Jackie Chan on learning English with zero formal training:
Jackie Chan arrived in the United States barely able to string a sentence together.
"First time when I come to United States… I just Hello. My name is Jackie Chan. I really, I don't even know how to order food."
When his assistant left him on his own, he found himself alone and hungry, but too intimidated to walk into a restaurant. So he spent an entire night practising a single order.
"Bacon, toast, milk, sandwich."
The next morning, jet-lagged and up at 6am, he waited in line, delivered his rehearsed line perfectly: "Milk, toast, bacon, and egg."
Then the waitress asked a question he hadn't prepared for: "How would you like your egg?"
He was stumped.
He'd spent all night learning the words for what he wanted, but nobody warned him there'd be follow-up questions.
Beyond food, even basic social interactions were overwhelming. Americans in elevators would casually ask where he was from, make small talk, and he had no idea how to keep up.
"Very, very difficult to speak. I went, I came, she, he — difficult, difficult."
Jackie never studied English in a classroom.
He taught himself entirely through American TV, movies, and songs, learning one lyric and one movie line at a time.
"Hello. Oh, hello ladies. Ladies, you are always on my mind."