Can Top Chinese Students Speak Fluent English? Astonishing Results!
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- Today we went to Fudan University (#3 in China, #34 globally) for a social experiment.
We wanted to see the English level of the smartest students in China. Only the top 0.2% of Chinese students have the privilege of attending this school.
To say the least, we were taken back by our findings.
This really shows cultural differences. All these students can communicate effectively but they all very modest about their English ability. In America, someone over here will say, “Sure, I can speak Japanese. Konichiwa, baby!”
I would say their language proficiency level is fairly modest, likely between A2 and B1.
Lmao 🤣
Hahaha
ya ma dei，yi go😊
@@MarleneBohr NO, first two girls almost hit the bottome line of C1
As a Singaporean, I find that these Chinese undergraduates are quite fluent in English taking into account that they don’t have as much opportunity to converse daily unlike us. It’s pretty impressive for them to attain such a notable level of proficiency through their own sheer efforts! Kudos to them! ❤
I wonder if foreigner finds it surprising in Singapore and Malaysia speaks English well.
@@ckokloong I bet it will be more surprises for the foreigner to found out if the Singaporean can speak other languages besides english😊
@@ribos2762 Well, in Singapore, we have varying degrees of proficiency depending on the educational levels of our people. My parents definitely didn’t grow up with English so they couldn’t speak it fluently. However, those aged 50 and below should have a good grasp of the language. Throw in a substantial pool of foreigners and new citizens and it’s impossible to gauge off the streets how proficient is our English.
@@serriajohn They may not be good in oral English, but they are definitely pretty good in written and reading English.
I agree
That’s why whenever I meet an English native speaker who belittles someone who couldn’t adopt the accent of a native English, I ask him/her what other languages he/she speaks. And when they say none, just English, I always burst out laughing (unconsciously) and would probably tell him/her “and yet you feel superior as to communications when you couldn’t even speak other languages?”. Which is true. Other non-native English speakers may not be able or o learn the native English speaker accent but they could speak English properly/fluently.
@@helehelexx____5924 Where do you get that percentage from? I'm really curious.
I’ve never actually heard an English native belittle some else’s accent. Accents are very common in English. It is the language of trade and immigration.
@@A-ID-A-M you haven’t met one yet. I used to work with an English who makes fun of our accents in a degrading way. At one point he must have been fed up already and say it to my face I need an interpreter to understand what you’re saying. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I think I communicate well in English, in written (and the same orally and thru reading). But will never be able to adopt a native English speaker’s accent.
@Helehelexx ____ you can speak with minimal accent if you are good at phonetics and you learn a proper pronunciation. So it's not the accent we talk about but rather improper pronunciation like sink instead of think as an example or dat instead of that.
Hahha this takes me back to 2012, last time i went on trip to Darwin, Australia. The airport officer yelled at my face "Do you not speak any english?" For I was not heading to the appointed gate, I was actually throwing away thrash right next to the gate! I just yelled back "I speak english, german, french, bahasa and a little bit of arabic! How many languages are you able to speak? Have a nice life!" Fun times 😂
You can try to interview with some local high school students and you will be amazed by their fluency, accent and vocabulary. University students are from different regions in China and their English proficiency differs as a result of economic imbalances.
Exactly, interview primary school kids in Shanghai, and you will be amazed at their English.
@@hmily880 well in Shanghai a lot of them go to international schools
And is English related to economic development? Is it not good English or English majors in English language? Of course, first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have more contact with foreigners and English speakers than other cities.
@@RavenousPotato So speaking English is something to be proud of? International schools do not teach science talents that China needs. The most powerful high school in Shanghai is a public school, just like any other area.
@@user-hc5cg3jc3i 教学资源不一样啊，在上海能够请到家教甚至外教，与老师日常交流，偏远地区就只能死记硬背，做做卷子还行，听力可能也可以，但是说英语就不行了。
Their spoken English is really amazing!
the Young Chinese generation start to learn English from year 1 in primary school, some even started in kindergarten. The do have a big advantage over the slightly older generation as me, who started to learn the first alphabet since year 1 of middle school, basically 6 years later than the young generation.
The style of learning was also different, we the old generations mainly did reading only, and some listening, no speaking or dialogue at all, but we did a lot of grammar exercises.
The biggest problem was foreign language material in small cities' bookshops and libraries were very very limited.
One thing they all have in common : HUMBLE. 😊
They are Asians. What do you expect?
They are not like us in the U.S.!!
而我们必须知道，复旦大学是数一数二的名校😊。
@@szvqorwnpstahskypfwmp9821 光自信是不够的，没有实力，别人很快就知道是吹牛，这样落差就更大了。中国人谦虚是留着后路，不要把话说死。😊
@@hwoilingtan7172是这样的
各有各的好
language proficiency and oral fluency can vary significantly among Chinese college students. Some may have achieved a high level of English proficiency through intensive language training, study abroad programs, or exposure to English media, while others may still be working on improving their language skills.
It's important to remember that proficiency in any language is a continuous process and depends on individual efforts and experiences.
yeah
I am amazed at how humble they are!!
Just imagine from a country who seldom speaks English as their daily conversation but they are able to speak well , that’s really impressive !
fudan is top 10 in China
yeah, we studied English for so many years, mostly reading and writing, seldom speaking.
@@benchow3025 fudan is absolutly top 5, and chinese normal university is not like this, their english level just allowed them to watch some article or primary writing just like me. Both of their speaking is so poor, because there aren't enough chance for them
Bro, it's not seldom. it's very rare.
My whole experiences of conversation are less than 15 minutes
3:30 man even mathematicians there can speak really good English, that handshake was funny as. Looking forward to more content.
Thanks! Definitely one of my top 5 awkward handshakes ever
@@aznm3 😄😄😂
It doen't mean that you can enter into Fudan with good grades only in math. You need to be great enough in all subjects to earn yourself the entry offer from Fudan
I am currently doing my master's at one of the top UK universities (ik, it's the UK, not China, so the situation is slightly different) and there are a few Chinese students on my master's course too. For most of them, it's their first experience of living and studying in an English-speaking country, but I think they are very good. Really appreciate they managed to learn English, which can be tricky for Asian people.
People from all cultures tends to prepare English. I am from China, but also lived in South America, I can tell you that parents in both parts are the same when it comes to forcing their kid learn English. Everyone knows that with more English the more of the world you can access. Even if you go to China, you can get away with only English, but if you only speak Spanish then it won’t be good.
@@samhu5878 yeah, that's true, in my opinion if you come from a non-english speaking country, and you don't know english, then you can probably survive only in your motherland (with some exceptions, e.g., knowing Mandarin can be beneficial in Taiwan and Singapore too). English should be (and in most cases is) numer 1 school subject
Im surprised how ignorant you are to think Asians are just East Asians , and think that English is so hard for Asians in general. Most of us have to learn it from a young age (thanks colonialism) and you’d survive on your veeeery good skills on being monolingual with English around Asia. So dont worry 😁
Although I'm a Taiwanese, I don't consider English is tricky to Chinese language users. English is one of the easiest languages around the world, and there are many similar grammars between them.
@@user-gj1gg2gz9n I'm from HK but English is my first language, looking from the point of foreign speakers, English isn't as easy as it seems.
I can't explain much because again I never learnt English in school(therefore I don't know anything about grammar), so here's a video ua-cam.com/video/mmTpi112pQw/v-deo.html&pp=ygUUd2h5eSBpcyBlbmdsaXNoIGhhcmQ%3D that explains my point more or less
They’re great at English. They can express themselves pretty well and can understand everything that’s being said. I’m jealous. They’re humble and much better at English than they think they are.
Remember that many of those people are probably planning to go to the west to further thief studies or find work. They are the elites among elites. So good English for them must be enough English to go study abroad. Rarely would you have that as a target when learning a language in the US.
This is cool, you can see that they put the effort and don't feel shy speaking it. Also I noticed that immigrants in my country speak Spanish without worrying about making mistakes. One of my Mandarin teachers struggled speaking Spanish but she didn't switch to English unless it was absolutely necessary.
What about the English skills of the average Chinese Student? 👇👇**WATCH this next interview at a mid-tier university to find out! ➡ ua-cam.com/video/HDnk4hbtS8Q/v-deo.html
All Americans can also speak fluent Mandarin Putonghua
LOVED THIS VIDEO ❤ thanks for sharing such valuable insights into china. Cant wait to visit this summer 🤩🇨🇳
In Chinese culture, humility is highly valued, and individuals who excel in specific areas often maintain a modest attitude and refrain from boasting about their abilities. On the other hand, individuals from Western cultures tend to display confidence and openly acknowledge their achievements. Initially, these differences in cultural norms can make it challenging for people from both cultures to understand each other fully.
I worked in China & everyone in the office speaks good English. Those who speaks a bit slower will immediately tell you that the are still learning the language but as far as I can tell, they can communicate perfectly. Chinese are hard workers & very determined to succeed in everything that they do. It’s the culture & good parenting from young. These people will take over the world. Simply because they are self motivated, hardworking, eager to learn & never give in to failure. Rest of the world , especially in countries like South Asia must learn from China.
I like the modesty of these Top Chinese students, they speak good English and I'm surprised. Congratulations from Romania!
As in this video, I often hear the line "I'm not as good as a native speaker" or similar. As a native English speaker (from the US), I think a lot of us take English for granted.
I'd compare it to "building furniture" to furnish a new home. Most people would say that they can, but by that they mean following directions to assemble something from a kit. Those would like native speakers who use a language without thinking too deeply about it. Fewer people would mean that they could cut the wood, upholster the cushions, sew the buttons, etc. Those would be like 2nd/3rd/etc. language speakers that study the language in detail. Yall are taking on a much harder challenge and should give yourselves due credit for it. 👍
😂😂😂
i find people who speak more than one language so interesting, it's the voice that alters a bit, deepens or becomes higher. also some of them can adopt a native-like accent while others retain their first language accent and in both cases i'd be so glad to have a convo with cause it always enriches me.
I am not shocked that University students in China can speak English fluently. The situation now is very different 10 years ago. They learn English seriously and start at the very early age. I am actually very happy that I have the chance to teach students in China. I even have students with British and American accents. High School students in our school are great conversationalists. I admire that students are very down-to-Earth.
So you have the chance to live in China , many are really interested to know if censorship is really bad in China or just media misinformation
@@cheontham3265 censor what exactly, I wonder?
@@cheontham3265 You need have a visit to China for the facts of cencorship.
@@feisfwliu6556 Maybe you like to tell all of us what happened to Ma Yun or Jack after he severely criticized the CCP government
@@feisfwliu6556 What about the female world tennis champion who accused a very high ranking minister of sexual assault , what happened to her after
Their English are amazing. They can express themselves accurately and confidently! It’s a great progression compared to 20 years ago.
Yes, English has come a long way in carving a path through China. Everyone's realizing the importance of the language on the international stage
In another 10 years, most Chinese who have completed 10 years of education they are sure to become bilingual or multilingual. Most will be able to speak at least 2 languages their own national language Mandarin also known as common language, English or other languages. Beside most can also speak their own dialect which is spoken at home and very different from the national language Mandarin.
How many American, Australian, British, Canadian students can speak more than 2 languages? Learning other people language once you can speak and understand well it becomes your personal asset forever.
Yes! 100% agreed
@@matthieuschmitter6676 Thanks awesome man. Next challenge for you: 8 languages.
Dream on. English proficiency is rather going backwards in Greater China. By the way, you must have missed the whole sense of the clip: "Can TOP CHINESE STUDENTS Speak Fluent English?
Bilingual or multilingual? Hahahahaha... Please tell me you are not being serious. There are few countries like that, mostly in Europe, which more or less have achieved that and the underlying reasons are mostly related to history and ethnicity.
I am Chinese, but most of students don't have the ability to communicate fluently, the English is just exam oriented. The fudan university is the top top top university that normal student even cannot imagine to enter it. Btw my English is ok, bcs I am an international student
Half of Americans don't even have passports to go abroad. They have no inclination of learning another country's culture or language. To them, Murica is the best and only country that matters.
What's more amazing is how humble they are.
I taught at 2 universities in China. overwhelmingly my students had great English! They could communicate perfectly. I love the positivity of this video :)
wow you are so beautiful
amazing! which two?
I am so proud of my fellow Chinese students!
Why are you so proud of them?
Can you explain, please?
These top students are so humble and modest with their abilities.
The Chinese students are a big inspiration in my studies; seeing how they are so determined is really impressive. I'm eighteen years old and I'm in my first year at the university studying for a degree in Software Engineering. And seeing how these young people are intelligent and determined, I can only think of one thing: I want to be the same.
I taught English in Taiwan back in the 1980s. Some students were very good, some not. They hear a lot of English in movies and TV, and most of my students knew grammar very well. It’s so different than Chinese grammar that they actually study it. Also, learning Chinese requires a lot of memorization, so they get very good at it. And when they study Chinese literature, they recite it out loud, so they do the same with English. That is why these students are relatively comfortable speaking it. Most importantly, Fudan is one of the top universities in China, equivalent to an Ivy in school, so these are some of the very best students in China. (Go to any Ivy League school and you’ll find a lot of students who speak a foreign language pretty well.)
And some just have a knack for it. My grandfather came to the US back in the 1920s from China with just a reading knowledge of English, and within three years he had an BA, MA and Ph.d in linguistics and went on to,study dozens of languages during his career. If you train your ear, you can be good at it.
When it comes to English and Chinese grammar, their word order is quite similar because they both are SVO kind of language meanwhile languages like Japanese is a SOV kind of Language
@@afiqite1921 The SVO/SVO bit is a very tiny portion of grammar difference. Most people who speak mandarin will find it easier to learn Japanese than English for example. In general there are just a lot of foreign concepts in any western languages that simply do not exist in Chinese or any asian languages. Tense, gender in pronouns and nouns, singular/plurals, etc. There are a lot less grammar restrictions in Mandarin, but require a lot more memorization.
They are fluent in my opinion but they are really modest to say it
Kuddos to them
❤❤❤
That was a great video! All of them speak great English
the locals are much more fluent than 10 years ago. so much so that fewer foreign tutors are needed. Kudos to that!
Yeah, almost everyone in China needs to study English from an age of 7 or 8, but few of us can really use English as a tool or skill to make some actual communaction with foreigners. After all, students at Fudan are among the most outstanding talents in China.
I don't agree with you, the situation changes in recent years. Children are confident enough to communicate in English.
I hope that they don't neglect other languages. I think languages like Russian, Spanish, Portuguese or French, and even Arabic should be offered in some schools and not wait until university. I was able to study three foreign languages at high school along with two other languages at home. Young children learn very fast and they can handle more than one foreign language.
Which languages did you learn? Where do you live?
How can I say this, it is possible in China there are many kinds of options. But only English teachers have the most.
But what for reason? It took many many years just to master a language beyond communication. Chinese language is a great example. As a native speaker, I still couldn’t master this language, specifically in literature field which uses old Chinese
In fact, at the secondary level, you can choose the language of study freely, but English is relatively simple.
😂 it's all for the education resources. There are not many teachers of other languages in China. Technically, you can learn English， Russian, Japanese, French, Dutch or Spanish for college entrance examination but in reality, schools can only provide English courses usually.
I like thier humbleness 😊
These guys are superstars!
Always great commitment to learning from Chinese students...respect!
Keep on learning until our hair turn white
When you meet someone who doesn’t speak English, don’t laugh because he/she can definitely speak other language fluently which you may not know
山外青山楼外楼
More than I expected from my knowledge about English speaking in China 30 years ago😮👍
Wow all of them is the most humble English speaker.
Its interesting, because when they foucus on pronunciation they speak slowly, and when they don't pay much attention to it they speak fluently.
In early 80’s, Fudan had a few native English speakers (they were foreign students studying at Fudan) teach ‘advanced’ English class that only top 1/4 of (say 2nd year EE or Biology major) Chinese student could attend based on their previous English test scores. I still remember that the first English lesson taught by the foreign student teacher (tall blond British) was the lyrics from “The Sound of Silence”. She used a small boombox to play the song on the cassette one or two lines at a time to explain the social/culture background and other things.
I'm pretty appreciate the last student, though his oral ability is hard to match with the else, but he still willing to talk and know the key of master a language is confidence
Seriously impressive learning both English and Spanish and speaking both very well. All about dedication and commitment to learn. You never know when you will need to speak English or Spanish unless you travel overseas and in that situation it helps immensely.
I started learning chinese about 2 years ago.
Chinese is so different form english.
I dont mean the reading and writing (that of course is another world).
I mean the grammar, the word order, the way they express things can be so twisted yet very logical.
Anyway, what I want to say is that it is really hard for them to learn english.
A lot harder than it would be for a german or a spanish native speaker for example.
The english grammar is a lot more difficult than the grammar of mandarin.
Btw: did you know that the mandaring grammar is considered to be the easiest ? ( No word conjugations, no plural forms, etc).
Long story short:
Tumbs up to any chinese person who can speak english at this level !
加油，if you can make some friends from China, it is very helpful to improve your Mandarian in a short time. Don't be shy, and trust me that all Chinese you met will be friendly and kind to help you in learning Chinese
I can tell you English is easier to master than Chinese!
@@ggginawong689I disagree, the vocabulary of English is massive and still increasing, like it might be difficult for a sparky to know the terms from medical areas, whereas Chinese combines existing characters to form a new word, which makes users lot easier to understand the articles beyond their specialties.
Chinese only difficult for writing the word, for me as a chinese native speaker, I can't write a lot of word even though i know how to read most of the word😢😢
I do agree ..
I have a certificate from Fudan. 😍 It's absolutely worthless since I got it for visiting a handfull of hours about basic mandarin and chinese culture (like caligraphy) about 15 years ago but STILL I love the certificate. 🤣
That's awesome!
@SalukiLove,
Sound like, "it's pearls before swine" on you.
Well done my Chinese brothers and sisters. Proud of you guys for being humble as well.
Thanks for sharing this information with us.
😊👍
Fudan is one of the top 3 universities in China. Those students should be extremely talented and hard working to enter this university. No wonder they have got good English.
Can't agree more... these students are top of the top.
Not necessarily top 3. They are no higher than #3 but no lower than #10. But yes it is very hard to get into.
I am American of German ethnicity. My Step Mom is Chinese. Regrettably I am neither fluent in both German nor Chinese. I have tried to learn Chinese for several years now, but with limited success. And my accent is truly so atrocious, that it is laughable. Kudos to those students, your command of English is leagues ahead of my proficiency in Chinese (still non functional at this point of time)
Really glad you're learning Chinese. As a native speaker of Chinese, I can responsibly tell you that Chinese grammar is much simpler than English Lol.Don't be afraid of your accent and speak more，like when I first started learning English💪
Oh wow…their English is amazing! 😮 what?! I know speaking another language is nerve wrecking cause I’m learning Korean, and it is intimidating. They’re so good!
it's really impressive when i see top students in china could speak their english really well. they can show their opinions in english and still modest about english ability.
Fascinating to listen for any indication of accent in their English, where they make mistakes, etc, etc...(I'm finding it really neat to just observe your interviewees!) Although they may think their English is just good, as a native English speaker I can understand them really well. It's just again a testimony to the humbleness of eastern culture/society.
I'm also autistic, so maybe the way I process the language is different than normal processing... But that makes me wonder how 'typical' ears may process it. I actually, very honestly, find their mistakes and their accents very endearing. I understand how hard it is to study a second language, and implement it in real time... Honestly, I love what makes you stand out. Please don't feel too shy to try and speak with people like me (or people in general)! ☺️
@t3, thank you for your comment.
Hi there, I happened to see your comments and they truly warmed my heart. I'm also Chinese and I use English a lot due to my work in a global company, I can usually communicate in English fluently but still feel quite nervous and lacking in confidence especially talking about unfamiliar topics or speaking in front of large groups. But your comment are so genuine and give me more courage to express myself maybe more bodly in English. THANK you for your kind words and your wonderful spirit.
China's English language proficiency is among the highest in Asia - maybe not at the absolute top, but impressive for a nation where it's not an official language. And when Chinese humbly say it's not good, I believe they believe that - but it's not true.
People complaining in the comments have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Unless you've been editing very harshly, they manage to answer all questions in a clear and comfortable manner. What the hell would not be good about it? They don't use perfect grammar? They have accents you're not used to? I can understand everything they say. What is that if not excellence.
Those are haters making fun of the Chinese. They are trolls. They have no idea if you ask them to speak Chinese.
Considering how harsh is chinese education system, I believe that most of them can read english fluently. It's just quite unfortunate that they don't have as much opportunity to practice their speaking.
From the perspective of Chinese, it can be deemed as "good in English" is reaching the same level as native speakers.
@@xepinephrine4743 Yeah, I can see that. There are many problems with nativespeakerism though. Cultures and businesses manipulate and profit off people trying to reach the esteemed level of the 'native speaker' (which somehow always seems to lean towards sounding like old white elites, weird that). People are led to believe they need to sound 'native' to fit in, to be accepted amongst their peers as professionals. Discriminatory and stress-inducing.
Wonderful, the majority of them began learning English in elementary school. Chinese parents place a lot of emphasis on their children's education, which seems to be common in China given how competitive the education system there is. Learning a language when you're young is always simpler than studying it later in life if you're not a native speaker.
Best regards from France & Canada!
Fudan university, one of top 10 universities in China, therefore, their English shall be OK. As for all graduates from university, there are about 10% are ok in oral English, the rest 90% are able to write commercial email only.
No big deal... proficient in English is only a tiny factor of someone's success if it is any.
Haha, go try this interview in Japan top universities, you be surprised.
My first Chinese girlfriend, now ex.. graduated from Tsinghua University ... She was very proud of that all the time.
It is said that every admission letter for Tsinghua University students has a line that reads: "Tsinghua, the pride of your life."😶
@@user-bj2xv7tf9i :o Didn't know that.
Thanks for sharing.
@@user-bj2xv7tf9i "Tsinghua, the pride of your life.", well, if that's really what they put on their admission letters, then they are arrogant, since, how do they know that the recipient's son or daughter isn't the pride of their life?? Besides that, the whole point of going to Tsinghua is to accomplish things in the world, which means that those after-Tsinghua accomplishments are bigger/more important than Tsinghua, so, once again, Tsinghua is wrong. Tsinghua seems to have a narcissistic mentality.
@@terryadams2652 Use common sense. Of course a youtube commenter made that up. If you believed that so easily how can you maintain your sanity in this era of social media and misinformation.
Glad to see your interview program in my city.
So happy to see the university I graduated from!
Can top students in 🇺🇸🗽speak Chinese ?
Spanish would be a better metric. Chinese isn't as important as Spanish
NO
@@Nandinandito wow that is those are the falsest words i've heard all day. True, the US might have some hispanic neighbors, but in no way does that make Spanish more "important" than Chinese, per se. Both languages are one of the three most spoken languages in the world, with Chinese being first. And think about it, Mandarin, being the most spoken dialect of Chinese is very valuable because of the people you can potentially connect with as China become more and more relevant on the global scale.
@@keizee100 there is no "dialect of Chinese". There are Chinese languages.
Spanish is 100% more important than Chinese in the US. Plenty more speakers and plenty more chances to use it. No matter how relevant China becomes, most people are not going to do business with Chinese people directly. Most people will interact with Spanish speakers.
Obviously Mandarin, the representative of what we call Chinese, is an important language, but it will probably not become as useful as Spanish is in the US in your lifetime. It is absolutely too different compared to a language like French.
@@Nandinandito So... I'm not trying to start a war or an argument with you, I hope you understand that. I'm a high school senior in the US and I've studied Spanish since 6th grade. I could have chosen Mandarin, but I chose Spanish because I value its versatility and I definitely recognize its potential globally. That alone was a decision I've never once regretted since middle school, which should show that I don't view Spanish any less important than Mandarin/Chinese. So please, I implore you to have patience and read what I have to say.
I am Chinese, and I am certain that I would be able to understand what someone speaking a different dialect is writing even if I can't understand what they might be saying, because they're writing and speaking the "Chinese language." If you need an example, my mother speaks a dialect I cannot understand because I was never taught it, but I am able to figure out certain phrases due to its Chinese roots despite some differences in pronunciation.
I would agree that yes, Spanish might feel more relevant to US citizens because of our hispanic neighbors and the rapidly increasing hispanic population in the US, but the value of Chinese is the breadth of opportunities it could present you with. One example being employment and communication... if you were an immigrant from any country that did not know English, Chinese business owners are your best bet of finding quick and relatively stable employment (i.e. as janitors or handymen), if we discount white collared professions that may require an education to get hired. Furthermore, the connections you may establish because of Chinese is visibly far wider and higher than connections you can make with Spanish, currently at least. Though I must admit, hispanic politicians in the US are much more commonplace than Chinese politicians, but politics are about the only sector where Chinese is rather limited.
Also, I do not mean to offend you with any of what I am saying, but objectively speaking from current day affairs, China's relevance in the global scale may shift the importance of Chinese as a language. This could be seen through the rise of the US as a superpower globally, which has made English a must-learn for many country and its citizens. With China's current development, it's hard to commit to the statement that Chinese won't be as mainstream as English is now.
Meanwhile at Harvard: 3rd year Chinese language major student....NI HAO
Memories from Fudan ❤ miss it so much
Beautiful university that's for sure
Very impressive! Younger generation is really working hard 👍
Indeed
Fudan is a top university in a cosmopolitan city Shanghai, I'm afraid it's not representative of all China.
True
Proud is the word to be Chinese nowadays, as a result of the rising of our fellow countrymen enduring so much pain, suffering, and humiliation over the last hundred years. So happy & comforted to see there are so many humble, educated & intelligent young people around they are the pillars of our future.
Mate most young Chinese have not experienced humiliation pain suffering
That’s the older generation
To my views, their English is amazing 👍👏at least they can converse with others in English, that's the most important thing because at times English learners find it difficult to communicate in English. Are you a native English speaker, Alex? Your English pronunciation sounds like a native 👍👏
Their accent is really amazing and clear to understand
I teach English for Chinese students online. I must say that they are really competitive. It is a must for parents to enroll their kids to after-school tutoring especially for language.
I wonder what would happen if you stood outside Oxford or Cambridge and conducted the same interview in Mandarin?!? I’m pretty sure you would find a very limited number of students who could respond
Wow
Actually there are quite a few Chinese speaking tourists in Cambridge or Oxford…..
@@willlee7147 😂😂😂
Well I mean if Mandarin is being used in international communities and organizations a lot I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of students speaking Mandarin, at least basic Mandarin because it's one of the hardest languages to learn
@@myvarya3800 that should be so. but oxbridge are having difficulty filling modern language courses so my contention is that the percentage of fluent or semi fluent Mandarin speaking students attending oxbridge would be significantly lower
Much respect for each of the students interviewed. They speak English very well, with confidence and ease. It can be difficult to speak a language that differs greatly from your first language. Learning early is a great opportunity.
100%
3:30 The awkward handshake is killing me 🤣
复旦数学系的学生 ， 天才基本上都这样有个性。😀
Thank you for sharing the video. it's impressive to me! I am a foreigner studying in China now but no one here encourages me to work or study overseas even I want to go abroad, because of my poor English.. I have been feeling frustrated lately.. Your video made me feel complex emotions but i don't know how to express them..anyway, thank you so much :)
be confident, the experience told me that language is used for high-efficiency communication. A few words accompanied with body gestures will help you finish a successful communication. In addition, you are in China, Chinese people is very kind and friendly to help you solve any kind of questions
Very interesting content. Thank you for doing this.
Learning English, especially speaking English, is very trick for Chinese students without language environment . But a great deal of them manage to create opportunities to speak out.
English is the international language. Most Asian students study English in primary school and go to night school to learn some more….
Exactly, and people say “Well people from the US can’t speak fluent Chinese”… maybe because it’s not important to
When talking to an Israeli student who was in Junior high school why his English was so good, his response was, "Most all computer coding has to be done in English, searching the internet in English you can get more information than in Hebrew, most technical manuals are in English. As the U.S. economy falls further behind China and China becomes a super power, the language will shift to China.
那不会发生的！
@@lastlast1186 It won't be long before you're proven wrong
this student has the capability of independent thinking and insight, this mindset is gonna help him successful in the near future.
It’s so true that it’s much easier to understand tech documents if you can understand English, I’m really impressive for it , so I’m also trying to improve my English by any means , for the language shift, I don’t think it will easily shift to Chinese in the future, maybe it can be more popular, but it’s quite hard to learn for most non-Chinese people,the pronunciation the spelling have no relationships, and many times totally the same sentence means differently😂, so it’s better to use English to communicate as universal language
It's a big if. As unstable as the US seems, it is far more stable than china and that's just socially talking. While prior to the 2020s china was growing faster it is not the case currently, the US's economy actually outgrew China's.
Furthermore, english is already standardized around the world, even if china outgrows the us, the dominance of English is somewhat independent of the US. The longer the western world and therefore english remains dominant, the more engrained english will be worldwide. Additionally one of the reasons english became an international language is because of the immigration policies of the US and the cultural openness to foreigners to come to the US. Economy is a separate thing, people are not going to china to receive and education and furthermore I'm not even sure the citizenry of china would at all be amicable to that being the case. Regardless of if China surpasses the west in economic importance there is a long road before chinese can even grow as a language. English isn't just used because the US is the largest influence, it's also used because every aspect of english speaking culture is extremely open to anyone and even post US, those facts will still remain. There is a world where the US collapses and english still continues becoming more and more dominant, there is no world where china collapses and chinese as a language grows in any capacity.
There's so many If's to chinese becoming a more prominent language. If china survives in a recognizable state, if it continues growth, if after doing this manages to completely transform itself successfully to start integrating people into it's culture.
There is a big problem with English language education in China. We just learn it in the English course. But don't use it in other places. That makes learning English to be very hard for us.
Yes, but more and more English is used in the workplace, especially in finance sector or international firms.
@Huang Laughing,
If others could manage it, then why can't you? They are chinese, living in China and learning English too.
Make more efforts to improve your English instead of excuses.
I've found immersion learning is very good for those who feel they didn't get enough language proficiency from their education. Many people have become fluent in a second language off of immersion learning.
@@jamo2735 you are right!
But you need to recognize that English is just a tool for studying advanced western world technology and knowledge, speaking in English is not necessary for many Chinese.
Chinese speaking part was the most interesting)
They’re bilingual, humble & hardworking 😮
Love this video man! Reminds me of the Takashii from Japan interviews, which is a massive compliment. I hope to see more content like this in the future, keep working at it and improving and the channel will blow up for sure.
Thanks Jacob! Will do!
You should do another episode on how well can people in Shanghai speak German. I find that Shanghainese have a special "fetish" for anything germanic. One classmate of mine back in the undergraduate years once said that his calculus teacher (a nice Shanghai lady) had said at the first class that she would only answer questions raised using the local dialect or German, lol.
Honestly, never noticed that in my half year in Shanghai. Maybe bc I was in the east side.
2:43 Andrew speaks English with virtually no Chinese accent. Very impressive.👍
Glad you enjoyed it
@6:19, I'm so excited, she said something that I understood! She said Yi1fu, which means 'dress' in english, but here, it is translated as "special clothing".
teshude yifu 特殊的衣服 means special clothes/clothing
I used to give students a mock IELTS exam at a top Chinese language university. It was an amazing experience, I had all kinds of different groups including a group consisting entirely of police officers (one of them told me his real ambition was to be a poet). What was strange, though, was that people's English language ability usually had very little to do with how much time they spent abroad. One woman I interviewed spoke entirely fluent and idiomatic English and had never been abroad at all. When I say "fluent and idiomatic", the exception was that at one point she mentioned "ear sh*t" at which I was slightly taken aback, but later I realized it was a literal translation of the Chinese word for "ear wax". I also had some people who had lived abroad and could communicate quite powerfully but always with lots of grammatical mistakes.
Coming from a billingual, it’s weird how when I do direct translation from Malay to English, it will not make sense
上外附中的學生，英文程度比上外、復旦、交大的學生還流利。
Andrew is so generous.
I'm from the U.S. and there was always a pretty sizable contingent of Chinese foreign exchange students in my university. I even had an exchange student in my Japanese class!
In Singapore, we have an elite group of citizens who are proficient in both English and their mother-tongue. A struggling majority, though, aspire to be good English speakers to the point of worshipping everything western or Christian while denigrating their original cultures or traditions. In the end, they still don't speak English well plus they can't speak Chinese properly = good for nothing. 😂🤣
Yes, I have come across many. At one point in time, Malaysia was the same. The point is don't give up your mother tongue, and learn a new language doesn't mean you have to give up your own language.
I agree with them that their English is not very good … it is quite good and need improvement IMO.
Finally someone that speaks the truth...
i think you need to improve your english mate
Considering how harsh is chinese education system, I believe that most of them can read english fluently. It's just quite unfortunate that they don't have as much opportunity to practice their speaking.
@@Mzuagip this is a fair comment, and I can tell you’re mostly right. It’s actually the same across all North Asia: Japan, China, S.Korea. Their English studies are aimed at gaining proficiency for tests whose tasks are mainly reading, comprehension and basic writing, which well suit college book studying and passing multiple-choice tests. Another avail is the Chinese proficiency test HSK which one may pass without speaking a single word and, if you do perfectly fine the other two parts, you may even score zero in the first one, listening. Of course there’s a spoken version, but it’s nowhere near in popularity…
They have solid english on varying levels but what I'm most impressed is how calmly they speak it in a surprise interview in front of the camera. I know from experience a surprising situation and a camera definitely kill my ability to express myself or getting things right, regardless of my ability to write or speak normally. My native language or english. And I thought Eva had been living abroad or had like foreign parent or was born elsewhere. Just the way she answered the questions, maybe she was nervous and brief in answers for that, but it seemed as if she was just very natural and confident about it. And Jerry for sure did have that nuance of "I had studies in the UK" in her speech. The number one thing for sure, like many of them voiced out, is speaking the language. It's just impossible to express your skills fully if it's not habitual.
I have spoken to a young lady who studied to be an English speaking TV presenter. She spoke fluent US accented English, I could certainly imagine that she is a TV news presenter by now for many years.
Please go to Harvard University in the U.S. and do this kind of interview to see how good the random American students are in foreign language skills in Chinese, Spanish,
French, German, or any language for that matter.I would love to see how good they are in foreign language skills. My guess is not that great at all!!
Will do :)
As a Vietnamese I am really admire them, day by day I try so hard to improve my English level.
Keep it up!
cố lên, mèo ơi ;)
omg they are so good in speaking english.
Great videos! Keep it up, the quality is so good!
Cheers!
The thing is that in China almost everything is written in Chinese. People don’t use or see English that often. You have to go extra miles or make extra efforts to find some materials in English. If you go to japan and do similar interviews, I’m sure you will see people with even lower English skills, and very likely they will run away as soon as you speak English to them. Japan is already developed enough so people have little incentive to learn English anymore unless they are really interested in the culture or wanna try something new. China will be similar to japan soon and even nowadays there are some people argue that it’s a waste of time to learn English because knowing Chinese is enough. I completely disagree with this statement, because firstly China has not reached to that developed stage yet and they still need to learn and do business with the world, secondly, China is not a democratic country yet so internet is blocked and isolated from the world. If you don’t want to be fooled by the authority, then you better know English.
"China is not a democratic country yet so internet is blocked and isolated from the world. If you don’t want to be fooled by the authority, then you better know English."
So you are assuming that news written in English tell the truth? lol.. care to do a fact check on how much people in US or UK trust their media?
Learn english to be fooled by authority of other country who hate china, right?
Keep in mind, these people are in the top university in China , not everyone is like that.
So if the authority wants to fool me, why it force me to learn the English since i was 6 years old😂
Speak English doen not mean you are superior than others but knowledge of your country history and culture are. 🤣
I don’t think their English is “very good” ~ spoken as “manageable”. I m a Singaporean n most of us are bilingual with dialects speaking as Hokkien n Cantonese as well. Ur expectations r underrated.
are you sure that the language you speak is english and not singlish?
@@angelangle1846
I am careful with words ~ as when it is required, a well mannered tone n linguistics inclination predates automatically. However, as with close friends/relations, I speak a “rojak” of everything of English, Chinese , Hokkien n Cantonese ~ henceforth, may termed as “Singlish”.
@@angelangle1846 Singaporeans may have an accent and may have localized their English, but it is 100% true that in Singapore, like in Malaysia, English is widely spoken and the average proficiency is far higher than in China. By no means, any of the interviewees' English was good.
@@angxiang3186 were you trying so hard to speak like a native? it doesn't seem natural to me..
@@angelangle1846
Well, I m not speaking ~ I m writing a comment. It is the writing linguistics skills here; the grammar, punctuation. FYI, this manner of writing is already informal and not structured as proper English language. Anyway, during my school days ~ composition writing n sociology were my interests subjects ~ I excel in these.
Their English is very good. Kudos to their parent ❤ for preparing them for their future.
Indeed!
I've seen Chinese people with incredible fluency in English. I wish I had their level, and mine is not bad either. My first language is Spanish.