Mandarin / English News Talk - a current events group

[storyline]

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post, but I have to say how extremely impressed I am by the quality of postings and the organization of this site. Great to be here!

I'm moving to Beijing in July and would like to pick up again something I used to do and enjoyed a great deal doing in NYC: putting together a current events discussion group. (New York News Talk Meetup). This time I'm thinking that I can do it in Mandarin as well. Is there any interest in this sort of thing? Or in a test run up here?

My idea is that we can meet weekly and discuss a news article (picked out in advance and available online. The Guardian in both languages recommended by roddy would be a perfect source). We can do one hour of English first, and then another hour in Mandarin. This way it can perhaps attract more native Chinese speakers to participate.

Right here with this thread we can perhaps also have some discussion? I'm really interested in the example article roddy provided the link to. Thanks, roddy.

The Chinese translation of the article is excellent. There're just a few quotes that I cannot find in the original. (我认为G20之所以重要，是因为中国带来了建议，带来了让步，带来了参与。" "没有中国，G20不可能获得成功，这一点非常重要。“没有中国，你不可能解决世界经济问题；没有中国，你不可能解决气候变化问题；没有中国，你不可能解决世界贸易问题；而不理解中国在非洲所扮演的新的角色，你也不可能与非洲建立真正意义上的合作关系。” “这不意味着一个排除俄罗斯或印度在外的G3。但这确实意味着欧洲自身必须进行变革和发展，形成一个统一的声音。”) Not sure why.

As an acknowledgment of China's status from the British foreign policy leader, and at the same time serving as a reminder for EU as to its stake in the game, Miliband's perspective is not so much new but duly nuanced. It can serve US well too, if we are listening.

I learned a few phrases: "峰会" and "作比" among others. Have a little issue with "The EU-China relationship is a good case for the Lisbon treaty" being translated as, "中欧关系是里斯本条约[所存在问题]的例证". I'm reading up on the Treaty of Lisbon.

But over all, good stuff!

[skylee]

I learned a few phrases: "峰会" and "作比" among others.

Please, what does "作比" mean?

[storyline]

It's from the translation of the aforementioned article: "英国外长回顾了前美国国务卿奥尔布莱特于1998年所做出的，关于美国在二十世纪所扮演角色的评论。并将之与未来几年中国可能扮演的角色作比。" So it's short for "作比较“?

[skylee]

I don't recall seeing this term before. I definitely would not write like this. But perhaps it's just me.

[atitarev]

I am interested in the idea but prefer a source with the audio. If the articles with audio in the bilingual format, still prefer articles with audio than without them, as I am also working on my listening comprehension.

Multiple shorter articles work better than long ones. Not everyone's level is the same but shorter articles will not have too much vocabulary.

I may only start in the middle of June when I am back from holidays.

Here's one site with articles - WMA files and the transcript.

http://gb.cri.cn/1321/more/4974/more4974.htm

They are not too short but have subsections, e.g.:

中国总理温家宝在广东考察春运及市场供应工作

...

回良玉强调要千方百计安排好受灾群众的基本生活

...

中国中央财政累计下拨抗灾救灾专项资金2.93亿元

Anyway, if I commit, I don't promise to write every week but will take part if I like the source of articles chosen.

[storyline]

It could be a typo. But "相比“ is certainly better. Personally I'd prefer "将A与B相提并论“。

[storyline]

Great suggestion, atitarev. I couldn't quite get the streaming (wma) to work on my Mac, but that's OK. Multiple news briefs can be easier to manage, although they also introduce more than one topic. I will start following that site in any case. Thanks!

[atitarev]

OK, then, Storyline, if you think you can manage short sections, I hope I can join mid-June when I am back from Japan. The articles are not easy but we will try together. I am thinking of making word lists with Wenlin. An alternative is NJStar Chinese WP or many online dictionaries.

There should be a way to convert wma to mp3. The longer way is play them and record using Audacity, save as MP3.

[storyline]

Sounds great! I can read just fine, it's those China-specific terminologies that I am not all that familiar with (leaned my Chinese in Taiwan.) Will work on the audio tech problem. Thanks!

[fubidou]

I think you should be able to just drag the file into Audacity and then convert to mp3. But you can probably get lots of freebie convertors from Download.com

I only realised yesterday (sorry, don't know if this has been mentioned before in this forum), Google did a thing with jinshan ciba and made a free translation tool. I found Jinshan really good, and wish I had it when I was learning Chinese, would have saved many nights in front of the dictionary...

[imron]

sorry, don't know if this has been mentioned before in this forum)

See the various threads on Kingsoft Powerword

[atitarev]

Storyline, this is Japanese exam week but I should have some time next week. Not feeling too well right now too.

[atitarev]

Sorry, the other links hasn't been updated since Jan 2008, unfortunately.

I picked up this article from ABC Radio Australia in Chinese:

Currently the article is here:

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/chinese/news/topic.htm

The MP3 link, need to click again on 下載MP3文件 to download:

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/chinese/mp3/news/topic/20090618.mp3

Permanent address:

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/chinese/articles/s2602101.htm

The text starts after a short music and the word 时事报道

在中俄建交六十周年之际，中国主席胡锦涛在莫斯科与俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫举行了会谈，双方就继续推进战略协作伙伴关系达成了协议。

In the 60 anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, Chinese President Hu Jintao in Moscow with Russian President Medvedev held talks with both sides continuing to promote the strategic partnership agreement.

...

Edited June 20, 2009 at 10:23 AM by atitarev

[storyline]

Atitarev, great article!

In the title, "伊朗民众抗议或催生变化", "或" seams to mean "may"? Haven't seen it used that way and am wondering.

Will work on the rest. I'm moving to Beijing TOMORROW so it's kind of hectic. Thanks for keeping track.

[atitarev]

Yes, it's short for 或许. I've read and understood the article but I didn't make a list of words, sorry. The front articles change their but the old articles seem to be archived. I think I know how to get the permanent address of the article. If my choice of the source is OK for you, we can continue reading together.

Perhaps, making a list is too time-consuming. We could discuss difficult parts instead?

I have subscribed with notifications to this thread.

[storyline]

Sorry for the lapse! I've just moved.

I read the article again. What I'm working on is not really comprehension but writing characters and familiarizing myself with the journalistic phrasing.

New phrases:

发展道路

合作框架

求同存异

能量

Questions:

战略协作 - What does the 作 stand for?

不针对第三方 - politically, what does that mean?

[atitarev]

战略协作 - What does the 作 stand for?

不针对第三方 - politically, what does that mean?

1. strategic cooperation

2. not (aimed) against a third party

I haven't read another article from there. If you start a new one, please post a full link to the text and audio.

[storyline]

Thanks, atitarev!

I'm still not very clear on just what countries "the third party" mainly imply. The U.S.? Ukraine? EU? Or just trying to make things exclusively, and bilaterally, between China and Russia?

For the next article, I thought this one about H1N1 is interesting (though kind of short). What do you think?

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/chinese/articles/s2634304.htm

[Scoobyqueen]

I am also in on this project. I listen to the Australian radio podcasts anyway and also collect news expressions (for my work).

The particular article you mention is a bit short and does not contain that many linguistic points. How about just choosing the main article with the mp3 or do you consider that too long?

[atitarev]

Please choose the article you like, we will join in, if we have the links.