Can you understand Jay Chou?

[Hofmann]

I don't know how someone could understand him. He should enunciate more, and people have told him that, but I guess he doesn't want to.

[dalaowai]

Yeah i have a hard time understanding him as well. It's almost like he's singing with a large piece of hot yam in his mouth.

My Chinese friends always say they have a hard time understanding him. They quite enjoy it cause when we go sing karaoke, they can sing dirty versions of his songs and it sounds the same.

[c_redman]

Reminds me of this

[skylee]

Usually I can't but his 菊花台 is not bad.

[Hofmann]

Usually his pronunciation in classical-sounding songs (菊花臺, 青花瓷, 東風破, etc) is better.

[leeyah]

夜曲，四面楚歌 & 发如雪 aren't bad either

[Lu]

I don't know how someone could understand him. He should enunciate more, and people have told him that, but I guess he doesn't want to.

I usually don't understand him. But he's world-famous in greater China even while mumbling and not smiling, so why would he change his style?

[liu101842]

我是中国人，不过也要看歌词才能听懂

[L-F-J]

some say his singing souds like 念经.

[lpascoe]

I used to find him harder to understand than I do now. I think his pronunciation has gotten clearer in the last couple of cds. Not that this is necessarily saying much. I remember listening to his 8 Dimensions cd for about a month before I realised one of the songs was in Taiwanese instead of Mandarin.

Then there is this other song of his where the lyrics are 故事在城外 but the first time I heard it, I was sure I'd heard 狗屎在城外

[Lu]

I think his pronunciation has gotten clearer in the last couple of cds.

Perhaps it's not his pronounciation but your listening skills that improved...

Recently I listened a bit closer to 牛仔很忙 (ok, that is an extreme example), and realized that Jay pronounces most of the words in this song only half, and many words not at all. This from his second-to-last cd.

[lpascoe]

Perhaps it's not his pronounciation but your listening skills that improved...

Maybe I've become proficient in Jay话 ... not sure if this is a good thing!

[FengLong]

I can understand him haha although, I haven't really listened to that many chinese songs because I live in the U.S. and i don't know that many good artists

[Gleaves]

To answer the thread title, no. But I am a fan, anyway. I had missed this topic the first time around, so I am glad I am not the only one.

But really, I just wanted an excuse to post this somewhere. I had no idea they were making a Green Hornet movie, and I also had no idea Jay was going to be Kato. As a bonus, his enunciation seems better than normal. Maybe he only mumbles in Chinese.

[skylee]

interesting trailer. thanks for posting it.

[Hofmann]

wtf I didn't know he could speak English.

[Lu]

He does sound like he's working very hard on the English :-) But with Jay Chow and those special effects, that looks like a cool movie.

[doraemon]

I have substantial trouble understanding him as well. But once I look at the lyrics, everything makes a lot more sense. ;)