Meryl Streep's Recitation

[889]

So what's the verdict? Was Meryl Streep in fact completely caught off guard yet nonetheless able to recite from memory a Tang poem she'd learned years ago in English and Chinese? Or was this all something of a set-up, a fraud on a gullible American TV audience?

 

Bear in mind she is an exceptionally skilled actress.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ldmPOXEPo (Starts at about 4:0）

 

My verdict?

 

Spoiler

I think she's very much in actress mode throughout the interview.

 

[Flickserve]

She must have practiced before the interview.

[杰.克]

All content is curated and prepped. Without a shadow of doubt, the content of the interview has been discussed beforehand and she has practised precisely for the interviewer to randomly ask her to do it. I am absolutely chill with that as a reality though. Making content that is engaging is exceptionally difficult. Dam straight she should be practising!

[mungouk]

She was clearly reading from something while reciting it, both in English and Mandarin. 

 

Pronunciation was pretty reasonable though, I thought.  Did she call anyone's mother a hooker?

 

[PerpetualChange]

Being asked to speak in Mandarin by people who don't even understand the language on a basic level is always so awkward. I feel a cringe coming on as that segment of the interview started, even if it's what the actress wanted. 

[杰.克]

Why cringe? Ive always really respected friends or people that can speak languages I don't understand. To the point where i have actively encouraged them to talk to me, despite me not understanding the slightest bit of it. I enjoy listening to the sounds, and I think its a form of respect.

 

 

[PerpetualChange]

Could just be my personality, I hate having that kind of attention drawn to myself, especially if I feel like I don't deserve it.

[杰.克]

Dude, if you have a level of ability in Mandarin, of course you deserve praise in the eyes of your friends ❤️ people will be stoked to hear you.  Why would you not deserve praise? its a pretty hard skill!

 

Now if you actively go seeking it, at every meal or gathering, that would be cringe! 

 

Okkkkaaay Meryl, calm down, you've cracked out that Chinese poem the last 40 times we've seen you. OK, we get it! you learnt some Chinese, now will ya shut up!

 

 

[Flickserve]

7 hours ago, PerpetualChange said:

Could just be my personality, I hate having that kind of attention drawn to myself, especially if I feel like I don't deserve it.

 

Why the life of fame andn fortune  doesn't suit you? ??

[889]

You head to a fancy French restaurant, not in France. To your surprise, one friend has an intentionally long and thorough discussion with le garçon about the details of each dish, all in fluent French.

 

Your reaction:

 

A. OMG! He's brilliant.

B. What a jerk.

[Tomsima]

21 hours ago, 889 said:

A. OMG! He's brilliant.

B. What a jerk.

 

This happened with our family a few years ago. My sister's boyfriend (now husband) is half French, so naturally speaks French and English. When we went to a French restaurant with the whole family one evening, he spoke to the waiter in French and then proceeded to order also in French. Sounded awesome to me and I was shocked to hear family members on the car journey home saying how embarrassing it was and how ridiculous it was for him to do such a thing.....

[Flickserve]

12 hours ago, Tomsima said:

how ridiculous it was for him to do such a thing.....

what went wrong??

[Guest realmayo]

On 12/25/2020 at 5:38 AM, 889 said:

Your reaction:

Both, surely?

[Lu]

She clearly practised, she is clearly reading from a screen or something, and it was a good recitation. She has an accent, but that's only normal, since (to my knowledge) she doesn't actually speak Chinese. And it is a beautiful poem. Good work all around. Such interviews are always prepared. That's why the show host knew there was a good anecdote there and why Streep could tell the story so well and concisely. It's possible that he really did put her on the spot about actually reciting the poem, but even then she would have expected that and prepared it.

 

On 12/26/2020 at 3:47 AM, Tomsima said:

I was shocked to hear family members on the car journey home saying how embarrassing it was and how ridiculous it was for him to do such a thing...

Perhaps they felt threatened that someone knew something that they very much did not.

 

I don't like the 'You speak Chinese? Then say something!' requests either, but I guess I'd mind a lot less if I knew a choice Tang poem by heart to stun everyone into silence. Thankfully I rarely get it these days. The last time it happened I obliged and the reaction was 'Well I'll have number 35 with rice hahaha.'

[vellocet]

On 12/25/2020 at 1:38 PM, 889 said:

You head to a fancy French restaurant, not in France. To your surprise, one friend has an intentionally long and thorough discussion with le garçon about the details of each dish, all in fluent French.

Garçon means boy.

 

On 12/25/2020 at 1:38 PM, 889 said:

Your reaction:

 

A. OMG! He's brilliant.

B. What a jerk.

Depends entirely on the motivation for the public display.  Did he want to show off, or was he actually interested in the dishes?  Somehow I think Meryl Streep isn't particularly interested in Tang Dynasty history, she just wanted to "casually" recite poetry in a foreign language known to be difficult in order to impress people.  The entertainment industry exhibits selection bias for those who have an inexhaustible appetite for attention.

 

Quote

how embarrassing it was and how ridiculous it was for him to do such a thing...

You have to consider the human factors.  It was interpreted as a status grab in front of everyone.  If the waiter (not boy) speaks English, and you speak English, is there really a necessity to speak French in front of everyone?  Communication clarity isn't an issue.  Crass status displays are perceived as embarrassing by everyone.  There's also the issue of making people feel envy by making them feel inadequate.  The French speaker in the party likely did this as well.  Learning how to make people not feel inadequate is something I had to learn how to stop doing.  I was always a brainy kid, so when I ever displayed my smarts in public people immediately punished me, hard.  I had to learn to stop embarrassing people by correcting them or offering better answers than they did. People made me pay for doing that, and made me miserable for a long time until I finally learned to stop doing it.  Making people feel inadequate is a sure road to ostracization.  

 

Quote

Bear in mind she is an exceptionally skilled actress.

Call me crazy, but being really good at playing pretend and being able to convincingly fake emotions isn't a skill that a lot of people value.  

[889]

"Garçon means boy."

 

Bingo! I knew somebody would take the bait and try to nitpick that so I'd have the chance in return to suggest a comparison with the Cantonese foki, which is probably a bit more dated than garçon.

 

Is it insulting to call a waiter in Paris garçon?

[杰.克]

6 hours ago, 889 said:

I knew somebody would take the bait and try to nitpick

 

Don't be so pedontic!

 

 

[Lu]

8 hours ago, vellocet said:

Call me crazy, but being really good at playing pretend and being able to convincingly fake emotions isn't a skill that a lot of people value.

I won't call you crazy, but I do find this really funny. Did you know that some actors make millions of dollars per movie and are celebrated around the world? It's fine if you don't like movies and theater (to each their own, after all), but it's useful to be aware of what many other people value.

 

8 hours ago, vellocet said:

You have to consider the human factors.  It was interpreted as a status grab in front of everyone. If the waiter (not boy) speaks English, and you speak English, is there really a necessity to speak French in front of everyone? Communication clarity isn't an issue. Crass status displays are perceived as embarrassing by everyone. There's also the issue of making people feel envy by making them feel inadequate. The French speaker in the party likely did this as well.

But that makes this a tricky situation. Speaking English to the waiter while both were aware he could speak French would to the waiter look like showing off and perhaps even belittling him by forcing him to speak English, while he would have been more comfortable in French. I think the difference is in why the man was speaking French: was it to show his in-laws that he could, or was it because it was the most natural and comfortable way to communicate in that situation? I think it's clearly the second, and the family was too sensitive to read it as a display to make them look inadequate.

 

Meryl Streep on the other hand is doing it to show off, but I'd argue that whole tv show is about people showing off something or the other, so people who don't like that kind of display can just turn it off.

[vellocet]

4 hours ago, Lu said:

Did you know that some actors make millions of dollars per movie and are celebrated around the world?

Did you know that Hollywood is infested with sex abusers and pedophiles?  And it was well-known, and they tolerated it for decades?  They knew.  They all knew, and said nothing. Until a few brave women stood up, shouted "No more!" and started the #metoo movement.

 

Quote

It's fine if you don't like movies and theater (to each their own, after all), but it's useful to be aware of what many other people value.

If they value sex abusers and pedohpiles and those who tolerate them, then they have some really messed-up values. They need to be made uncomfortable in public expressing such values that are deeply out of step with moral values. Is supporting Hollywood making anyone uncomfortable? Take note of their resistance. Do they want to be a part of the story of a better world, or do they want to be left behind?

 

4 hours ago, Lu said:

Speaking English to the waiter while both were aware he could speak French would to the waiter look like showing off and perhaps even belittling him by forcing him to speak English, while he would have been more comfortable in French

How would the waiter know he spoke French, unless he began the conversation in French?  Waiters in fancy restaurants have long been known for speaking many languages, English surely would be one these days.  

 

4 hours ago, Lu said:

the family was too sensitive to read it as a display to make them look inadequate.

Ah, here's where the human factor comes in.  You have to know when people are going to mischaracterize your honest attempts at displaying a skill in public.  I had only the best intentions over and over, and all that ever happened was that people said I was a showoff.  It was because I didn't understand the human factor.  That's why he had the negative reaction.  

[Flickserve]

 

2 hours ago, vellocet said:

How would the waiter know he spoke French, unless he began the conversation in French?  Waiters in fancy restaurants have long been known for speaking many languages, English surely would be one these days.  

 

Man. This is getting a bit weird. I would speak Chinese in a Chinese restaurant. I might even speak Chinese to a Chinese waiter in a non-Chinese restaurant if it would make things easier. And I would also be doing that when I am in the U.K. (which i did on my last visit a year ago). During that visit , I was using Cantonese plus English with another BBC guy that I met for the first time during a county badminton competition. How did it happen? Some Cantonese words slipped out quite naturally into the conversation. 
 

Today, I spoke a mixture of mandarin and Cantonese to one of my clients who was originally from Beijing. Then another from Taiwan we spoke a mixture of Cantonese Mandarin and English. How did we end up speaking some mandarin? It was bloody obvious from their accent when they spoke Cantonese - they didn’t speak Cantonese like a native speaker. 
 

Having some experience of french, to me, it’s pretty clear to hear a french accent when native french people speak English. I would definitely revert to french if I could do so.