William Chan’s English Criticized in New Chanel Ad
After being criticized for ruining the Mandarin version of the “Aladdin” theme song, William Chan (陳偉霆) is facing criticism again for his disjointed English in a new Chanel advertisement. Netizens ridiculed his exaggerated facial expressions and heavy Chinese accent in his English speech. They suggested William should just speak Chinese instead.
The 33-year-old actor is the only male brand ambassador for the Chanel J12 watch alongside nine other female stars including Naomi Campbell, Keira Knightley, Lily-Rose Depp, Chinese supermodel Liu Wen (劉雯) and more.
In his own 45-second monochrome video ad, William dominated several close-ups with his poses, big smiles, and English speech on how he views time and which moments had changed his life. He talked about how he debuted in the entertainment industry through entering a singing competition at 17 years old because he wanted to try being an artiste. He also mentioned that he wastes his time by sleeping, and hopes to stop time whenever he hugs his mother.
William had studied at Yew Chung International School and even gave up the opportunity to study university abroad in England in the past. Previously, he had uploaded a clip of his nephew and himself having an English conversation. This had netizens believe William has decent ability in English.
However, the stark contrast of his English between his clip and the Chanel ad made netizens question his English capabilities, as they harshly criticized, “Just speak Chinese instead!” and “His laugh is so disgusting.”. Many fans commented in defense of their idol, by praising, “so handsome” and “so charming”.
Source: hket
This article is written by Minna for JayneStars.com.
Wow he must be really popular to be selected by Chanel as the only male ambassador. Anyway if Chanel itself doesn’t mind his English, I don’t see why netizens have to be so critical of it.
@prettysup1 They are certainly on a roll picking on him for that Disney song and now this? hhaha LOL… I haven’t listened to his English yet but the song was bad in comparison to the girl’s voice. However, who’s fault is it if they let him pass? hahaha LOL…If they didn’t his voice at all, ditch him and let the girl duet w/someone else more in par.
Eh, overrated actor/singer/everything IMO. I don’t see his appeal at all. I don’t understand why he’s so popular.
@coralie I think he really is one of those that is a better actor/dancer than he will ever be as a singer. Just how I would perceive Jennifer Lopez. I never like her singing period but I can stand her dancing/acting. Popularity wise he’s in a few nice production w/the right series and people I think. The only series I ever watched of him was ‘Age of Legends’ and I thought he was really convincingly good in the role. Good for him thou as he would never have as much luck if he didn’t made the move to China.
@wm2017 i don’t like JLo either if that helps lol. JLo is on people’s radar ’cause I think she’s one of the first latinos to ever break it on the American market, so they hyped her up. i’ve never been a fan of her music.
i think i saw one of william chan’s works in the past, but it didn’t really leave much of an impression, so can’t really speak on his cinematic charisma.
First few sentences sound like those robot speaking YouTube videos lol! It likes they cut and paste his voice >_> and yea, the editing is terrible and make his laugh so creepy and fake. He doesn’t even look good during the video shoot.
Okay I think people are being a bit harsh. Learning a second language is difficult and some people have no talent in it. I have heard worse laughs. People are just bashing him while he’s on a low.
But the editing in the video is absolutely terrible. How can a big brand like Chanel not find a better editor?
@eleven I know right? I just listened to it as well. It was not that bad in comparison to that Disney song. He was born and raised in HK how did people expect him to sound? Yes, he’s reading a script and you can tell he has an accent but it was not that bad. They are just picking on it when he’s on the low. haha lol….
@wm2017 I would think he is on the high rather than low actually haha… being picked by Disney and Chanel certainly ruffled his haters’ feathers
@prettysup1 LOL…True that….haha
Personally I don’t find William Chan handsome. He looks very feminine to me. I have never seen his movies, so I cannot comment on his acting or dancing.
His English in the above video is adequate, but you can tell that he speaks with Hongkong accents. Majority of the people in Hong Kong speak English with Hong Kong accents. Unfortunately if the school teachers teach the kids English with Hong Kong accents, the kids (or artistes later) will surely speak English with same Hong Kong accents when they grow up unless they attend international schools or those top English schools in Hong Kong.
I haven’t read the Aladdin song’s article, so I won’t comment on that. What’s wrong with a Chinese accent? I always find it so weird when an obvious Asian starts speaking in an obvious American accent hahaha
@linda
Some c-netizens are especially harsh on those who speak English with even a slight Chinese accent. but they absolutely swoon whenever a white foreigner speak a few words of Chinese with heavy western accent.
@msxie0714 That sounds like textbook insecurity.
Anyway, I didn’t find him handsome until I watched a huge chunk of a show called Love Lost in Times, and because I liked him in the show, I found him handsome after I liked him (as we do with people we like in real life, they can be the most ugly-looking people, but because we like them, they become good-looking in our eyes, LOL!)
His English is understandable. Definitely better than the Aladin song.
When he was having a conversation with his nephew in English, it doesn’t mean he won’t have an accent when speaking English. It just shows that he can comprehend the language. So I don’t get why the netzens have such a big reaction to this video…
I think the commercial didn’t capture his best looks. He appears to be good poking to me but not at all in the commercial. His accent is okay but I just feel that the entire commercial could have been made better with the effeminate look and stereotypical accent. Just feel the whole thing is not giving Asian men a fair representation.
To all the ‘Tall Poppies’ having a go at William Chan, how pathetic are you lot? William speaks English with a heavy Hong Kong accent, so what? Didn’t you understand his comments? So why pick on his accent? Go and be a better person, little ‘no bodies’.
That was pretty awkward. It would have been better if he had spoken in Chinese with English subs instead. Not saying that he has to speak English with American accent whatsoever but he didn’t even sound fluent (not picking on his accent btw cos he isnt a native speaker afterall).
@passingby2 Actually he did 2 versions of this ad, one in Chinese and one in English.
wow people are little harsh, his English is good for HKer so what with an accent lol.
He does sound very awkward… should have spoke Cantonese instead.
@karina Arnold Schwarzenneger’s english is far more accented and awkward sounding.
I think William is quite good looking but this ad doesn’t capture his looks well. The laughs were very fake and exaggerated. However, I thought his English was fine.
Not a fan of William, but I find it not as bad as people say. Yes, he does have an accent, but would you really expect him to have perfect English? It’s a good try.
On the other hand, I think he did worse on the Aladdin song. He’s just not good at singing (why did he even win the singing competition?). They should’ve found a decent singer, rather than getting William to sing it due to his popularity.
Never find him good looking or appealing. Yes he has a accent but its not thay bad. Can understand what he is saying and he is Chinese, so what do peoppe expect? I’ve been in the US since I was 2 yrs old and I still have an accent.
I hate when anyone is bullied for their natural native accent. Such a disgraceful behaviour.
Chanel picked him to be himself. English is not his first spoken language but I really enjoying listening to his courage to speak so comfortably.
I enjoy the video. He does not try to have posh accent. Just him being him.
Those that criticized him should look at their ugly inner self for laughing at other’s weakness.
F*ck it, we all have our weakness, no need to laugh or judge at others.
Even Chanel is happy with his advert and they paid him to film it.
@hohliu I totally agree with you. It is immature and I bet that the people who are ridiculing him also have heavy accents/cannot even speak English themselves.
In my opinion I do not find anything wrong with his English or accent, but his smile yes, so unnatural and with the evil grin. Also his hair style is so flat makes him look unappealing.
There is nothing wrong with his HK accent since he was born and raised up in HK. His English is understandable. He doesn’t need to have an American and British accents to do this commercial. If Chanel only wants ABC with American accents, they wouldn’t have hired him. If his English is understandable, there’s no need to criticize him, right? He is already helping international companies to recognize chinese artists. Chinese anti-fans should stop insulting him.
@rainbow28 I think it is specifically HKers who are criticizing him; they seem to be incredibly insecure about their accents and have been known to poke fun at HK/Chinese celebrities’ English.
@emerald5forever Could be those snooty queen’s English-speaking HK’ers who poke fun at HK/Chinese celeb’s English.
I was anticipating bad grammar or just terrible English in general, but the commercial wasn’t that bad. Gee people are overreacting. Singaporean also speak with accented English, but they’re always grammatically correct. That matters more to me than an accent.
If you want to see what’s really bad HK English, you have to watch this commercial: https://youtu.be/pJwbLclb_AQ
@coralie Exactly. I think people need to understand fluency in a language isn’t just pronouncing things correctly, but also using correct grammar.
I only ever knew him as Charlene’s ex bf. Thought he looked pretty good b4 but he kinda looked different now. Did he get some Botox or something coz he really looked different
The guy is from HK, so of course he will speak with a HK accent; why are people obsessing over how good/bad his English is?
I covered the subtitles and his English isn’t bad. He just can’t say “really” that well. I understand that he has a really strong Asian (HK) accent, but that’s it. lol It’s unnecessary to make headlines about it.