Rockets Full-time Career Opportunity: Yao Ming's Right-Hand Man

One of my best friends has a job interview with CD on tueday for this job. I hope he gets it!

 

In an ESPN report in May, it listed several NBA translators. Their salaries range from $50,000 to $100,000. One assistant GM of Nuggets is Menke Bateer's translator and he is even better paid. Maybe Rockets can try to recruite him since Denver is expected to trade Bateer to Piston.

 

Rudy does seem to have a fairly strong Texas accent. So is the personnel guy of Rockets. Fortunately, both speak slowly and it will be easier for a translator to get used to than rapid spoken, say, the Brooklyn accent.

 

I do not know why Shanghai dialect is a big deal. Yao Ming is not an average Shanghai citizen. He travels so much and has spent a lot of months with the Chinese NT in Beijing. When I watched his interview, I found that he spoke Mandarin without any Shanghai accent. In fact, he tended to use slangs and jokes that seem to be popular in Northern China than say, Shanghai. So, I would not worry about the Shanghai dialect at all unless the translator will need to help Yao Ming's parents, then that is a different story.

 

In an interview to the Chinese Press in July, Erik Zhang said Yao Ming would stay in a foster home in Houston. Yao Ming's interpretor shall be an American-bron (preferrablly Houston born) graduate student who is bilingural and understand the professional bb.

We know that Erik is a graduate student. He and his prof agent had a theory that the best way/quickest way for a foreign student to pick up the local language and culture is to isolate him from his own language/culture. I guess that the Rockets do not like the idea.

 

Nachbar doesn't need an interpreter. A friend of mine is dating one of the assistant coaches and they both went out to Wings N More with Nachbar a couple weeks right after the draft. She said he speaks English just fine.

 

Do you know geography, though?

 

Well I know enough to tell the difference from a city and a state

"I didn't know that Elvis was born in Memphis, I thought he was born in Tennessee" - Drew Gooden of the Memphis Grizzlies

 

So this is a full-time position, right? Because I don't see how a student, especially a graduate student with TA, RA responsibilities would be able to have enough time for this without taking a serious hit academically. But I guess they would only need a translator for a year, possibly two.

 

Rudy doesn't have a Texas accent. The guy is from Michigan. That's a midwestern or more correctly northern midwestern accent.

All this attention towards accomodating this guy is being overplayed. It really should be up to him to adapt, he is getting paid to play for us. We have great players on this team other than him. So he is from China - big deal. If he was from Alabama and had a deep woods accent would he get an interpreter? I'm a big supporter of Yao Ming but this isn't the second coming of Jesus...

 

That's incredible that they would pay such suck-a$$ wages.

And HeyP is right, they should have put in the ad "can translate Michigan Frog-Dialect (Rudy) and Good Ole Boy (CD) and East Coast Hoops Brotha (Mooch, Steve, Cat) English language dialects into Mandarin and vice versa."

 

So how will timeouts work? I can't imagine someone trying to translate all of Rudy's stuff. Sign language?

 

Do you honestly believe that a player from Alabama with a deep woods accent would have a language problem playing in Houston?

Actually hiring an interpreter for a foreign player is not unprecedented in NBA history. I remember another poster has pointed out that the ESPN even has a salary range for these interpreters.

Also keep in mind this is only going to be a short term deal, 1 year probably and 2 years at most I believe. The main purpose is to help our foreign player to ease into the new living environment so he can help us as much as possible in the games.

 

How fast a person can learn a foreign language depends on one's inborn language acquiring ability and personality. Some people are too self-conscious to take on the embarrassment of using an unfamiliar language. These people will learn a lot slower than the more care-free type.

I can see that Ming is quite willing to try his English. So I agree with Eric Zhang that they should throw him into the English speaking culture and let him swim in it. That will be the fastest way to get him fluent in English.

If Ming is high in language acquring ability, then he might be able to dump the interpreter after a few months.

 

ricerocket,


please put down that 32oz jug of haterade.


the economic impact yao ming will have on this franchise dictates measures that would be considered extreme for any other athlete.

 

I didn't expain my position clear enough. I don't think an interpreter is a problem, and like I said I am in full support of Yao Ming, I just think we are placing far too much attention and accolades on a guy that hasn't even played a scrimmage game in the NBA yet. I too, hope he is all we think he may be. I'd rather see more attention put towards guys like Steve, Cat, KT, MT, Rice, and even Cato. Yao Ming definately should garner attention, I just think it's overblown at this point.

But it is a long offseason...