Ziyi Zhang learns English the DIY way

You have to love popular culture. The web is full of reports with the lovely Ziyi Zhang (“Memoirs of a Geisha”) supposedly claiming “Eminem was my English teacher”. The mind boggles. The reports state that Zhang apparently started learning English through advertising and, um, Eminem. “I loved to watch the commercials because they pronounce their words so clearly. I don’t always know what (Eminem) is talking about, so I write down the lyrics and repeat them.” Well, Zhang, join the club – except the bit about repeating them. “Later, I understood how rude they were.”

Any chance of getting lost in translation?