A Dutch-speaking internet celebrity's one day in Shanghai

In early October, on Shanghai's Bund Pedestrian Street, our reporter met Fingal Myrddin Grünbauer, a post-2000s young man from the Netherlands.

- By Yang Junfeng

The 1.8-meter-tall “foreign internet celebrity” residing in Shanghai has a bright and youthful smile. He came to meet the reporter to fulfill a long-arranged challenge — “spending a full day in Shanghai using only his native language [Dutch]” — while his friend Tan Chuolin documented the entire process with her phone.

Before the challenge started, Grünbauer told the reporter, “I think Shanghai is highly international, and many people can speak English. I'm very confident in completing this challenge.” Tan couldn't help but tease him: “They said it’s your native language, not English!” Hearing this, Grünbauer looked a little embarrassed: “Oh right, it’s Dutch! Then it’s even easier - watch me!” Little did Grünbauer know that to handle potential language barriers during the challenge, Tan had already prepared a translation “magic device” from Chinese enterprise iFLYTEK.

'I can finally speak'

Grünbauer's first stop was a chain supermarket around the corner. He picked up an elegantly packaged bottle of yogurt and asked the cashier for the price — in Dutch, “Could you tell me how much this yogurt costs?” The cashier looked puzzled. Grünbauer quickly switched to English, “How much?” The cashier understood, pointing to the price tag on the cash register. Grünbauer leaned in to check, paid, and left.

After exiting the supermarket, Grünbauer followed his phone navigation to a shopping mall. On the way, he stood at a crossroads, staring at the unfamiliar streetscape, and realized he was lost. Scanning his surroundings, he spotted two stylish young girls walking toward him and hurried over to ask for directions.

“Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the shopping mall?” Grünbauer deliberately slowed down his speech and gestured repeatedly, trying to make himself understood.