I honestly do not want to blow this situation up, however this is what the video uploader states:
As you all know the country Brunei and Philippines are near thats why Calvin joked about it but in Chinese culture the way he said it is insulting to the country Philippines and Ngar who translated this told me since she is Chinese herself and she even asked her other friends who can understand and knows their culture and they agreed that when Calvin said that he did insult [the Philippines]. – AsianFanaticz
I don’t really know how to take this, because from the video’s subtitles, I can take it as either of the following:
- Calvin telling Wu Zun not to land in the Philippines when swimming back to Brunei can be interpreted as Calvin warning Wu Zun not to accidentally swim to the Philippines instead of Brunei (since his homesickness may affect his judgment?), since the two countries are so close.
- OR, Calvin’s warning means that Wu Zun shouldn’t make the mistake of swimming to the Philippines, which would place the country in a negative light.
You know what this reminds me of? The scandal of the year (2007) when Teri Hatcher’s character from Desperate Housewives asked to see her OB-GYN’s diploma to make sure he didn’t finish Med school from the Philippines. Which is utterly ridiculous because other countries look to the Philippines for extra hands when they lack of skilled (and English-speaking) medical professionals. Hell, the PH is probably losing so many because they’re being needed around the world.
So the point of this post is:
- If you speak and understand Mandarin, then by all means, in your opinion, is Calvin really insulting the Philippines?
- Kung Pinoy ka, how do you feel about this?
As for me, I’m really divided since A) I don’t understand Mandarin (I’ve learned a few words, thanks to Taiwan dramas), B) I don’t want to make it a big deal (again because of A). If Calvin really did insult the country, then he probably just made one of the biggest mistakes of his career in Fahrenheit (and as a celebrity, he should know better). Let’s remember that Romantic Princess is currently being shown in the Philippines and oh wait! Who’s plays a character there? Oh yeah! Calvin! I can see the Philippines banning Fahrenheit (or just Calvin) from ever stepping foot into the country, or just banning everything Fahrenheit altogether (e.g, CDs, dramas, concerts, etc.). (lol)
So, I hope to read your thoughts!
– Paula
Oh that was disgusting! I really don’t know why Calvin said that. Even if it is a joke. It should be taken out seriously. Besides, he is talking about OUR OWN COUNTRY. Buti na lang HINDI KO SYA GUSTO. Now I am much aware how he hates the Philippines. Or just because HE IS JEALOUS BECAUSE WU CHUN IS ONLY ONE WHO IS FAMOUS HERE? hahahaha. I don’t want to see him too. I only want WU CHUN. HAHAHA.
erm, dont take the subtitles so seriously.
Calvin did not insult the Philippines. he is merely teasing Wu Chun, teasing him about his sense of direction. the subtitles are somewhat misleading and kinda has double meaning. but paula, what Calvin meant is your interpretation no 1.
i happen to chance upon your blog and thought that i would just leave this comment.
cheers~~
-janice
ps: i do speak chinese ^^
Welcome to the Cafe, Ellachun and Janice!
Thank you for your views. With this post, I really wanted to see how people would react and how different these views would be.
Obviously, one simple joke can be taken differently, like when Stephen Colbert was calling out Korea’s pop sensation, Rain. To many Koreans, it was as if Colbert was all out making fun of Rain, when to us Americans, his remarks weren’t offending at all, but rather helped the pop star’s career in the States.
Hence, as Janice suggested, maybe we’re taking Calvin Chen’s joke in a wrong way, considering all we have to go one are “…subtitles [that] are somewhat misleading and kinda has double meaning.” That’s why I was divided when I saw this video, as I stated with my two interpretations.
Anyways, thank you for posting your comments — they’re very welcome here.
In my own point of observation. I know the subtitles were sort of misleading but I got my own opinion. Btw, How would you react if somebody is joking around talking about your home country? I am not saying he is insulted our country but how he delivered his joke that made it so annoying. In this case, I got a sense that anybody can joke around about different countries???? My point is — you should not play around nasty jokes if you can’t able to justify it. People esp fans have different understanding on this issue whether we are mandarin speaking or not. Next time, be careful on throwing jokes…. I don’t really like the way he “told” Wu Chun about “going on wrong direction” If this is a joke, then IT IS NOT FUNNY at all.
@ ellachun – And I respect your opinion — that’s how I reacted at first also. Believe me, I completely hate it when someone calls out the Philippines in a negative way and though I’m from the US, I’m more Filipino than most of the citizens in the PH.
However, we still need more people to validate if whether the subtitles on this video were correct. Like what Janice, who speaks Mandarin, stated, the subtitles were “…misleading and kinda has double meaning.” It’s absolutely correct that Calvin’s mistake was putting the Philippines into his joke. But how are we to know if he said it with the intent of malice? Like I said before, anyone can take it differently because everyone’s different.
Anyways, that’s my two cents. By all means, I urge people to post their thoughts.
This entry was written with the hopes of bringing on a discussion because like many other fans of Fahrenheit, I, too, want to get to the bottom of this.
^am pretty sure that it was delivered unintentionally. But somehow He can’t say that “It was just a Joke”
To be fair with him, I would like to say that – This is the first time i heard him talking about our country. We know if we look at the World Map, these two countries were near to each other. In our Philippine History way back years ago, it was stated that “Borneo” was considered to be part of the Philippines and there was an issue before. If Calvin is aware enough of what happened between these two countries, I guess he’ll realized he really made a mistake.
Calvin who? excuse me for my innocence but i really dont know him?
I believe there was no offense intended by Calvin, he should be given the benefit of the doubt as to what he really meant by saying that. I am very very curious of our image with the rest of our asian neighbors.
@ Ellachun – True. All in all, he should just scrap the idea of inserting any country into his jokes. Diba?
@ Devil’s Advocate – lol That’s the spirit.
@ mai8 – I’ve read that Calvin should be given the benefit of the doubt also because it’s either he really did say it with malice, or some of us are interpreting it the wrong way due to the subtitles provided by the video.
Anyways, I, too, am curious of our image to the rest of our Asian neighbors, especially Korea, considering thousands of Korean citizens come to the PH for vacation and/or cheaper English classes. Pero, ni-ri-respeto ba ang Pinoy? Kasi, sa mga forums and such, some say hindi daw, and some say of course. So, ano ba talaga?
True. I don’t have to comment on that since i have seen so many FOREIGNERS coming here and then yet leave a
“tremendous” and “harsh” remarks on our country. Maybe they were just jealous because we knew that we are very much talented compared to them … (haha) …
Just go to divisoria, there are a lot of taiwanese vendors there…once, I did my shopping there, for cheap bed spreads…a chinese boy called me M’AM. Polite ha? But I DOUBT IT if he will ever date a pinay. I guess, we are being looked down by the Jap’s, Korean, Chinese, even a few Bruneians. Maybe they had bad experiences with Pinoys or in Pinas. Either way, I guess pinoys should check on ourselves. Is being hard working a minus? Of course they have different cultures, yung pagiging DH ata ng mga pinoy ang basehan. They don’t disrespect the Viets, Indonesians kahit mahirap na mga bansa ito.
EllaChun,
I think we offer the “cheapest” yet quality education such that the Korean’s flooded the universities in Manila. Given that, they are here for personal reasons and benefits. Minus the cheap educ, I bet they’d be elsewhere – cheaper. Calvin grew up in Canada if I am not mistaken, kaya I was so surprised with what he said. But then again, chinese are clan-nish. so there.
hi, i’m actually kind of new here but i guess i want to share my opinions.
I don’t think Calvin made fun of our country. Maybe he’s just good with geography that he knew brunei is indeed very close to the Philippines.
another thing is that i guess we should stop being too sensitive regarding such issues. In a way we are bias also in terms of stereotyping chinese people as clan-nish.
besides, those are just subtitles. who knows, maybe it was a somewhat biased translation from the person who made it.
nice read. salamat. i hope everyone gets what they reserve.
feel free to post your philippines related articles on our new site. http://pinoyarticles.com for more exposure. it has a PR3 growing userbase.
regards,
daisy
i dont think so calvin means so bad about it.. maybe he is just joking…whatever he mean about it, its his right.. he is free on expressing on his own opinion….
so no one must make this thing a great deal!
i agree with olivia,,,… we shouldnt be so much sensitive…
why dont we just consider the source of their comments… and then make this country a better one…
coz if we wil continue to make every word of other nationality a big dea…WE WONT GROW!! ayt?
I think that what Calvin meant was Chun should make sure that he’ll land in Brunei and not in another country such as the Philippines. He was reminding Chun not to get lost.
How often do you yourself swim and what stroke or do you just write about it?
Can I ask though – how did you get this picked up and into google news?
Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?
Obviously this is a popular blog with great data so well done on your seo success..
Swimming greats you should write about next, my ex was an olympic swimmer!
I know Calvin would not say that
he was practically joking
People makes mistakes sometimes
and nobody is perfect
He was just joking to Wu Chun
First of all that’s y point
of view and stand for it!
Do you think..
Why would he insult the Phil.?
Pls. believe me
We should not judge Calvin……..
……….Because we didn`t know what really happen!
………..And Why is he going to insult the Philippines if he/Fahrenheit is famous here?
……..I don`t defend him although he`s my favorite Fahrenheit member……..
………We don`t really know what he really means………….
……..And is the substitles right?
I believe this user:
rian (01:05:14) :
I think that what Calvin meant was Chun should make sure that he’ll land in Brunei and not in another country such as the Philippines. He was reminding Chun not to get lost.