Chinese on American Television
A couple of TV programs I've seen on TV have used Chinese recently. One of those shows is "The Amazing Race," which has *her* in it, trying to (but not succeeding at) proving that she's not as dumb as she looks. I really can't resist including this video:
I wonder if she brought maps with her to give to people in Asia, LOL! (Seriously, though, not only is she dumb, she's also a real shrew! She wouldn't let her boyfriend go to the bathroom when they were supposed to be looking for something.)
In the show, though, they've been to Malaysia, Singapore, and Shanghai. I found it ridiculously funny when the guys in Shanghai were trying to speak Mandarin. Their pronunciation was about like when I first saw Pinyin and tried pronouncing it based on what you'd think it'd sound like based on English and didn't know anything about tones. (That was so 4 years ago!) When they attempted to use their broken, tone-deaf Mandarin that they were obviously reading off a phone (without the help of that app that pronounces the words for you so you can actually know what they sound like), it was obvious that the taxi driver had no idea what they were saying. Then, one guy says, "They don't even understand their own language!" No, they just don't understand your retarded Mandarin!
The other show that recently used Mandarin was "The Middle." It's an American sitcom about a family with really funny names. One of the characters, Axl Heck, has a girlfriend named Morgan. They have an on-again-off-again relationship. Frankie, Axl's mother, can't stand Morgan because she's always bossing Axl around and then dumping him. In the episode "Worry Duty," Morgan convinces Axl to drop Spanish and take up Chinese. She's supposed to be in AP Mandarin, but we never hear her say a word in Mandarin because they'd really have to had had that in mind when picking the cast. (It's all too easy to tell when someone just started learning Mandarin, so I would imagine that if someone were actually to have a role speaking Mandarin and were to actually pull it off, that'd require years of practice before-hand.)
In one scene, Axl tries saying "我爱你" ("wo3 ai4 ni3"/"I love you") but says something more along the lines of "我你爱" (wo ni ai/"I you love"), but without the tones, and Morgan gets mad at him for his mistake. She says that he can't go with her to Hong Kong if he doesn't really improve. That, I think, is a flaw in the show, since Cantonese is more common in Hong Kong than Mandarin is. Sure, there may be an increase in Mandarin speakers, but what dialect are most songs from Hong Kong in? Cantonese! (Most because there are singers who sing in English and Mandarin, such as Khalil Fong, who is actually an ABC.)
I'm sure more people are realizing the importance of learning Chinese, as I have, but for now there are lots of flaws in the representation of anything Chinese in the Western media. When casting for shows, I think directors should really have any foreign language they plan on having the cast speak in mind. Not only have I heard really poor Chinese in TV shows, but even poor Spanish even though Spanish pronunciation really isn't that hard to master. I don't think people realize how hard it is to master Mandarin pronunciation and I don't think they realize the importance of different dialects or that different people from different areas have different accents. I don't think people who make American shows realize that people like me are watching and can tell the difference between someone from Hong Kongers and Fujianese Chinese. (Then again, in "Doctor Who," the aliens are almost always British! XD)
Click to viewI wonder if she brought maps with her to give to people in Asia, LOL! (Seriously, though, not only is she dumb, she's also a real shrew! She wouldn't let her boyfriend go to the bathroom when they were supposed to be looking for something.)
In the show, though, they've been to Malaysia, Singapore, and Shanghai. I found it ridiculously funny when the guys in Shanghai were trying to speak Mandarin. Their pronunciation was about like when I first saw Pinyin and tried pronouncing it based on what you'd think it'd sound like based on English and didn't know anything about tones. (That was so 4 years ago!) When they attempted to use their broken, tone-deaf Mandarin that they were obviously reading off a phone (without the help of that app that pronounces the words for you so you can actually know what they sound like), it was obvious that the taxi driver had no idea what they were saying. Then, one guy says, "They don't even understand their own language!" No, they just don't understand your retarded Mandarin!
The other show that recently used Mandarin was "The Middle." It's an American sitcom about a family with really funny names. One of the characters, Axl Heck, has a girlfriend named Morgan. They have an on-again-off-again relationship. Frankie, Axl's mother, can't stand Morgan because she's always bossing Axl around and then dumping him. In the episode "Worry Duty," Morgan convinces Axl to drop Spanish and take up Chinese. She's supposed to be in AP Mandarin, but we never hear her say a word in Mandarin because they'd really have to had had that in mind when picking the cast. (It's all too easy to tell when someone just started learning Mandarin, so I would imagine that if someone were actually to have a role speaking Mandarin and were to actually pull it off, that'd require years of practice before-hand.)
In one scene, Axl tries saying "我爱你" ("wo3 ai4 ni3"/"I love you") but says something more along the lines of "我你爱" (wo ni ai/"I you love"), but without the tones, and Morgan gets mad at him for his mistake. She says that he can't go with her to Hong Kong if he doesn't really improve. That, I think, is a flaw in the show, since Cantonese is more common in Hong Kong than Mandarin is. Sure, there may be an increase in Mandarin speakers, but what dialect are most songs from Hong Kong in? Cantonese! (Most because there are singers who sing in English and Mandarin, such as Khalil Fong, who is actually an ABC.)
I'm sure more people are realizing the importance of learning Chinese, as I have, but for now there are lots of flaws in the representation of anything Chinese in the Western media. When casting for shows, I think directors should really have any foreign language they plan on having the cast speak in mind. Not only have I heard really poor Chinese in TV shows, but even poor Spanish even though Spanish pronunciation really isn't that hard to master. I don't think people realize how hard it is to master Mandarin pronunciation and I don't think they realize the importance of different dialects or that different people from different areas have different accents. I don't think people who make American shows realize that people like me are watching and can tell the difference between someone from Hong Kongers and Fujianese Chinese. (Then again, in "Doctor Who," the aliens are almost always British! XD)