FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO CAN SPEAK MANDARIN CHINESE
Mandarin Chinese is the most commonly spoken language in the world and is becoming increasingly common as a second language to learn. But what you may not know is which famous people are also learning the language and can dabble in some Mandarin, or more than dabble in some cases, let’s take a look at the big names.
Mark Zuckerberg
Rating: ***
Yes, the founder of Facebook has been learning Mandarin for a number of years now and has plenty of reasons to do so, not least because of business and his wife is ethnically Chinese. Whilst it would be intriguing to see how his Mandarin has improved now, we can only see a video from his Q&A session from his trip to the esteemed Tsinghua University in Beijing 2014 and a Chinese New Year’s message in 2016 respectively. He wowed and charmed the guests and audience at Tsinghua University with the majority of his speech in Mandarin. His understanding, listening and ability to comprehend is clearly pretty good and commendable but his pronunciation and tones lack accuracy. His effort is undeniable and so he deserves plaudits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xpdhbh_2Rc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fISvHRJWHPg
Kevin Rudd
Rating: *****
The former Australian Prime Minister and foreign affairs minister has great command of the Chinese language and he should do. He graduated from the Australian State University in 1976, majoring in Chinese Language and Chinese History. His fascination with the Chinese language and culture started from a young age as he talks about in the latter part of this video for Mandarin News Australia. Watch and you will see how he can seamlessly change between difficult topics about politics and has a tacit understanding of the language. Very impressive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bro4mkb_VKc
Vanessa Branch
Rating: ****
The British actress shocked the world when on an episode of popular TV series Entourage (Season 2 episode 6), she started speaking in Mandarin. In the episode she engages with a Chinese designer/artist and translates what he says. You might say this was scripted but actually in real life Vanessa Branch is fluent in Mandarin. She is a lover of languages and started learning Mandarin in college. She was able to combine her passion for both acting and languages together. Since then she has gone on to star in Chinese films, becoming, it has been said, the first non-Asian Hollywood star to have a Chinese-speaking lead role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ukvEAPYZzE
John Cena
Rating: **
You wouldn’t think John Cena, WWE star and Action hero, would come to mind when thinking about famous people who can speak Mandarin, but never judge a book by its cover. But here he is, in the WWE’s Historic Shanghai 2016 press conference promoting and celebrating the growth of WWE in China with a speech in Mandarin. When WWE tried to break into the Chinese market he became fascinated with the language and the culture. Kudos to him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1RqxR872uw
Arabella Kushner
Rating: ***
Back in 2017 the granddaughter of Donald Trump became the social media darling of China when the U.S. President arrived on Chinese shores for his state visit, he showed a video of his granddaughter speaking Chinese and singing the Chinese song ‘Jasmine Flowers’ to the Chinese President. It went viral! According to reports Arabella is learning Chinese in school and loves all things to do with Chinese culture. If she keeps up with her study then there will be no limits to her Chinese language skills. And she’s not the only person from the first family to do so. Barack Obama’s daughter before her is also learning Mandarin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzM7XoVVGQc
Pub Quiz Question: Who is the only U.S. President to be able to speak Mandarin? That’s right, it’s the 31st American President, Herbert Hoover, who picked up the lingo, before his political career began, as an engineer in China. Apparently he used to speak Mandarin to his wife in the White House to keep people from listening in, hehe.
Mira Sorvino
Rating: ***
Best known for winning an Academy Award for her role in the Woody Allen film ‘Mighty Aphrodite’, Mira Sorvino majored in East Asian Studies at the famed Harvard Academy where she learnt Mandarin and later she participated in a one-year exchange program in Beijing. Whilst there is no footage of her actually speaking Mandarin, during an interview on Reddit she was asked if she could still speak Mandarin and her answer was mǎmǎhūhū (马马虎虎) which means so-so, so we will just have to take her word for it.
Mark Roswell aka ‘Dashan’
Rating: *****
Proclaimed as the most famous foreign media personality in China, but lesser known in the west, Canadian Mark Roswell, better known as ‘Dashan’ (which translates as ‘big mountain’), probably has the best Mandarin language ability on this list. Graduating from East Asian studies at the University of Toronto he later continued his language and culture studies at Beijing University. Unlike the others on this list Mark made his fame and career in the East. He was propelled into stardom as he performed a comedic sketch on CCTV’s Chinese New Year’s Gala in 1989. And since then he has taken his character’s name in the sketch as his stage name and gone on to many comedic performances and dramatic roles in Chinese television that has endeared him to many Chinese fans. He became the honorary Good Will ambassador for Canada in China. And as they say, the rest is history. Here is an interview with the man himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rXGg8VkVKg
The Rock
Rating: *
Ok, the Rock doesn’t really know Chinese but in the following clip, whilst he’s on his China press tour for the film ‘Rampage’, he’s with his buddy, China’s man of the moment ‘Wu Jing’, and the Chinese action star teaches the Rock a few Chinese lines. The Rock basically imitates Wu Jing and some of his Chinese pronunciation is ok but also sometimes far off the mark but definitely an A for effort. Take a look. Plus, it’s just hilarious to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhsm1CDdXI
Hugh Jackman
Rating: *
I know what you’re thinking, as if he wasn’t good looking enough, Wolverine can also master languages such as Mandarin. Well, calm down, Hugh Jackman cannot speak Mandarin but he did learn this well-known Mandarin song ‘Give me a Kiss’ and he sang it pretty well on this talk show. I bet plenty of people would love to give him a kiss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO3k3t3hqEU
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Speaking Mandarin Chinese in the Movies
Amy Adams in Arrival
Rating: * (****)
In Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Arrival’ Amy Adams literally speaks Mandarin to save the world from war and destruction. If there was a film that ever spoke about the power of language and linguistics, this is it. Although Amy Adams is not a Mandarin speaker, for the film she had to practice a few lines for an important couple of minutes in the story. We’re really tempted to rate this 5 stars as Mandarin is such an important plot device to the resolution of the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlpD95WFA04
Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo in Now You See Me 2
Rating: *
There are barely two lines of Mandarin in this clip spoken by Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo but it’s still a playful bit of fun and so we put it on this list hehe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqnrkjs7GmI
The Hollywood Guide to Speaking Chinese
Rating: *
The oriental, the Chinese, has always functioned as being the exotic in the history of western cinema, and it still very much remains that way with stereotypes still existing, but the tide is slowly starting to turn, with predominantly Asian-themed-and-led films like ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘The Farewell’ recently, following on from the nineties ‘The Joy Luck Club’, and now we have the first Asian Marvel superhero. However there is still a fare bit to go and when western stars tend to incorporate some Mandarin into their roles it can often be incredibly jarring and or humorous. Below is a link to a great compilation of Hollywood stars who have spoken some Mandarin on screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j3CVCOmekY
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Bonus YouTuber
杰里德Jared
Rating: *****
Whilst this young Canadian in China is not as famous as the names mentioned above, he has exceptional Mandarin Chinese and he makes very cool and fun videos utilising his Chinese speaking abilities, often comparing Western and Chinese culture. If you wanted to practice your Chinese listening and take inspiration from a foreigner, Jared is worth following.
https://www.youtube.com/user/jaredfaa/videos
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So that’s it from us, we’ve gone through some famous people who can speak Mandarin Chinese, do you know anyone else, if you do, just give us a shout. We really hope you’ve taken some inspiration from seeing these celebrities tackle the language, why not follow in their footsteps. You’re in the right place and we’re here to help. Get a free trial 1-to-1 consultation with a professional Chinese tutor today. All you need to do is register!
https://www.instantmandarin.com/signup
