Michelle Kwan is engaged (per People magazine)

[Bluebonnet]

I don't know if this was mentioned yet but one things for sure: they will have gorgeous kids haha

Also very smart and athletic.

[Olympia]

Mr. Pell very likely speaks better Chinese than Michelle does. Michelle can only speak a little Cantonese which is a dialect of HongKong and GuangDong province of China, not an official language.

Yeah, the thought gave me a smile when I saw that he speaks fluent "Chinese," by which I assumed Mandarin. I think Michelle has spoken Cantonese at home, especially with her grandparent(s) (and she may be fluent in it conversationally, but that won't help her in most of China). Because of her international aspirations, she's been studying Mandarin for some years now, though. I don't know how fluent she's become, and almost certainly he's out ahead of her on this! Fortunately, written Chinese is the same in both Cantonese and Mandarin, because the writing system is ideograms, not letters, so the words aren't spelled out syllabically. So she didn't have to start from scratch there.

Golly, this announcement is making me happy.

[deedee1]

I feel ridiculously like a proud aunt whose niece has found the right guy. Even a mathematician in the family! Definitely worthy of Our Michelle.

& !

[Bluebonnet]

Fortunately, written Chinese is the same in both Cantonese and Mandarin, because the writing system is ideograms, not letters, so the words aren't spelled out syllabically. So she didn't have to start from scratch there.

Not really. People in HongKong, Taiwan (By the way, Taiwan uses Mandarin.), Singapore, and most Chinese communities around the world use traditional way in writing. The grammars are the same but the words are very complicated. The mainland of China including GuangDong province use simplified Chinese in writing. People in any areas can read and understand eachothers in vast majority cases but might not know how to write in the other way.

[blue dog]

Congratulations, Michelle and Clay!

Thanks to this guy's grandfather, I was able to afford a UC education.

[sky_fly20]

congrats to Kwan, wishing the best to her
hope to see many future figure skater children ?

[Olympia]

Not really. People in HongKong, Taiwan (By the way, Taiwan uses Mandarin.), Singapore, and most Chinese communities around the world use traditional way in writing. The grammers are the same but the words are very complicated. The mainland of China including GuangDong province use simplified Chinese in writing. People in any areas can read and understand eachothers in vast majority cases but might not know how to write in the other way.

Thanks for the correction, Bluebonnet. (Whoops! Sorry for the inaccuracy.) And thanks for the clear explanation.

Blue Dog, your statement is probably being repeated with minimal variations throughout skating fandom this morning. I can only hope that this young man does a fraction of the good his grandfather did (and helped us all to do, because it's taxpayer money that funds the program). What a team he and Michelle could make in the future.

[heyang]

i saw some picture of her man.. he's not good looking at all, she can do better.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While he's not movie star gorgeous, I think many would think he's nice looking if not handsome.

[Jo1]

Also very smart and athletic.

I'm so very happy for you Michelle!!!! I've watched you since you were 15 and love what you did for skating and your political and service jobs. I wish you all the happiness life has to offer!!! Congratulations and have a wonderful life!!!

[demarinis5]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While he's not movie star gorgeous, I think many would think he's nice looking if not handsome.

Agree. I think he is a fine looking young man.

[MFarone]

I feel ridiculously like a proud aunt whose niece has found the right guy. Even a mathematician in the family! Definitely worthy of Our Michelle.

The nice thing is how much he seems to have done on his own steam already. This is not a chap who sits around. Michelle's choice also shows what she values in life. Someone at her level of fame and achievement would meet a lot of glamorous people, and she's chosen someone who is a real worker bee.

Great post!! I am so happy for Michelle. Seems she's found a soulmate. Clay is a lucky man. I also feel like a delighted "Auntie" in this as I'm sure many of her fans do!

[Victura]

Not really. People in HongKong, Taiwan (By the way, Taiwan uses Mandarin.), Singapore, and most Chinese communities around the world use traditional way in writing. The grammers are the same but the words are very complicated. The mainland of China including GuangDong province use simplified Chinese in writing. People in any areas can read and understand eachothers in vast majority cases but might not know how to write in the other way.

Actually, Singapore and Malaysia predominantly use simplified. In Singapore at least, there is sometimes both simplified and traditional on signs (as well as English, Malay, and Tamil, and many announcements (in the subway, for example) are repeated in all 4 languages), but simplified is what is taught in schools nowadays. At any rate, simplified is just as its name implies, a simplified version based on traditional, so most people who use one can read the other. Taiwan also has its own dialect, Taiwanese.

In any case, Olympia is not wrong in saying that written Chinese is the same in Mandarin and Cantonese, especially since simplified and traditional are essentially the same thing, and there are many words which were not simplified and are the same in both forms. There are certainly people who speak Cantonese and write in simplified, just as there are people who speak Mandarin and write in traditional, even though it might be more common the other way around. The difference between traditional and simplified is certainly more easily understandable/transferable than between some Chinese dialects (and there are hundreds of them), and Cantonese and Mandarin are especially different. (As a fluent Mandarin speaker who grew up hearing my parents speak dialects from Shanghai, Sichuan, as well as Cantonese, I can understand a lot of the first two, but still can't understand most of Cantonese.) I'd be curious to know how fluent Pell is in Chinese though, especially written. Most of the American-born Chinese I know who can speak fluently are not necessarily very literate, simply because it takes years of memorization and usage to become literate at an adult level.

Anyway, sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent. All this is to say that I'm happy that Michelle has become engaged to someone who seems to be very accomplished in his own right. It would certainly be interesting if one or both of them decided to run for office one day! I do hope we'll get to see pictures of the happy couple after they walk down the aisle. Congratulations to them both!

[demarinis5]

E News Video on Michelle's Engagement. The ring is stunning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPCu4...medium=twitter

[Tinymavy15]

E News Video on Michelle's Engagement. The ring is stunning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPCu4...medium=twitter

indeed. so so happy for her, wish them the best happiness and of course that she continues her vibrant studies and career.

[Krislite]

Congrats to Michelle and Clay! I only hope she doesn't change her name to "Michelle Pell." She will always be Michelle Kwan!