That's the best Swedish person playing an American Person in a Chinese SitCom with no preparation I've seen all day!

In a larger sense, aren’t we all teenagers acting in a terrible sitcom?

Picks up a random white girl from the streets “you only have two lines and a day to learn” Her: keeps messing up Them: *shocked pikachu face”

Catherine: "Hello, I am Catherine." That one guy on the right: *_"YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, EVERYONE LIKES YOU"_*

that's not pain, that's raw existential terror.

Oh my God! That was you!? My Chinese teacher used to show us that and would say “one day you could be like her”

I don't know why they were facepalming at you when they were the ones who asked someone who was not an actor and who had told them didn't speak the language well to act in Chinese. What else did they expect? Its honestly impressive it only took 1 day of filming.

"Do you have any similar stories?' she says. I mean, who a hasn't been tricked in to acting in a Chinese sitcom, truly a classic coming of age story. XD

As a Chinese speaker, I think you did really well. Also you were obviously uncomfortable and nervous, but I think that actually works for the character. So good job!

Lol is it funny that I've actually watched this with my Chinese family, and my parents said, " wow that girl is good." XD

I mean what did they expect? You were a 16 yr old from Sweden they picked off the street

"Come on! It's only two lines!" ^All that guy's fault^

This woman is so young and has already had such an eventful life.

Honestly, anything bad about this is the fault of the producers. Who the hell just picks a random teenager off the street to act in a language she barely speaks, and then give her almost no time to prepare? Still it's a pretty cool thing to have done. (and also a friend of mine from Norway went on exchange to Taiwan and she had a shit time there. So maybe it's just something about Scandinavian girls and east Asia)

Your trauma is absolutely on them, they asked a random girl, got you on board under false pretenses and then gave you no time to prepare

the girl who's life motto is to make everything she does so unimaginably difficult so that if you fail at it, no one can judge you. breaks into acting in a language she doesn't know, in an episode where she's the centerpiece, with no acting experience . nice.

Ummm If I was dropped into China at 16, after 3 months I'd MAYBE have mastered the first page of tourist phrases. You were in a sitcom, speaking arguably the most difficult language for a European to learn. No matter how badly you think you did, it's 1000x better than most people would have... if they would have the guts to even try. You are awesome Simone!

Honestly it kind of worked. Your genuine confusion and anxiety mirrored your role, "The New American wife" / You. Both of you were suddenly surrounded by a culture you have only known through one person / Movies, pop culture, ect.. Meta AF Simone. Awesome.

"it's only two lines" *sees 52 lines instead* that's a comedy in itself XD lol

This story feels like a metaphor for any project that is presented as easy at first, but becomes incomprehensibly difficult after agreeing to it.

Bro, you are such a badass!!! You lived on a houseboat, build robots for the heck of it, and after 3 months of being in FREAKIN CHINA you end up on a sitcom, while hating being there when you were 16?!? You are literally the most interesting woman in the world.

But you played in a Chinese sitcom!!! How many people can say that??

I am from Hefei. This show accompanied my entire childhood. Feels great to watch and hear my hometown shows on KZfaq. You did great job on the show by the way

No one: Simone: Does anyone have any similar stories? Still no one:

Actually, your Chinese pronunciation was remarkably good for someone who's only learned it for 3 months. I could understand you without looking at the subtitles. And it's only natural that you'd be clearly terrified and uncomfortable; they didn't even allow a rehearsal. If they had higher expectations, they should've searched other provinces for someone more experienced. Or made more allowances for you. Forgive me for saying something so presumptuous, but I don't think you should feel embarrassed. You did the best you could considering the situation.

How has this video still not become a meme baffles me.

I SAW YOU IN MY CHINESE CLASS!! MY TEACHER WOULD SHOW US THESE BRO!

My mom (American) lived in Hong Kong in the early 90's when she was young. One time she got her picture taken by a photographer just for fun. A couple months later some random store was using those photos in all their advertising without my mom's permission or knowledge. She was just walking down the street one day and saw this shop with a 10-foot-tall picture of her in the window

"I didn't peak during my teenage years" I agree, but moving to China and being in a sitcom at 16 is still amazing compared to most people at that age. It's just that I think you have yet to peak .

"i played in a chinese sitcom" is such a good introduction line

so if you were playing "the American wife" why didn't they just go with the idea that your character's mandarin wasn't that good?

I have seen WAY worse from professional adult actors on sitcoms acting in their native language after having gone through a whole audition process. You were a 16-year-old new to the language AND not a pro-actor and if you had not pointed out the awkward moments I would never have noticed them. You absolutely spot-on portray "non-chinese-native young newly-wed is thrown into a confusing meet-the-friends-and-family situation and feeling totally lost but masking it with charme"

Simone, honestly, I'm impressed. Think of it: a 16 year-old stuck it out in a stressful situation, and didn't walk away. It may have boiled your ham too long for your liking, but not every endeavour is gonna go smoothly, especially for the first time. Add up all the twists you mentioned, and my gosh, what you accomplished was nothing short of amazing. And yes, you've only gotten prettier.

Tbh your Mandarin is actually really good for someone who's brand new at it

Saw this when I was still back in China many years ago. Found your channel yesterday through truckla, binge watched all of your videos and ended up here. Maybe this is what 缘分 is!

dude your chinese is actually really impressive considering you'd only been exposed to it for three months!!! sure it's embarassing, but also makes for a good story no? it's funny, and the glow up is real lolol

The funny thing is, you were really convincing, in playing a frightened foreigner, who barely speaks chinese and is introduced to a lot of strangers at once. Thus being so, because that is basically was you actually were, but as long as the chinese audience doesen't know they should like your performance :)

2:11 - Title: Happy Lobster Stall 2:23 - I’m just here to check out what the wife of Boss Zeng’s son looks like. 2:26 - [She is] In the store. Changle is watching. 2:28 - Old Zeng! We’re back! 2:29 - Ah, back! 2:31 - Hello! Long time no see! 2:33 - Little Wei is all grown up now! - Yup! 2:35 - Lemme introduce: this is my girlfriend. 2:41 - My name is Katherine. I’m from America. 3:12 - He can speak [English] too! 3:13 - We're quite surprised you can speak [English]! 3:15 - Come siiiiiiiiit down! 3:17 - Come Lanxiang, sit down! 3:20 - Dad, I'm so cold wearing this. I kept shaking. 3:22 - Frozen beauty! [a Chinese pun] 3:27 - We don’t have Spring Festival there [in America]. 3:27 - Oh they don’t have Spring Festival there. 3:29 - Do they have that… Shengdan thingy, in their place? [“Shengdan" sounds similar to Chinese translation of "Christmas"] 3:31 - Not Shengdan! It’s Christmas. 3:36 - We there have Christmas, Christmas Tree, Christmas Presents. Just like your Spring Festival. 4:01 - So awesome! And still in school? 4:02 - Aww you flatter me. 4:15 - Call me daddy! [don’t ask] 4:17 - Sure no prob! 4:18 - If that’s so, maybe I’ll get an international friendship too! 4:38 - Come on come on. It’s New Year! Everyone gets a red pocket! Here you go. 4:40 - No no no no no... 4:41 - Take it! It’s lucky money. 4:44 - Why do you give me money? I have money. 4:57 - Wish you be rich! Please give me a red pocket! 4:59 - She’s a fast learner in that [learning words for getting money]! 5:44 - Come in come in… 5:45 - Put them on the desk. 5:49 - Lemme count them. 5:50 - Dad, why did you buy so many stuffs? 5:53 - That’s because when we Chinese spend our New Year, nobody sells stuffs on the streets [shops are closed], so we must be prepared! 5:57 - Buying so many stuffs. Wouldn’t they become unfresh? 6:03 - Dad, why were there so many kids doing explosives? How dangerous! 6:13 - Whenever I open my eyes, I see them doing explosives. Like living on a battlefield. 6:26 - Oh my god. Who’s gonna Saving Private Katherine? 6:28 - It’s Chinese traditional culture. It’s your duty to do it. 6:29 - I like Chunlian. I can write it too. 6:31 - Why are they lying there? Why don’t they stand up? 6:34 - (That’s because you aren’t making dumpling [jiaozi]!) That’s more like a chive pocket [jiucai hezi]! 6:51 - "Peking Opera", “hualian” [Peking Opera role name], yes, I know them. I’ve watched them. I can also sing “Muolihua" [“Jasmine Flower”, a Chinese folk song]. 6:56 - What? You can sing “Muolihua”? Show us show us show us! 7:35 - What a beautiful jasmine flower What a beautiful jasmine flower Sweet-smelling, beautiful, stems full of buds Fragrant and white, everyone praises 7:54 - Great singing! So awesome! 7:55 - Roujiamo [Chinese hamburger]. Frankly it’s just hamburger! 7:56 - Hamburgers?! Hamburgers big! Dis so smoll! 8:02 - Mini hamburgers! 8:03 - Don’t be silly! Lemme tell you. 8:08 - Yup that’s good! If you have a healthy body, you can eat whatever! [Quoting from a Chinese advertisement for Lantian Liubizhi] 8:12 - Now you are an ad of Lantian Liubizhi [some over-the-counter medicine for digestive health]! Not bad! 8:14 - Don’t interrupt. 8:19 - Next year, you two should come visit America! 8:22 - [That’s because] Little Wei has taught me well. [Don’t ask. It sounds creepy in Chinese too.] 8:28 - I welcome everyone to visit America together next year. I’ll be the host! 9:07 - Lemme give everyone gifts! 9:08 - Oh she even brought gifts! 9:38 - She said, you are very pretty, like a flower. [Perfect translation!] 9:47 - I like China, and also China’s handsome boys. 10:00 - Economical, intelligent, can manage domestic life, and knows how to live a good life.

For not knowing what you’re doing, you actually did a good job

Saw truckla and then this. As a native speaker, i think you are doing a terrific job, better than most. Also seen you counting in Chinese, I wouldn't be able to tell if I were blindfolded.

They only gave you a day for like 52 lines in a language you barely know?! That's absolutely ridiculous, how the hell can they expect you to do any better than you did with those circumstances

I did two years of mandarin at university and never spoke it to this level.

As a half Chinese person, your Chinese wasn't bad for someone who studied her lines in only a day. Yeah, you have errors with the 声调 of some words but the fact that you were sixteen and the pressure you were under to study 52 lines in one day makes it ok. So good job on that. 加油！

you'd make an amazing character in how i met your mother i got both lily and robin vibes

I'm Chinese, and this makes me laugh so hard.. 😂 This sitcom seems really bad plotted, but u really have a gift for language learning!

You need to update IMDB with the Chinese sitcom citation.

I had no idea you were from Sweden until this episode, hearing your 16 year old Swedish accent. Your modern American accent is flawless. If you told me you were born and raised in northern California, I wouldn't question it whatsoever. This kinda reminds me of when I was a kid in the 80's. The local Chinese restaurant was owned and operated by a family that moved from Hong Kong around the same time that my family moved from Poland. Their food was not your typical, Americanized, greasy Chinese food. It was legit stuff from their ancestral region of the world. I didn't know who General Tso was until I moved away to college and started living on shitty takeout. The menu was tiny by what I expect from a typical Americanized Chinese menu, but everything was a solid 10. As the only Chinese restaurant in town, I accepted it as normal ethnic food as a little boy, like how my childhood friends though my family's Polish food was "weird" when a friend stayed for dinner. Their dumplings were absolutely fantastic, and we went every so often on Sunday mornings to sit down and have a special meal. Learning about Dim Sum as an adult, that's exactly what we had way before Dim Sum was on the common American foodie radar. None of those facts are important, but I thought they were worth adding for flavor and respect. Anyways, the daughter, who was in her early to mid 20's at the time and served as the hostess and waitress, had a flawless accent to match her central Connecticut clientele. It was eerie because it was like she grew up in my little town, not halfway around the world. I went to school with her little brother, and he still has a touch of an accent today. As a kid, the transition of her serving my family in perfect regional English, then turning her head to answer a question from her Mom in Cantonese, turning back to us and effortlessly gliding back into a perfect regional dialect was astonishing. It was like watching a chameleon change colors before your eyes.

6:37 “Why are the dumplings laying there, not standing up?” Mom replied: “That’s because you are making Pies instead of Dumplings!”

When I was 17 years old I volunteered to be a broadcast announcer, calling play by play action for a college level basketball tournament. The TV audience and radio audience listening in was maybe 4000 people. The tournament was 12 games over 4 days and I was broadcasting with a veteran broadcaster named John. I had never done any broadcasting work but I was hoping this would propel me to working for ESPN or NBC and whatnot. I'm supposed to provide play by play action for all the games. I quickly realized during the first game that play by play is harder than I thought. I had a very difficult time finding interesting or relevant things to say. John kept trying to help me by asking questions like "what do you think of the gopher offense so far?" I replied "the offense is good." John basically carried the commentary for the first days games. The producer took me aside at the end of day one and said my services were no longer required. The producer herself did the commentary with John.

This reminds me of the time I was among our entire town who played extras in a comedy called Man About Dog filmed in Duleek, Ireland. When the movie finally came out I was working in a factory on the other side on Ireland. People actually stopped me on the street because they recognized me as the worst over-acting extra in the movie. I kept expecting a call from William Shatner telling me I need to tone it down.

Okay, so my mom was learning Chinese like 14 years ago, and she talks in her sleep. She used to sing that song in a creepy little kid voice in her sleep, in the middle of the night, and it was the creepiest fuckin' thing. It sounded like she was possessed by a little Chinese ghost child. I hadn't heard it since she graduated from the language course she was taking. This took me back.

LMAO that’s legit me going back to china trying to communicate with my relatives

for the role of a foreigner being introduced to a chinese family, you did really convincing lol ps: your pronunciation for the song was spot on

When I was in Tokyo I posed for a photo with my roommates at a party to celebrate of all the people who had turned twenty in the region. Turns out the photos were for use in a public service announcements. My face was in posters all across Tokyo encouraging everyone of legal age (20 in Japan) to vote. I was actually 21 at the time.

You did an EXCELLENT job! This was probably one of the biggest test of your life. And you made it through! I’ve been studying Chinese for four years, and your pronunciation here is very good. You struggled with getting the right tones. But to be someone who’d never studied Chinese before, you did something TRUELY magical here! You should be so proud of yourself.

Why didn’t they just dub over her lines

just pure admiration to even have the guts to look back at it, I can't even look back on my own videos (AKA youtube vids) without having my hands in front of me ready to block my eyes and spare the horror.

It pisses me off that you did this as a courtesy for them and they made you feel bad about yourself. These people are supposed to be actors and they couldn't at least act encouraging?

So brave doing that at 16. Brave for showing it again. :)

You totally nailed it and shamelessly upstaged the lobster.

You're like a real life character from How I Met Your Mother

I once was in a musical and was told not to go to any dance rehearsals as I was told of was going to be doing voice off stage (through a mic)only to find out I was also going to be dancing on stage the day before...

"Electronic watch! That's how you pick guys up" thanks for the dating advice

They took advantage of you... You did awesome.. Anyone else probably would've just broken-down completely and cried before running off the set.

Your mandarin was spot on!!

Brave, 16 year old swedish girl in china, going on some tv thing.. geeeesh..

That was 3 months of Chinese? That really wasn't bad at all.

WOW. You're incredibly cool, Simone. What an intimidating experience, especially being the one blamed for the producer's stupid decision to grab a white teenage girl off the street and expect her to be a sitcom actor in another language. To be fair, I almost want to say it was genius because you certainly did much better than a lot of people would have under such intense circumstances. Good on you!

As a Chinese I approve your Chinese speaking skill! 非常赞！

9:00 I think that's a universal feeling for someone doing language immersion for the first time. That terrified smile was on my face for the first month I was in Russia.

How did I not see this before?? This is awesome! For being 3 months in China and delivering this… YOU are awesome!

Your prouniciation is very good! You got the tunes incredibly accurate 👌

I'm Chinese so I understand the entire fucking thing. Simone's accent is so strong

Why do I get the feeling that one day we're going to find out you were briefly the Prime Minister of Sweden when you were 12? You've had a weird life...... ;-)

this makes me feel better about my embarrassing moments thank you so much for thus

10:35. I accidentally said bukkake instead of kabuki in front of my Taiwanese father-in-law. Yea that was pretty embarrassing...

“Do you have any similar stories?” I don’t think anyone ever will get a similar story to this one 😂😂😂😂😂 you rocked it

Not close to your story, but just a few days ago, I played guitar and sang in my room at my student block. I have never played for anyone and don't consider myself particularly good. I live at the 6th floor and it was a pretty hot day, so I had my window open and thought no one would hear me. Well, turned out a lot of people were outside and had their windows open... On the facebook page for our student village someone had written a post asking "Who were you playing guitar with the window open and why did you stop?" It was posted right after I had stopped and had quickly gained 30 likes. I came to realise that I had just played my first concert without knowing it.

Oh my word!! I studied Chinese for a year in America and another half a year in China and I could have never pulled my nervousness together enough to do a fraction of how well you pushed yourself through that!!! It's AMAZING for someone JUST learning the language. And I'm no expert but the Chinese commenters here seem to agree, you pulled that off girl!!! I'm amazed. I know it was traumatizing for you but thank you so much for sharing!! Hopefully you sharing this helped you realize a little bit more how awesome you are!

Not sure why youtube wanted to remind me of this video again 4 years later, but glad to rewatch it again.

Twinkle little star you ask “Is that how it’s called in English?” That threw me off because you’re the only Swedish person I’ve heard with a perfect American English accent that has no half British sound to it.

As a Chinese I found that this is so awkward it’s like the kind of drama targeted at my grandparents 😂 but it’s so weirdly hilarious.

This is hilarious ... btw, do you know what your Chinese Name "心萌" mean? A cute heart ... a good direct translation for your English name.

Your stress was palpable but it works for the character and the scene.

This...... this is my nightmare, I would have thrown up and run away, and just keep running till I wasn't in China anymore, or this planet.

The worst day of my life: I was a gaffer on this Chinese sitcom and this Swedish chick with an American accent kept messing up her lines. It was brutal.

Whenever I am going to travel somewhere I make sure to learn even a little song. That way if I get in trouble I can siiiiinnnng my way out.

I lived in China for a year as a young adult... you did good. Also don't forget about the white girl phenomenon of "if you can say a few things in Chinese fairly well... Oh you did so good!"

You looked a little like young Michael Cera, like Arrested Development Michael Cera. 10/10

My favorite part is that you still had a heavy Swedish accent during the parts you said in English!!! 😂😂😂

Simone just continues to blow my mind with every video I-🧍🏽‍♀️

Hands down, this is one of my top 10 favorite videos I've ever seen!

I am amazed at how well you did. If I were in your place, they would have replaced me with a cardboard cutout

XD I'm wheezing because I know how hard Chinese is even as a native speaker myself and because of the satire of the show itself. I can understand like 80% of what they are trying to say and it's quite funny. Your Chinese was actually pretty good! It may have taken a lot of takes to get right but that's some true skill and talent to pull that off XP I'm just glad you don't use to ever deal with that awkwardness and pressure again. The equivalent for me would be ding a sitcom in Spanish. And they talk fast. I wouldn't last an hour in the studio without having a mental breakdown

I love that with this on KZfaq, there's English subtitles even for all the Chinese dialogue ☺️

i’m so dead when i was in elementary we had a sister school in china and we learned mo li hua and sang it to them

I appreciate how you say yes to everything and every opportunity. Imma try and do that

It's not bad at all. You acting was very convincing. You are being too hard on yourself.

She literally looks like a different person 😂😂😂 Also, do you think the chinese people knew she has a swedish accent when she speaks English instead of a Canadian one or did they just not care at all? 😂

I still think about this video to this day. It's just... so enthralling and crazy hilarious. I'm sorry this happened to you, but I'm also really glad because it's made for an unforgettable story.