In LA

I’ve been watching Chow Yun Fat on film since 1986’s A Better Tomorrow, so it’s a thrill to have been on the set in Gansu province to watch him act in his next film. At one point, I got a chance to say hello, and we chatted for a minute or two, and spoke a little bit in mandarin. I’m not generally a terribly star-struck person, but this is Chow Yun Fat we’re talking about here.

While we spoke, he complimented me on my Chinese. Foreigners to China are frequently complimented on their Chinese here if they can even manage to say “ni hao”, but as I said before, this is Chow Yun Fat we’re talking about. I’m pleased as punch.

If you don’t know who Chow Yun Fat is, head to your local video store and rent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Killer, two of his best IMO, and discover what you’ve been missing.

As for my Chinese skills, they’re coming along nicely. I can get by in Mandarin a lot better than I had thought possible, have had some 5-10 minute conversations aided by the sporadic use of a dictionary, and have even been pressed into occasional service as a translator in the office when the real translators were away. It is encouraging, but I still have a long way to go.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 12:56 am and is filed under China, Chinese language. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.