YouTube’s most famous polyglot left Chinese takeaway staff speechless with his incredible language skills.
Arieh Smith, better known by his page name Xiaomanyc, has made a name for himself online by posting numerous videos of himself surprising passersby by speaking a variety of dialects.
The American vlogger particularly focuses on the Chinese language, with his interest in the culture starting when he took an immersion program in Beijing while at college.
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In one of his recent videos, he heads to a Chinese takeaway drive-thru to order some food – in fluent Mandarin, of course. You can check out the clip below:
While ordering over the intercom, he asks for some chicken and rice before waiting in the car park.
When one of the staff members comes out to ask him a question, she looks straight past his car, assuming there’s no way it could’ve been him.
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Seeing her confusion, he says in Chinese, “I’m the guy who just ordered,” causing her to burst out laughing before saying, “Now I’ve seen it all.”
As he pulls up to the window to collect his food, she asks him how his language skills are so good and if he went to college in China, to which he confirms, “Yeah, in Beijing.”
It’s more of the same in the next clip as Arieh asks over the speaker system if he can get some General Tso's.
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Following a back and forth, he heads to the window and reveals his identity, much to the server’s shock.
The pair enter a discussion about Arieh’s travels to China, and he reveals he’s been studying the language for 10 years now.
They then switch to English and the server says, “I couldn’t tell you weren’t from China, I thought you were actually Chinese!”
Grateful for the compliment, Arieh thanks the man before receiving his food and driving away, but not before another staff member comes to meet him - and she’s just as amazed at his Chinese-speaking capabilities.
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So far the video has amassed a whopping six million views, not to mention thousands of comments from the online community.
“These reactions never fail to make me smile,” wrote one fan, while another said, “This is what pranks should be like.”
A third chimed in: “Imagine how homesick some of these people feel living in the United States but then this guy comes and their mood instantly changes.”
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What’s more, the YouTuber wrapped up his video by revealing that he’s launched a course named ‘Street-Smart Chinese’, so you can learn to speak fluently like him.
Anyone wanting to get involved can follow the link here.
Mason Jones