其實睇左條片2分幾鐘就要停，唔敢再睇，我會太emotional。我15歲前係系大馬出世成長，小學讀中文學校，成績一般英文都從來未及格過。到到form 3，有一次老師要每一個同學當眾讀一段英文嘅故事書，phantom of the opera。我真係唔識，尤其去到 “evil”. 老師系全班同學面前羞辱我，話我英文差，根本唔係form 3 程度。我覺得好醜。我返到屋企同我mommy講我要去美國讀書學英文，返黎用英文鬧返呢個老師睇小我。My first 2-3 years being in NYC not knowing English in school were the toughest times of my life. I was very fortunate and grateful that NONE of my teachers laughed at me or used that against me. Somehow they always told me that it’s totally understandable why my English wasn’t perfect and I just needed to keep up the learning, etc. I was also very lucky that I don’t remember being bullied in school because it’s NYC afterall with people from all different places. Like Sarah, I was put in all ESL classes and I was trying so hard to fit into the “normal” American English classes which required a standardized exam here. I finally passed it in 11th grade so I spent 12th grade not being in ESL anymore. I speak English very fluently with very little Chinese accent now and I have much greater appreciation for my Cantonese and Mandarin skills - I will never want to lose my Cantonese. As an adult in my 30s, I’m strong and can overcome a lot of challenging problems but nothing can compare to my journey of learning English during the first few years. That part of my memories is where I can’t exactly revisit because I would get emotional every single time thinking about and reliving it. Great content from you guys as always and please keep doing what you do! Support from NYC!!!
Thanks Michelle for your sharing, we are so happy to know that you've overcome these language problems that you experienced like ourselves as kids. It's very upsetting that you didn't have a teacher who knew how to encourage and teach you. But it's something that made you stronger. We were both quite fortunate to have had fairly happy memories about school. Of course bullying racism was quite common, but they still exist even nowadays. Something that comes to mind when we talk about childhood memories and such growing pains is not dwell on the past too much. A couple of weeks back we talked about giving birth and the whole consignment process, during which we came to the conclusion it's important to open up and not worry too much about things you can't control. Only every now and then do we talk about these things that we've almost completely forgotten about, it's meaningful to us, but so far in the past. thx thx Michelle❤️
Your English is perfect now. Don't hold grudges against that Malaysian teacher, if it wasn't for her (although it was not right for her to embarrass you in front of the whole class) it probably would not have given you such a big push to want to perfect your English :)
I truly feel sorry for your terrible experiences since you were humiliated in Malaysian school. By the way, I used to have the same experience as yours where I was felt offended by my english teacher since I was in Rosaryhill school. Teachers are somehow so mean about the weakness of the student and push too harsh to every students. Until one day, when my previous high school English teachers were no longer working in high school and changed her career to become bankers. I used remained spare time gathering with my British uncle and mixed coloured cousin and talking things about British history, culture and also life habits experiences from them. They inspired me to improve my english efficiently. So therefore, my schoolmates from Rosaryhill school begun to respect me since I told to my new english teacher some vocabulary (Eventually) in form 6 aside of basic word (finally) that learnt from Top Gear TV programme. Schoolmates were shocked to see I had big changes once they find out I had Facebook profile picture with my British uncle and my British mixed cousin. And I also show one of the vocabulary that had being shown in London's store name Brylcreem that my previous English teachers don't know. And I also show the meaning of brylcreem to her. That sign means you have no rights to judge someone's weakness because you also weaknesses as well and you don't even know what brylcreem means. At least I revenge in a right way by using acknowledgement that learnt from the outside of the experience.
No you are not a out cast. We all been there. 我十二歲到澳洲。現在四十多歲在澳洲生活了三十多年。人生如夢。當年看星球大戰要看中文字幕。近年看星球大戰全英文。眼淚不停落下。突然發現自己的改變，成長 及 growing old in a foreign land now I called Home.
hey Lina, we're still growing up🤣🤣🤣 so are you! but the sentiment about finding home in a new place, that rings true... who would have thought 2 people from different parts of the world would meet and settle here☺️
Love this video. As one of the (very junior) writers of one of Jason's first comedy shows at tvb and having heard him deliver the Canto lines back then (2006?!), and now learning about his early struggles and seeing him now becoming the language expert who corrects others... It's amazing😂 Love the contrasting attitudes between Sarah and Jason... And I always feel that ppl only really get to know you when you're outside tvb.
thx Carmen, wow does time fly! we did struggle so much, not knowing what to say, how to say, when to say it hahaha as long as there's no swearing it's all ok!
My son has been raised up in Australia ( now he is 44, and he is a senior lawyer) . I am a Hong Konger. My background is Sociology ( from America) Cantonese is the main language at home. My son speaks Cantonese fluently. But, I see the need for him to know the Chinese cultures and understand they are very different from Western cultures .
Great work on this guys! Love how this content is so relatable. Being brought up in a household that speaks "wei tau" Cantonese and "hakka", my standard Cantonese is mixed bag of the above accents aswell as English, and certain words I don't actually know in standard Cantonese haha. The part where Sarah mentioned how she picked up on her parent's pronunciation on certain words in English got me giggling. As I didn't know until 15/16, that a roundabout WAS NOT pronounced as "Lang - a - bao" - thanks to good old Garmin satnav!
Thank you for sharing. 我哋住喺美國同你哋一樣，我同我老公都係細個時移民到美國。喺學校學同講英文，屋企就講廣東話，好明白你哋嘅sharing. 而家自己有小朋友，我哋都喺屋企同佢哋講廣東話。因為我哋覺得小朋友可以用廣東話同屋企嘅長者溝通係好重要，可以令到佢哋同佢哋關係親密啲，又可以氹老人家開心。我都好努力教自己小朋友學同寫中文字。
wow, love your channel, it's great to see the effort to teach chinese, it can't just be TVB, or movies. keep it up!!! gonna listen to some stories a bit later☺️
I can totally associate! 😂 I came to the UK when I was 10. First day of school was too funny (scary at the time). All I wanted to know was what time we could go home so I said to my new friends... 'what time ding-a-ling-a-ling?', trying to imitate the sound of a school bell. Till this day, I still feel that nervousness and helplessness.
you mean you still remember that feeling, not still have that feeling? we've just been going back thru our own childhood, thinking of situations that really made us uncomfortable, and hope we can help Damon and Jamie overcome similar challenges. we've never been this serious about who are and how we got here, and I suppose our kids make us want to be better versions of ourself☺️
Hi Jason & Sarah, same goes to me, when I was born, I do speak cantonese and watch lots of tvb Hong Kong drama 😅🤣and my elder brother do laugh at me and always "quote" Aaron is China men, watch to much Hong Kong drama. However, I do speak English, & cantonese. Moreover, I can't read Chinese, however I can speak cantonese, haha. However, each of us, have an special gift, not to compare with the rest.
Hahaha. Thanks Sarah & Jason, yes, is an advantage too and in this generation, learning is an essential and important, everyday we are learning new things. I believe Jamie & Damon too, both of them learn many new things as well 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
I grew up in Hong Kong but was brought up in a British school. A lot of my concepts were learnt in English and this became a gap between my cousins and I, as a lot of time I do not understand them academically as they went to Chinese schools. When I came back to Australia, I still remember the first day at the Uni campus to enroll, I did not understand a word the officer said, as the Australian accent was so thick. I thought, 'I survived America and UK but cannot understand Australian English'. Nowadays, like Jason when I talk to my parents on the phone, a lot of time I need to say 'Let me think how to say this in Cantonese'. I think that became a common thing among our generation. But as a linguistic, communications and theatre major, I think the beauty of language is that it continues to evolve and allows us to communicate in a way we want to :) BTW did you get confused about Circular Quay initially? :D
Jason: 🤣🤣🤣 There's so many stories to share about accents and not understanding accents from different places. This one time when I was maybe 10, I went to Newcastle to see grandma and we all went for dim sum at the local Chinese restaurant. The Geordie accent is quite special, very different to the Australian accent, but when you can't even figure out what it is you want to see yourself, our own level of English mediocre at best, not understanding someone else's accent was only normal. (I thought they were speaking French🤣🤣🤣) Circular Quay? lemme ask
Yeah, tell that to your english teachers too. Schoolmates had bullies because teacher created bullied first. That's somehow not really appropriate in primary school or either high school as well. Let me just thinking back of HK school were full of sins that everyone's created. Such as language bullying or physical bully as well. Why are they allowed this happened without understand the seriousness of human behavioural issues? And one of the most ridiculous thing was some teachers are threatened if anyone don't submit homework punctually, they will corrupted students money. Oh for Godness sake. Nobody in the world should be like this.
你考完dsc可以做下暑期工， 做下 無需任何經驗嘅 飲食業炒散，有啲餐廳嘅員工係講英文， 你會有唔少機會去溝通。 佢哋唔會介意你唔識英文， 而係會嘗試令你明白。 客人同你溝通更加好，因為佢哋唔會鬧你。 佢哋都明白有啲香港人未必有好嘅英文基礎。 How would you like your steak? Wonderful? Sorry, well done? Medium well? Medium?…… 我都係做炒散先知道點講？
I thought it was just me. Totally felt the difficulties. I lived in in Nigeria (British school) from 2 to 9 and returned to Hong Kong and went to local school till I was 16 and went to Canada. Every thought I knew the language well because I had the accent, but couldn't really find the words or understand parts of the conversation. I always seem to suck in school.
I suppose the conclusion is when we encountered these problems, we really need the teacher and our parent to help us out, if not to correct us to at least try and figure it out together... now we know, we'll try and be there for D&J when they need❤️
I immigrated to US at my 30’s . I speak English with my own accent but it is OK. They understand me well. In New York City, people all have their accent though. People even comment the guy born in Brooklyn having a Brooklyn accent. 😂No big deal.
我剛到美國時,最embarrassed 就是唔識食當然的食物😬. 有一次在學校把French dressing 淋在lasagna 上面! When I was doing it, everyone was staring at me. I bet those kids thought I was strange or weird 😀
I really like the wonderful steak joke 🥩🥩🤣🤣… I thoroughly enjoy watching the exchanges between you two, not so much the contents but the quality communication as husband and wife. I wonder in the day to day life how often a spousal couple would sit down to dwell on and reflect on a topic … so meaningful!
One of my experience was when I became an adult and a customer of mine asked me about my nationality, I guess because of my English was so Canadian. For a moment I didn’t know how to react, was I Chinese or Canadian? Now I know, I am a Canadian with a Chinese ancestry. Sarah, well done, wonderful.
When Sarah talked about on pronunciation of Flemington, which reminds me of 得力超, I went, what the heck is this suburb? It turn out this is Dulwich Hill. Being Chinese, I still follow suit to say Cold 屎 as Coles, or 爬啦嗎他for Parramatta.
thank you for spending time reply my msg 😱😱😱😭😭 If you guys got time, to make a topic about how an overseas kid learn chinese will give a lot of help to many families, as many of our hk kids are now living either overseas (as u know the immigrant wave) or studying in international school , whenever I see you guys talking or replying msg in chinese , I just cant imagine how you guys could be that smart to master both languages while you were actually raised in a Chinese free country 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Hey Julia, thanks for the comment, I guess it's kind of parental talk, but initially we want to share about our experiences abroad, for those you have a lot of questions about life abroad. Learning English for both of us it turns out wasn't so straightforward, and thinking about stories from 20-30 years ago, although it troubled us back then, puts a smile on her face now☺️
Sarah was born in China then immigrated to Australia at the age of 6, so she's not a true ABC. She also sounds like she tries really hard putting on a Ozzy accent at times. Where as Jason is a true BBC hence why his British accent sounds natural.
Jason: Have to disagree buddy, a lot of people who weren't born in the uk/aus end up being totally native, without any chinglish accent, and Sarah is certainly accent free (bar that Ozzie open of hers). And being born in China is nothing to be ashamed of, that's certainly not a reason to pick fault at her English. Thx Tom for your msg
@@sarahjasonchanwhat makes you ashamed.....she was born in China. I don't understand why you raise this out. Our original ancestors are from China, you should be proud.
@@Tom-zg7fy what you should try to understand is being born in a place doesn't make you fluent in that language, do you understand the term "illiterate" or in chinese "文盲" There are plenty of these people in every country. Therefore, once again, being born in England does NOT make you fluent in English, and being born in Australia does NOT make you fluent in English. We are talking about proficiency in a language. And being proud of once ancestry doesn't affect your language ability either... unless that pride serves as motivation to improve your mother tongue... Please refer to your original comment to understand my first reply. Many thanks Tom
@@sarahjasonchan there's really no-brainer to work your statement out. My first statement refers to where Sarah was born, immigrated to Australia at the age of 6 and that she's not a true ABC. If these facts are not true then correct me. I've been following you and Sarah for years and I hope to continue to do so.
This brings me back to my first job in the US 🥲 I was 19 and found a job in the university box office by pure luck. Part of my job was calling seasonal concert ticket holders to renew their subscriptions. I went to an English secondary school in Hong Kong but English was not my favourite subject (it was中國文學😅). I had no clue how I would describe the layout of the stadium or how to ask someone for their credit card number. I ended up eavesdropping on my coworkers for a few calls and writing down everything they said😅. Then I scripted my first call on a piece of paper and went with it. I've had many jobs since then but this I'll always remember.
Jason: even when I was twenty something, when I took on a new role in a hospital about which I knew nothing... like yourself I had to learn how to deal with patient complaints, figure out how to not let the doctors walk all over you... it's all a learning process at the same time, people are good fun to work with, new personalities, different cultures etc... as long as these people are happy to embrace others☺️
Okay 👍 I’ll get back with this family trip to Toronto this place for sure hope you’re having fun with my family friends while now it’s not really busy for a while now it’s not
I was born in Canada but only spoke Cantonese at home until I went to kindergarten. Luckily I don't remember having any communication issues, but my mom tells me that I used to ask questions like, "Apple"英文點樣講？because I couldn't differentiate between what was English and what was Chinese. My most embarrassing moment was probably when I thought Skype was pronounced "Sky-pee" because that's how my dad pronounced it lol. And I've definitely had those moments when someone is speaking to me in Chinese and they insert a basic English word that just doesn't load in my brain. It's not even that they have an accent or anything, my brain just tries to figure out what Chinese word they're saying, and gets confused. It's also funny because I speak "chinglish" all the time. I guess sometimes things just don't load properly hahaha. Interestingly, I've asked my Caucasian friends whether I speak English with an accent and they say there is a slight difference, even though they wouldn't necessarily call it an accent. I wonder if it's more apparent now that I've lived in HK for 7 years. Overall I'm really glad I grew up speaking both languages, and I think it makes a big difference in terms of what you get to experience from each culture!
thx Swan for your sharing❤️ Completely agree with you, without a basic understanding of both languages we couldn't have enjoyed both Chinese and English or Australian cultures. Speaking two languages, sometimes fluently, sometimes messily, isn't always that easy. Having the chance to grow up speaking to languages is actually quite precious. I suppose what we wanted to say was that besides bullying, and sometimes racism, there were other things that bothered us as children. We love accents, both of us have one, one English one Australian, and that's what makes us who we are.
你哋咁樣叫我哋啲屋邨仔女情何以堪呢？ 睇一陣真係有少少眼火爆。 雖然我無去過外國讀書，但英文叫做同外國人溝通到，細個英文都叫好，但唔係特別好；特別好個啲有拔尖班，特別差個啲就會被「特別關注」，有補底班。好似我呢啲中游就要靠自己努力。 係嘅，你可能話我賴，我家境唔夠好，都可以自己努力，同埋我唔係無娛樂，我都有。 有人無咩娛樂又努力過我嘅人大把，但我細細個都唔係無努力，細細個成日查字典，成日做功課做到好夜（其他科），但就係追唔上，入咗間排名差嘅學校，唔知係咪叻得滯，初中成日被欺凌，跟住因為我記生字叻，整個中學就被人當人肉字典，起初都覺得開心，有人認同我，但慢慢就覺得被「利用」，整班三十幾人，個個都問我，可能又人問老師，但我最就手，我當年又唔太識拒絕人，依家諗番好似被人浪費咗好多時間，好彩高中都遇到好同學同好老師，叫做有啲幾好嘅回憶。 以前望住一個個同學喺香港啲英文差到嘔，但係有錢飛去外國讀書，番嚟英文喇喇聲；去外國讀書，英文繼續差都有XD；有人畢業去外國讀書，剩係讀英文，番嚟做保險佬。 所以在我立場我只有羡慕妒忌恨，但都多謝你哋嘅分享。 As a Native Cantonese, All I want to say is that you guys are ”身在福中不知福”. As a Foreign Language Learner, I would like to say “ Every one has its own story”, 家家有本難唸的經，We don’t have to compare with each other, but I am still jealous. P.S.: 我應該同Jason 對語言嘅執著差唔多，另分享一個係幼稚園嘅尷尬事，細個老師教thank you 係fan 橋，當時我諗住k有k音，所以讀咗fan 橋you.XD ANYWAY, thanks for sharing!
@@sarahjasonchan 多謝你哋有睇我個留言。其實我打呢段嘢個時漏咗句，我想話老師成日話抄答案唔啱，但都話比人抄唔使驚，因為學到嘅嘢係自己，但被人抄到一個點係，我覺得人哋抄都會學到嘢，因為抄都係學習嘅一種，所以我覺得梗加嬲，不過我都盡量聽你哋講，試吓唔好咁介懷，但呢啲記憶永遠都刻喺我嘅記憶到，但我會再嘗試忘記呢啲痛苦，成日記住真係好易唔開心。 好似有啲off-topic.但都唔重要。 所以最後都好開心可以同你哋有呢啲交流，特別係呢啲時間，人與人真係比較疏離，個個帶哂口罩，有啲咁嘅溝通係暖心嘅。Thanks you all.
馬來人同馬來西亞華人绝對喺有分别架，妳可以統稱我地為大馬人或者馬來西亞人。 In Malaysia, we actually are multicultural country where constitutional of 3 major races: Malays, Chinese and Hindu, totally different ethnicity and sorts. The Malays(馬來人) speaks only Malays, they have darker and brownish skin, you could easily see the differences when you got the chance, they're most likely do not follow at all what's trending in Hongkong, they barely understand Cantonese nor Mandarin, but Malaysian Chinese in our country are likely the people who watched TVB's productions just like me, I'd watched 誰家灶头無烟火, I would, by chance, clicked on this clip just because I know who 陳智燊 is. We literally, honestly, don't really feel comfortable to be called 馬來人，會覺得好唔懂尊重。 🙂
We had no idea, we've been to Malaysia a few times for work, so we know how friendly Malaysian are. Like you said, we should look into the cultural ethnicities to understand more about Malaysia, thx S&J
