It's ironic how the show depicts foreigners' stereotypes, but shows them as a close community at the same time, which somewhat makes me feel like every race on earth is united.
new immigrants don't feel offended because they think the stereotype is accurate old immigrants feel offended because they think the sterotype is too accurate
The questionable humour in this is whenever they portray the foreigners as morons rather than poking fun at the humorous aspects of learning English (which is actually funny).
Ironically, this show was very popular internationally. Though it deals in simplistic stereotypes in a horribly dated seventies way, it never portrays the English as “superior” to the students.
The emphasis on the stereotypes isn't that strong, also, the script and the acting were modest, so... But yeah, nowadays, you get called out in almost anything you do.
I'm Asian (local) and I actually find all the Asian jokes and stereotypes very funny, including the looks, the positive, and the negatives. Not offended at all. When accused of being prone to commit certain crimes, I blame those minority of our own people (I know I'm not the offender). Honestly, I don't see how people could be this easily offended, unless they want to continue to commit those crimes (or accept them), but at the same time don't want people associating it with their race... No, I'm not a Caucasian pretending to be Asian. I'm genuine believe it or not. Test me if you'd like.
I am with you here, Bob. Its just the same with Germans for instance. They have a big issue if people make fun of them - particularly with regard to WW2 . Personally I dont think, comedy should have any boundaries. Gervais explains this pretty well on many occasions.
@@itsgonnabeanaurfrommeidk - when i first tried to think and speak only in english instead of language I grew up with I felt like any cognitive task is 5 times more difficult. Some time passed and now it's okay, but realisation of just how much understanding of language impacts thinking still amazes me.
@@itsgonnabeanaurfromme Something tells me that a foreigner who has lived in the UK for one month knows more English than an English person who has lived in Spain or Italy for one month knows Spanish or Italian. Didn't David Beckham live in Spain for over a decade and never managed to learn even basic Spanish conversational skills?
This is only offensive to people who have never taken another language class. It is so damn accurate. I watched this show years ago ,not understanding the undertones. Having attended second language school this is an accurate depiction of class sessions.
I used to watch this program with a dozen international students from various countries when I lived in a university dormitory in Australia in 1980’s. No one felt offended or discriminated. We just kept laughing to the end.
It's funny when it's poking fun at the difficulties, inconsistencies, and possible misunderstandings of learning English. Not as funny when it's just portraying the foreigners as stupid, which it does a few times.
@@kejarebi It displayed Indians as stupid more then 5-6 times just in starting 5 minutes and it really doesn't match me because I am good at online scrabble and all even when I'm an Indian. And... I didn't get offended, I don't think there is something to be offended about it.
Yes and no. Yes in that, Echo chambers as one mentioned is the reason why some people always think other communities or people as bad. No in the sense that the sensitivity in depicting people from different cultures is a good thing as people now realise that shows like this influence our perception about those cultures in some way. Stereotypes won't fly in 2020s and that's great for everyone.
@@HemantKumar-id3jg People, in the past, have used stereotypes to make fun of different groups in a condescending way. But we have come TOO sensitive that any depiction of stereotypes would cause an outrage. Stereotypes itself will always exist because it is an oversimplified way to describe a culture. So it really depends on how you use it.
@@jacksc9855 Stereotypes will surely exist for the next few decades? Sure. But have they dramatically reduced over time with more people being aware of other communities due to personal experiences and better representation in popular media? Yes. What you see affects your perception, especially when it comes to things you know little about. Characters that are living breathing stereotypes of people from a certain culture (like in this show) will influence your perception about those people and community. Also, it was funny before because we were unaware of our similarities and exaggerated our differences. Today the world is much more interconnected, content can be viewed by anyone on the globe. We know the exaggerations, so a character that is caricature of a people just appears cringy rather than funny. As for the people going after every little thing in the name of "cultural appropriation" etc. Those types of people will always be there. They are loud but not the majority. It's similar to how most people who find this show funny are normal while some are just racists. It's futile to focus on extremes.
This show was extremely funny and very well written 😂If you can't laugh at yourself, you're one sad human being. If someone made a joke about my German perfectionism, I would definitely laugh, cause its funny! 😂😂
Being perfect is kinda positive so its likely less people would be offended. But if every german was joked on about being Nazi, then i would think lot more people will find it offensive. Although i agree with you on the aspect that one should be able to laugh at themselves and find humor in life. Its just makes life so much more bearable.
I love this movie. I learned English in US and I relate to this. I remember my own funny mistakes. Whenever I want to cheer myself up, I watch this movie. Stereotypes are very funny. I'm armenian and find a lot in common with Greek guy, who actually is played by an armenian.
@leolontoc8408 "There were three brothers, and these brothers were invited to a dinner party, but they were warned not to scratch themselves because they had scabies. One of them had scabies behind the neck, one of them had scabies under his chin, and the other one had scabies under his arm. When they started to eat, the one with scabies behind his neck said "What's the matter with you?" (moving the head back). The second answered "Nothing, nothing, nothing!" (moving the head forwards). And the last one said "Let's get out of here!" while moving the arm."
Honestly the criticism is uncalled for. It's satire and shows how weird our stereotypes would be in real life situations. The show clearly isn't oblivious to the racist jokes, they're all deliberate. To the people playing the racism card, there's white people being stereotyped to lmfao.
The shows called Mind Your Language and its a legendary show, I'm a pakistani and I still don't mind that Ali nadeem was played by an Indian. It's hilarious family friendly comedy and is quite wholesome that explores cultures. Woke nazis would cancel this type of show for being racist despite how accurate or light hearted it is.
Thanks for sharing the title, I definitely wanted to check it out. I've been learning Japanese and some other languages, so I can definitely see why it would be hard to learn English coming from other languages.
@@Blood0cean I use RU-vid and apps like Human Japanese, Easy Japanese. If you want to start, I recommend learning all the Hiragana and Katakana characters, then practice sentence structure and learn Kanji. This is the process I've been working on a couple of years now, but I did take a break learning for quite a while. Take breaks if you need to as well, so you don't burn yourself out. Good luck!
@@Blood0cean Sadly, I took a break for a while, so yes and no. I can read basic names written in Katakana, and some basic words and phrases that are written in Hiragana. This is my own fault though, because I haven't continued studying and have been doing other things in life. I lost motivation for a while. Speaking of which, I recommend you learn vocabulary too!
Wonderful - when people had no issues with good jokes - regardless of race, colour or stereotype. This was just good fun. Nowadays not possible. All the woke nonsense.
I'm black myself and this is an example of comedy that is way ahead of its time, its hilarious. 😂 One of the best English sketches I've watched. Times were simple back then, too bad everybody nowadays wails over being 'mocked' even though this is a comedy sketch... a program that shows how foreigners learn English in a comedic perspective. Whats even a plus is that it's relatable! Comedys like this being phased out must be one of the reasons why western TV entertainment is slowly devolving
I believe people appreciated humor and comedy much more in the past, as they didn't have access to the variety of entertainment available today, such as phones or computers. Consequently, people weren't as picky about the entertainment they found on TV. Nowadays, with the abundance of entertainment options, people can afford to be more picky about what they find funny. I think this tv show was great . I especially liked the French lady , she was so funny , sweet , charming , and her accent was lovely.
@Brian L Dixon it’s not mocking it’s joking. Many cultures joke and tease as a way of connecting and building trust. Your ignorance on this very basic human interaction is the very reason there is more hatred and distrust in our world. Nothing to do with this innocent and loving humour. People like you make the world a darker place. What a sad life you lead.
Juan and Ali were my favorites, they were always the funniest and had fun personalities. Also one of the few times I could ever remember a Muslim getting a positive and mostly accurate portrayal.
I don't think this is offending because it's just how language learning works but I can't say that the intentions behind it were pure ...if they were it's pure comedy no problem with this , but if it was ment to make fun of others ( and there was a time in history when those who can't speak fluent English were made fun of and treated badly ) than it's not so good .
Back then, this was really hilarious to the mainstreams and as a kid born in the '90s I really laugh at this kind of shows even in our local tvs. Unlike today, people would react for it like getting pinned and having different kind of debates and reactions towards stereotypes 😂
Because back then, minorities think the caucasian was just being funny. Today, the same group of minorities got smarter and realized the caucasian back then wasn't even trying to be funny, they were just being plain ass racist.
I am a Gen Z and I appreciate and enjoy their humor. Just unfortunate that this kind of joke will be cancelled today. Everyone is offended by everything.
Wtf this is the best series I've seen in a while xxxD better than most shows nowadays Also love how it somewhat portrays the stereotypes of each country
These students were absolutely fabulous! They were thinking and not merely applying rote memorization. .. though rote is one way to get information into the memory circuits, it is best applied at ages before 'years'. . . as babies.
License for television ? How's that work ?? In my country, it's really just free.. But there is a subscription option too but there is still a free one..
LOL I was thinking the same thing! I sometimes watch his (Bryan Dechart, the actor's) livestreams on Twitch and couldn't stop thinking about how much he sounds like him 🤣
The likes of Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson and their selfish right- wing Tory gang have managed to poison the political atmosphere in England for the last 15 years, so that foreigners are often condemed as unwanted or even criminals. In this comedy series "Mind your language", however, cultural differences and stereotypes are made fun of but at the same time celebrated, all characters are lovable and make a valuable contribution. It also depicts rhe arrogance of the English, who in general haven't got a clue about foreign languages, and shows the viewers how illogical their own tongue can sometimes be (why not "over the weather", why is there a p in "receipt").Even Mr Brown doesn 't speak any language of his students and discriminates against a black newcomer, who eventually turns out to be a school inspector, although he admirably treats all his students with the same respect. Miss Courtney on the other hand hardly ever manages to do that. When the series was made, Britain had just joined the EU. Nowadays - after leaving - you wouldn't find it on British TV. It just does not fit in with its positive attitude towards our friends in the world.
Because I grew up watching some comedy done somewhat like this, it's funny to me because it's true. My Korean friend asked me to go chopping with her. I told her that I don't go chopping. This went on about three minutes until she finally said, " you know when you go to the store'. I said 'oh you mean shopping'. We both laughed because of the misunderstanding that we both had. 😂😂😂😂 I still laugh about that whenever it cross my mind. I miss her.
As a Sri Lankan, I loved this show as a kid when my father got me a DVD no set of the first season, unfortunately over the years I’ve misplaced it. I wish I could find it (EDIT: I believe this show was called ‘Mind your Language’)
The r mistake that su lee made is actually only applied for east asian (chinese, japanese, korean and maybe mongolian? I'm not sure) since they all use the same pronunciation system that originated from ancient china. In this system, the R pronunciation is less-emphasized than that of the western, so it just sounds like an L. East Asian actually wasn't mistaking R for L. Their R just sounds too much like an L.
I find it really funny though, when it comes to words in English that have an L, they pronounce it with a R. But here, with word that have R they pronounce it with an L. Like Bolt = Borto (or boruto) Fright = Flight (or flite)
@@verymelone the old switcharoo can be seen as an after effect of the semi R thing. That semi R sound is somewhere between latin R and latin L, so EAsians find it hard to make those sounds distinct from each other. Their L sound is also a bit less-pronounced than latin L so that just makes things worse.
Korean is r and l mixed together, so it wouldn’t sound like Su Lee’s pronunciation. It isn’t entirely accurate for Chinese and Japanese too, in my opinion.
@@lollipop5217 there are slight difference, yes, since big guess, different languages. But they all have mixed sound between r and l since they all stem from the same pronunciation root of ancient chinese.
Every asian stereotype is really based on their own asian accent Now that i am mature i understand it basically means it depend on how you pronounced the words
someone please explain the oat joke- nvm i googled and found out. Maybe it's just british slang since i have never heard of it. Overall this is hilarious. As someone who knows English although not native level and is studying Japanese, learning language is really like this. You get all wrong and problems here and there and its always funny sometimes.
@@mbrusyda9437 I copy paste from what I searched: Verb. (informal) To have se*ual intercourse. Probably he's in a bad mood because he didn't get his oats last night.
I have to write this in Arabic he reminded me of our Arabic language teacher when we were in highschool she couldn't pronounce the R which she's supposed to know how to pronounce any letter cuz it's a language can't make it mistakes but somebody hired here anyway. It was an old poetry full of letter. R that was so funny when she read it for us. That's what she say مكغ مفغ مقبل مدبغ معا كجلمود صخغ حطه السيل من عل فكانت القصيده مكر مفر مقبل مدبر معا كجلمود صخر حطه السيل من عل
When people say "this wouldn't be acceptable anymore, those were the days" you forget that it's still acceptable, to the vast VAST majority of people, as proven by all the comments that say that. Nothing has changed except people that found things funny started paying attention to those that don't find things funny.
Other countries when they learn English:⚰️ When their native language: 🗿🍷 Meanwhile Philippines learning English: 🗿🍷 When learning it's native language: ⚰️
