Hi everyone, I'm Kelsi!
In Taiwan I often hear some pretty interesting English terms,
like "he's so man," "you're so fashion," or "too over."
So today I'm teaming up with VoiceTube to find out
if Taiwanese people know how to use these words in English.
It's called the the "Chinglish Street Challenge"!
Let's go!
Have you two studied English?
- Yup! - Yup!
- For how many years? - How many years? I'm still learning!
Are you confident in your English?
- No. - No?
Okay, are you confident in your English?
- No way! - No?
So here we have five sentences in Mandarin,
and we want to know how you would translate them into English.
Ok.
- Translate them into English? - Yeah, only English.
Only English?
- Translate them into English? - Yeah.
Wow!
Too hard, too hard, too hard!
My English is so bad! So bad!
The first one is "I'm so high."
How would you say that in English?
In English?
This translation is definitely wrong.
- Is it "I'm so high"? - "I'm so high"? Nope!
- "I'm so high." - "I'm so high?"
- "I'm... very high!"
- "I'm so excited." - Excited? - Yeah.
Yeah, that's right! "I'm so excited" is correct.
- I'm so excited? - Yup! Perfect!
- C. - C? I'm so excited. That's right!
- I'm so excited. - Yup! Perfect! Right!
But when someone says "I'm so high," do you know what that means?
- It means they've done drugs, they're intoxicated. - Oh yeah, like "get high"!
The next one is "You are too over."
You're too over.
So... so... over.
"You're too across."
"You went over."
"You're too over." Or "You crossed the line."
- C？ - C? "You're too over."
No.
- I pick C! - Okay let's go with C.
- C? Wrong! - Wrong? - Yup!
- Too much. - You're too much?
- "It's too much." - "It's too much"? "You're too much"? That might actually work as well.
- You think it's this one? - Uhh...
- "You've crossed the line." - Right, "You've crossed the line."
- This one? - Yeah. - That's right!
- This one. - This one?
- Yeah. - Correct!
- Crossed the line. - That's the one!
- D? Right!
- And he says his English isn't good! - Yeah!
The third one is "He's so man."
"He's so man."
Man... I don't know how to translate this!
"He's so man"... "He's so man"...
This is so hard!
Can you translate it literally? He's so man.
"He's a man." "He's so manly." "He's so man." "He's so mannish."
- He's so mannish. - This one?
- What about you? - I say... this one.
- This one? - Yup. - You're both wrong!
"He's so man"?
- It's definitely not A. - There's no way it's A.
- I say D - You choose D? Okay then I choose B.
- Okay. - Okay.
- B is correct! - B is correct! - "He's so manly."
- B 吧？ - He's so manly.
Right!
- This one? - "He's so manly"?
- Yeah. - Correct!
- B maybe? - Yup, that's right!
Didn't you say your English wasn't good? You got them all correct.
- Can you say "He's so manly"? - Yup! You can!
How is "manly"? - He's so manly?
- Yeah. - Yes, that's right!
- "He's so manly"? - Yup, perfect! - Ok.
The word "mannish" is more for referring to women who seem very man-like.
- It's a bit more negative. - I see!
"She's very mannish."
"I'm so bored"
Just kill me now.
- "I'm so boring." - "I'm so boring"?
- A - A? "I'm so boring."
- This one, "I'm so bored." - "I'm so boring."
- "I'm so boring?" - Yeah.
I feel so bored.
- Uhh... "bored"? - Yup! "Bored" is right.
- This one's actually pretty easy. - I'm bored.
- I'm bored. - "Bored?" Yeah!
- I'm so bored. - I'm so bored?
Yap, perfect! Correct.
Is it this? "Boring"?
- A lot of people say that. - Yeah.
But it's actually B.
- A. - The first one?
- This one's wrong. - It's wrong? - Yeah, sorry.
- "I'm bored" isn't "I'm boring"? - No, it's actually "I'm bored."
Do you know what A means?
- I feel like it's saying you as a person are boring. - Very boring, uninteresting？
That's right!
"I feel unpleasant," "I'm uncomfortable," "I'm not feeling well," or "I'm not comfortable"?
- B？ - B？ "I'm uncomfortable"?
"I'm uncomfortable"?
- Well, actually... - Is that even an option?
- It is, but it's still wrong! - Huh?!
- "I'm uncomfortable"? - "Uncomfortable"?
A lot of people think that, but it's actually "I'm not feeling well."
Ah! This is a hard one!
Is it... this one?
Nope.
- I think it's B. - B?
Actually, it's C!
I'm always off by one!
- “I feel sick.” - Yeah, that works as well!
”I'm feeling sick“?
- ”I feel sick.“ - ”I feel sick“?
- "I'm not feeling well." - That's right! "I'm not feeling well."
- Because "I feel sick" is almost like you need to actually throw up. - Throw up?! I see...
"I'm not feeling well"?
Yup, perfect! Same thing.
- "I'm not feeling well." - Yup! Perfect!
Yeah! Your English is amazing!
- Really? - Yeah, it's really good!
Okay, so we've seen that Taiwanese people have pretty good English!
But there are a few sentences that are a little tough to translate.
The most common mistake was "I'm so bored."
A lot of people thought it was "I'm so boring"
when it should really be "I'm so bored."
As for "I'm so high,"
a lot of people already knew that "I'm so high" was incorrect,
and they knew what the actual meaning was,
which is to take drugs, to get high.
"You're too over."
Some people translate this as "You're too much,"
and this is also correct.
It just means that you're taking something too far.
Many people pick this one
because they see that it's an adjective,
but the correct usage in this case is "manly."
And some people also said "He's so muscular"
or "He's so handsome" and so on.
These are also correct, but they have a slightly different meaning.
It depends on the situation.
The last one is "I don't feel well."
I think a lot of people still say "I'm uncomfortable,"
but that means you're emotionally uncomfortable,
so the correct answer is "I'm not feeling well."
Also some people translate this as "I'm feeling sick"
or "I'm sick."
These are also fine if you're actually sick,
so it depends on the situation.
So next time you speak English,
try to keep in mind these "Chinglish" terms,
and avoid making the same mistake!
Thanks for watching, see you next time!