Kanye West is not the first person that comes to mind when you try to think of celebrities who might be able to speak Mandarin. However, what most people don’t know (apart from his most hardcore fans) is that he spent some time in China as a child. This begs the question if he speaks Mandarin.
Kanye speaks a few phrases of Mandarin. He learned to speak basic Mandarin when he was in Nanjing as a child. According to Kanye, the language barrier was the greatest difficulty he had during his time in China. Despite Kanye’s claims that he speaks Mandarin, he is not fluent in the language as he only stayed in China for a year.
Let’s take a look at Kanye’s relationship with China and Mandarin.
Kanye’s Year in China
When Kanye was around 10 years old, he lived in China for roughly a year. His mother was a college professor, and she lectured at the Nanjing University through the course of 1987 because of a Fulbright scholarship.
Kanye struggled to adapt to life in China, and he found the difficulty and the intricacies of Mandarin a little too much for him. However, he did go to school in China during his stay there. This meant that he picked up a few phrases of the language here and there.
Obviously, you should not expect Kanye to start rapping in Mandarin. However, this does mean that he can converse with a stranger who speaks Mandarin. On top of that, chances are that his understanding of the language is much greater than his ability to speak it, as he must have listened to a lot of Mandarin in 1987.
Kanye has a few photos of himself in China, and he has been back there a few times for shows. Sadly, the shows did not sell as well as he had hoped.
A lot of people in China know Kanye, and his fan following in the Red Dragon has increased massively since the news of his stay came to light. However, the vast majority of people are still unaware of who Kanye West is, as evidenced by this short but wholesome video.
Kanye’s View on China
Kanye seems to have fond memories of his time in China. Despite being the only foreigner in his class, he was a fairly bright student.
While he does not speak about China often, he seems to light up when he does. Apparently, one of the reasons for him managing to do well at school was the homeschooling done by his mother. One of the reasons Kanye seems to love his time in China is because he and his mother spent the most amount of time together when there.
He also mentions how a lot of people used to give him unnecessary attention due to the lack of people with dark skin in the country. This was instrumental in preparing him for life as a world-famous celebrity, where he gets the same attention, albeit on a much larger scale.
Kanye Also Speaks a Little Swahili
Kanye’s family traces its roots to Uganda, where the national language is Swahili. Kanye also speaks a little bit of Swahili. In fact, he has come up with a fun language of his own, calling it ‘Swaghili’. Those who are looking to learn it can start here, although we doubt you would get very far.
Having spent a lot of time in Uganda recently, Kanye has really been getting back in touch with his ancestry. Perhaps, we might see him fully learn the language at some point?