I'm not sure if this article was put in any other forums, but I apologize ahead of time: Yao Answers Questions in English Thu Aug 15, 8:21 PM ET By CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Basketball Writer VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Yao Ming took it easy on his translator for a few moments Thursday, answering several questions in English on his first full day in North America with the Chinese National Team. "I need more training," the 7-foot-5 center said in a soft voice, one of several short answers he gave in English while sitting through a brief interview with several reporters. "In China, the media, the bodies are a little size," Yao said, struggling to choose the correct words. "They can't face me." Yao, chosen first overall in last June's NBA draft, arrived Wednesday in advance of an exhibition game against Canada on Friday night. He will represent China in the upcoming World Championships to be held in Indianapolis Aug. 29-Sept. 8. For the next 3 weeks, Yao will get his first taste of being squarely in the spotlight in a foreign land. "I need a little time," he said, in English, of making the adjustment to the United States and the NBA. "If happy or not happy for few months, I have long phone call to my family and it make me feel good." Yao spoke English in answering the first five questions posed to him, only twice asking his translator to repeat the query. He eventually grew frustrated, spending the final five minutes speaking in his native tongue. "I cannot handle it right now," he said of the language barrier. Asked which of the Rockets he most wants to meet, the name "Steve Francis" came through. Asked about the significance of a televised exhibition game against the United States next Thursday, he responded through his translator: "In China, we say no matter who you are, just make people recognize your face first." The game against Canada will be Yao's first in North America. On hand will be Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who said he planned to keep a low profile and stay out of the way of Yao, his teammates and his coach. "The No. 1 thing is to let him know he has support here," Tomjanovich said. "I'm not expecting much. I don't want to do a lot. I don't want to be a distraction in any way." Tomjanovich has had only one face-to-face meeting and one lengthy phone call with Yao since the Rockets began the arduous task of securing his release from the Chinese Basketball Federation and his former team, the Shanghai Sharks. Yao has still not signed a contract with the Rockets. Tomjanovich hasn't seen Yao play in person since coaching the United States against China during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Yao and both of his 7-foot teammates, Wang ZhiZhi and Menk Batere, were plagued by foul trouble in that game. "The head coach of that team gave me trouble at the Sydney Olympics ( news - web sites), kicked me out of the game after just 15 minutes," a smiling Yao said through his translator. "He'd better think about this." Not much is known in the United States about Yao, the son of parents who played for Chinese men's and women's national teams. He measured 7-foot-5 barefoot and 7-6 in sneakers and weighed in at 296 pounds at the Chicago pre-draft camp. Yao has said he is looking forward to buying his first car, as the only vehicle he owned in Shanghai was a bicycle. He has never been to the city, Houston, that will be his home for at least the next four NBA seasons. A bit of insight to Yao's athletic talents was gleaned Tuesday night at a reception hosted by Team Canada at a tavern near G.M. Place, the former home of the Vancouver Grizzlies. The Chinese players seated themselves at a corner table immediately after entering, keeping to themselves until a few of the Canadian players invited them to play pool. Yao, who had been staring transfixed at a television set showing Rodney Rogers highlights, accepted. The former Shanghai Shark was no pool shark, however, displaying only minimal billiard skills. Folks on the Eastern side of the Pacific Ocean are about to get a chance to see if Yao has legitimate NBA basketball talent, and no observer will be more interested than Tomjanovich. "When we first had Hakeem Olajuwon, we had no idea what we had. There was no way in the world that we ever could have imagined he would be the offensive force he was, because you just didn't see him," Tomjanovich said. "To project something, it just doesn't work that way for me." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It seems pretty cool that Yao is experiencing all this for the 1st time....the North American media, associating w/ other players, etc. But I'm glad to see him on North American soil...
yeah that was cool when I saw him on the news talking in English it shocked tha hell out of me. He's learning pretty quick I'd say. On draft night he couldn't speak a lick without an interprator. THIS IS WONDERFULL!
Do you even follow the Rockets? Yao has been able to speak for some time. I thought it was funny how often the article said, "in English."
I'm thinking w/ the world all watching him at that time, I'm pretty sure he was shy and just not expecting all the hype...
Don't question me with your stupid remarks I was saying he's getting better you loser. I follow them probably moreso than you so don't go there.
Not to get too technical, but you wrote that "he couldn't speak a lick" on draft night. Perhaps I sounded too harsh, it is just that his speaking ability has been well covered here and in the newspapers. I don't even follow or like the Rockets, though...so you are probably right about your superior understanding.
Here is another artical about his first interviews in America. Aug. 15, 2002, 11:02PM Yao gets first taste of life in NBA fish bowl By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The NBA had left town more than a year before, taking with it every movable reminder the Grizzlies ever played here. But as Yao Ming sat on the side of the GM Place court, encircled by Western media and surrounded by curiosity about the first player taken in this year's draft, he was in many ways closer to the NBA than ever. He did not look out of place. "That's impossible for me to get used to everything right away," Yao said. "The basketball in America is like the culture, just like a foreigner learning a foreign language. It's difficult to learn a foreign language. It is also difficult for me to learn the basketball here." Yao and the Chinese national team were in Vancouver to prepare for this month's World Championships with a "warm-up" game today against the Canadian national team. They had just completed the first of two practices Thursday. Yao and coach Wang Fei would later visit with Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. Yao would sign more autographs, pose for more pictures and shake more hands than he said he could count. And he would face the media that had followed him from the airport to the team hotel to a welcoming reception the day he had arrived. This was Yao's first taste of what his life had become. For all the adjustments he said he would have to make with his move to Houston and the culture of the NBA, he seemed at ease with the task. "I need some ... time, my time," he said. "These two months I had a lot of phone calls to my family that made me feel good. Everybody should understand until now I haven't played any, even a single, NBA game yet." Alternating between answers in English and Chinese that were translated by Chinese team manager and player agent Xia Song, Yao joked easily. He spoke often about the adjustments and was clearly unaccustomed to having a dozen or so media members crowded around him. Asked if he would have a lot to get used to, he said: "Yes, like this," nodding toward the microphones, cameras and notepads. But he did not seem rattled, slipping in examples of the sense of humor the Rockets' delegation to Beijing found so endearing. When asked how he felt about the media attention he had received since landing in Vancouver -- and will get next week in Oakland and at the World Championships in Indianapolis -- Yao described the differences between the Chinese and Western media. "I think in China, the media, the bodies are a little size," he said. "They can't face me." Though at 7-5 he will have a hard time finding anyone in the North American media who will look at him eye to eye, Yao, 21, had no doubt he will have a lot to learn when he meets NBA centers happy to pick on someone their own size. "He has many things to learn in the NBA, many new things," Wang said. "It will be very hard for him." Asked what will be most difficult, Wang said: "Everything. Language. Practice. Games. Travel. Home game, road game, many games. Because of Yao Ming's personality, I think Yao will grow up faster than other players. This guy is smart enough and will work hard enough." The Rockets also believe the adjustment will be tough but that Yao is well-suited to make it. "I had a telephone conversation that was about an hour," Tomjanovich said. "His value system is sort of a throwback to a different era. He feels a responsibility to be the best he can be not only for Chinese basketball fans but for all basketball fans. It's a way of looking at things that, `I have this opportunity, I have talents, to go and be the best (I) can be.' "There's so much to learn in basketball coming from one level to the next. What I do like is he is comfortable in different situations. He can be a good player. But he has a chance to be a really, really good player." The Rockets, Tomjanovich said, will have an interpreter available when Yao joins the team in mid-October after the Asian Games. But he added Yao told him one of his goals is to not need the interpreter as quickly as possible. Yao said that for now his emphasis is on preparing for the World Championships. He said his game is about 85 percent of where it needs to be by the start of the tournament in Indianapolis on Aug. 29. With that in mind, Tomjanovich said he was sensitive to the Chinese agenda and would be careful not to interfere. He said he was excited about tonight's game and hoped with a conversation or two here and next week in Oakland "just to give him a feel for me. At least he'll know me and hopefully feel comfortable." Added Tomjanovich: "I enjoy seeing the guy play and trying to project how we can use the different things the guy can do. I am excited about that. I have to make it very clear. This is not a Rockets thing here. They're playing in the World Championships. I coached in it. It was important to me. I know how important it is to the Chinese. I don't want to be a distraction in any way." Tomjanovich said he could not predict what kind of impact Yao would have this season or how long it would take to make the adjustments to the NBA. "I have learned to not have great expectations," Tomjanovich said. "But do I have a good, positive feeling? Yeah. But let's let it happen." Yao said he also was not concerned with expectations, the timetable or even first impressions when the Chinese game against the United States on Aug. 31 is televised. "In China we say: No matter who you are, make people recognize your face first," Yao said. If that means to let people know the person rather than the deed, he started the process Thursday. The Rockets can only hope he takes to the rest of his tasks as smoothly.
Someone took the no one can face me thing out of context. I didn't realize that Yao was talking about people in the media. That makes the whole thing funnier. Before I was a bit confused about the line, as were many other people on cc.net it seems.
Asked about the significance of a televised exhibition game against the United States next Thursday, he responded through his translator: "In China, we say no matter who you are, just make people recognize your face first." I don't know this exhibition game will be televised, is it true? If yes, on which network?
i am so tired of hearing about Yao Ming's inability to understand english and that is going to be a problem. it is an uninformed, moronic statement. I hear it in Houston from people who do not follow it.....here is a text from an acquantance of mine the other day: Mr. Doomass: Hey, what do you think of that Ming dude from China Me: I like him, he will help and be something to watch in a few years. Mr. Doomass: Hell, he can't even speak english, how can he play basketball? Me: So, anyone who does not speak english cannot play basketball? Mr. Doomass: Well, No, but why draft a player that cannot understand the coach? Me: Why do you think that? Mr. Doomass: He's from China and barely said three words when he was drafted. Me: He can speak English enough to get by and better than some of our own American players probably...the problem is you have no clue about him..... Mr. Doomass: You're right, but I do not see how he can help us! This person has been excommunicated from the season ticket wish list...I cannot wait for the first game and he begs me for a ticket...I cannot stand people who talk about something they have no clue about......How many others are having this freakin conversation? Wow...I feel so much better now...had to be said : )
