There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the comments sections. Sharon Balcombe was born in Hong Kong, received full Chinese education, and speaks Cantonese as her mother tongue. Just like a Jamaican of Chinese descent speaking fluent English and fluent Patois.Sharon is a Hong Konger of white descent. So naturally she speaks the language like a native.
Its common for many who learn to speak foreign languages these days. But when comes to dialect its kind of amaze me. I came across a japanese spoke fluent Hockchew. Of course, he grew up in Taiwan. But not everyone who can speak native dialect and that impressed me.
Mainland China Guangdong province is also known as Cantonese widely spoken too...not just HK ... I don't believe she can speak Cantonese!! there are many fraudsters from the internet!!! even she talks to a Cantonese Chinese person from the streets , they will respond back to her in English...
She grew up in HK.. kind of expected. Being raised in the USA i can shop just like they do in HK and adapt pretty easily. I never had an identity crisis like most kids that live in another nations.
In her situation she was the only white person surrounded by chinese. In your situation there were many ethnicities and colours around you. It depends on the individual and how those around you treat you as well. I was the one chinese person in a school of white people. But i only felt alien when i went to hong kong because i was like omg everyone speaks canto just like us! Then when i went to China i got another shock as they all spoke mandarin.
Hey Sharon, I think I have heard your dad preach in my church in Singapore several years back. He was preaching in English. He just said a few words of Cantonese because it was actually an English service. He was very good, very anointed. His face is so recognisable
I remember seeing her at this church event, when she went on the stage alot of people were shocked...she could sing in manderin and canotese and has a beautiful voice...and when she spoke compare to her husband her cantonese was greater than his!
Dear sister Sharon, how wonderful you talk the gospel and from our Lord Jesus . I also have problems of my health and am praying to God. I believe I will be recovered in one day as your witness from God. Amen!
It is so eerie hearing her speak. If I closed my eyes, I would bet money that she was Chinese. And she really is to be honest. She was born in Hong Kong. She just happens to be white in ethnicity. Its not just the way she so naturally speaks Cantonese, but she's even adopted all the mannerisms and inflections that I'm so used to seeing from my mom and my other Chinese friends.
About comments like "She speaks very good!!"... Dude, she's a native! I'd learn any language if I grew up with it. ;) I understood a few words but I never actively learned Cantonese... Would love to speak that language. :D
That's right, it's like hearing a spanish person speak spanish, and saying "wow, his/her spanish is really good!!!" well, duh... Cantonese is such a beautiful language, isn't it? :-)
Still, she can speak putonghua, too. And her native English has not been neglected. If you listen closely to her cantonese, it's fluent and polished, better than the averaged Hong Konger. So she's a rare talent afterall. Way to go Sharon!
Not only she spoke so naturally, but her demeanor is totally Hong Kong as well! She's a Hong Kongner! I wonder what her demeanor would be like when she speaks English?
In Québec, Canada, we have a saying: you are a real quebecer the day you embrace our culture and speak our languages. So to me, Sharon is chinese even if she doesnt look like one because she embraced the culture and tries to blend in.
Wow, that's a true native speaker for you. She speaks with no accents and very fluent. I speak Cantonese too, but I only understood 90% of the video. I related to her, when she said, she visited America with her family, and she and her brother had an Identify Crisis seeing all those white people. I too felt the same way, when I visited HK. It felt strange seeing all those Chinese people. I was at home but wasn't at the same time. It just so different. Great video.
I speak Cantonese too. She is really awesome. I am ten years old right now and my parents are from Hong Kong. I feel like a superstar for some dumb reason.
Sharon was raised in HK, so speaking perfect Canto is nothing amazing! We react with surprise, however, due to the disconnect of how she looks and how she sounds: it's very rare to see a Caucasian speak perfect Chinese, when Asians speaking English are common. Love seeing/hearing her regardless!
Totally agree. It’s nothing surprising when an Asian raised overseas speaks perfect English …so why should there be any surprises when a person of Caucasian decent speaks perfect Cantonese when she’s born and raised in Hong Kong and has also gone through the local HK education system? I think it’s because the proportion of someone like Sharon is infinitely smaller than Asians raised overseas who speaks perfect English.
Sharon really has acquired some Chinese values -- she says she lives with her mother-in-law. She cherishes the New Year celebration. That's the 'wow' factor, not just only her mastery of Cantonese.
Yes, truly fascinating that someone who grew up in Hong Kong and studied cantonese her entire life can actually speak the language! It really does boggle the mind, i mean... HOW IS IT DONE? *scratches his head in total confusion*
I attended high school in Macau from HK. Saw some beautiful Portugees from another high school walking by and made a remark about them in Cantonese to my buddies. The girls turn around and confronted us and demanded an appology from me, or else! I was shocked because they spook perfect Cantonese and they cursed nastier then us. I appologized to them and later on we all became friends. Then I found out they were 4th generations in Macau...I learned not to prejudge (prejudice) from that on....
There are other youtubers that claim to speak native cantonese having grown up in Hong Kong but have an accent however slight. Sharon's cantonese is truly native. Not sure why. Could it be the others went to international schools and spoke occasional cantonese while Sharon went to a bog standard Hong Kong school?
That's definitely it. I have a friend from Hong Kong, Chinese background, but he went to an international school. He speaks Cantonese fluently, but people from Hong Kong have told him that they can tell his accent isn't 100% native.
Oh god, first I thought that there was a off voice behind. I speak native cantonese, and she does speak perfectly, it's amazing, and let's be honest it's suprising too!
wow...it's so interesting to hear her talk. I'm Cantonese American and Honestly she uses more vocab than I can understand. She does that HK-Cantonese thing where she says " yeehh.." a lot between her sentences. haha.
I grown up in HK and now I am in US. The Chinese people in US come from all different part of China (and the World). I have known Chinese people who were not a native Cantonese speakers and able to speak Cantonese perfectly after they came to the US. Maybe everyone is different but I think Cantonese is an "easier" dialect to learn and accomplished than other dialects.
This is what's newsworthy: Native American Mary Sue Johnson born and raised in Kentucky speaks perfect Cantonese! She never left her homeland of the USA.
Being born and raised in HK, and attending school speaking Cantonese, I'm not too surprised that she speaks Cantonese fluently. However, I do have to point out that she doesn't have the "lazy accent" that we often hear in HK these days, which puts some of the local Chinese to shame!!
@rivengle I think language has nothing to do with genetics. It's how well someone teaches you and how much a person uses it, with a mixture of the social surroundings.
Its funny how so many people think this is impossible when she was born in Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese everyday. It think it's amazing. I wish i could speak as well as this lady
@turbobenx, not really, around 1000AD, there are 1000 times more foreigners in Tang and Song China than it is right now. It become a lot lot less around 1500 to 1600 and even less around 1800s. And now it is just on the way of getting back to Tang and Song's peak of internationalism.
@rivengle Genetics has nothing to do with learning a language. How well a person speaks is a mixture of their social surroundings, their interactions with peers, and how and where they were brought up, basically. She was brought up in HK, therefore, she speaks HK Cantonese as opposed to Mainland Cantonese (which is more formal and doesn't contain the HK slang ).
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the comments sections. Sharon Balcombe was born in Hong Kong, received full Chinese education, and speaks Cantonese as her mother tongue. Just like a Jamaican of Chinese descent speaking fluent English and fluent Patois.Sharon is a Hong Konger of white descent. So naturally she speaks the language like a native.
Yeah, I speak Cantonese natively as well. I wasn't assuming she wasn't from HK, just stating that it sounds great. For a foreigner to speak that well I would be extremely impressed, it's nearly impossible to nail all the tones honestly. It is just also rare to see a non Chinese person speaking perfect Cantonese, being that I live in the US I have really only seen that a handful of times.
martin5190 It is unusual. Often the case in a country which has a majority race. In multicultural countries like Australia and the US no one makes a big deal seeing someone of Chinese descent for instance speaking English like a native. Cantonese looks very tough. My grandmother on my mother's side spoke it. I don't think I've got the energy to learn another language. I learnt Japanese and speak it a high level now. Learning a foreign language is hard work.
@quantumcodex , culturally, Hong Kong people could not be more different from Mainland chinese people. While we speak Cantonese, it is so different from Mainland Chinese, our education, culture, beliefs and traditions have set us apart and we see ourselves as a distinct society.
my HK friend who stay in malaysia for more than 15 years also speaking cantonese that have malay accent....another friends' wife (vietnamese) also can speak perfect malay and mandarin after she married to his husband and stay here for more than 10 years....
I don't exactly know why this should be considered particularly amazing. She was born and raised in Hong Kong, so it only makes sense that she speaks perfect Cantonese, just as I (I'm Chinese) was born and raised in Canada and hence speak perfect Canadian (heh).
You feel weird because Asian speaking English is commonplace, since English is a international language. Whereas Chinese (Cantonese) is not international language, therefore it makes it very rare or strange to see a Caucasian speak Cantonese. I love this video cuz its so amazing and entertaining. I kept watching it.
@cjason123 well the majority of the population in hong kong is cantonese, and are genetically chinese. any other ethnicity visiting hong kong does not usually speak canto in any form, especially well.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the comments sections. Sharon Balcombe was born in Hong Kong, received full Chinese education, and speaks Cantonese as her mother tongue. Just like a Jamaican of Chinese descent speaking fluent English and fluent Patois.Sharon is a Hong Konger of white descent. So naturally she speaks the language like a native.
She speak so natural n fluent Cantonese. My respect.
Henry Yap only natural. She grew up in Hong Kong. We don't get surprised hearing a Chinese person speak fluent English.
Its common for many who learn to speak foreign languages these days. But when comes to dialect its kind of amaze me. I came across a japanese spoke fluent Hockchew. Of course, he grew up in Taiwan. But not everyone who can speak native dialect and that impressed me.
Just like oversea ethnic chinese speaking other language like a native because they grew there in foreign lands.
Mainland China Guangdong province is also known as Cantonese widely spoken too...not just HK ... I don't believe she can speak Cantonese!! there are many fraudsters from the internet!!! even she talks to a Cantonese Chinese person from the streets , they will respond back to her in English...
I died laughing when she said she returned to the US and go 'mommy, look! So many foreigner gwailo'
Best thing is not that she speaks cantonese but when she is buying fruit she has adopted hong konger habits, asking if it is sweet or not! lol
She grew up in HK.. kind of expected. Being raised in the USA i can shop just like they do in HK and adapt pretty easily. I never had an identity crisis like most kids that live in another nations.
H Vuu
Well not everyone has an identity crisis. Was everyone a markedly different colour than you?
theuglykwan yes... white, black, hispanic, and etc.
In her situation she was the only white person surrounded by chinese. In your situation there were many ethnicities and colours around you.
It depends on the individual and how those around you treat you as well. I was the one chinese person in a school of white people. But i only felt alien when i went to hong kong because i was like omg everyone speaks canto just like us! Then when i went to China i got another shock as they all spoke mandarin.
还 了 该 白 人 还吗。
Bravo, Sharon. I fully concur with the narrator. You speak Cantonese better than many Hong Kongers. I close my eyes, your accent is 101% native.
Thank you, Sharon, Your family is a blessing to us!!
Hey Sharon, I think I have heard your dad preach in my church in Singapore several years back. He was preaching in English. He just said a few words of Cantonese because it was actually an English service. He was very good, very anointed. His face is so recognisable
I remember seeing her at this church event, when she went on the stage alot of people were shocked...she could sing in manderin and canotese and has a beautiful voice...and when she spoke compare to her husband her cantonese was greater than his!
Dear sister Sharon, how wonderful you talk the gospel and from our Lord Jesus . I also have problems of my health and am praying to God. I believe I will be recovered in one day as your witness from God. Amen!
It is so eerie hearing her speak. If I closed my eyes, I would bet money that she was Chinese. And she really is to be honest. She was born in Hong Kong. She just happens to be white in ethnicity. Its not just the way she so naturally speaks Cantonese, but she's even adopted all the mannerisms and inflections that I'm so used to seeing from my mom and my other Chinese friends.
Im so glad tht to know this kind wonam ;-)
God will be so proud of you, Sharon! God bless you and your family!
About comments like "She speaks very good!!"... Dude, she's a native! I'd learn any language if I grew up with it. ;) I understood a few words but I never actively learned Cantonese... Would love to speak that language. :D
That's right, it's like hearing a spanish person speak spanish, and saying "wow, his/her spanish is really good!!!" well, duh...
Cantonese is such a beautiful language, isn't it? :-)
Yep, it's sad that people see her as an outsider just because she has a different skin colour.
Still, she can speak putonghua, too. And her native English has not been neglected. If you listen closely to her cantonese, it's fluent and polished, better than the averaged Hong Konger. So she's a rare talent afterall. Way to go Sharon!
Rare talent? Nothing todo with talent
Not only she spoke so naturally, but her demeanor is totally Hong Kong as well! She's a Hong Kongner!
I wonder what her demeanor would be like when she speaks English?
In Québec, Canada, we have a saying: you are a real quebecer the day you embrace our culture and speak our languages. So to me, Sharon is chinese even if she doesnt look like one because she embraced the culture and tries to blend in.
really Respect dis women ...i wish her all d best xx
You truly are a native Cantonese speaker. I can't tell the difference if I don't watch the screen.
She has such a pleasant voice.
wow she's so fluent, so accurate, so quick so PERFECT
Sharon Balcombe alot of respect for you and your familys' mission.Thank You
This blew my mind. I am Chinese-American, and this made me realize that I should not forget how to speak Cantonese!
Wow, that's a true native speaker for you. She speaks with no accents and very fluent. I speak Cantonese too, but I only understood 90% of the video. I related to her, when she said, she visited America with her family, and she and her brother had an Identify Crisis seeing all those white people. I too felt the same way, when I visited HK. It felt strange seeing all those Chinese people. I was at home but wasn't at the same time. It just so different. Great video.
Holy shit, when she's talking about being an egg, it's one of the funniest and best things I've seen on UA-cam.
She...is...AMAZING
Damn, her cantonese stomps mine and I've been speaking it since I was a kid.
She was actually my neighbour in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Island?
you have done well, you earn the respect, you well deserve
God bless you sister! Beautiful lady with a beautiful heart ❤️
I speak Cantonese too. She is really awesome. I am ten years old right now and my parents are from Hong Kong. I feel like a superstar for some dumb reason.
her fluent Cantonese speaking is amazing .
She speaks perfect Cantonese. Fascinating!
I can't agree you more. The first impression was "wow, fluent Cantonese", afterwards, "oh yeah, she is already a Cantonese"
Sharon was raised in HK, so speaking perfect Canto is nothing amazing! We react with surprise, however, due to the disconnect of how she looks and how she sounds: it's very rare to see a Caucasian speak perfect Chinese, when Asians speaking English are common. Love seeing/hearing her regardless!
Totally agree. It’s nothing surprising when an Asian raised overseas speaks perfect English …so why should there be any surprises when a person of Caucasian decent speaks perfect Cantonese when she’s born and raised in Hong Kong and has also gone through the local HK education system? I think it’s because the proportion of someone like Sharon is infinitely smaller than Asians raised overseas who speaks perfect English.
Sharon really has acquired some Chinese values -- she says she lives with her mother-in-law. She cherishes the New Year celebration. That's the 'wow' factor, not just only her mastery of Cantonese.
I love it when she says "identity crises" :D
She spoeaks without an accent! Wow! Thumbs up for her!
Wow amazing story!
Yes, truly fascinating that someone who grew up in Hong Kong and studied cantonese her entire life can actually speak the language! It really does boggle the mind, i mean... HOW IS IT DONE?
*scratches his head in total confusion*
thank you for sharing God bless both of you!!
Her cantonese is perfect. I tried to listen to her words without looking at her face, her accent is barely noticeable. I's born and raised in hk
Don't be surprised that Sharon can handle Cantonese as a native speaker, because there is an environment for her learning.
lol "im like an egg, white on the outside, yellow on the inside" xD
Twinkie or Banana
is there a part 2. I love Sharon and would like to see more of her.
你好姊妹，感謝主我在今晚看到你的分享哦! 令我感受到主的奇妙和大愛!其實我在一個安息禮拜中聽過你唱詩歌架，都已經有十六年了!
我祝福你在新的一年在主裡活得更豐盛，更喜樂哦!🥰🥰🥰☘🌹☘🌹
Talk very gentle. Nice.
I attended high school in Macau from HK. Saw some beautiful Portugees from another high school walking by and made a remark about them in Cantonese to my buddies. The girls turn around and confronted us and demanded an appology from me, or else! I was shocked because they spook perfect Cantonese and they cursed nastier then us. I appologized to them and later on we all became friends. Then I found out they were 4th generations in Macau...I learned not to prejudge (prejudice) from that on....
You know what surprises me? Her English has an obvious Cantonese accent!!
This lady is Soooooo Cool.
Her canto is better than mine 😁😁😄😄😂😂
There are other youtubers that claim to speak native cantonese having grown up in Hong Kong but have an accent however slight.
Sharon's cantonese is truly native. Not sure why. Could it be the others went to international schools and spoke occasional cantonese while Sharon went to a bog standard Hong Kong school?
That's definitely it. I have a friend from Hong Kong, Chinese background, but he went to an international school. He speaks Cantonese fluently, but people from Hong Kong have told him that they can tell his accent isn't 100% native.
Oh god, first I thought that there was a off voice behind. I speak native cantonese, and she does speak perfectly, it's amazing, and let's be honest it's suprising too!
God bless her!!!!
Excellent Cantonese -- better than most Cantonese, I would say. A moving story too.
Man she can teach me Cantonese!!! and I was born in HK.
wow...it's so interesting to hear her talk. I'm Cantonese American and Honestly she uses more vocab than I can understand. She does that HK-Cantonese thing where she says " yeehh.." a lot between her sentences. haha.
tu vivencia es muy divertida, felicitaciones
Very interesting need to see part 2.
I'm amazed because it's not very often to find a foreigner who can speak perfect Cantonese in Hong Kong..
she speaks very good!!!
I grown up in HK and now I am in US. The Chinese people in US come from all different part of China (and the World). I have known Chinese people who were not a native Cantonese speakers and able to speak Cantonese perfectly after they came to the US. Maybe everyone is different but I think Cantonese is an "easier" dialect to learn and accomplished than other dialects.
I can't imagine she is American when I hearing without watching her face, and She speak English with a strong Cantonese accent.
She has excellent accent.
WOW. I was born in HK but her cantonese is like a billion times better than me.
OMG... Speaking so well...
damn. her canto is a thousand times better than mine.
the story of her little brother in the supermarket made me lol IRL
This is what's newsworthy: Native American Mary Sue Johnson born and raised in Kentucky speaks perfect Cantonese! She never left her homeland of the USA.
Being born and raised in HK, and attending school speaking Cantonese, I'm not too surprised that she speaks Cantonese fluently. However, I do have to point out that she doesn't have the "lazy accent" that we often hear in HK these days, which puts some of the local Chinese to shame!!
Sflacali for president! Thank you for your insightful, logical comment!!!
wow she is so fluent
incredible woman.
oh my god it's amazing...it's better than mine and i'm half cantonese!
Haha, I'm a American Born Chinese living in the suburbs of Boston and this is the exact same experience in reverse.
For part 2 she speaks English and speak like perfect
Très Bien!
Just close your eyes and listen her speak lol
yeah like I said there is a CULTURAL difference of opinion on birthright citizenship and the identity of nationality that comes with that.
@rivengle I think language has nothing to do with genetics. It's how well someone teaches you and how much a person uses it, with a mixture of the social surroundings.
Only one word " GOD IS LOVE " great video i love it so much. thanks for sharing.
🤡
Very polished and accurate pronunciation. I think her Cantonese is better than mine.
Its funny how so many people think this is impossible when she was born in Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese everyday. It think it's amazing. I wish i could speak as well as this lady
@turbobenx, not really, around 1000AD, there are 1000 times more foreigners in Tang and Song China than it is right now. It become a lot lot less around 1500 to 1600 and even less around 1800s. And now it is just on the way of getting back to Tang and Song's peak of internationalism.
incredible
Respect ❤️
@rivengle Genetics has nothing to do with learning a language. How well a person speaks is a mixture of their social surroundings, their interactions with peers, and how and where they were brought up, basically. She was brought up in HK, therefore, she speaks HK Cantonese as opposed to Mainland Cantonese (which is more formal and doesn't contain the HK slang ).
She is really fantastic. Chinois Kuai Low...
wow this is amazing! she makes me proud to be a hong konger :)
Wow, your cantonese sounds great
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the comments sections. Sharon Balcombe was born in Hong Kong, received full Chinese education, and speaks Cantonese as her mother tongue. Just like a Jamaican of Chinese descent speaking fluent English and fluent Patois.Sharon is a Hong Konger of white descent. So naturally she speaks the language like a native.
Yeah, I speak Cantonese natively as well. I wasn't assuming she wasn't from HK, just stating that it sounds great. For a foreigner to speak that well I would be extremely impressed, it's nearly impossible to nail all the tones honestly. It is just also rare to see a non Chinese person speaking perfect Cantonese, being that I live in the US I have really only seen that a handful of times.
martin5190 It is unusual. Often the case in a country which has a majority race. In multicultural countries like Australia and the US no one makes a big deal seeing someone of Chinese descent for instance speaking English like a native. Cantonese looks very tough. My grandmother on my mother's side spoke it. I don't think I've got the energy to learn another language. I learnt Japanese and speak it a high level now. Learning a foreign language is hard work.
@quantumcodex , culturally, Hong Kong people could not be more different from Mainland chinese people. While we speak Cantonese, it is so different from Mainland Chinese, our education, culture, beliefs and traditions have set us apart and we see ourselves as a distinct society.
EGG? Better than what I get called....BANANA...but only just better lol
my HK friend who stay in malaysia for more than 15 years also speaking cantonese that have malay accent....another friends' wife (vietnamese) also can speak perfect malay and mandarin after she married to his husband and stay here for more than 10 years....
If you close your eyes, she sounds like a typical well-spoken HK resident.
waaah. Goh guh siu jeh de Guangdong wah ho si lik.
I don't exactly know why this should be considered particularly amazing. She was born and raised in Hong Kong, so it only makes sense that she speaks perfect Cantonese, just as I (I'm Chinese) was born and raised in Canada and hence speak perfect Canadian (heh).
You feel weird because Asian speaking English is commonplace, since English is a international language. Whereas Chinese (Cantonese) is not international language, therefore it makes it very rare or strange to see a Caucasian speak Cantonese. I love this video cuz its so amazing and entertaining. I kept watching it.
she is good, really good
@cjason123 well the majority of the population in hong kong is cantonese, and are genetically chinese. any other ethnicity visiting hong kong does not usually speak canto in any form, especially well.
zomg she owned my Cantonese vocabulary 0_0
HAHAHAHA i laughed when she was talking about her brother "mom look at all the white people!"
omg... geez, I'm the opposite. >_< I'm Chinese on the outside and white on the inside. Too bad I'm in Hong Kong.
Her parents spoke to her at home in cantonese too. Even her mannerism is much like a homely chinese girl from HK.