting is very beautiful and clean. I love the every character you wrote in this video!

[@georgiaray4118]

I come from a family who only writes traditional haha. When I would ask them for help with my chinese hw they would be so confused bc it was in simplified. My grandparents and especially my mom emphasized that ‘simplified’ Chinese is the ‘lazy’ way and question why they’re teaching us simplified in school LOL. I find traditional so much more pleasing to read and satisfying to write tbh

[@kayincat]

Traditional characters hold the traditions and history of the culture. Not to write and not to know is to forget about your history and culture.

[@bohebingbing1620]

之前大陆人从繁体改简体是因为让更多不认识字的人更容易懂汉字。虽然我们没学繁体，但繁体字我们还是看的懂的。写可能不行。

[@gdsmmhd1484]

Chinese can understand 'traditional' (not real traditional)and simplified characters. It has a little bit difficult to understand those real traditional characters甲骨文小篆等，but it's easy to learn, similar to modern characters.If it was not civil war, simplify work would be continued by KMT(Republic of China)

[@culio544]

Holy fuck you guys have to write like this in school... I lost any hope of learning Chinese

[@GrayeIra]

Georgia Ray I'm learning chinese and I'm kind of in the middle. There are some Hanzi I like to write traditional and some I like to write simplified

[@dw4353]

He has a mix of of a American and Chinese accent And a hint of British

[@IFlipRizla]

What the hell is British accent?

[@msghia5252]

He's British but now he sounds more American

[@lerapol]

He sounds Australian, he doesn't sound British whatsoever.

[@artkido9744]

He’s British

[@voqsonofnone789]

He's got a 天佑英王"God bless the Queen of the UK" tattoo on his arms lolol

[@LorenzoCalgaryRealtor]

This dude is so fascinating it's crazy!

[@yulianatorres4342]

Chinese is such a beautiful language 😭😭😭

[@MrTheologianscafe]

and you are just as beautiful as us :)!

[@Rust_Rust_Rust]

Too hard

[@AJTjan]

Nice lines @jeffrey chiu ^^

[@ballesmcgee4358]

Carlos Arbizu It really isn't if you try studying for a little while, no conjugation is always a nice change of pace.

[@MrCynthiarosalinda]

yuliana torres then y u cry, hahaha

[@tianwang]

this is the kind of question i hate most in the Chinese test paper when I was back in middle/high school, they are designed to fail you.

[@olafpayne]

Massive respect. You've inspired me to pick up learning again. Subbed before the 100k!

[@kaiong2325]

I just found your video literally today, and I'm enjoying it. I'm part Chinese but never really learned the language 😭. Thank you, you give me hope

[@AbnerKuo]

Chinese simplified character is the tool that government uses to solve the illiteracy problem in the past. Rather than deprecating of the art of callgergiphy it's more of an adaption of the language. We are ultririans.

[@Monkeyabroad]

True. Thanks for watching

[@legendofnoob]

I agree with this perspective as Japan has also simplified many characters, although differently from the Chinese simplification. Man those were some difficult days when I went to 3rd grade in Japan as the teacher was correcting my Kanji writing and I was such a dumb defiant kid I'm like that shit's from my country how dare you hahahaha.

[@AbnerKuo]

Porco Rosso ‘in the past’

[@AbnerKuo]

Shawn Wang 汉字本来就是源于中国，但是亚洲国家都历史上使用过而且现在使用，并且都有自己的演化。他们觉得你蠢可能只是他们愚昧= =

[@AbnerKuo]

Porco Rosso 那我不想和你说话了

[@pandaDotDragon]

I love the pen ^^

[@ness576]

panda dragon do you know what type of pen is it?

[@pandaDotDragon]

unfortunately, no

[@thumpertorque_]

Calligraphy pen.

[@APerson-yj5ol]

I think it's a Sakura pen

[@pandaDotDragon]

Thanks! Yep it looks like a Sakura pen Pigma 2/3/brush ^^

[@CristopherCal]

Your Chinese is way much better than me. I doubt my identity!

[@mikimoi09]

😆

[@theasianpolyglot]

As a polyglot who speaks Mandarin, English, Danish, German, French, and Cantonese... I have to say Mandarin and Cantonese are the most difficult :( I share my experiences in my channel where you can hear how much I struggle with Mandarin and Cantonese!

[@mizhiho7303]

1:27 it should be 犷instead of 扩

[@Monkeyabroad]

correct, my mistake editing

[@daniyalk713]

Wtf

[@kg7708]

Mi Zhi Ho wtf it’s the same shit

[@ardel-4964]

@@kg7708 the other one is bent XD

[@Aux9]

Same shit

[@oneofmany01]

A much better English analogy for simplified vs. traditional characters is print vs. cursive. To claim that simplified Chinese is "not real Chinese" is kind of ridiculous.

[@khanlakhno2757]

5:40 lol, I felt like this boys said "what the hell?"

[@hanjungxunaoseokkimliuseoh1649]

Khan Lakhno heheheheheheeheheheheheheeheheheheheeheheheheh I didn’t notice that till now

[@sotheateschea8407]

And 5:46 He said Hell Shit !

[@dulce8595]

I thought I was the only one that thought that 😂

[@whatamachine89]

This was really fun to watch. Thank you for doing something different!

[@lyss4932]

I’m embarrassed . I’m Chinese and I go to a Chinese’s school but I don’t know any of these words 😶

[@wangzoey3055]

That's not true. I know all of them from school, except the 'biangbiangmian'. I saw this from a noodles store in Shenzhen(I work in that city during the time).

[@patricksi1443]

你是不是傻

[@lyss4932]

Patrick Si 不是

[@patricksi1443]

Lyss Xx 那你确定你是一个都不会？？

[@clarissetan746]

Lyss Babyy sane

[@jyanneskye2535]

Jayme your Chinese is amazingly fluent!! I feel ashamed as a Chinese. lol But I speak Cantonese, so it is harder for me to learn Mandarin. How did you learn the language and also be able to write/understand both traditional and simplified systems?? You should start a YT channel as well, focused on China/travel maybe.

[@JaymeLawman]

Jyanne Skye I studied here for 4 years in university. That's where I learned the basics but most of it was developed on the streets!

[@JaymeLawman]

Chloe Cheung is this simplified English or just simplified logic? Maybe both?

[@aralbrec]

He feels inferior and threatened that's why he's hostile toward a harmless and fun video.

[@aerobicsparadise]

Wow.. Jealous that a Gwailoh speaks better chinese than you ?

[@wisdomleader85]

White nationalists, Asian nationalists, African nationalists.....Replies of this comment tell us they're all the same, for telling others to get out based on jealousy.

[@heisenberg864]

I'm in love with Chinese charaters. Just amazing. 😍

[@jms2a30]

you should learn traditional Chinese characters then. The characters are originated from shapes and pictures. Like the word water "水' describes a picture of water flowing in a river.

[@heisenberg864]

@@jms2a30 I've learned traditional Chinese

[@Harikrishna-kt6po]

@@heisenberg864 Traditional writing system is very very difficult.

[@thorin5591]

漢字很好。

[@Harikrishna-kt6po]

@@thorin5591 Ni neng shuo zhongwen ma

[@gcnubian]

I watched this video about six months ago, and it made me decide to switch from learning Japanese exclusively to learning Mandarin Chinese 简体。 When I first watched this video, I understood absolutely 0% of the Mandarin being spoken here, and now, I understand about 60-70% of the spoken language. Thank you for inspiring me to take on this beautiful language!!! 中文非常好玩！谢谢你！

[@MasonTheFurryCat]

But I had been wondering Why most people choose to learn simplified Chinese :P

[@FlintShillito]

@@MasonTheFurryCat Because Mainland China teaches simplified mandarin in school

[@MasonTheFurryCat]

@@FlintShillito Oh, I was taught traditional chinese (I dont live in mainland). So I dont rlly know

[@jackyu6223]

the dictionary may tell you what the correct pronunciation of a chinese character is , but if 99.99%the people pronounce otherwise ,maybe the dictionary is outdated and should be revised. 肖像 is one example..

[@limhian-tong5199]

臺灣最新版本（88年3月31日）國語一字多音審訂表中，血液一詞之讀音為 ㄒㄧㄝˇ ㄧㄝˋ

[@limhian-tong5199]

Amy Lee 不知道您是什麼時候出生的？由於我這一代從小一開始，國語課本皆是以前述審訂表為讀音標準，我的同學當中有一些人在實際說話時，是依照課本把「液」字讀作 ㄧㄝˋ，我本人也相當習慣唸 ㄧㄝˋ，記得國中生物老師遇到此字時，一樣唸 ㄧㄝˋ。當然啦，《教育部國語一字多音審訂說帖》就有提到：「一字多音是國語中常見的現象，而且各字音皆有源頭，無涉對錯。」

[@limhian-tong5199]

Amy Lee 感謝臺灣媒體，讓社會上充斥著「教育部常常修改國語讀音」的荒謬說法。事實上，中華民國自建國以來，主要的國音標準僅有： 9年 國音字典 21年 國音常用字彙 36年 國音標準彙編 57年 增補國音字彙 88年 一字多音審訂表

[@limhian-tong5199]

Amy Lee 《國語一字多音審訂表》從88年3月31日一直到今天，從未修改過，「仔」在該表中只有一個音 ㄗˇ。然後我並不是國文老師XD

[@duckymomo7935]

Yea, dictionary is descriptive not prescriptive

China seems like a really great place. It seems very strict but that's great also. I'd like to go to china or Japan someday. I totally envy this man.

[@andrewbrazzale3682]

Kevin and Jayme, thank you for this video. Videos like this re-energize my need to continue studying - especially when I'm in a slump in my study. Cheers!

[@Monkeyabroad]

Glad you enjoyed it, Andrew

[@rudyalfonsus686]

such a pleasure watching him wrote ' biang'. so complicated yet so beautifully done

[@looldylan4076]

U are so familiar with Chinese culture and character！Even better than most of Chinese，unbelievable！

[@yeetcheng941]

I feel like a better analogy for simplified vs traditional is if we cleaned up all the inconsistencies and different rules in English to make it easier for foreigners, such as removing the letter c and replacing all hard c-sounds with k and the soft ones with s. So instead of "I gave my niece a piece of cake" it would be "I gave my niese a piese of kake". You can recognize it to a degree and it technically makes more sense, but some would keep it because they've always seen it that way

[@Xezlec]

The way it was explained to me, that's what the simplification was originally intended to do, but it instead wound up as a poorly-thought-out mishmash. Some of the simplifications made sense and others did not. But that's only what I was told. I don't really know.

[@storm3436]

This guy is speaking perfect Chinese in the video.

[@edwardk8477]

Interestingly i got all correct :) and btw why u show traditional chinese to mainland ppl, such as 粗獷，they write it as 粗犷

[@rongfan4915]

I can not either...

[@Dwolf-nv8sb]

He just explained why ad i read this lol

[@leong.c]

9:03 go check yourself

[@ewoutlagendijk8317]

Probably because he wants to stress the original (hardest) Chinese

[@waitsui2442]

Coz u didn't finish the vid

[@ancienttime6307]

The interviewer deserves my deep respect for his level of mastery of Chinese, I don't even know how to write BIANG in Chinese, way too complicated.

[@louisewang4639]

when you're Chinese and this guy is soooo much better at Chinese than you

[@lordcuc1293]

Louise Wang dude same

[@Jorg]

I am teaching Chinese to my Chinese Canadian born Chinese Nephew :) Vancouver is weird!

[@mafuyuiskw3576]

Jörg 历史老外 你会几种语言啊！真厉害👍我很喜欢德语，铿锵有力的发音和小舌音真好听

[@Jorg]

德英法中。欧洲人一般来说语言比美国人多。估计是因为国家小 🙃🙂🙃

[@田笑宇]

don't worry 2nd generation chinese are known for being absolute shit at their mother tongue :)

[@shiluliu7780]

Damn man, your handwriting is beautiful!

[@entomologist1977]

您这么说就夸张了吧……

[@Harikrishna-kt6po]

@@entomologist1977 ni zhidao zhongwen ma? Ni laizi nali? 你 知道 中文 马? 你 来自 哪里?

[@thorin5591]

那是真實的

[@sn1pe722]

你好，我是學習漢語的新手。

[@tkryu2067]

都是手机惹的祸。自从有了手机以后，我们很多人的文字书写能力都不一定赶得上小学生。很多字都是认识并可以读出来，但是写的话就另当别论了。😂😂😂😂

[@edha3395]

真的！！ 尤其上大學後更少寫字就會一直忘記怎麼寫 但是讀是一定讀得懂的ＸＤ

[@ra1nyl515]

智能手机出来之前这个锅还是由电脑背着的XD

[@TheYeSer]

从小就没学会写字.有电脑才学会了读...你们 这样怪电脑不好..

[@thetearsofjungkook4985]

2:47 omg the little boy is so cute

[@mathexpert2747]

2:50*

[@TheFumanchu808]

Telling Chinese people how to speak the way it was spoken a thousand years ago is like telling an English speaking person to speak as they did in King Arthur times. Language evolves with the times. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in America speaks like how they text and traditional American English will be forgotten.

[@blobba5442]

Mate, why are you testing traditional Chinese in China... They tend to use simplified. Cantonese people use tradional

[@teafanyii_]

Bob Camerban only Hong Kong Cantonese people use traditional. People in Guangdong use simplified

[@not_ever]

And you all forgot Taiwan...

[@hoiszeho2299]

josscheng Yeah！ And Taiwan as well~

[@badgirl123555]

Tiffanie Chan Macau and Taiwan as well, all right?

[@nicolechiang4207]

Taiwan too

[@FoxenPiano]

I've been around a lot of language channels, but you're super impressive. Did you grow up in China?

[@michaelbay6727]

其实说实话，有些词念如果念的人太多，最后会变成对的。。。ps 这外国人说的真的很好！

[@michaelbay6727]

比如 肖像 xiao（1声）像

[@myu2740]

我从小都以为肖像的肖是第一声......

[@legendofnoob]

我也以为是一声，可想想看，应该是类似于惟妙惟肖 或 不肖 的用法，所以四声makes sense

[@sakuralang7913]

QIULI WANG 我发现自己读错挺多字

[@Ancaryvan]

Shawn Wang 還有十二生"肖" 啊～

[@danielkhoo925]

The second one is wrong, he typed 粗擴instead of粗獷

[@Monkeyabroad]

+daniel KHOO that's my mistake. Jayme didn't type that up.

[@PedroTricking]

Hey nate, help me out. Isn't pronunciation a matter of accent? How can this guy say their pronunciation is wrong?

[@Lucidsubject]

PedroTricking it's not a matter of pronunciation in accents. Chinese uses a tonal system which matters in the meaning of a word. Often times, context is enough to decipher which word a person meant regardless of tone but he was testing them on whether they knew which tone to use.

[@sextuplemillionsellersfan7961]

If I write in traditional Chinese during test, I will definitely fail it😂😂😂 My pen will run out of ink and my hands will be numb

[@alexanderle1610]

You lazy bum.

[@jasonsalz7185]

Nowadays the pen are not as trained/built for writing traditional Chinese anymore 🤣

[@calforrai]

Jason Salz We use 0.38 or finer pens and have no problem writing legitimate Chinese....

[@jasonsalz7185]

just kidding my friend, i am oversea born chinese

[@tatto9001]

Girl my ink would’ve increase cause I won’t even write a single stroke

[@didiprangsak1757]

Great. Now we should also test hard and least known English words to the locals in UK😂

[@thisguy976]

Didi Prangsak no test it on Americans, especially southerners and new yorkers who are dumb as rocks.

[@MammothDzn]

Tell me the story of how he started living in China, so curious.

[@Ayveh]

Same!

[@mjgarrett9885ify]

That little boys reaction was priceless .😅

[@avfx]

How i felt as an Englishman in the states lols

[@avfx]

soalll guud i haz ma kwaffy dis mornin

[@demitakaye1773]

When you know biáng because it's your favorite noodles. 🙋‍♀️😂

[@worldtravel101]

2:50 *LOL*

[@icantplay6200]

Genghis Khan yeah of course, it’s just cute

[@bunnysenpaimon6742]

Genghis Khan Yeah I just think that they meant it was adorable

[@antropedailic8723]

LOL

[@angelhero89]

Let me tell you why I know the last character 齉. Funny story though. At that time I was in Grade 3 of primary school and my cousin was in kindergarten. My aunt decided to let me teach my cousin more characters. So every day I taught my cousin some characters. The characters became more and more complex, like at first they were simple like 高兴, 生气 and after they were complex like 围墙. Then one day I decided to taught her the most difficult character and I looked up in the dictionary and I found 齉😂. The I taught her this and till today I still remember this character. 😂😂😂

[@mengleiyao7970]

好厉害的小哥哥，自愧不如，这条视频告诉我们，虽然现在网络发达，但是文字是不可以忘记的

[@sany1178]

写字的机会少了。。。

[@user-cs2cc4do6g]

我现在经常刻意抄写练习书写，要不然忘太快了，遭不住。

[@chrislsarac]

Let me go to Texas or Alabama and teach y'all propuh English

[@axesantexmonero6628]

ahaaha I was waiting for this one hahahaha

[@12061988]

try Mexifornia.....

[@jaakebraake]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@josuejasso7589]

Chris in Texas there is a lot of schools that teach Mandarin.

[@Dimas-sn9ms]

Me: I'm just go home after math class, and I can't remember how to count Chinese : go home after write class and forgot how to write

[@gracewsho]

1:48 this is where I gave up the idea of learning mandarin

[@liviolombardo]

Great stuff dude! Totally agree with you for traditional character! Have you ever take calligraphy lessons?

[@MVangelmx]

Lol at the kid "you're missing something"

[@BEDMan-vl3xy]

They sound exactly the same to me. 😂

[@aaronwen7043]

Jajajajaja

[@jakehoot8811]

Butt Sagget different pitch dude

[@Adam-kt7ho]

Butt Sagget You’re very dumb, because I was able to tell the difference

[@Mintshake_bunny]

Understandable :D To me as a person who recently started learning the language I was pleasantly surprised about the fact that I was able to hear the difference in the tones~

[@riketvs]

Adam don't be such a pain. Tone differentiation can be very hard for people who grew up with a non tonal language, just like Japanese have problems differentiating r and l.

[@leeritenour]

You have stayed in China for a decade. How could you not possibly know that sometimes there is no "correct" pronunciation for a word? The most complex and also interesting thing about Chinese is that the sound of a word changes over time and cross locations. Even English has the same thing, like "Houston". Some Americans say "Huston", while some may say "Euston", but you won't say who is wrong.

[@rexy8408]

Most of the tests were okay, though some of the words are really outdated and nobody use those words, ever. Those buried-in-the-dictionary words can't be the judging threshold of their levels.

[@SciSciToys]

Exactly, correct pengyou ;)

[@NomSauce]

It was the whole point though, just for fun to see who would get it. He says afterwards that if someone did the same to him in english he was bound to fail as well. (Though it could still be easier since we have a simpler system to translate speech into text, but point still applies).

[@duckymomo7935]

even in 中国汉字听写大会 they do use SOME outdated and some common/in use languages are weird like that

[@stupidben999]

正體字都不會寫，真的愛國中國人呢。終日罵港台人“數典忘祖”的中共，偏偏不遺餘力摧毀祖先用了二千年的正體字，誰才“數典忘祖”呢？