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