What do you think about their accents?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_4eLKvuzo
This is a news clip from South Korean media and the Korean news announcers are conveying messages in English, Chinese, French, Spanish and Japanese.
They are not professional translators/interpreters; they are just Korean broadcasting staff members who know how to speak foreign languages.
I don't think their accents are great - especially the man who speaks French and the woman who speaks Spanish are bad. English and Japanese sound okay and Chinese sounds pretty good. (But then I don't speak Chinese so I can't judge!)
How would you rate their accents on a scale of 5? (5=excellent/perfect, 4=good, 3=fair/average, 2=bad, 1=awful/horrible, 0=FAIL)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_4eLKvuzo
(The message begins at around 0:35)
To be honest, I'm impressed.
The English is good - 4
French - understandable, but still strong Korean accent - 3
Spanish - Maybe 3.5
Japanese - 4 / 4.5
Chinese - 4 / 4.5
They sound like the average Asian immigrant you meet on the street. Understandable, but strong accent.
Where can I read more about the free speech issue?
Japanese, French, Spanish, English.
Understandable. Not native-sounding.
It must be hard for them to learn other languages. How do you get real feedback when you aren't supposed to correct adults in Korean culture?
Or am I wrong about that?
Chinese: Is that kind of hand-gesturing common in Korea?
Actually, I had trouble understanding one of the words in English. Were they all reading teleprompters?
<<It must be hard for them to learn other languages. How do you get real feedback when you aren't supposed to correct adults in Korean culture?
Or am I wrong about that? >>
No harder for them to learn languages than it is for you or anyone else... It's not like they're stupid...
That woman's Chinese is bad. I understood less than half of what she said.
her Spanish was terrible.
好吧,那我就打个电话吧,电话号码多少来着?怎么搞的,这样的信首?
<That woman's Chinese is bad. I understood less than half of what she said.>
Is her Chinese really that bad?
She went to graduate school in Beijing so she should speak decent Chinese.
By the way, my friend who's majoring in Spanish language said the woman speaking Spanish has a horrible accent.
I finally manage to understand the Chinese speech after five exhausting attempts. Her Chinese presents two extremes – when Korean accented, she is barely understandable; when clear, she seems to be perfectly standard. Moreover, she uses a few terms in the wrong context. For example, she mentions ‘the Chinese people of 1.3 billion’, which is an English equivalent of ‘anyone and everyone of the Chinese people’, when she urges the Chinese to protest calling the Korean President and another political figure who I am not certain about. This does not make sense. To begin with, why would any Chinese protest, when Korea’s democracy is threatened, as claimed? And even if some of them will upon request, I cannot imagine the Korean politicians will ever care. Language-wise, the usage of ‘the Chinese people’ of ‘the number of population’ is commonly associated with the context, in which the people are urged to unite at the edge of national crisis, which is not the case on this matter. At 1:21, she nods while saying “What is the matter (with them)? What kind of leaders are they?” Her accent and everything is great, but I just find this section to be funny. I am under the impression Korean and Vietnamese students are among the most skilled users of the Chinese language. Therefore I would say her Chinese is not impressive at all, in comparison.
While their accents (English, Spanish) are not great, I would say they are at the average level for the Asians I know. I hear foreign exchange students every day who sound the same or much worse than them. Rarely better.