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Notes -
Why did the Chinese Communist Party choose an accented translator for its recent new leadership press event?
Below is the CCTV (state media) livestream of the event, time stamped to the start of alternating Chinese / English speaking portions. It continues through when Xi begins speaking with the same translator about two minutes later.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XPElpDddUWo&t=527
The translator, or maybe more fittingly the teleprompt reader, considering the translation was certainly done well ahead of the event, speaks with a clear Chinese-British accent. I would venture to guess that he had gone to university in the UK, and no earlier (i.e. emigrated for elementary or middle/high school). Further, he sounds young, and so it seems unlikely that he is an important party cadre who was chosen for political seniority.
Is there anything to be read into this personnel choice? Considering the event is bilingual and clearly aimed at the international audience, someone in charge of optimizing its success, I'd think, would select for basically two dimensions:
Political purity: no chance a prankster or saboteur would use the opportunity to shout anti-CCP slogans to embarrass the regime
Technical capability: no stage fright, clear enunciation, diction, volume, etc.
Considering how prominent this event was, I'm shocked that the party could not find someone trustworthy who also happened to speak English with no accent. Is it because #1 contradicts #2, whereby someone born in the US or UK could not be trusted?
I think it's fair to claim this is a nothingburger. But the CCP is highly choreographed, so this decision was surely intentional. Does it speak to its weakness, therefore, that it is unable to present a high-quality English speaker whom it can also trust politically?
Alternatively, does anyone think the choice of an accented translator was intentional? That is, the party subtly shows the world that while it wants to keep it informed, it does not care enough to optimize for the listening experience of its international audience?
And what exactly does English with no accent sound like?
Obviously like a person from somewhere in England that's not particularly close to London. /s
JFC, lol.
Just got a flashback to trying to play some DayZ with a couple of British paras on their days off.
You just cannot understand some British regional accents. I forgot what their was.. something NE of London? Around Norfolk maybe.
Often it's on par with trying to listen to AAVE. Extremly strong southern accent is just getting there, lol.
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