Can the foreigners really speak Mandarin?
Harumi Ogawa Harumi speaks ‘real’ Mandarin, mind you. Playing Miko, the resident Japanese in the sitcom, she has been interested in the language since she was in secondary school, when she would tune in to those Learn Mandarin programmes on TV. She has since obtained the advance level in the language. But she’s pure Japanese, she reminds you. And she knows other languages as well as including English, Cantonese and Korean. The next time you take a SQ flight, listen out for the Japanese announcements, chances are, they’re done by Harumi. John (Pan Jiesi) ‘Gavin’ admits to not speaking ‘pu tong hua’ (Mandarin) well. The manager of a telecommunications company was being too humble. John first started to learn Mandarin when he stayed in China from 1991 to 1992. He then dabbled in some businesses but eventually found his way here because he just liked it here. One thing led to another, and soon he was doing a lot of ‘angmoh-who-can-speak-Mandarin’ roles for MediaCorp. Just don’t point and s
