Dashan Interview Nov 2007 (Chinese) Part 1 / 采访大山 2007年11月 (中文) 2分之1

[azure8787]

he gives me hope

[TheWeeaboo]

awesome

[gaozhi2007]

His Chinese is amazing. I have been studying for over 8 years and am nowhere near as good as him. Though I can understand most of this interview, he just speaks so naturally and effortlessly. That's the difference.

But I'm sure he would be the first to admit his Chinese isn't perfect. The truth is, for anyone has lived in China or studied Chinese, you know you will never be perfect at it. It's a lifelong learning process. And there are so many damn chengyu....

[KoolJayJ]

@gaozhi2007 Growing up I speak Mandarin with Shanghainese dialect with out any effort........ didn't even start learning English until i was 11 but only took me a few years to not only gain fluency but also lose any form of chinese accent/ stuttering.

Why is it so hard the other way around though

[CiegoEnamorado]

太好了！我也学汉语，可是我的汉语不很好。

[CetiAlphaVI]

:D

I'm going to be like Dashan someday, need some western Canadians all up in there.

[herifuzhenguan3]

我希望有一天我的英語也能說到他說漢語的水平

[alvin4212]

说得这么好汉语的洋人，真的另我无地自容~因为我的汉语都不比

他说得那么好~

[shoa31]

Does he speak english at all?

[despairedboy]

@shoa31

well, he grew up in Ontario and only started to learn Chinese after University, what do you think?

[despairedboy]

@shoa31

well, he grew up in Ontario and only started to learn Chinese after University, what do you think?

[princesscilya]

@shoa31 yup, he can speak english fluently...

[fydyh]

@shoa31 english is his mother tongue

[herifuzhenguan3]

@shoa31 he was raised and educated in Canada and came to China when he was 23.

[jasleil]

@shoa31 Yes, he does. He was a Canadian.

[AbovoMr]

He is really amazing.

[jimtrauba]

Haha... I think she can't stop smiling cause she is so surprised and impressed by his chinese!

[violetist]

Ah, impressive. Heh, I'm glad he decided to stick with the "Dashan" name.

But there are a lot more fluent-in-Mandarin Chinese foreigners than we might know of. I know a German-American woman who learned Mandarin Chinese when she was an adult, and she's amazing at speaking and writing.

[eatfastnoodle]

He's a good entertainer and knows how to be a celebrity and build a brand around himself. You don't get to be a national celebrity in a foreign country and still maintain your fame 20 years later by just being fluent in that country's language, it takes far more than mere language fluency. He knows himself and knows the business, that's why he could sustain his fame. The fact that many non-Chinese could speak fluent, accentless Chinese, yet none of them comes even close to Dashan's success.

[keyofblue1989]

i love you da shan

[bjankuloski]

What's with the subtitles? Is it Cantonese translation or what?

[attcheung]

The subtitles are in simplified Chinese script. There is no such thing as "Cantonese script".

Even though Chinese may have different dialects, the written script used is all the same, written in a traditional version, which has always been used before 1949. Since the 1949 Chinese Cultural Revolution, a simplified script was introduced for some complicated characters, and the same simplified script has been used throughout China since then.

[attcheung]

However, foreign colonies in China were not controlled by the Chinese government during the 1949 revolution, so they are still using the traditional script.

[lida15]

excellent Chinese! Amazing!

[Cometloi]

大山说的中文简直跟中国人无异喔

一点外国腔都没有

如果只听声音

我还以为是中国人在说话呢=。=

[BlueTunisia]

I love 大山!! Dashan is the man!!

我是美国人。请看我的中文录像。请给我评论！谢谢你们！ =)

[MsBillydkid]

da shan is better than most chinese who speak mandarin with local accents(think of cantonese speaking mandarin..lol). There are lots of foreigners after him who have mastered mandarin pronunciation like the fair-haired boy from the usa and the dark-haired man from the UK who c0-emceed Han Yu Qiao (chinese Bridge) chinese profieciency contest at hunan TV. can anyone tell me their names? chinese is one language i find it difficult to master and i admire anyone who masters it.

[tom0326]

了不起的大山,中文能到这个水平,佩服!!

[aliensnow]

哎呀还有更好的啦！那法国来的男的说得更好老大！

[B0l0joe]

i think you mean Julian. They both have perfect Chinese.

[azz002003]

哈哈 有意思！

[mosoloman]

Dashan, I am very impressed with your Mandarin - I wish I could speak my Chinese language like you. Mandarin is a beautiful and intelligent language and to master it is near impossibility let alone a lau wai speaking it fluently!!

[gabsylv]

But no one goes ape shit in Western countries when Chinese speak English fluently. *Isn't that equally amazing? Why not?

[Gnickk]

Probably because it's harder for a non-tonal language speaker to learn a tonal language proficiently than for a tonal language-speaker to learn a non-tonal language.

[jaykertiss]

@Gnickk that's not true at all. english is a non tonal language yet it's extremely rare that foreigners to pronounce english words with no accent. english pronunciation is very tough for foreigners.

[eigentensor]

english is easier

[maverick3110]

I agree with you, but remember that western countries have been open to foreigners for a lot longer than China has, and Dashan was in China during a time when there were next to no foreigners in China. So it was very rare at that time for someone to speak Chinese.

[DefendingMormonism]

大山很牛！他中文很了不起。 他连比中国人好。

[kny4eva]

( =O

[choujiao]

我觉得他当然说汉语得很好。我觉得他快地说汉语。他清楚地说汉语­。我很高兴他成为很有名。我也从北美来的。我明年要去中国留学。­我要问我的汉语的教授。她可能认识他。他还住在中国。他回加拿大­去了没有？他当然习惯说汉语。我想知道要是他和中国女孩儿结婚了­。他有没有孩儿？他教怎么汉语和英语？

[laoshapigou]

oh really?

[SuperCeline83]

@choujiao 哈哈，您也说的很不错， 不过还是可以看出明显的英语逻辑。您的意思中文里面是这样说的：­我觉得他汉语说的很快，他汉语说的很清楚，我很高兴他能够如此出­名。LOL

[hukuan1029]

应该顶一下~

[sobek]

anyone know how long he been speaking chinese?

would love to be that fluent...guess need to practise ALOT more!

[gorkemmmmmt]

20 years in china, 4 years in canada

[dragonniz]

wow..no wonder he's so fluent!

[didUhaveNorgazm]

He lived in Beijing for 10 years and that was after he studied it at university and transferred to Beijing University.

[zzzyes]

大山 牛 ！

[GrandPatzer]

IT IS POSSIBLE!!!

[sobaihong]

he speak Mandarin way better than i do, very impressive

[zhuyihong]

he speaks good chinese...

[sobek]

good? hes fluent..bit more than just good

[SanguoYiZhi]

It would appear that I still have a long way to go in my Mandarin studies before reaching the level that Dashan is at!

[brucebruce2007]

I want to know whether Mark (Da Shan) thinks in Mandarin, or whether he thinks in English??? Everybody thinks in their native language most of the time, but I have heard some cases where the native person has been in another country for so long, or is so fluent at another language that they start to think in it also?????

[daedalusomega]

I speak three languages fluently, and I don't need to think in my mother language, the words in foreign languages come to me naturally. This is true for a lot of bilingual and polyglots.

I have no doubt that Dashan thinks naturally in mandarin. Besides, the guy is just awesome!

[tsolorio3001]

Spanish is my second language and I think and a sometimes dream in Spanish.

[orhaboqer]

Spanish is my first language :)

[darkmatter88]

@brucebruce2007 That happens all the time if you become fluent in another language. He no doubt can think completely in Chinese

[elokyoto]

Stamo in Asia, se ce l'hanno fatta questo in Cina e Panzetta in Giappone, anche noi abbiamo un futuro!

[heyp1t]

zhen da ma xian ma ma ma ma zhong ghoug zin zhen

[rafalebit]

大山哈，偶像

[UrSunshine4eva]

-_______- OMG his Chinese is better than mine!!! & Chinese was my first language and i've been speaking it for 17 years now!! I dont even have a Chinese accent when i speak Chinese anymore!!!

Lol wish i can speak Chinese like him haha

[maverick3110]

He's pretty good, I've been learning Chinese now for nearly 3 months and I can understand most of what he says. I've also been told by my Chinese friends that my pronounciation is excellent, and I know about 700 Characters. I'm hoping to have mastered over 2000 by next year.

[bramble7680]

you've got amazing speed..

but most chinese are not strict on foreigners' accent

[JJJJgil]

hahahahahha, very funny, after 3 months you can understand what he says. hahahhahaha. yes and i am the Pope.

你这个人真可笑，哈哈哈。。。

[anotsofamiliarface]

yeah...i agree with you

[trademe900]

我同意你的意见，maverick哥们儿你是什么东西？哈哈。

[andoruJapan]

Perhaps you're being unfair. It is possible to get a strong command of the language quite quickly. I've been studying 6 months and I can understand everything in the first 4 minutes or so (though I admit largely from reading the subtitles - my reading is more advanced than my listening - in part because I studied Japanese for 10 months before). It's actually not too complex. It also helps that I live and study in China. Maybe this guy does too? Maybe he's just a fast learner.

[tomomahoney]

I find it hard to see how your reading could be more advanced than your speaking, especially since you say you live in China. Becoming literate in Mandarin is a far more arduous process than learning to speak or listen.

[andoruJapan]

I lived in Japan for a year so I am familiar with the construction of characters. I also have a visual memory as opposed to an aural one. Just because you may suck at learning characters doesn't mean they are difficult. In fact I don't study them. I just have an innate ability to remember them when I see them. Speaking uses a different area of the brain and requires regular practice. Reading is something I can train myself to do without need of a teacher. Don't be so skeptical.

[andoruJapan]

Moreover, as an English teacher I can tell you there are different learner styles. Some of my students can't understand a word someone says but can write beautiful prose, others still can speak eloquently but can barely spell their names. Most of my students have excellent written grammar and can understand complex vocab on the page but have awful spoken accuracy and don't recognise relatively simple words in spoken form. It's the way it is.

[samadhist]

I can speak to this. In my experience someone is either good at the characters, or the sounds. I've met a few who could do both, but they admitted later on that they studied one much harder than the other. I personally have a much easier time at the sounds and have been told at time that I sound like a native, and I've only been speaking for 3 months! I've noticed I remember the characters when I read them, but not how to write them from the top of my head. What about you?

[1PostPoMoMaN1]

Hello, samadhist (I'm one as well). I'd like to become part of this discussion: I can now pronounce Mandarin almost like a native, without having had learned it, but I don't understand any Mandarin. So, I can pronounce most language I've leraned, much like the natives do. My Spanish teacher was amazed, so was my English (not native, but exactly like native), Russian, German. I've since independently dabbled on Sanskrit and Latin, and I pronounce them as close oto antive as possible. I brag too.

[Gnickk]

And you come off as an ineffable jackass, but I guess you knew that would happen.

[daofeishi]

不会吧！你给我们写汉语吧，让我们相信！

[maverick3110]

好的，我学汉语一年，我知道大概二千个汉字。

[azz002003]

厉害！

[Cometloi]

二千个汉字

您才学一年就认识那么多字？

可能么？

老实说一般人要花好几年的时间

才能学得那么多

莫非您是天才?

[gaoy4]

nice dude ,keep it up~

[muz06]

Zhen de ma? Qing wen, ni duo jiu xue xi zhong wen? Zhen de zhi san ge yue ma?

[saiyouken]

"He's pretty good".....(lol) Keep studying and you'll get there in a decade if your focused.

[tsolorio3001]

3 months?! How many hours a day do you study and what do you use to study with (movies, tv, books...)?

[maverick3110]

I studied about 6 hours every single day, pracitising reading and writing mostly. My wife is also Chinese, so she helped me a lot with speaking and listening. If you send me a private message I will tell you which books I used, this little box is too small for that.

[xoxoxod]

大山,你不看他人光听他说话的话跟本感觉不出他是外国人,不过他­有点北京口音,大概大山北方呆的时间太长了,呵呵~

我知道中国还有一个老外的中文说的和大山有得一拼,她就是一个嫁­到中国浙江的奥地利人.

[eunicep79]

大山中文好厉害哦！

[Rab1975bit]

他很有台上吸引观众的魅力. 他在北京生活了二十年.不懂中文才奇怪. 学语言就是尊重其他文化的表现. 别人来到中国定居当然要学中文,难到要本地人学外语来吗? 好像中国人到外地生活也会要学他们的话一样.

如果你在一个说英文的地住了二十年,正常地你的英文也会可以一样­好.一个西方人懂中文没有什么奇怪. 很多在欧美地方的中国人也懂英文和其他外地语言,那么没有人觉得­奇怪呢?!

[wannabeurlove]

你这个人怎么钻牛角尖呢 就不能想点积极的内容吗

[focker0000]

他是北大中文系的

[TriXuan]

Am I the only one who thinks Da Shan looks like Dan Akroyds son.. ha ha ha! I first discovered him on cctv 9 on a satelite dish. He was very good in Chinese.......just unreal how good he is. Hen hao! This is coming from an African American to

[qinxiaohu]

Synbest:

我完全同意你的看法。 在中国大山成为了一种神话而一种传奇， 当然大山的中文说得可棒了，但是大山的普通话被一点点外国人的味­道。大部分中国人说大山市外国人但不是外人不说，不过现在有了一­些中文说得比大山好的老外比如说，"爱华"。 可是这些会说普通话的老外都没有大山那么有名的，就是一件很奇怪­的事儿，这是为什么呢？难道是因为大山这个人是第一个在中国出名­的老外吗？

[google2com]

WOW...I remember him...he was like the first oursider to enter china and really opened the door

[chris3443]

Good lord his Chinese is good.

[babeebee]

Cultures can be bridged if we understand each other...

[knowslian]

To be able to speak a second language fluently like that. Amazing, just amazing! うらやましい。。。

[dongrel]

我学中文学了四个学期了，this guy's chinese is disgustingly good, makes me wanna step it up, he's probably rich as hell

[yoka955]

lol, tell me about it. he can speak it so fast and fluently, i luv it! I don't necisarily want my chinese to sound exactly as his in the future, but i definately wanna speak with that kind of fluency.

[torofighter]

The interviewer is really cute

[Nikolette11]

Can someone tell me what the conversation is about?

[maverick3110]

He's talking about his career, and how he got the name Da Shan, and his English name. The usual really.

[vegifish]

amazinggggggggggggggggg! How can he speak so good Chinese?

[7410n0]

He spends half a year in China and half a year in Toronto with his Chinese wife according to the BBC.

[synbest]

大山，虽然我是中国人，但是你的汉语比我强很多。很会表达，我很­惭愧。

[synbest]

大山真的是一个神话。一个外国人但不是外人在中国创造的神话。

[eng90332]

dashan rang wo men hua ren chan kui

[skyfrank]

can kui....

你还真应该惭愧了.....

[fatcatnotfat]

he is superman