Slang sister
Updated: 2011-10-07 10:17
By Todd Balazovic (China Daily)
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Online language teacher's quirky style attracts huge following
It may be a while before English schools in China begin including cryptic American slang like "totes magotes" or "Bedonkadonk" in their curriculum. But for now, Chinese students are navigating the puzzling world of American slang with the assistance of Jessica Beineke, host of Voice of America's online English-teaching program OMG Meiyu. Beineke is helping millions of Chinese students unlock the mysteries of less formal English vocabulary through her massively popular online show.
She says sharing American slang with overseas English-learners promotes understanding between two cultures that are seemingly worlds apart.
"I think the best way for people on the opposite sides of the earth is to understand each other is to share each other's culture and each other's language," she says.
The 24-year-old's episode on 'yucky gunk', geared toward teaching less formal ways of referring to the fluids stuck in eyes when one wakes up, recently attracted more than 1.5 million hits from Chinese web-users.
By teaching a phrase like 'Badonkadonk', referring to one's posterior or 'totes magotes', which stands for "totally", Beineke says she is offering viewers a more entertaining way to learn American English. "I think the show makes English learning fun - and when you're having fun learning something you're much happier doing it," she says.
With a quick, quirky smile the energetic blonde bounces around her Capitol Hill apartment in Washington D.C. where the simple two-minute daily 'webisodes' are filmed in Mandarin before being published on popular Chinese websites Weibo and Youku.
In her show, Beinecke ventures beyond the bound world of dictionary definitions, exploring words and phrases that seem more at home in a college dormitory or high school hallway than a classroom.
Lessons range from modern phrases, with one lesson focused solely on the different meanings of dead ("you're dead meat" or "dead wrong") to time-tested idioms, such as "apple of my eye". In another episode, she explains the nuances behind using phrases like "silent but deadly" and "totally stinky" to refer to unpleasant odors.
So why is it important to learn America's slang? "It's not just about learning the language. I'm also teaching viewers about American Culture," she says. "These are the topics that American kids are talking about."
While the show has rapidly continued building its online popularity since beginning its broadcast onto China's twittersphere in July, Beinecke's journey to Internet stardom began with a travel show for Voice of America's Mandarin service. Showcasing US hotspots, Beinecke and crew traveled to different locations throughout the country in a bid to "go to the coolest places in America to show the coolest people".
Her travels have taken her from New York to Las Vegas, where Beinecke shared the beauty of a drive-through wedding with her Chinese followers. "I don't know what's more American than that," she says.
Following the program's minor success and learning how to navigate Chinese social media sites, Beinecke says they saw more potential than just a weekly travel show.
"We were thinking, 'How could we make this more interactive and something that people can look at on a daily basis?'" she says.
Her team since continued expanding their platform, moving beyond just Weibo, Youku and Youtube by releasing an iPhone application where users can download the latest episode.
Beinecke may be responsible for presenting the content, but she credits the swiftly growing number of online followers for much of the inspiration for the show's topics.
"Every weekend I ask them what they want to learn, and we get hundreds of answers. I don't know if this would have been as successful if I couldn't interact with the viewers personally," she says.
Though the show is simple, shot and edited by Beinecke using a basic webcam, it has attracted more than 120,000 Weibo followers, mostly teenagers and Chinese college students studying in both the US and China.
With weibo comments like: "I am obsessed with @ OMG U.S. language, I dig it very much. Bai Jie is totes cool" littering her Weibo microblog account, many of Beinecke's followers exhibit nothing but unbridled affection for the young hostess - and aren't afraid to express themselves using the slang learned in the show.
The recent rise in popularity has even pushed one follower to form an OMG Meiyu fan group on Weibo. "Our online friends are so supportive and so encouraging," Beinecke says.
Identifying with Chinese watchers by the name Bai Jie, a moniker given to Beinecke by her Chinese roommate while she was studying Mandarin in Hangzhou, Beinecke actively engages her online followers in daily conversation, encouraging English comments.
"In that way they are sort of inspired to write something in English and practice what they just learned," she says.
OMG Meiyu, which translates to 'OMG American Language', may have earned Beinecke a minor star status online, but Beinecke says fame and fortune is the last thing on her mind when it comes to producing the show.
"I don't know if I'm a celebrity, but I don't really know if that's my goal - I put this out because I want to share American culture and the American language," she says.
And even though Beinecke steps into the role of teacher, the lessons often go often two-ways with Chinese viewers candidly correcting her Mandarin in the comment sections of the show.
But corrections are few and far between for Beinecke, who's been studying the language for just five years, earning her a bachelor's degree in Mandarin and public relations from Ohio University. During her studies she also had the chance to visit China, studying in both Beijing and Hangzhou.
She says she was drawn to the language because of her long history of studying music, her area of interest before she began studying Mandarin. "I find Mandarin to be a very musical language. The tones are quite beautiful," she says.
