The Problem With The 2022 Olympics Mascots - Why Pinyin Matters

Today let's talk about the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Mascots and why I think they names are terrible....

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years in China, it’s that getting a friend a gift in China is not easy and there a lot of things to consider, especially what you SHOULDN'T get them. Today let’s talk about 5 things that should NEVER be given as gifts in China.

My name is Alex, I have a Master's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language from Beijing Foreign Studies University and wrote my master's thesis on the topic of tones. I am interested in many aspects of the Chinese language and am excited to help anyone interested in improving their Chinese.

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Twitter: @SimpleChinese1

[learnchinesewithyan]

Your videos are so slick ! Thank you ! please do more !

[oliverwalsh]

nice video! I love the humor, always a great laugh!

[Richard-mipt]

A unique insight on an interesting topic!

[LlamasAtMidnight]

Every time I saw the name shuey rhon rhon I always thought it was pronounced like shoey, like the Australian tradition of drinking alcohol out of a boot

[PooMonkeyMan]

As someone with a similar degree with you but from across the Strait, you brought up a very good point (and TIL why Cantonese speakers from China can’t use Cantonese romanisation 😬). Keeping it to languages, I’m surprised they didn’t opt to use Yale Pinyin instead. Yale is built on standard US English pronunciation, so it would’ve been an easier for them to use. Even if they opted not to use Pinyin, there was still Wade Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Sin Wenz, and Tongyong Pinyin would’ve been better options than what ever system they used. Personally, I still prefer Wade-Giles for romanisation and Zhuyin for instruction, however, their choice was a bit perplexing.

[relaxwhc]

Many English speakers will read Dun Dun as Done Done 😂

[tacitozetticci]

I was wondering, is the "对" character directly referring to "👍" or is it just a coincidence? Does anybody know the story behind it?

[gouriguge]

To tell the truth... If it is not your video, I even never heard or saw the 2022 Olympics Mascots... Although I'm a native Chinese...😅😅

[unnamednewbie]

Devil's advocate, a lot of people are never, ever going to learn pinyin, etc., much less belabor this technicality. For those people, this "low-expectations" spelling makes pronunciation far less ambiguous. Showing a u with a line across the top, you've already lost them even if accompanied by an explanation. It's hardly the worst thing you can find anyway. LÖÖPS BRØTHER memes, Яussia maЯketing, (ex. TETЯRIS box art), intentionally wrong captions for comedic effect (Bunker tirade, mistranslated anthems). The mind-bend is lost on people who just speak English as their only language, but should be easily enough explained as technically incorrect to someone bothering learn a second+ language.

[Rockieoo]

No it is their english name not chinese name

[stephaniegraham]

We can quit saying they’re terrible no good now stop doing that stop saying the turbo stop that say they’re good they’re good enough no no no no don’t ruin the mascots Olympic mascots them on them you naughty boy get your naughty mouth do yourself don’t do it in vain on them now watch it is it gonna beat you off on my YouTube off my thing on your bad boy now stop it

[samanthaw]

btw if you don’t know how to pronounce bing dwen dwen in Pinyin system——— try French accent 🤪