Fan Bingbing attends Premiere of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015 in Cannes, France. (Photo : Getty Images/Clemens Bilan)
Because the Chinese language is so radically different from English, a lot of Chinese workers who seek promotion feared the annual English test put in place by the Communist Party of China in the 1990s. The policy was reversed in April.
While for ordinary Chinese who would continue to work in the country could afford to set aside learning a difficult language, it is not the case for Chinese actors who want to succeed in the international movie scene. Two of the biggest Chinese stars who have entered mainstream Hollywood had to learn the language during their adulthood which is more difficult.
Hollywood Roles
But they are now reaping the fruit of their hardship by landing starring roles in Hollywood movies dominated by native English-language speakers. Jackie Chan arrived in California in the 1980s after he was sent by Golden Harvest, a movie production company, to the U.S. to learn the language and break into the American movie industry after establishing himself as a kung fu actor in Hong Kong.
Similarly, Fan Bingbing started to learn English at age 36. She spends hours on and off the set learning the language even if her father did not believe she could succeed since she started to study when she was in her 30s. “It’s never too late to learn English,” Fan Bingbing insisted.
Four English Teachers
Jackie Chan listened to American folk songs and watched U.S. movies and TV series to learn the language faster. There was a time he had four English teachers who helped him learn the language in sessions that lasted up to nine hours daily. Among the experienced he recalled that really pushed Jackie Chan to learn the language was when he called his agent in Hong Kong at around midnight to ask about what he thought was a vital document but was just a menu.
Fan Bingbing, because of her busy schedule, uses her spare time to learn English such as while waiting on the set or aboard a plane. She would even recite the lines of other actors in her script to further learn.
Those who have taken the challenge point out the totally different system of the English language from the Chinese as they memorize a lot of grammar rules, including auxiliary verbs and tenses. More Chinese actors, such as Donnie Yen have taken the challenge and succeeded, which is why more Chinese actors are seen in major Hollywood blockbusters such as “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “xXx: Return of Xander Cage.”
