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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Arlington native finds success lending voice to Chinese TV program
Posted by:
Eye on China
()
Date: July 10, 2014 07:25AM
Arlington native finds success lending voice to Chinese TV program
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-native-finds-success-lending-voice-to-chinese-tv-program/article_926ea148-0755-11e4-9200-0019bb2963f4.html
When Arlington native Emily Jeffers traveled to China on a one-way ticket and tourist visa, she had little plans beyond where she was staying her first week. Five years later, she returned stateside with a lifetime’s worth of experiences and television voiceover credits.
“I studied Chinese for two years before going to China, and I figured, worst-case scenario, I’m teaching English for a couple hours a week and that’s enough to take care of myself,” she said in a recent interview.
But her horizons expanded: Jeffers, a 2001 graduate of Yorktown High School, ultimately was hired by a production company to dub the state-produced sitcom “Fen Dou” into English for export to South African market.
Although she didn’t have extensive acting experience, Jeffers describes herself as a lover of languages. A Spanish major in college, Jeffers tried studying Arabic to stretch beyond Romance languages, but decided that China would be a good place to go, after reading articles about the booming economy.
“I love travelling and I love learning languages and I knew I wanted to learn languages, and in Asia I knew the cost of living was less, so essentially I wouldn’t have to work as much doing something I didn’t enjoy,” said Jeffers. “I could do a job that I’m OK with, while simultaneously learning Chinese.”
Jeffers arrived in 2009 with some money saved up from waitressing, but had little in the way of an initial plan. “I spent my first weeks trying to just focus on meeting people, making friends, and figure out what I wanted to do,” she said.
Eventually, Jeffers found her way to Shanghai, where she worked as a program coordinator placing university students from abroad into their intern programs. Seeing how popular China was as a destination for university students, her belief in China’s potential was affirmed.
“It’s a bubble that’s gonna burst at some point, but [for now] it’s an economy that’s quite strong, and the currency is appreciating very rapidly,” she said.
In 2011, Jeffers moved to Beijing to teach English. It was through a friend that she heard about a studio that was looking for bilingual people who could do voiceover dubbing.
Jeffers didn’t have much experience acting, but as a student of languages, she had an interest in accents and often would try out different accents for fun.
“I was definitely, nervous because I had to do an audition, and the three American girls that had auditioned before me, they all failed, and I ended up being the best one,” she said.
Jeffers eventually got cast to do English dubbing for “Fen Dou,” which is Mandarin for “the struggle.” It centered on twentysomethings deciding what they wanted to do in life. She equates the show to a Chinese version of “Friends,” in that it was about single people in an urban setting.
“‘Fen Dou” is a show which was popular a few years back about the lives of a group of Chinese youths who have just recently finished college,” wrote Chinese culture blogger Benjamin Ross. “The show presented a sort of carmelized version of city life in which people struggle, but eventually succeed.”
Jeffers ended up voicing the character of Lulu – a young, early-20s single woman from a poor family in a rural part of China. She eventually expanded to voice six other characters, with very specific details. She was told, for example, by the studio director that one of the characters should sound 23 rather than 21.
The version of “Fen Dou” with Jeffers’ voice was used only for people viewing the show in South Africa, so she hasn’t had the chance to hear a broadcast, but she remains interested in hearing her voice.
After five years abroad, Jeffers returned back to the U.S. in February and while she still maintains a home base in Arlington she has recently taken a teaching position downstate in Woodstock. Her experience working for “Fen Dou” has provided her with connections to the Chinese-American community.
For one, she’s already been able to use her knowledge of Chinese to aide a Chinese student’s non-English-speaking parents. And she’s gotten a little bit of the star treatment back home.
“After befriending the owner of a Chinese restaurant, they asked me about my previous line of work, and the character that I played, and they laughed and they were excited to hear that,” Jeffers said.
The experience “overall was a really positive one,” said Emily’s sister, Claire Jeffers. “She continues to impress me with her language skills. She continues to use Chinese on a daily basis.”
Jeffers also has had a number of informational interviews for voiceover studios in the U.S. and is still interested in pursuing voiceover work, but in the interim has goals of continuing teaching, as well as pursuing a form of yoga that she picked up in China.
“I always want to do work that I feel passionate about and that is interesting and want to put my energy to,” she said.
Attachments:
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-native-finds-success-lending-voice-to-chinese-tv-program/article_926ea148-0755-11e4-9200-0019bb2963f4.html
When Arlington native Emily Jeffers traveled to China on a one-way ticket and tourist visa, she had little plans beyond where she was staying her first week. Five years later, she returned stateside with a lifetime’s worth of experiences and television voiceover credits.
“I studied Chinese for two years before going to China, and I figured, worst-case scenario, I’m teaching English for a couple hours a week and that’s enough to take care of myself,” she said in a recent interview.
But her horizons expanded: Jeffers, a 2001 graduate of Yorktown High School, ultimately was hired by a production company to dub the state-produced sitcom “Fen Dou” into English for export to South African market.
Although she didn’t have extensive acting experience, Jeffers describes herself as a lover of languages. A Spanish major in college, Jeffers tried studying Arabic to stretch beyond Romance languages, but decided that China would be a good place to go, after reading articles about the booming economy.
“I love travelling and I love learning languages and I knew I wanted to learn languages, and in Asia I knew the cost of living was less, so essentially I wouldn’t have to work as much doing something I didn’t enjoy,” said Jeffers. “I could do a job that I’m OK with, while simultaneously learning Chinese.”
Jeffers arrived in 2009 with some money saved up from waitressing, but had little in the way of an initial plan. “I spent my first weeks trying to just focus on meeting people, making friends, and figure out what I wanted to do,” she said.
Eventually, Jeffers found her way to Shanghai, where she worked as a program coordinator placing university students from abroad into their intern programs. Seeing how popular China was as a destination for university students, her belief in China’s potential was affirmed.
“It’s a bubble that’s gonna burst at some point, but [for now] it’s an economy that’s quite strong, and the currency is appreciating very rapidly,” she said.
In 2011, Jeffers moved to Beijing to teach English. It was through a friend that she heard about a studio that was looking for bilingual people who could do voiceover dubbing.
Jeffers didn’t have much experience acting, but as a student of languages, she had an interest in accents and often would try out different accents for fun.
“I was definitely, nervous because I had to do an audition, and the three American girls that had auditioned before me, they all failed, and I ended up being the best one,” she said.
Jeffers eventually got cast to do English dubbing for “Fen Dou,” which is Mandarin for “the struggle.” It centered on twentysomethings deciding what they wanted to do in life. She equates the show to a Chinese version of “Friends,” in that it was about single people in an urban setting.
“‘Fen Dou” is a show which was popular a few years back about the lives of a group of Chinese youths who have just recently finished college,” wrote Chinese culture blogger Benjamin Ross. “The show presented a sort of carmelized version of city life in which people struggle, but eventually succeed.”
Jeffers ended up voicing the character of Lulu – a young, early-20s single woman from a poor family in a rural part of China. She eventually expanded to voice six other characters, with very specific details. She was told, for example, by the studio director that one of the characters should sound 23 rather than 21.
The version of “Fen Dou” with Jeffers’ voice was used only for people viewing the show in South Africa, so she hasn’t had the chance to hear a broadcast, but she remains interested in hearing her voice.
After five years abroad, Jeffers returned back to the U.S. in February and while she still maintains a home base in Arlington she has recently taken a teaching position downstate in Woodstock. Her experience working for “Fen Dou” has provided her with connections to the Chinese-American community.
For one, she’s already been able to use her knowledge of Chinese to aide a Chinese student’s non-English-speaking parents. And she’s gotten a little bit of the star treatment back home.
“After befriending the owner of a Chinese restaurant, they asked me about my previous line of work, and the character that I played, and they laughed and they were excited to hear that,” Jeffers said.
The experience “overall was a really positive one,” said Emily’s sister, Claire Jeffers. “She continues to impress me with her language skills. She continues to use Chinese on a daily basis.”
Jeffers also has had a number of informational interviews for voiceover studios in the U.S. and is still interested in pursuing voiceover work, but in the interim has goals of continuing teaching, as well as pursuing a form of yoga that she picked up in China.
“I always want to do work that I feel passionate about and that is interesting and want to put my energy to,” she said.
Attachments: