The Chinese of the Wall Street Journal is not superb.

[Kenny同志]

I remember I once said in one of my posts that the Chinese edition of the Wall Street Journal was a linguistically reliable source of Chinese financial news. That conclusion was made after I read its three or four articles. Now, however, it turns out, as I read more of it, that the Chinese edition is not so perfect. To minimize the potential bad effects of my previous misleading post, it is advised that learners should exercise a bit of caution when reading it.

The doc file attached in this post has several awkward sentences from the Journal. Each is paired with my edited version.

my edited version of a published wsj article.doc

[Meng Lelan]

I always thought the WSJ Chinese editions were somewhat "English-y".

[Guest realmayo]

Do you two have any view on the quality of Chinese used by the FT on http://www.ftchinese.com/ ? thanks!

[Kenny同志]

Hello Realmayo, I seldom read the Financial Times. After reading your request, I read a short piece of news on the Chinese FT. As a native speaker I find its Chinese not up to standard, nor is it idiomatic or enjoyable, so personally, I would not read it to mimic its style, but only for information.

Below are a bunch of sentences I selected from it which may require polishing/editing.

PS: My edited version will only be faithful to the translation because I haven't read through the original..

Link: http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001039416

中国需要更明智地花钱

中国花钱需明智

华融的许多贷款者是二线房地产开发商，由于中国正力图平抑已危及社会稳定的房价涨势，这些开发商在国内贷不到款。

由于中国的房价暴涨已经危及到社会稳定，因而华融的许多贷款者，即二线房地产开发商在国内贷不到款。

Reason: Anglicised Chinese

通常而言，这些贷款者都能够把钱弄过境，带回内地。

这些贷款者通常都能跨境把钱带回内地。

Reasons: not concise enough and 弄 is too informal

I assume here that the lenders carry the money physically，given the word “带”. If the lenders transmit money electronically, I'll put it this way: 这些贷款者通常都能跨境把钱转回内地。

GaveKal Dragonomics表示，上述担忧是银行股本月下跌10%、按市净率计处于历史最低位的原因之一。

GaveKal Dragonomics表示，本月银行股下跌10%，按市净率计为历史最低位，原因之一就是上述担忧。

Reason: doesn't sound good

对于中国监管机构在遏制近两年的放贷狂潮上取得了多大成功，分析师们莫衷一是。

中国监管机构近两年遏制放贷狂潮取得了多大成功，分析师莫衷一是。

Reason: not concise enough.

不过，眼下尚未出现信贷短缺问题。在中国，信贷仍在涌动，尽管速度有所放缓，而且拜香港的非银行金融机构（如华融）所赐，成本有所上升。

不过，信贷短缺现今还不是问题。尽管拜香港的非银行金融机构（如华融）所赐，中国的信贷速度有所放缓，成本也有所上升，但中国信贷仍较活跃。(editing made after reading the original)

Reason: bad order of clauses

I don't have the time to go through the whole translation and revise it thoroughly but I think the above editions are able to justify my view, which of course, is based on a single article, therefore, it might be prejudiced and/or inaccurate.

I am of the opinion that such big, prestigious media like the WSJ and the FT should impose a more stringent selection process on its potential translators considering their far-reaching influence on the writing style. The current quality of the Chinese of both media is apparently not satisfying.

[imron]

Out of curiosity, how would you say these compare to their Chinese equivalents, e.g. 财经

[Guest realmayo]

Thanks very much Kenny -- appreciate you having a look.

[Kenny同志]

No worries Realmayo.

@Imron

The Chinese of Caijing is generally better than their western counterparts perhaps because it is directly written in Chinese. The quality of the Chinese on Caijing, however, varies from author to author. Some are able to write in concise, plain Chinese while others write with a verbose and/or slightly Anglicised style.

I am very interested to hear comments from people who speak Chinese as a second language.

[uchihak]

Actually, I agree with you.

As a CSL learner coming from an English speaking background, I've found that the Chinese versions of WSJ and the FT are much easier to read than their counterpart newspapers/magazines from China. I have very little trouble going through a FT China article while I will have to frequently pause and do a double take when reading something from, say, Southern Weekly (Nan'fang Zhou'mo).

I guess it's the Anglicized Chinese helping me out.

[Meng Lelan]

My experience too, but I'm so hopelessly addicted to the Wall Street Journal, I'll read the Chinese edition nonetheless, blame my father (bless his memory), he got me started when I was twelve! Or maybe I should be reading 财经 instead of the Chinese edition of WSJ? I don't know....

[uchihak]

haha...lelan, you can still read the WSJ for its content if not for its language. I think the american dailies still give better coverage than the Chinese papers. I read the Chinese media mostly for language and domestic Chinese news.

[Meng Lelan]

Thanks so happy you can understand my passion for the WSJ, been reading it since I've been 12 and just can't let go of it! You are right about the coverage, what I want to read about covers the US for the most part.

[freshysauce]

I had a hunch that WSJ Chinese was a little "Englishy". I felt like I could always tell that the articles were originally written in English and then translated to Chinese. It's nice to see that that feeling is shared by those with much higher Chinese ability than me.

What does everyone think about the BBC Chinese page?

[uchihak]

I can't say, but I can tell you that the BBC Chinese page is an easier read for me. I guess it's a good choice for learners in that sense. I've tried to show the BBC Chinese page to native Chinese people but more often than not, the discussion devolves into whether or not BBC chinese is biased against the mainland.

Anyways, I still read it regularly because the articles are short to the point and pretty easy to read. Guess it's a good way to maintain your reading mojo and pick up some vocab.