Getting a Chinese person started on Seinfeld

Loren Michael

So, I'm trying to introduce Chinese people to quality American television. I think that Seinfeld is both of decent quality and relatively easy to understand, akin to Friends which is really amazingly popular in China.

That said, I think I recall the first season being a little hit or miss... but it's been a while and I could be wrong. I'd like to give someone a viewing of three really solid starter episodes of Seinfeld. Which ones would you suggest?

Feels Good Man

Soup Nazi, The Contest, and that one with Jerry's van that George's parents have sex in

The latter two have sexual stuff, unsure if that matters


You could also try the one where it centers entirely on the Chinese restaurant. Sorry, I don't know the titles off hand.

Loren Michael

Is The Contest the "Master of his domain" episode?

Six

Loren Michael wrote: »

Is The Contest the "Master of his domain" episode?

Yes.

RUNN1NGMAN

The one in which Jerry dates the woman whose last name is "Lee" and acts Chinese even though she isn't

rfalias

The Juinor Mint, The Soup Nazi, The Parking Garage

Three classics that I could watch over and over. There are a couple of chinese themed episodes they might get a kick out of. The Chinese Restraunt, The Chinese Woman, The Checks (They are japanese in this one though.)

Also, if they enjoy the show, show them The Chicken Roaster. The switch with Kramer and Jerry is awesome. Also The Bizarro Jerry is good.
These would have to be watched later on as they have to understand the nuances of the characters to really get the switches that take place.

illig

i wouldn't recommend Seinfeld at all... Seinfeld relies on complex language humor, and cultural humor, rather than situational or slapstick humor like Friends, so it's hard to "get" for non English speaking viewers

the typical Chinese person will not understand why old New York jews arguing are funny, why the back of George Steinbrenner's head is funny, why a ruffle shirt is funny, etc.

Cauld

I agree that Chinese people probably won't like Seinfeld much. My Chinese wife liked The Sopranos, Fraser (which i thought was strange), Sex in the City, and Friends. My wife didn't like The Office of The Wire, even though she only waited through a couple episodes of each. Her friends like Lost and Prison Break, but she didn't get into them too much.

necroSYS

Yeah, saying that they'll like Seinfeld because they like Friends is like saying they'll like The Wire because they like NYPD Blue.

Other than the fact the both shows are set in NYC and about a small group of people, the two are nothing alike.

subedii

illig wrote: »

i wouldn't recommend Seinfeld at all... Seinfeld relies on complex language humor, and cultural humor, rather than situational or slapstick humor like Friends, so it's hard to "get" for non English speaking viewers

the typical Chinese person will not understand why old New York jews arguing are funny, why the back of George Steinbrenner's head is funny, why a ruffle shirt is funny, etc.

Yeah I'd suggest something else.

They might get a kick out of Scrubs since that's typically more visual humour, usually translates better. Plus a lot of medical humour tends to be universal in any society that has a modern medical system. If they were able to understand Friends then this probably should be understandable as well.

EggyToast

As an American who has been to New York City, I don't like Seinfeld. It's also dated by now. I'm not completely bereft of odd humor; I recently watched season 1 of Flight of the Conchords and found it mostly hilarious (the actual writing; the songs were hit/miss). I've seen a handful of Seinfeld and while I could see how someone could find it funny, it didn't make me want to watch any other episodes.

Reznik

How geeky is this person? Would something like Firefly be an option? It also contains some rather colourful (and probably mispronounced) Chinese phrases.

I'll agree with the Scrubs suggestion.

Seinfeld's not one of those universally funny kind of shows. I like it, but I mean I know a ton of native English speakers who still don't 'get' it so it might be more difficult for someone whose first language isn't English.

necroSYS

I'm thinking of the episode where the whole humor was focused around Jerry and his friends saying "Helloooooo" in a specific way.

I don't think that would translate.

At all.

Orogogus

The Chinese in Firefly is incredibly bad, and the characters are basically mouthing gibberish that no one would be able to understand. It's also not particularly colorful.

KalTorak

Orogogus wrote: »

The Chinese in Firefly is incredibly bad, and the characters are basically mouthing gibberish that no one would be able to understand. It's also not particularly colorful.

Yeah, it's basically used the way newspaper comics use number-key-symbols for cursing. When a character in Firefly needs to swear, use Chinese gibberish (except for "goddamn;" for that, replace the d's with r's).

Gabriel_Pitt

The problem with shows like Seinfeld or The Simpsons in a foreign language setting is lot a lot of the humor is verbal, and draws on cultural specifics that viewers overseas aren't going to understand as easily or as readily as we do.

Reznik

KalTorak wrote: »

Orogogus wrote: »

The Chinese in Firefly is incredibly bad, and the characters are basically mouthing gibberish that no one would be able to understand. It's also not particularly colorful.

Yeah, it's basically used the way newspaper comics use number-key-symbols for cursing. When a character in Firefly needs to swear, use Chinese gibberish (except for "goddamn;" for that, replace the d's with r's).

Aw man, I thought it was actually something. There was a wiki list of translations for stuff like 'frog-humping sonofabitch'

Orogogus

Reznik wrote: »

KalTorak wrote: »

Orogogus wrote: »

The Chinese in Firefly is incredibly bad, and the characters are basically mouthing gibberish that no one would be able to understand. It's also not particularly colorful.

Yeah, it's basically used the way newspaper comics use number-key-symbols for cursing. When a character in Firefly needs to swear, use Chinese gibberish (except for "goddamn;" for that, replace the d's with r's).

Aw man, I thought it was actually something. There was a wiki list of translations for stuff like 'frog-humping sonofabitch'

Well, I mean, it's based on something. But the way they pronounce it no one would be able to tell what they were trying to say, and I remember in some parts it sounded like they used a dictionary to translate. I'm just saying that I wouldn't try to foist it on anyone on the basis of "Hey, there's Chinese in it!" I know fans try to justify it as future pidgin-Chinese or something, but to the OP's acquaintances it's probably going to sound suspiciously identical to white folk butchering their language.

It was noticeably better in the movie, though.

Zombiemambo

I thought Seinfeld had some weird cult following in China? Must be imagining things.

But you could always try Full House.

Gouki

Reznik wrote: »

How geeky is this person? Would something like Firefly be an option? It also contains some rather colourful (and probably mispronounced) Chinese phrases.

I'll agree with the Scrubs suggestion.

Seinfeld's not one of those universally funny kind of shows. I like it, but I mean I know a ton of native English speakers who still don't 'get' it so it might be more difficult for someone whose first language isn't English.

I also recommend Scrubs.

Mostly because Seinfeld is painfully overrated and not that great.

matisyahu

Shut. Up.

The last couple seasons didn't have Larry David so they're a little less esoteric, more slapstick/goofy humor. The Little Kicks (Elaine's bad dancing), The Butter Shave, stuff like that might translate pretty well.

CygnusZ

I've introduced quite a few Japanese folk to Fraiser. Full House, as mentioned earlier, is another popular show. Sorry to say, probably the most popular thing is High School Musical.

DeathPrawn

You might want to try "Married... With Children". It's been a smash success in Russia, so it's clearly a show whose sole appeal is as American-centric as something like Seinfeld.

dlinfiniti

how about saved by the bell or fresh prince?

lordswing

How I Met Your Mother? I don't think it relies on cultural references as much (except for Robin being Canadian, which can be explained). Most of the jokes are based on previous jokes explained already.

And Neil Patrick Harris.

UltimaGecko

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

The problem with shows like Seinfeld or The Simpsons in a foreign language setting is lot a lot of the humor is verbal, and draws on cultural specifics that viewers overseas aren't going to understand as easily or as readily as we do.

The Simpsons is actually pretty popular in quite a few other countries. Korea, Germany, and Spanish-speaking areas, at least (unsurprisingly, Family Guy and American Dad don't seem nearly as popular and Futurama tends to go unnoticed). Everyone loves to love a dysfunctional family, it seems. Most of the written jokes don't usually rely on language-specific humor, it tends to be surreal or ironic things that translate well-enough into other languages like "Tonight: AA meeting; Tomorrow: Frat Party" (where AA can easily be replaced by any country's equivalent group and a frat party can be replaced by whatever has drinking). Spoken jokes often follow the same design or can be shoehorned in.

Fresh Prince often relies on cultural knowledge to a great extent, but has decent popularity overseas as well. There's often a juxtaposition of inner-city culture with upper-class culture, but it has quite a bit of physical and visual comedy which tends to work in any language.

CSI and its pile of spinoffs also tend to be popular. People like 'mysteries' I guess.

Adus

Seinfeld is considered 'about nothing' because it's basically just about four friends in New York who are rather narcissistic, non-religious and have little ambition. There are absolutely zero dramatic plots or life lessons unlike shows like Scrubs. Maybe people in other cultures have a harder time relating to that.

Though I fail to see how Kramer's 'plan to only sleep 20 minutes every few hours, resulting in him falling asleep on his girlfriend, her calling her mob friends thinking he's dead, and having him tossed into the river in a sack' wouldn't translate universally. Whoever said Seinfeld has not aged well is something I'd have to vehemently disagree with. It's one of the few shows where I can still laugh at the reruns. Then again, the OP probably isn't asking for our personal opinions on Seinfeld.

It's hard to decide, but the three episodes I'd pick would probably be:

The Marine Biologist
The Secret Code
The Opposite

I dunno why, but for some reason the George episodes stand out to me the most.

tallgeeze

I would agree that your friend may not get all the cultral references the ideas behind Seinfeld are pretty universal.

Wacky jobs/schemes
Wacky friends
Wacky love life
Wacky parents/relatives.

I would go with any of the following:

-A festivus for the rest of us
-Uncle Lou with the space pen
-Any Kramer centric episode(preferably with his favorite lawyer)

Feels Good Man

Another episode that came to my mind for your audience was the herbal remedy one with Kramer. Can't remember the title, but it's about Jerry avoiding traditional doctors and that only making his health problems worse. If I remember it ends with him being in an car accident in an ambulance if I remember correctly.

Luck3ySe7en

My wife started liking Seinfeld after she saw the episode where George tries to get fired from the Yankees. She also loves the ones after he accidentally kills his fiance. But thats just my wife and she isn't from china or foreign... IMO, anything with George at his job or with Jerry dating a wierd girl (man-hands, two-face, the mutton chick etc) is funny for everyone. Have him skip episodes like Jon Voight's pencil lol.

Pojaco

Show her The Checks

It is the episode where a group of Japanese businessmen are really into Seinfeld's humor, and Kramer shows them around NYC. If your friend was Japanese it would make this even more appropriate, but you still get to convince an Asian friend to like Seinfeld's humor by showing them an episode about Asian people really liking Seinfeld's humor. Deliciously appropriate.

It also happens to just be a good episode.

Zombiemambo

Pojaco wrote: »

Show her The Checks

It is the episode where a group of Japanese businessmen are really into Seinfeld's humor, and Kramer shows them around NYC. If your friend was Japanese it would make this even more appropriate, but you still get to convince an Asian friend to like Seinfeld's humor by showing them an episode about Asian people really liking Seinfeld's humor. Deliciously appropriate.

It also happens to just be a good episode.

AhHAH! I knew I didn't imagine it!

...Course it was an episode of Seinfeld and not a real thing, but I didn't completely make it up.