Media - 澳洲总理秀中文

Best prime minister we ever had. 加油 Kevin!

wo2 xi3 huan1 ta. ta1 shi4 oa4 da4 li1 ya4 hen3 bang4 de zhong3 li3. ta1 pu3 tong1 huo4 shuo1 de hen3 hao3 ting1.

Here is a small clip from his speech at Beida yesteday. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_co00XMjM3MDI0MDA=.html

I love this line from yesterday's speech: 天不怕，地不怕，就怕老外说中国话. (Tiān bù pà, di bù pà, jiù pà lǎowài shuō zhòngguó huà.) Don't fear heaven, don't fear earth, only fear hearing a foreigner speak Chinese.

Hmm, so that would make me an object of fear? I guess my chinese IS pretty bad at the moment...

有一天我当美国的总统的话，我用中文被采访的之前一定要让jenny和connie看我预备的笔记、改正我的错误，这样才有自信去向全世界人说中文！

I just sent a link to this lesson to the Australian Prime Minister!! hehe!

K-Rudd's Chinese is pretty impressive and I'm glad he got in but... I'm still more impressed by one of our past prime ministers "Bob Hawke" who made it into the guiness book of records for knocking back 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds! Should make a lesson on that ;)

陆克文他当然说流利的中文，但最惊讶的是为什么一位中国文学毕业生成为政党领袖……反而，那个政治家好像是直说的!

我听说中国最近“解锁”了中英文维基百科(Wikipedia)网站，你们可以查明Kevin Rudd或者陆克文的来历。

琥珀老师， 你不觉这样的行为有点儿冒险呢? 万一陆克文来到这里， 像我们一样对这个网站上瘾， 变成一位百分之百的Poddie的话， 你不怕这个对澳大利亚有影响的可能性吗?

@henning 没有危险，李恩他老婆当然不许!

Henning, Amber刚说，她希望老陆也能做客Dear Amber。

他真厉害

很有意思。我希望能去北京大学听他的演讲。我希望陆克文能推进澳大利亚的中文教学。让更多的人能说中文。因为澳大利亚的中文教学状况不是特别的乐观。

他是我的老乡！ 陆克文！ 你干快打电话给我吧！

yes kevin 07!! does speak well, a smooth operator! you can hear his diplomatic skills from his time in Beijing. We will see much more of him!! in Asia

You sure will! It's more than you can say about dumb George W.

他对中国的批评还不够激烈。

我猜PK是比赛的意思。 不知道是从哪里来的. Does anybody know where the expression "PK" comes from ? (see lesson introduction text)

Does anyone know how many non-East Asian heritage foreign speakers of Mandarin exist in the world.

I'd like to see George W. try to speak Chinese.

Chand - I think its about 350. Consider yourself a rare breed.

PM Rudd's Mandarin is astonishingly fluent. It is really inspiring to listen to him speak. I was already aware that he could speak Mandarin, but -- foolishly -- I assumed that it was probably like GWB's Spanish. His Mandarin is far better than the best that my Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, can manage, and poor PM Lee has been slogging away at it for decades. This makes me feel even warmer towards Australia and her people. And hopeful too; now we finally have a leader in Southeast Asia who seems to be culturally and linguistically equipped to engage China meaningfully on sensitive issues affecting my region.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi! (The Australian equivalent of 中国人民共和国万岁！Or USA! USA!)

PK据说是从网络游戏里的缩写partner killer里来的。娱乐选秀节目里让2个选手随抗，也称之为pk。

PK的来源（是player killer，来自网络游戏俚语）

Thanks for the interesting link. I'll have to test that word on some of my chinese friends. I guess the geeks among them will know it.

我真羡慕澳大利亚有那么一位讲中文的领导人。目前西方国家需要更多真的会讲外语的领导人，尤其是美国！只能说几句“你好”什么的不算。

Jenny, Conny and Amber, 这课文太好了!！！ 我们只需要这种的有意思的消息让我们提高听力的水平。学这课文的时候我觉得词汇量不容易，可是那个 Cpod 词汇课文对我有点太短了:你们看我们还是需要你们的帮助！

I don't know where or when PK was mentioned. Taking a risk here out of context, but PK was a well known brand name for chewing gum.

日本外交部有个明星部门叫做亚洲局中国科， 在那里工作的职员当然都受过中文专业培训。 他们都是自称中国通的知中派或者是亲中派， 其中有些人以后会被挑选为驻华大使或领事。 不过有点儿可笑的是这些善于说汉语的人才 却都不敢或不愿意讲中国领导们不爱听的话， 可见日本官僚好像都怕得罪一衣带水的邻国。 我怀疑他们只在酒席上发挥自己的外语能力。 凡是给中国提意见的人们都是不会汉语的人。 据悉澳洲新任总理也是个人所公认的中国通， 我希望陆先生可以促进两国人民的友好关系， 又希望他能够跟共产党直率地谈论各种问题。 否则有些别有用心的人就会开玩笑地这么说， 可能陆总理只不过是澳大利亚版的大山而已。 我相信他不仅是个汉语流利的国家级推销员。

changye, 麻烦你给解释，你用的成语 “一衣带水” 是什么意思？我查过成语词典，问题是我的那本词典是用中文来解释，还有用的词汇太正式了，我没办法看的懂！ Also, anyone, what is a casual way to ask someone for help in this case? I mean, "麻烦你给解释" sounds a bit formal, and feels a bit stuffy to me...

Hi guolanusa, 一衣带水 means “a strip of water”. This 成语 is often used in a sentence just like this, “中日两国是一衣带水的邻邦”, of which meaning is “China and Japan are close neighbouring countries separated only by a strip of water.” When you would like to ask someone for an interpretation, I think that the following expressions might be appropriate. 你说的对，成语解释一般都比较难懂，而且成语词典往往用成语来解释成语！没完没了，真的受不了啊！ 麻烦你，帮我解释一下吧。 麻烦你，给我解释一下吧。 麻烦你，给我解释一下，可以吗？ 麻烦你，给我解释一下，好不好？

谢谢，changye! 过了一会儿我一定再有机会对你问“麻烦你，给我解释一下，可以吗？”！ : ）

Hi guolanusa, In addition to my above comment, in Chinese “一衣带水的两国 (or 邻邦)” commonly means or connotes “中国 and 日本”, which is usually used in the sense that the two countries have a good relationship with each other. Please be noted that the phrase never means “中国 and 台湾” at least in the PRC, although the Taiwan Strait is a very typical 一衣带水.

现在越来越相信这句话“理解万岁”。希望国家领导人拥有真正多元化的视角和见解，让世界更加和谐。

I’ve found an interesting news article about “Rudd syndrome” at the BOAO Form currently chaired by China. In the last paragraph of the article, you see the following sentence. 领导们, come here and learn Chinese with us! 陆克文等九位首脑在博鳌论坛开幕式演讲中 “争先恐后地”用汉语致问候词， 似乎费尽心思讨中国的“欢心”。 http://chn.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/04/14/20080414000020.html Its translation is as follows: those nine national leaders, including Ruddy Kevin, competed with each other over their greetings offered in Mandarin in their opening speeches, which was as if they were struggling to win China’s favor.

i thought rudd would be all good but he goes to the usa to bad mouth china about the xizang and torch riots and then comes to china and puts it less assertively but still makes it out to be as if there is actually some soft of concern to australia. the gall of someone not involved but trying to tell china what to do is just no right to do so!

Dear zeoblade, to try and contribute a slightly different perspective on this, everybody knows that engaging this planet's pre-eminently "peacefully-rising nation" is no simple task. Even in ASEAN, where we love to disagree with each other, governments (except for Thailand, which just secured a supply of very cheap natural gas), seem to have reached their limits regarding that particular nation's vital support for the obscene levels of corruption and tyranny in a certain ASEAN country which is rich in natural gas reserves, rubies, valuable teakwood forests, and opium fields. Speaking as an individual, I think it's a point of deep shame that my own tiny country is where the leaders of that ASEAN country go to when they need a spa treatment or five-star medical treatment. The position of the peacefully-rising nation is both puzzling and alarming to me. Do you really want to blame Kevin Rudd for trying everything?

Slightly embarrassing, but I thought PK meant "Paul Krugman" for the longest time.

Kevin Rudd is so cool. He's like one of my role models when it comes to learning 中文。 I hope to hear a lot of him in the news. I've heard from my Australian relatives that he's doing a good job as their PM. 加油, 陸克文!!! -From a Chinese-Filipino guy who hopes to immigrate to 澳大利亞 sooner or later.

i blame rudd for the issues i mentioned but there is something about your perception of peacefully rising countries

我这十年来非常不认同澳洲，憎恨我们的自由党及前总理何华德（Howard），但当时我不会支持工党，因为内党有太多腐败与斗争的争议事件，因此我更偏左而支持了绿党。陆克文当工党领袖之后，我才开始信任工党，反而，他向澳洲原居民道歉是我十年来首次为澳洲认同而自豪。

可能应写：*内党有太多腐败及小派系斗争的争议

哎哟, I don't know if that made sense. During the Howard years, I loathed our government and had no sense of Australian identity beyond shame. Yet I couldn't support the Labor Party because of their corruption and factional in-fighting, so I went even more left-wing and voted Green. It was only when Rudd and Gilliard (吉拉德）took over the Labor leadership that I began to hope, and only when they had such a landslide victory over the stinking Liberals and apologised to the Stolen Generations (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_generations) that I began to feel proud of being Australian.

daixiong - I agree with your comments. The Australian political leadership really needed a generational change after the conservatism of the Howard era. Now the Rudd government is addressing many important issues that have been neglected for too long.

daixiong, derek -- I don't know if Australians are aware of the very hopeful and positive feelings which Kevin Rudd has won for your country across Southeast Asia. Sure, there is nervousness (especially in Muslim states used to being lectured at by PM Howard) that Australia might get too cosy with China, but basically, the feeling here on the ground where I am (in Singapore) is that finally the Australians have earned themselves a PM who will do justice to the immense amount of good which Australia already has been, and IS doing in SE Asia. Your guys were among the first to arrive in Aceh after the terrible Boxing Day Tsunami, with all the right kinds of help: substantial amounts of money (not only promises), truly generous allocations of your own military equipment that you devoted to civil reconstruction and disaster relief, and an incredible amount of civil society help. This will never be forgotten. I always thought that this historic contribution by your country was never been recognized enough, perhaps now you have a PM whose choice of words won't distract from such real contributions.

Auntie68 thanks for the kind words. Here's an interesting article about the right honourable Kevin Rudd and his speech. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/rudd-rewrites-the-rules-of-engagement/2008/04/11/1207856825767.html

gg

do chinese people like when waiguoren use chenyu? or sizi?i need a Honest Chinese person to answer

Hi, I'd just like to thank maxiewawa for that great link to the analysis of Kevin Rudd's Mandarin, which I enjoyed hugely but forgot to thank maxiewawa for! Thanks!

Howard was a truly great prime minister. Rudd has some big shoes to fill. Speaking Chinese is not going to do it. In fact, save us from the foreign service panda huggers!

2.5 pints is pretty impressive. However, I bet Dubya could PK that if he was still drinkin'

His accent is good for a foreigner and his choice of words is perfect, but I still detect non-Chinese accent or westerner accented 普通话, especially when he pronounces "我们". I think 大山is still the best westerner who speaks perfect 普通话.

to apple 1234: I think Westerner speaking perfect Mandarin with Chengyu is so cool. Come to think of it, probably Marco Polo spoke Chinese before too :-). Anyhow, the same with Chinese who speaks perfect English, be it British accent or American accent, we have plenty of BBC/CBC/ABC who can do it.

Rudd speaks Chinese better than LKY's son?? That's unbelievable.

LKY是谁？

 

LKY = Lee Kuan Yew / li3guang1yao4 (*the former PM of Singapore who was a proponent of "looking East", ie "to China" for some key best practices).

I'm Singaporean, and can tell you that LKY's son Lee Hsien Loong, now our PM, doesn't have anything approaching the Mandarin fluency of Australia's PM Rudd despite decades of special Mandarin classes. It's not his first language... his true first language is English, but that applies to Kevin Rudd too.