Worst English in which TVB series??

[tinyscrooge]

i'm not sure if this thread has been posted before..but which TVB series has the worst english speakers at the worst time?

I was watching healing hands II and you know how it was such a hyped up series..anyways.. i got to the part where MC says english and it was TERRIBLE!! i couldn't even understand it!
I think one of the reasons the writers put it in was to make the doctors look more professional and everything but seriously... it turned out to be a joke!! and that phrase that moses and Yoyo mung keeps repeating.."out of sight, out of mind".. I was nearly in tears..

I'm not criticizing Moses or any of the actors.. but they should get someone that knows how to speak english to speak english or else it comes out so irritating and jarring! otherwise don't add the english.. I would have been even more satisfied.

I'm sure there are many other series like this one.. where the character is supposed to be well spoken but because of their pronounciation... didn't really have nearly the same effect.

[pepper]

I agree with you.

Another on the top of my head is "Triumph in the Sky" when Francis Ng teaches the air cadets in australia. I couldn't understand him if it weren't for the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. There were many other series............they should definitely start to realize the unprofessionalism in that.

[lily2004]

I'm not sure if you don't understand English or that bad that u can't understand what Moses & Yoyo is talking about. Moses is speaking perfect English. Btw,maybe u don't know, but Moses grow up in Australia and he also teach English for Longman new "learning English"vcd.

[Em]

I never got round to watching HH2 so I don't know how Moses' English was there, but I was surprised that you mentioned it being poor because as lily2004 says, Moses grew up in Australia so his English is actually very good. Maybe you just weren't used to the Aussie accent! Haha...

I do agree that the standards of English of the local-bred artistes such as Francis Ng do leave a lot to be desired. Even the ex-police officers such as Joe Ma and Nick Cheung's English isn't that great. Then again when you aren't speaking English day in and day out then it isn't easy.

Poor English can be improved though, take superstars Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat for example. When they first started out in Hollywood, their English was appalling, but a few years out in LA soon fixed that!

[jenny84]

I watched HH2 back in 2003 and I am surprised that tinyscrooge said Moses's English is poor. In fact, I think he is one of the few TVB actors that can actually speak proper English.
Maybe bcos his tone is very low that you can't hear him. I watched Miles Apart where Moses and Micheal Wong talked in English all the time and I found out his English is really good. Furthermore, he is an Australian.
But, I do agreed that Francis Ng's English is real poor. He mispronounced a lot of words.

[xox]

yeah haha i think francis ng has bad english too made me sit and think what? some foreign language? but it was okay because it was pretty funny dont you agree?
but wouldnt michelle yip and flora chan speak good english? they were from the states and also i dont think Nicholas Tse and Stephen Fung speaks good english andthey are from canada aren't they?

[linghuchong]

the four of them speak good english, just that they have an accent! get the facts right!

[tinyscrooge]

As i mentioned before.. i'm not critical of the actors.

if you don't believe me.. go back and listen to it again with no subtitles.
it's one thing to know English but another to speak it! and I agree that probably if you don't use your 2nd language enough.. it's going to weaken.. and of course if you work with TVB stars then of course you won't have much of a chance to practise.
as in the case with Moses
and also because his voice is low too..

correct me if I'm wrong.. but I thought I heard something about Moses having surgery to get that low voice???

[ghostdarTeal'c]

Originally posted by xox

but wouldnt michelle yip and flora chan speak good english? they were from the states and also i dont think Nicholas Tse and Stephen Fung speaks good english andthey are from canada aren't they?

i think Nic Tse and Stephen fung speak good english....i heard them in Gen-X Cops and theyre good.....juzz that they have the accent quite thick.....Teresa Lee also speaks good english, im really impressed with her in They Dont Care About Us....

but i have to say, theres a lot of asian stars (HK most likely, coz i watch much of modern hong kong series) who really need to get their english worked out.......and if they dont have good english its better not to have english dialogues at all......pretty embarassing to see them struggling with it and to think that these series are aired in foreign countries other than hong kong......

[delia_k_00]

Totally agree that Francis Ng's english was v appalling. Joe Ma's was better, but only just. Most of the other cadets in Triumph... was ok, but Michelle obviously had v good english.

Anne Heung's english in riches and stitches was alright...

[lily2004]

Originally posted by tinyscrooge


As i mentioned before.. i'm not critical of the actors.

if you don't believe me.. go back and listen to it again with no subtitles.
it's one thing to know English but another to speak it! and I agree that probably if you don't use your 2nd language enough.. it's going to weaken.. and of course if you work with TVB stars then of course you won't have much of a chance to practise.
as in the case with Moses
and also because his voice is low too..

correct me if I'm wrong.. but I thought I heard something about Moses having surgery to get that low voice???

I don't know why u want everybody to believe u. What is the point of watching it again when I can understand what is he talking abt in the first place? Well, we don't have subtitles Vcd in my country when HH2 was released.. Subtitles series was only introduced last year.

[Sutisa]

Jessica Hsuan speaks very good english, cas she use to study in England. Watching Golden Faith, was probably the first time I've heard her speak complete sentences, and she's very good. But Gallen Lo on the other hand is a different story.

[Arashi]

Just an FYI. Flora Chan is now in Singapore shooting an English series. She's a US citizen and when she first started out, she couldn't even read chinese scripts.

I remember being quite skeptical when the local TV station started bringing in people like Lydia Sum and Dodo Cheng to do English sitcoms, but they were quite impressive on screen. Of course they have an accent, but they pronounced everything right and were totally understandable. I read somewhere that Lydia underwent intensive English courses with her daughter to get the language for her stint.

Jessica has great English. I caught an interview she did in Thailand where she spoke entirely in English and I love her slight British accent. Here's to hoping she comes to Singapore to do a English series as well!

Sutisa, you're right. Gallen Lo's English is painful to listen to. I assume you're referring to the parts in Australia in Golden Faith, because I was cringing myself. Thank god for subtitles, or I'd have no idea what he was talking about. Deric Wan's English is atrocious too, but he was supposed to be a comic smart alec, so I guess that fits his image.

[afterpaige]

Not that it's really a big deal, being in HK and all but it's weird that there are more English-abled actresses in TVB than there are of actors, a lot more. Moses and Michael Tong are the only exceptions I can think of now and maybe Chilam, compared to a long list of girls.

I wouldn't say worst/bad/accented English or anything like that but personally I would say Frances Ng and Ada Choi are by far the most incoherent speakers of the English language in a TVB series. It's not even about an accent, which I have absolutely no problem with, it's being able to convey a mutual understanding.

Frances, the great actor that he is, just looked completely ridiculous by the time they had him preach his character's favorite airplane song in front of everyone, I could actually imagine Michelle and Myolie cringling off-camera. The fact that his character was meant to be international, we're left to actually be convinced that Sam passed all his required merits as a pilot with *that* ability or lack of, in the communication department. Again, it's not the accent, everyone has one, it's the fluentness and the ability to be understood.

Ada's winning scene was that elevator scene in Fate Twisters. I've went through her one-words thrown in here and there in HH, so it's not like I have no idea of what to expect but in that particular scene she instructs a foreigner some directional advices in a full sentence and then Gigi's character by chance (yeah right) impressively standing by watching, eventually compliments her good English speaking skills. Can we all smell the irony brewing by now? She sounded confused, absolutely incomprehensible and pushing the end, she made her best effort at mumbling the remaining out. I was just as glad as she was when she switched back to canto. I think she's a great actress and I'm not just adding that on this late hoping I won't get killed but c'mon. Isn't her best friend like Flora? Is it really that hard to hire a dialect coach of some sort? Damn TVB.

Recently I've noticed something interesting. I've realized Margret Chung's 'dumbing' down her English on purpose to suit her less educated villager role in Summer Heat which I think makes sense, if not almost admirable to be that in character. Ok, it was only one word that caught me but I personally think it worked. She still has some accent in her Chinese but it's fully functional and Victoria Jolly is apparently the new 'Gwai Mui' in town. All things aside, did anybody else picked up how Mok Ka Yiu kept saying 'vuv-vian' (Vivian) in the series? What happened to 'We-wian'?

[MeMyselfandI2000]

well after watching golden faith, i conclude that Gallen Lo has horrible english! eww his pronounciation.
jessica hsuan however, was awesome....where is she from again?

[delia_k_00]

I find that generally, well so far that i've seen so correct me if i'm wrong, but i find that the older generation of actors and the younger ones have good to passable english. It's the leading actors now that have good to poor english speaking abilities. Of course, there are exceptions, but this was what i found, esp in triumph in the skies, where samuel and philip converse. The actor playing philip speaks english v well.

Speaking of jessica, i remember in "the edge of righteousness", and she was playing a nurse, she spoke really well in her pommie accent, requesting help with a patient.

Also, i agree that accent is not the problem, it's the pronunciation of words and the clarity with which they are spoken.

[ghostdarTeal'c]

Originally posted by MeMyselfandI2000
well after watching golden faith, i conclude that Gallen Lo has horrible english! eww his pronounciation.
jessica hsuan however, was awesome....where is she from again?

i believe she studied in England, at least frm what sutisa said....

[afterpaige]

Originally posted by delia_k_00
I find that generally, well so far that i've seen so correct me if i'm wrong, but i find that the older generation of actors and the younger ones have good to passable english. It's the leading actors now that have good to poor english speaking abilities. Of course, there are exceptions, but this was what i found, esp in triumph in the skies, where samuel and philip converse. The actor playing philip speaks english v well.

Speaking of jessica, i remember in "the edge of righteousness", and she was playing a nurse, she spoke really well in her pommie accent, requesting help with a patient.

Also, i agree that accent is not the problem, it's the pronunciation of words and the clarity with which they are spoken.

Speaking of Jessica in 'Edge', she was very convincing in that scene where her character was quite demented, with a newborn and an oxygen tank by her side at all times while on the verge of moving out of her house. She broke out screaming at these black moving men for handling her stuff the wrong way. I think she was good for a newcomer at that time.

Jessica studied in England in her teens until she graduated at Imperial College.

[pure_rain]

Originally posted by afterpaige
Recently I've noticed something interesting. I've realized Margret Chung's 'dumbing' down her English on purpose to suit her less educated villager role in Summer Heat which I think makes sense, if not almost admirable to be that in character. Ok, it was only one word that caught me but I personally think it worked. She still has some accent in her Chinese but it's fully functional and Victoria Jolly is apparently the new 'Gwai Mui' in town. All things aside, did anybody else picked up how Mok Ka Yiu kept saying 'vuv-vian' (Vivian) in the series? What happened to 'We-wian'?

Speaking of Summer Heat, Joyce Tang's English wasn't very good in there. I remember being barely able understand what she said.

Another one that speaks English well is Raymond Lam. I remember his few English lines in Golden Faith being very well-spoken.

[afterpaige]

Originally posted by pure_rain
Speaking of Summer Heat, Joyce Tang's English wasn't very good in there. I remember being barely able understand what she said.

Another one that speaks English well is Raymond Lam. I remember his few English lines in Golden Faith being very well-spoken.

Not that I wanna keep bagging on Ada but after hearing her, I think I even appreciate others, such as Joyce for trying. It's not nearly as incoherent as hers. A note: the actress (who's Wong Jim's daughter) playing Mok Ka Yiu's sister obvious came from overseas.

Hm, I'm not so sure about Raymond for Golden Faith since I could barely stand his acting in it, I tend to ignore his existence. But from his lawyer series, he seems to have the 'win' over 'vin' symptom of HK English accents unless he did it on purpose but that doesn't mean he doesn't speak the language fluently. He can't be bad if he studied in the states before.