her canto is perfect. its nice to hear it coming out from her and she has a nice voice. its told me how nice the canto language is. i speak canto too but want to learn mandarin. this vid is great
Many foreigners can speak cantonese. But Carina can speak almost without any foreign accents. Cantonese is one of the hardest languages to be spoken without an accent. Abosolutely amazing.
from a white guy that speaks (so so) cantonese I was impressed with this woman's intonation. She is truly a cantonese speaker. Without seeing her I would not have guess that she is a westerner. I have had many people say that about me, but believe me she truly is the "real thing" Congratulations and keep it up girl.
Accept for who and what she is,she is great, totally a HK local,born in HK, yes, she speaks better cantonese than me,,,wow!! great job girl..keep on going!!! I accidentally found you on youtube, glad I did, makes me home sick , so to speak since I have not been back to HK since "80..
@Jajabing08 - You are correct. People is plural. Use it when talking about one group of persons. Example: when talking about all Chinese citizens, you would use "people of China" because they are all part of one group in that context. "Peoples" is used when talking about more than one group of people. Example: When talking about all the different ethnic groups in China (Han, Manchu, Zhuang, Hui, etc.) you would use "peoples of China."
Thanks for posting this wonderful video. Do you know the name of the song at 0:40 seconds? Beautiful song, would like to know where I can get it. Thanks.
Her name is Corinna K Chamberlain! 陳明恩 ! She appeared in quite a few TVB drama series! I think as of 2008 she is a TVB actor and she graduated from Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts majoring in Musical Theatre Dance! Her Cantonese is very fluent !! She is soo talented !
i am sorry to hear that the racist English people didnt want to keep u. May i ask what happened? i am a malaysian and i was in Australia for a while and i find some of the Aussies could be a little racist from the way they talk to u, tease u and all...but i have also met some very incredibly friendly aussies who are 'color-blind'
Cantonese *isn't* a language you can master unless you grew up with it. The fact that she's ethnically not Chinese but can still speak it that well is what's so amazing about this clip. She's very gifted. :)
@edwardzai1437 I don't think it is so much about pride or fairness. The fact is you have a foreigner who makes the effort to fuse in the local society, as the native we (actually I have moved to US now) should appreciate her effort. For example, now that I'm living in Boston, it is great to feel I'm being welcome when I try to reach out to the local
You have to admit to the fact that she is MORE fluent in spoken Cantonese than a lot, a lot of native Cantonese, is a rarity by itself. True that some white persons can speak Cantonese but they are never better than the educated natives!
I don't think it's unusual. There are white people in Hong Kong and they just speak cantonese, just as i (an Asian dude in the UK) speak English, without a distinguishable accent. I admit that given since there are far fewer Caucasians in Asia, that when you see this it's still surprises you. But i can't believe the number of people who still think it's unusual for an Asian (like John Cho or Ken Jeong) living in the US to speak fluent English. These guys must really live in a hole.
I DID NOT say one can't be a fluent speaker if he/she doesn't understand the language. As you said you were never taught to read chinese, you don't understand what i was talking about. If Corina's rules applied to you, you will be an 'English Speaking Chinese' who was born in the USA speaking only your mother tongue(Cantonese) but hardly read, write/spell a single word of English. How can this be possible in the USA these days? But for all English speaking white people it is possible.
I can speak fluent English and Cantonese because I was born in the USA and live here, but both of my parents and all of my ancestors were born and raised in Hong Kong. The only problem is that I was never taught to read chinese. I still follow all of the traditions and understand it very clearly. I listen to cantonese music and the only kind of TV channels I have are all chinese ones. Just because I can't read it doesn't mean I'm not a fluent speaker.
@KuraMad2000 , , It not uncommon for Asians to speak fluently English with an accents. I am Cambodian and was born and raised in Dallas, Texas now living in Louisiana. When I speak to someone new they be like dang you got a Texas accent. Most whites are surprise about it is nothing new to me they aren't culture diverse and tend to think all Asians regarding where they are born speaks broken English are none at all. It is fact the opposite for me as I speak fluently English and broken Khmer.
I've met a chinese kid who spent some time in australia, so he spoke english with an australian accent. One time I was in I think Calgary and saw this texan bbq stall in a mall food court, it was run by a chinese man who spoke english with a full out texan accent, like you could close your eyes and you'd think he was a white dude from the south. Suffice to say, it was very odd to see just because it's so uncommon.
@edwardzai1437 The amount of people is not the point. Like I said, "fluent" is not reflective of whether a person has an accent or not, which was what I was saying. She spoke "fluently" with no accent as opposed to Chinese speakers whom can speak "fluently" but have an accent. What I'm saying is that she can speak better "fluent" Cantonese with no accent than most Chinese people can speak "fluent" English but with an accent. And this was never a racial issue. I don't know why you made it one.
@edwardzai1437 Yea... Fluent but with no accent? I think not. Although there are some words she can't pronounce properly, she can speak better Cantonese than most Chinese people can speak 'fluent' English. I found this amazing. Before you think I'm racist, I'm Chinese and was born and raised in a Western speaking country. I'm fluent in English (and also in Cantonese) and sound like one sure, but my friends who are native Chinese, may be for all intended purposes fluent, still have an accent.
@momefromage then how do you explain this program is made by a hk tv station instead of a western one? do you think an australian tv company would give a crap about making a program about a fellow australian mastering this ' exotic' language as you described? maybe it is instead cantonese who think its own language as exotic, especially when it is the highly civilized western world sent this good looking ambassador to learn how to communicate with the tribe?
and of course she is feeling good about singing in cantonese. it makes her a star instantly in a place like hk, whether she would probably just be another ordinary citizen in australia. hk as a multi-culture city? no way. i had classes with exchange students from germany and us, did we speak english or german to them? rarely. they were isolated and lonely after all. imagine a chinese in america singing witney houston's song and would she be having a tv show solely about her? i think not.
@popeyeisgood it is so sad that she is also learning all the brain-washing trendy shit in the pop culture that pretty much has no substance. she is a pretty woman apparently but her hotness decreases by a lot when she start singing cheesy love song like that ( pretty mucht the only kind of music you will find on mainstream radio and tv channels) in mk looking like an idiot. but honestly speaking what can she learn from a decaying city like hong kong anyway?
@edwardzai1437 I realize this is TH-cam, but honestly, if you believe that I should "revise my education" just because I happen to look up to Joey Yung, then maybe you shouldn't criticize before being perfectly educated yourself. I'm not "facing you", I'm saying that just because you think that these comments should be limited to the woman in the video does not mean others cannot make comments about the song, the singer, the language, the culture or even the piano in the video.
@edwardzai1437 It's praiseworthy for a non-chn to be able to speak chn becos:1) Eng is a lingua franca and also in business worldwide but Cantonese is not (2) Many foreigners got by in chn-speaking c'tries without bothering to learn the native lang,so for her, it'd to be interest and sustained effort(3)Many eng-speaking non-natives can speak both English and their native lang fluently but much rarer for a caucasian to speak chn as well as eng 4)overseas born chn can't even understand basic chn
Amazing!!! My Vietnamese is fluent, but my Cantonese is horrible. She speaks Can very fluently. It makes me feel sad cuz I can't speak Can as well as she she does although my parents are native Can people. Damn it!! hehe. At the same time, this video also encourages me to continue to improve my Can. Cuz It shows that it is possible for a foreigner to completely master a new language. I guess her interest in singing also helps her to learn the language. Well, her Can accent is amazing, too.
I agree with you. It is so rare even in this day and age for foreigners who live amongst us speaking our language at all. That is the reason why she is on TH-cam and getting so much attention, even allowing for her undoubted qualities. I can speak and write better English than most English people in England. I am polite and law-abiding. But, true, English people don't want to "keep me." It is them being racist; but we don't have to be racist like them.
pretty amazing but then again there are thousands if not more ABC's BBC's or Aussie or Kiwi Chinese that speak perfect English??!! But I give this chic credit- she has got a tonal ear I am Canto but I cant read a Sam Woo menu to save my ass- I only know canto from sounds- so i am makin shit up all the time cause it "sounds" right. Also this chic has got a "star" desire in her to be known, however, no matter how hard ABC men try and try, Hollywood would never put a Major romance role 4 asian guy
Actually, there are a lot of nonChinese kids born and raised in Hong Kong who couldn't speak Cantonese fluently. Their parents speak to them in English entirely and send them to international school where everything takes place in English. I think she's doing pretty good because I think her parents pushed her to learn Cantonese. Notice how her dad speak very good Cantonese as well in part 2? However, she's still pretty illiterate when it comes to reading.
torofighter, you're right. China has 56+ ethnicities that we call Chinese. Corrina grew up in Hong Kong & holds a Hong Kong citizenship. She should be considered as a Hong Kong & Chinese citizen. Hong Kong is China. I grew up in Canada. Chinese has fought very hard to get accepted as Canadian in Canadian society. It'll be grossly unfair for anyone to think Corrina is not a Chinese citizen. Corrina is a Chinese of Australian extraction.
no. on the surface, it is just as difficult to westerners due to tones...although it shares a bit more phonemes with english and other nordic languages, strangely. It's got the umlauts, the o: and the u: and aspiration, and other vowels are similar to Finnish, just shorter. consonants are in general identifiably east asian, similar to korean. grammar wise it is different from Mandarin...spoken Cantonese has Tense. It is an analytical language like English so the grammar isn't really that hard.
all you fools complaining why people dont care about overseas chiense who can speak english..... think about it.... there are millions of you guys out there living outside of china.. its nothing special anymore... english is also an international language, lots of people can speak it !!!! so its not special.. but when someone speaks chiense who is not chinese. its special bcoz chinese is very hard to learn @!!!! and its not a language everyone just knows... ie english.
I don't think it was fair for the reporter to ask about whether she finds some of the tones difficult - just cus she looks western and is western by blood doesn't make her any less qualified to speak Cantonese, nor should one expect her to speak it less well. When does she say she was born and raised in HK??? I don't think it's fair to put such a divide - you're either HKese, or Australian - it quite frankly doesn't work that way.
No surprise. She's not the only caucasian that can speak Cantonese without an accent. Sharon Balcombe comes to mind too. Balcombe's accent in English is minimal too despite having been born and raised in HK. You hear her (Corinna's) partner coach her on words that she doesn't pronounce correctly, like the Joey Yung song she's singing earlier. Makes me want to go back to HK for a while. LOL
Yes excellent Cantonese! And it is fair to say her Cantonese being unique in terms of comparison to most foreigners speaking the dialect. But having lived there most (if not all) of her life and speakin on a daily basis, would one view this as an achievement? Had she lived abroad and learned to the standard then I could take my hat off. There are many minorities where I live in London so should I start praising their flawless English - even though born or bred in England?
@stonpio Total agreed. I have been in US for more than 30 years. I speak pretty fluent English and I still got my Cantonese accent. One of my " America Born Chinese " friend speaks very good American accent Cantonese ( including slang ) just like Corina. If we were not born in that country there's no way that we can speak like the local ones.
When we say "fluent", it should mean speaking like a native speaker. Most Chinese, except those born and raised abroad, speak English in such a way that you can still always tell they are Chinese. Connie speaks Cantonese - a very difficult language to master - much much better than most Chinese speak English. In fact, she speaks even better than many local Hongkongers!!!
@edwardzai1437 Well, I'm fluent in Cantonese. Thing is people see it rare. Name me at least 10 white people you know of that speak fluent Cantonese. Exactly, not that many. If I were to ask you name me 10 Asians that speak English fluenty. You can name a billion on the top of your head. That's why in a sense I disagree and agree with your comment.
@alphabetacanton yeah i understand ur love for her cos she is such a rare kind in HK that can fully or close to 90 percent communicate with u in Canto and is culturally orientated towards Asian. But think about all the Chinese in Aus who can speak perfect english and they are not wanted in Aus,why we keep her?
@muzzzzzzza cantonese specifically is a difficult to dialect/language to learn. it has 9 tones & not a lot of people can learn it well. cantonese is my mother tongue & i still have trouble saying some words. not to mention like miyagibigshlong has mentioned, there's not a lot of resources that teach cantonese
The interviewer's question is intriguing... she asked if Corinna is a HK person, because she lives in HK for a long time and speak fluent Cantonese. Then how about those of us that lives abroad, in other countries, speaking fluent English/French... are we English, American, French? Some would say we are "traitors" if we do think it that way though.
dammn. this lass puts me for shame. Being a hk chinese myself, i can only understand normal cantonese conversation, but can't speak it, let alone read it. I wish i knew her, then i can walk around mong kok and get her to translate for me, just to see people's expression with the obvious role reversal. lololol.
@go86go - Have you never heard of supernatural human beings? Only WEAKLINGs give in to the difficulty. We must be like this White woman and RISE above all known weaknesses. Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself and never let other people's failure intimidate you. NEVER... always believe. ;-)
ask any people who study linguistics. Unless cantonese is your first language, it is almost impossible to speak cantonese without a strong accent . I know people from northern china who has lived in HK for over 30 years yet cannot speak cantonese without an accent.
remember one day when I'm still living in Australia, speaking cantonese in front of english speaking person is disrespectful....fair enough, so today I'm living in hk for good, and good to see an Australian speaking cantonese better than alot of native cantonese speaker!!!
Haha, I live nowhere near anyone who speaks Cantoand plus my parents are Fuzhounese so it's sort of hard to practice, you know? Everyone tells me that I should just polish my Mandarin but really, I'm incredibly partial to Canto because it's my first language. Ngoi gou gong dong wa hai ma-ma dei.
Corinna speaks better Cantonese than many Chinese -- no "lazy" words. She's obviously talented and hard working. The video is well made. It gives an interesting introduction to a charsimatic young performer. I hope she'll be picked up by HKTVB, or directors such as Jackie Chan for big roles in movies.
English is a universal language so it's nothing if a person of any race can speak it but chinese especially cantonese is not. and unless the local people studied in an international school in HK or they studied aboard for many years it's very hard to find one who can speak PERFECT english.
I was always interested in the sound of Cantonese. Some people think it is too loud, but I think it is an expressive language. It really is a lot of fun using cantonese because people are so surprised to hear white people using it.
@edwardzai1437 yea you see a lot of Asians speaking english so its not that special, and english is easy..... but for a white person or any other to learn cantonese and how to read and pronounce is pretty hard. thats why its more special
@tp230 hey, there, I didn't know that she was born in HK. In that case, it's natural for her to have the native accent and be able to speak Can that fluently!! Well, Still, I have to brush up my Can by studying regularly, hehehe. thks.
well, I said not really perfect, in reference to the statement made by halite001. I was not even discrediting this lady in anyway, in fact I even said it was well done. So read my comments, get the point, and now you can take your argument somewhere else. =)
And the girl's really pretty - love her voice too! And when the guy criticises her for her Chinese - that's SUCH a culture clash right there - no Englishman would dream of saying such a tactless thing on national TV, or even in private.
haha i didn't realize my comment was cut off! this pisses me off for my own jealous reason that i can't speak as well as she does! :P (but i don't have cantonese people who want to speak to me around...do i get a free excuse now :P?)
@edwardzai1437 Nothing wrong with a good old fashioned debate; riveting, no? I've no idea why you keep thinking I'm agitated-- this is the Internet, and the "argument" you speak of means no more to me than it does to you.
@edwardzai1437 Haha, there's really no "mood" to my comments-- just words on a screen. I suppose so then, funny how someone can get me from a simple shoutout to an artist to silly arrogance trying to prove my point.
Athough her cantonese is perfect, she still gives me a very strange feeling when listening to her. I now beginning to understand why the whites think I am funny when they hear me speaking english although that's just silly.
@kt806393 Man, she was born there, it's not like she had to learn a "new language" as an adult. It's not surprising that her canto is better than yours if you haven't been living in HK your whole life as she has.
@PungiFungi not a big deal who live in Hong Kong, abou 80% of non chinese can speak like native and i am one of them. if you want to find someone who speak like that go to tung chung, yat tung. many can speak too
This might come as a surprise....but there there are a huge number of white women learning chinese. With all the successful and good-looking chinese men around, they are trying to overcome the language barrier.
It is quite rare to find white people that speak Cantonese as well as she can. I understand what you mean though, I'm half Chinese/English and it gets irritating when people always freak out when they see me speak Cantonese.
true.... you're right and its sad. more should just appreciate the uniqueness/goodness of things; less of seeking out the negative in the positive. besides, i think its cute if she does have a slight accent.
Dude. Faye Wong is in semi-retirement now. She hasn't come up with an album for ages. Please compare her with the singers that are active in the HK music industry NOW, not the great singers in the 80's and 90's.
Her Cantonese is better than mine and I was born in Hong Kong! Her use of vocabulary and ability to express herself is also better than mine! I am jealous, depressed, and impressed all at the same time.
I don't really know about that, well she's a missionary so she doesn't really like showing off, actually she's against it. But anyways, not only my mom, but alot of ppl especially in China, hk, and taiwan.
Well that's not bad, but not good too. My white mom, I'm adcpted, knows how to speak fluent chinese. With no American accent. She is not born in China, but married to my dad who doesn't even know english.
Wow...definitely a rarity a white not only can speak cantonese..but one who sings too !!! I've met a lot of whites in hong kong who can speak the language but singing like one is equally rare too !!!!
@edwardzai1437 I was just trying to be thorough so that I didn't have to come back to you complaining that I didn't answer your questions, or whatever. There, happy? Short and sweet.
How many of us actually speak any language "perfectly"?? My native language is English and I still make pronunciation and grammar mistakes from time to time...so what??? we all do??
Well...that's not a slang. That's lazy tongue...incorrect pronunciation of Cantonese language. Yes, it is getting common in Hong Kong which is a shame...especially in those tvb dramas...
I'm curious; was she brought up in Hong Kong, and is her English as good as her Cantonese? I haven't seen the entire video, so my apologies if my questions were answered in it, haha.
i'm confused... she said her mom is australian and her dad is from new zealand right? so was she born in hong kong? just confused with the comments... is she mixeD?
not at all, theres alot more stuff, more difficult to under stand and pronounce, there are 6 tone, where mandarin has 3, but i have to admit that it sounds alot better
*mouth drops* holy **** she spoke canton, and that she spoke it well, AND not many(hardly any)white people learn canton,...interesting!!! she has a great voice too!!
Ethnicity-wise, she's an Australian/New Zealander though, no matter where she lives. Where you live and are a citizen is your nationality, which is different.
her cantonese is super good.. she's raised in hk right? xD plus her voice is really good x] and shes pretty! :D in some angles.. she reminds me of sonija kwok xD ?
it would be so cool to have a frd like her....hanging out with a white person who speaks cantonese...how awesome is that!! so wanna find a frd like that~~~~~~~
It depends if you came to america as an adult I suppose it will be too hard to get rid of the accent completely. I am French.a friend of mine, his mother is hungarian . I have known her for 25 years and I swear until today I still cant understand what she says unless I read her body language just to fill the blanks. She could never get rid of her strong foreign accent and I know she tried.She came to France aged 14.
@edwardzai1437...cont u live in AUS are u even Asian to begin with? U talk about chinese ppl and asians loosing thier pride etc but all u have favorited on your channel are white/ western bands :) So are you like ABC or a banana? You should be greatful people take the time you learn ur language ^^ Personaly Cantonese and mandarin are 2 languages further down the list of my languages to learn.
@edwardzai1437 why am I such a pro? well cuz i am white not asian at all ^^ guess u cannot read properly. I said Non asian people learn different languages eg. mandarin or cantonese cuz we WANT TO....but majority of asians are FORCED TO speak/ Learn english, why? 2 get into good unis and or jobs. Dating another race dont mean one is losing pride..person i was talk by a few female asian friends that usually white or non asian men treat them better and are more kind :)
@edwardzai1437 do u know what that is...because its unusual to see white or non asian ppl speaking an asian language. How offen do u see in HK or TW or China etc a white person speaking FLUENT Mandarin or Cantonese? It is more astonishment and amazment thant admireing and also I thik its their way of saying thx 4 the effort made to learn out language...Also we learn languages because we want to not cuz we are forced too. Asian society in general is forced to learn english to get in2 uni etc
Co-star with Chow Yun-Fat in Replacement Killers spoke better Mandarin than he did ... her name: Mira Sorvino (majored in Chinese at Harvard and graduated magna cum laude). In a way, the ANZAC Canto-pop singer is more impressive because Cantonese have 8-tones and Mandarin only 4 ... On the flip side, the most impressive HK Chinese linguists are probably the Norwegian Mission pastors - English, Cantonese, Mandarin AND Riksmål (挪威「國語」).
we shouldn't be surprise about them speaking chinese^^ we are all interested in english culture. ppl never ask a chinese person: how come you speak such good english anymore. cause they don't feel it's awkward, it's like... i don't know how to say it, but it's as if everyone should speak english. when i heard her saying "哇點解你中文咁叻"D咩, i felt proud^^ because that means our culture is becoming a big part to their life lar~!
her canto is perfect. its nice to hear it coming out from her and she has a nice voice. its told me how nice the canto language is. i speak canto too but want to learn mandarin. this vid is great
Beautiful voices n most important, she speaks and sing fluent cantonese.
Many foreigners can speak cantonese. But Carina can speak almost without any foreign accents. Cantonese is one of the hardest languages to be spoken without an accent. Abosolutely amazing.
from a white guy that speaks (so so) cantonese I was impressed with this woman's intonation. She is truly a cantonese speaker. Without seeing her I would not have guess that she is a westerner. I have had many people say that about me, but believe me she truly is the "real thing" Congratulations and keep it up girl.
Accept for who and what she is,she is great, totally a HK local,born in HK, yes, she speaks better cantonese than me,,,wow!! great job girl..keep on going!!! I accidentally found you on youtube, glad I did, makes me home sick , so to speak since I have not been back to HK since "80..
@Jajabing08 - You are correct. People is plural. Use it when talking about one group of persons. Example: when talking about all Chinese citizens, you would use "people of China" because they are all part of one group in that context.
"Peoples" is used when talking about more than one group of people. Example: When talking about all the different ethnic groups in China (Han, Manchu, Zhuang, Hui, etc.) you would use "peoples of China."
Thanks for posting this wonderful video. Do you know the name of the song at 0:40 seconds? Beautiful song, would like to know where I can get it. Thanks.
She sung at Miss Chinese International Pagent 2009!! And also featured in a song with MC Jin and Jaeson Ma ^^
omg when she speaks english words when talking in cantonese, she says them with a canto acccent! so cool!
OMG She speaks it even better then me
and I've spoken Cantonese since I was 2
*thumbs up to u*
Her name is Corinna K Chamberlain! 陳明恩 ! She appeared in quite a few TVB drama series! I think as of 2008 she is a TVB actor and she graduated from Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts majoring in Musical Theatre Dance! Her Cantonese is very fluent !! She is soo talented !
omg shes soo cool and she sang sooo wonderfully!
My, I totally dig this chick...lmao! Beautiful singing!!!! Love her Cantonese accent!
Beautiful voice.. Absolutely beautiful
Wow...amazing. Definitely one in a million.
You are talented! Keep up with the good works!
i am sorry to hear that the racist English people didnt want to keep u. May i ask what happened? i am a malaysian and i was in Australia for a while and i find some of the Aussies could be a little racist from the way they talk to u, tease u and all...but i have also met some very incredibly friendly aussies who are 'color-blind'
Cantonese *isn't* a language you can master unless you grew up with it. The fact that she's ethnically not Chinese but can still speak it that well is what's so amazing about this clip. She's very gifted. :)
She's multi talented and a great performer.
@edwardzai1437 I don't think it is so much about pride or fairness. The fact is you have a foreigner who makes the effort to fuse in the local society, as the native we (actually I have moved to US now) should appreciate her effort. For example, now that I'm living in Boston, it is great to feel I'm being welcome when I try to reach out to the local
You have to admit to the fact that she is MORE fluent in spoken Cantonese than a lot, a lot of native Cantonese, is a rarity by itself. True that some white persons can speak Cantonese but they are never better than the educated natives!
I don't think it's unusual. There are white people in Hong Kong and they just speak cantonese, just as i (an Asian dude in the UK) speak English, without a distinguishable accent. I admit that given since there are far fewer Caucasians in Asia, that when you see this it's still surprises you. But i can't believe the number of people who still think it's unusual for an Asian (like John Cho or Ken Jeong) living in the US to speak fluent English. These guys must really live in a hole.
I DID NOT say one can't be a fluent speaker if he/she doesn't understand the language. As you said you were never taught to read chinese, you don't understand what i was talking about. If Corina's rules applied to you, you will be an 'English Speaking Chinese' who was born in the USA speaking only your mother tongue(Cantonese) but hardly read, write/spell a single word of English. How can this be possible in the USA these days? But for all English speaking white people it is possible.
I can speak fluent English and Cantonese because I was born in the USA and live here, but both of my parents and all of my ancestors were born and raised in Hong Kong. The only problem is that I was never taught to read chinese. I still follow all of the traditions and understand it very clearly. I listen to cantonese music and the only kind of TV channels I have are all chinese ones. Just because I can't read it doesn't mean I'm not a fluent speaker.
@KuraMad2000 , , It not uncommon for Asians to speak fluently English with an accents. I am Cambodian and was born and raised in Dallas, Texas now living in Louisiana. When I speak to someone new they be like dang you got a Texas accent. Most whites are surprise about it is nothing new to me they aren't culture diverse and tend to think all Asians regarding where they are born speaks broken English are none at all. It is fact the opposite for me as I speak fluently English and broken Khmer.
I've met a chinese kid who spent some time in australia, so he spoke english with an australian accent. One time I was in I think Calgary and saw this texan bbq stall in a mall food court, it was run by a chinese man who spoke english with a full out texan accent, like you could close your eyes and you'd think he was a white dude from the south. Suffice to say, it was very odd to see just because it's so uncommon.
@edwardzai1437 The amount of people is not the point. Like I said, "fluent" is not reflective of whether a person has an accent or not, which was what I was saying. She spoke "fluently" with no accent as opposed to Chinese speakers whom can speak "fluently" but have an accent. What I'm saying is that she can speak better "fluent" Cantonese with no accent than most Chinese people can speak "fluent" English but with an accent. And this was never a racial issue. I don't know why you made it one.
@edwardzai1437 Yea... Fluent but with no accent? I think not. Although there are some words she can't pronounce properly, she can speak better Cantonese than most Chinese people can speak 'fluent' English.
I found this amazing. Before you think I'm racist, I'm Chinese and was born and raised in a Western speaking country. I'm fluent in English (and also in Cantonese) and sound like one sure, but my friends who are native Chinese, may be for all intended purposes fluent, still have an accent.
@momefromage
then how do you explain this program is made by a hk tv station instead of a western one? do you think an australian tv company would give a crap about making a program about a fellow australian mastering this ' exotic' language as you described? maybe it is instead cantonese who think its own language as exotic, especially when it is the highly civilized western world sent this good looking ambassador to learn how to communicate with the tribe?
and of course she is feeling good about singing in cantonese. it makes her a star instantly in a place like hk, whether she would probably just be another ordinary citizen in australia. hk as a multi-culture city? no way. i had classes with exchange students from germany and us, did we speak english or german to them? rarely. they were isolated and lonely after all. imagine a chinese in america singing witney houston's song and would she be having a tv show solely about her? i think not.
@popeyeisgood
it is so sad that she is also learning all the brain-washing trendy shit in the pop culture that pretty much has no substance. she is a pretty woman apparently but her hotness decreases by a lot when she start singing cheesy love song like that ( pretty mucht the only kind of music you will find on mainstream radio and tv channels) in mk looking like an idiot. but honestly speaking what can she learn from a decaying city like hong kong anyway?
@edwardzai1437 I realize this is TH-cam, but honestly, if you believe that I should "revise my education" just because I happen to look up to Joey Yung, then maybe you shouldn't criticize before being perfectly educated yourself. I'm not "facing you", I'm saying that just because you think that these comments should be limited to the woman in the video does not mean others cannot make comments about the song, the singer, the language, the culture or even the piano in the video.
@edwardzai1437 It's praiseworthy for a non-chn to be able to speak chn becos:1) Eng is a lingua franca and also in business worldwide but Cantonese is not (2) Many foreigners got by in chn-speaking c'tries without bothering to learn the native lang,so for her, it'd to be interest and sustained effort(3)Many eng-speaking non-natives can speak both English and their native lang fluently but much rarer for a caucasian to speak chn as well as eng 4)overseas born chn can't even understand basic chn
Amazing!!! My Vietnamese is fluent, but my Cantonese is horrible. She speaks Can very fluently. It makes me feel sad cuz I can't speak Can as well as she she does although my parents are native Can people. Damn it!! hehe. At the same time, this video also encourages me to continue to improve my Can. Cuz It shows that it is possible for a foreigner to completely master a new language. I guess her interest in singing also helps her to learn the language. Well, her Can accent is amazing, too.
I agree with you. It is so rare even in this day and age for foreigners who live amongst us speaking our language at all. That is the reason why she is on TH-cam and getting so much attention, even allowing for her undoubted qualities. I can speak and write better English than most English people in England. I am polite and law-abiding. But, true, English people don't want to "keep me." It is them being racist; but we don't have to be racist like them.
pretty amazing but then again there are thousands if not more ABC's BBC's or Aussie or Kiwi Chinese that speak perfect English??!!
But I give this chic credit- she has got a tonal ear I am Canto but I cant read a Sam Woo menu to save my ass- I only know canto from sounds- so i am makin shit up all the time cause it "sounds" right.
Also this chic has got a "star" desire in her to be known, however, no matter how hard ABC men try and try, Hollywood would never put a Major romance role 4 asian guy
Actually, there are a lot of nonChinese kids born and raised in Hong Kong who couldn't speak Cantonese fluently. Their parents speak to them in English entirely and send them to international school where everything takes place in English. I think she's doing pretty good because I think her parents pushed her to learn Cantonese. Notice how her dad speak very good Cantonese as well in part 2? However, she's still pretty illiterate when it comes to reading.
torofighter, you're right. China has 56+ ethnicities that we call Chinese. Corrina grew up in Hong Kong & holds a Hong Kong citizenship. She should be considered as a Hong Kong & Chinese citizen. Hong Kong is China.
I grew up in Canada. Chinese has fought very hard to get accepted as Canadian in Canadian society. It'll be grossly unfair for anyone to think Corrina is not a Chinese citizen. Corrina is a Chinese of Australian extraction.
no. on the surface, it is just as difficult to westerners due to tones...although it shares a bit more phonemes with english and other nordic languages, strangely. It's got the umlauts, the o: and the u: and aspiration, and other vowels are similar to Finnish, just shorter. consonants are in general identifiably east asian, similar to korean. grammar wise it is different from Mandarin...spoken Cantonese has Tense. It is an analytical language like English so the grammar isn't really that hard.
all you fools complaining why people dont care about overseas chiense who can speak english..... think about it.... there are millions of you guys out there living outside of china.. its nothing special anymore... english is also an international language, lots of people can speak it !!!!
so its not special.. but when someone speaks chiense who is not chinese. its special bcoz chinese is very hard to learn @!!!! and its not a language everyone just knows... ie english.
I don't think it was fair for the reporter to ask about whether she finds some of the tones difficult - just cus she looks western and is western by blood doesn't make her any less qualified to speak Cantonese, nor should one expect her to speak it less well. When does she say she was born and raised in HK??? I don't think it's fair to put such a divide - you're either HKese, or Australian - it quite frankly doesn't work that way.
No surprise. She's not the only caucasian that can speak Cantonese without an accent. Sharon Balcombe comes to mind too. Balcombe's accent in English is minimal too despite having been born and raised in HK.
You hear her (Corinna's) partner coach her on words that she doesn't pronounce correctly, like the Joey Yung song she's singing earlier.
Makes me want to go back to HK for a while. LOL
Yes excellent Cantonese! And it is fair to say her Cantonese being unique in terms of comparison to most foreigners speaking the dialect. But having lived there most (if not all) of her life and speakin on a daily basis, would one view this as an achievement? Had she lived abroad and learned to the standard then I could take my hat off. There are many minorities where I live in London so should I start praising their flawless English - even though born or bred in England?
@stonpio Total agreed. I have been in US for more than 30 years. I speak pretty fluent English and I still got my Cantonese accent. One of my " America Born Chinese " friend speaks very good American accent Cantonese ( including slang ) just like Corina. If we were not born in that country there's no way that we can speak like the local ones.
When we say "fluent", it should mean speaking like a native speaker. Most Chinese, except those born and raised abroad, speak English in such a way that you can still always tell they are Chinese. Connie speaks Cantonese - a very difficult language to master - much much better than most Chinese speak English. In fact, she speaks even better than many local Hongkongers!!!
@edwardzai1437 Well, I'm fluent in Cantonese. Thing is people see it rare. Name me at least 10 white people you know of that speak fluent Cantonese. Exactly, not that many. If I were to ask you name me 10 Asians that speak English fluenty. You can name a billion on the top of your head. That's why in a sense I disagree and agree with your comment.
@alphabetacanton yeah i understand ur love for her cos she is such a rare kind in HK that can fully or close to 90 percent communicate with u in Canto and is culturally orientated towards Asian. But think about all the Chinese in Aus who can speak perfect english and they are not wanted in Aus,why we keep her?
@muzzzzzzza
cantonese specifically is a difficult to dialect/language to learn. it has 9 tones & not a lot of people can learn it well. cantonese is my mother tongue & i still have trouble saying some words. not to mention like miyagibigshlong has mentioned, there's not a lot of resources that teach cantonese
The interviewer's question is intriguing... she asked if Corinna is a HK person, because she lives in HK for a long time and speak fluent Cantonese.
Then how about those of us that lives abroad, in other countries, speaking fluent English/French... are we English, American, French? Some would say we are "traitors" if we do think it that way though.
dammn. this lass puts me for shame. Being a hk chinese myself, i can only understand normal cantonese conversation, but can't speak it, let alone read it.
I wish i knew her, then i can walk around mong kok and get her to translate for me, just to see people's expression with the obvious role reversal. lololol.
@go86go - Have you never heard of supernatural human beings? Only WEAKLINGs give in to the difficulty. We must be like this White woman and RISE above all known weaknesses. Nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself and never let other people's failure intimidate you. NEVER... always believe. ;-)
ask any people who study linguistics. Unless cantonese is your first language, it is almost impossible to speak cantonese without a strong accent . I know people from northern china who has lived in HK for over 30 years yet cannot speak cantonese without an accent.
remember one day when I'm still living in Australia, speaking cantonese in front of english speaking person is disrespectful....fair enough, so today I'm living in hk for good, and good to see an Australian speaking cantonese better than alot of native cantonese speaker!!!
Haha, I live nowhere near anyone who speaks Cantoand plus my parents are Fuzhounese so it's sort of hard to practice, you know? Everyone tells me that I should just polish my Mandarin but really, I'm incredibly partial to Canto because it's my first language.
Ngoi gou gong dong wa hai ma-ma dei.
Corinna speaks better Cantonese than many Chinese -- no "lazy" words. She's obviously talented and hard working. The video is well made. It gives an interesting introduction to a charsimatic young performer. I hope she'll be picked up by HKTVB, or directors such as Jackie Chan for big roles in movies.
English is a universal language so it's nothing if a person of any race can speak it but chinese especially cantonese is not.
and unless the local people studied in an international school in HK or they studied aboard for many years it's very hard to find one who can speak PERFECT english.
I was always interested in the sound of Cantonese. Some people think it is too loud, but I think it is an expressive language. It really is a lot of fun using cantonese because people are so surprised to hear white people using it.
@edwardzai1437
yea you see a lot of Asians speaking english so its not that special, and english is easy.....
but for a white person or any other to learn cantonese and how to read and pronounce is pretty hard. thats why its more special
@tp230 hey, there, I didn't know that she was born in HK. In that case, it's natural for her to have the native accent and be able to speak Can that fluently!! Well, Still, I have to brush up my Can by studying regularly, hehehe. thks.
well, I said not really perfect, in reference to the statement made by halite001. I was not even discrediting this lady in anyway, in fact I even said it was well done. So read my comments, get the point, and now you can take your argument somewhere else. =)
And the girl's really pretty - love her voice too! And when the guy criticises her for her Chinese - that's SUCH a culture clash right there - no Englishman would dream of saying such a tactless thing on national TV, or even in private.
haha i didn't realize my comment was cut off! this pisses me off for my own jealous reason that i can't speak as well as she does! :P
(but i don't have cantonese people who want to speak to me around...do i get a free excuse now :P?)
@edwardzai1437 Nothing wrong with a good old fashioned debate; riveting, no?
I've no idea why you keep thinking I'm agitated-- this is the Internet, and the "argument" you speak of means no more to me than it does to you.
@edwardzai1437 Haha, there's really no "mood" to my comments-- just words on a screen. I suppose so then, funny how someone can get me from a simple shoutout to an artist to silly arrogance trying to prove my point.
Athough her cantonese is perfect, she still gives me a very strange feeling when listening to her. I now beginning to understand why the whites think I am funny when they hear me speaking english although that's just silly.
@kt806393 Man, she was born there, it's not like she had to learn a "new language" as an adult. It's not surprising that her canto is better than yours if you haven't been living in HK your whole life as she has.
@PungiFungi not a big deal who live in Hong Kong, abou 80% of non chinese can speak like native and i am one of them. if you want to find someone who speak like that go to tung chung, yat tung. many can speak too
This might come as a surprise....but there there are a huge number of white women learning chinese. With all the successful and good-looking chinese men around, they are trying to overcome the language barrier.
It is quite rare to find white people that speak Cantonese as well as she can. I understand what you mean though, I'm half Chinese/English and it gets irritating when people always freak out when they see me speak Cantonese.
true.... you're right and its sad. more should just appreciate the uniqueness/goodness of things; less of seeking out the negative in the positive. besides, i think its cute if she does have a slight accent.
Dude. Faye Wong is in semi-retirement now. She hasn't come up with an album for ages. Please compare her with the singers that are active in the HK music industry NOW, not the great singers in the 80's and 90's.
OMG , really really amazing , she speak Cantonese better than me. (i'm vietnamese and 50% cantonese)
Her Cantonese is better than mine and I was born in Hong Kong! Her use of vocabulary and ability to express herself is also better than mine! I am jealous, depressed, and impressed all at the same time.
I don't really know about that, well she's a missionary so she doesn't really like showing off, actually she's against it. But anyways, not only my mom, but alot of ppl especially in China, hk, and taiwan.
Well that's not bad, but not good too. My white mom, I'm adcpted, knows how to speak fluent chinese. With no American accent. She is not born in China, but married to my dad who doesn't even know english.
Wow...definitely a rarity a white not only can speak cantonese..but one who sings too !!! I've met a lot of whites in hong kong who can speak the language but singing like one is equally rare too !!!!
@edwardzai1437 I was just trying to be thorough so that I didn't have to come back to you complaining that I didn't answer your questions, or whatever. There, happy? Short and sweet.
How many of us actually speak any language "perfectly"?? My native language is English and I still make pronunciation and grammar mistakes from time to time...so what??? we all do??
Well...that's not a slang. That's lazy tongue...incorrect pronunciation of Cantonese language. Yes, it is getting common in Hong Kong which is a shame...especially in those tvb dramas...
I'm curious; was she brought up in Hong Kong, and is her English as good as her Cantonese?
I haven't seen the entire video, so my apologies if my questions were answered in it, haha.
@edwardzai1437 I have no idea what you are ranting about. Let's just say we are all entitled to our opinion and we agree to disagree. Happy now?
i'm confused... she said her mom is australian and her dad is from new zealand right? so was she born in hong kong? just confused with the comments... is she mixeD?
not at all, theres alot more stuff, more difficult to under stand and pronounce, there are 6 tone, where mandarin has 3, but i have to admit that it sounds alot better
*mouth drops* holy **** she spoke canton, and that she spoke it well, AND not many(hardly any)white people learn canton,...interesting!!! she has a great voice too!!
Damn. Her Chinese is better than mine. ;/
Ethnicity-wise, she's an Australian/New Zealander though, no matter where she lives. Where you live and are a citizen is your nationality, which is different.
her cantonese is super good.. she's raised in hk right? xD
plus her voice is really good x] and shes pretty! :D
in some angles.. she reminds me of sonija kwok xD ?
it would be so cool to have a frd like her....hanging out with a white person who speaks cantonese...how awesome is that!! so wanna find a frd like that~~~~~~~
She not only speaks 99% like a Canton native speaker but behaves exactly like a native Cantonese!! She's 100% a Cantonese, I'd say.
It depends if you came to america as an adult I suppose it will be too hard to get rid of the accent completely. I am French.a friend of mine, his mother is hungarian . I have known her for 25 years and I swear until today I still cant understand what she says unless I read her body language just to fill the blanks. She could never get rid of her strong foreign accent and I know she tried.She came to France aged 14.
@edwardzai1437...cont u live in AUS are u even Asian to begin with? U talk about chinese ppl and asians loosing thier pride etc but all u have favorited on your channel are white/ western bands :) So are you like ABC or a banana? You should be greatful people take the time you learn ur language ^^ Personaly Cantonese and mandarin are 2 languages further down the list of my languages to learn.
@edwardzai1437 why am I such a pro? well cuz i am white not asian at all ^^ guess u cannot read properly. I said Non asian people learn different languages eg. mandarin or cantonese cuz we WANT TO....but majority of asians are FORCED TO speak/ Learn english, why? 2 get into good unis and or jobs. Dating another race dont mean one is losing pride..person i was talk by a few female asian friends that usually white or non asian men treat them better and are more kind :)
@edwardzai1437 do u know what that is...because its unusual to see white or non asian ppl speaking an asian language. How offen do u see in HK or TW or China etc a white person speaking FLUENT Mandarin or Cantonese?
It is more astonishment and amazment thant admireing and also I thik its their way of saying thx 4 the effort made to learn out language...Also we learn languages because we want to not cuz we are forced too. Asian society in general is forced to learn english to get in2 uni etc
Co-star with Chow Yun-Fat in Replacement Killers spoke better Mandarin than he did ... her name: Mira Sorvino (majored in Chinese at Harvard and graduated magna cum laude). In a way, the ANZAC Canto-pop singer is more impressive because Cantonese have 8-tones and Mandarin only 4 ... On the flip side, the most impressive HK Chinese linguists are probably the Norwegian Mission pastors - English, Cantonese, Mandarin AND Riksmål (挪威「國語」).
we shouldn't be surprise about them speaking chinese^^
we are all interested in english culture. ppl never ask a chinese person: how come you speak such good english anymore. cause they don't feel it's awkward, it's like... i don't know how to say it, but it's as if everyone should speak english.
when i heard her saying "哇點解你中文咁叻"D咩, i felt proud^^ because that means our culture is becoming a big part to their life lar~!
Curious why did she pick to study performing art in HK? What ever it is, she does looks like she is having a lot of fun and doing things she love....
I feel like I have been robbed..being of Asian decent and Canadian born and bred..when I travel abroad no one cares that my English sounds Canadian =P
Amazing....if i didnt look at her face...but just listen to she speaks....i thought she was a Chinese....I like her singing....very sweet and cute....
@PungiFungi , let's not get too carried away...she does have a mild accent. I wouldn't say she sounds totally like a native Cantonese speaker.
haha its always cool to see foreigners in asia countries, especially if they could speak the language with almost no acent, and yea shes pretty