![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
intriguedFor a while now, I've been wanting to hear how good (or otherwise) Kevin Rudd's Mandarin is. It's only a short clip, but he seems quite good in these few sentences.
His accent doesn't sound quite "Chinese" enough to me, but I don't have a whole lot of exposures to different Chinese accents to I'm not sure how good/bad/otherwise it is. As far as I can tell he pronounces everything quite well.
He says:
胡主席先生，
Hu Zhuxi Xiansheng
Mr. President Hu,
您在我们的国家是我们最尊敬的客人。
nin zai women de guojia shi women zui zunjing de keren.
you are the most honourable guest in our country.
希望您能够休息一下
Xiwang nin nenggou xiuxi yixia,
I hope you will be able to take a rest,
看我们美丽的地方，
kan women meili de difang,
visit our beautiful places,
看我们好看的风景，
kan women haokan de fengjing
see our nice scenery,
以及我们美丽的城市。
yiji women meili de chengshi.
and our beautiful city.
Apparently a little later he had a fair bit more to say, but I haven't been able to find a recording or transcript of that.
If anyone reading knows where to find a more complete recording or transcript, please let me know :)
I have a couple of questions for those who know Chinese better than me:
Chiefly, should he have been a little more modest? For example, I would have thought "ben guojia" would be more appropriate than "women de guojia", and that the following sentence (meili de ... haokan de ... ) might be considered a little boastful.
Also, have I translated "zui zunjing de" correctly as "the most honourable", or would "a most honourable" be more appropriate? I think the latter would be closer to Kevin Rudd's intended meaning, because I think to say "you are the most honourable guest in our country" (compared to the other leaders that are here at the moment) would be a bit of a diplomatic no-no.
(2nds thoughts: A less awkward translation might be "you are our country's most honourable guest")
Xie xie :)
2007-09-06 12:56 pm (UTC)
2007-09-06 01:00 pm (UTC)
2007-09-06 09:58 pm (UTC)
I think "women de guojia" was fine, "ben guojia" would've been too formal and officious. The "meili de...haokan de" descriptions are also OK I think, if not too plain. He could've afforded to be a little more boastful there actually, both of the beauty of Australia and Sydney, and of his own language abilities. He could've used a dictionary to find more difficult words, or even drawn literary references hehe. That would be all perfectly acceptable especially if you make comparisons between the host and guest countries/cities and praise the other side at the same time.
Both "the most honourable" and "a most honourable" are OK for "zui zunjing de" I think, but I would use "a most honourable" because it sounds more natural in English and probably closer to the nuance of the hyperbole.
I take issues with two things he said:
"Hu zhuxi xiansheng" - the xiansheng is unnecessary, this title is really awkward. Hu zhuxi would've been enough. He could've said "zunjing de Hu zhuxi" or even "qin'ai de Hu zhuxi" if he wanted to be more polite.
"kan women..." - here I think "kan yi xia women..." would be more natural. "kan women" is almost too rough, more commanding than inviting.
Also, there might be political reasons for this, but I thought it was interesting the media has been referring to him as "President Hu". The word "zhuxi" hasn't changed from the days of Chairman Mao (Mao Zhuxi) so really Hu Jintao should be referred to as Chairman Hu. Would that be a little to communist?
2007-09-07 08:25 am (UTC)
2007-09-08 11:21 am (UTC)