This Omputeh Speaks Fluent Mandarin With Uncles In Kampar

Maxwell Carver spoke fluent Mandarin with Uncle Chen when he visited Kampar’s Pasar Karat.

(Credit: @maxwell.carver / TikTok)

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Malaysians are multi-racial and it is pretty common for any one of us to be able to speak in more than just our mother tongue. Even if it’s not a full mastery, many of us can dish out phrases in Mandarin, Tamil, Cantonese, Hokkien and others.

But have you seen a foreigner speaking Mandarin? It’s quite a rare sight to see here, isn’t it?

Recently, a video of a Caucasian man conversing in Mandarin with a local uncle in Perak went viral on TikTok. The video was uploaded by Maxwell Carver (@maxwell.carver) yesterday (20 September) and has garnered 91.3 K views and 6 K likes at the time of writing.

In the video, he is seen greeting the uncles in Mandarin at a Pasar Karat in Kampar, Perak. The uncles were all surprised to see him speaking fluently in Mandarin, considering that he was Caucasian.

Initially, the uncle even called him a “Guailo” out of surprise, which means a “white demon” or “ghostly man”, a slang used by the Chinese to describe a white person.

The uncles then asked where’s Carver from and he said New York, USA. Carver then had a chit-chat with Uncle Chen who sells old rings and antiques.

Uncle Chen also decided to give Carver a ring for free as a friendship token. They were then surprised again when Carver could read the kanji writing on the ring which said “Fu”, meaning good fortune, happiness or blessing.

@maxwell.carver
While at Kampar’s famous Pasar Karat, we met the legendary Uncle Chen – Kampar’s biggest dealer of second-hand rings. You can see the full episode from Kampar on YouTube now! #Kampar #Perak #Malaysia #金宝 #马来西亚
♬ original sound – Maxwell Carver

Netizens are surprised as well

People in the comment section found the interaction amusing and surprising as well.

Some of them praised Carver for knowing Mandarin and conversing in a cheerful manner with the locals.

Some were even amused with Uncle Chen calling him “Guailo”.

One user was even amused to see a Caucasian guy speaking Mandarin while the Chinese man replied in English.

Maxwell Carver does travel videos

Carver is a content creator from the US who’s been documenting his world-exploring journey on his social media since early this year. He’s been to various places in the world and has recorded a few snippets of him visiting Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia.

But his snippets don’t just cover one or two videos about a country, he puts dozens of small snippets to show his experience in visiting hidden gems as well as cultural events.

So far in Malaysia, according to his video records, he has visited Penang, Perak, Melaka, Pahang and Selangor.

Check out his YouTube and TikTok for more info.

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