After the game, ESPN reporter interviewed Yao on the court, throught translater Colin Pine. Colin's spoken language is pretty bad. I (native speaker) could understand only half of what he was saying (after understanding the question in English). I think Yao got the English question long before Pine off-tune transalation.
Don't be such a hater. Colin is nursing a strained Adam's Apple, and is in a contract year, so its only logical that he would be a little off, and yes, I agree that he's forcing things. Just give him time to get used to the chemistry, and he'll be translating well. Maybe not the best translator in the league, cause he just doesn't have the talent, but certainly servicable. Next thing you now, we'll see complaints about his diction and grammer and "Trade Pine" threads all over the place.
LOL Pine looks like he'd be even more uncomfortable in the Francis/Mobley whaaaasuuuup sessions than Yao. I wonder if he translates for Yao when he plays xbox with Boki?
seriously, a friend of mine who is also a white guy, went to beijing for a yr, and now, he has no accent speaking chinese, no problem write or read, awsome...that guy should be Yao's translator instead
I had the feeling that the translation might be a little off judging by the look on Yao's face. I also wonder if there is a dilect difference between the two of them. I can speak school spanish, but not real spanish. I'm sure it is one of those things.
Here is the link to the interview: http://sports.sohu.com/53/59/news205085953.shtml Rough Translation: During the post game interview, Ming was very relaxed, and he even tried to answer in English without Pine, but his English was not as good as his Bball skill, Pine had to step forward to save him. Q: how do you feel about this game, your best one? A: I think I did my very best in this game Q: How do you feel about "W" A: I feel pretty good, but I would feel better if tomorrow's practice is cancelled. Q: what do you most look forward in this season? Ming tried to answer this question in English, but he wasn't sure if the reporter got it, so he repeated again in Chinese A: Going home
I think Pine did a decent job. His accent is a bit off, but who care, as long as he can speak good English. That's what Yao Ming mostly needs, a English conversation companion.
The translation by Pine was at amateur level at the best, almost none of the question was translated accurately. But, on-spot translation is such a difficult task, you almost have to be professionally trained in order to do it well. When I was watching the interview, I understood the original questions, knew Pine's translation wasn't good, but just couldn't come out with a better one at the moment. BTW, the last question was intended to ask Yao's expection for himself on the basketball court, but Pine translated it into a question like "What do you like to do down the road this season?", which got the answer of "Going home".
I think that Colin has a pretty good vocabulary compared to some people but I think that a person who speaks both languages natively would have been much better translator. IMO, Yao has a pretty good grasp of basic English. He tends to have some difficulties when people speak too fast, but he can manage with basic conversation. I say that a little more time talking to his teammates (and maybe watching TV) will help him to improve.
Pine does a decent job in translation, he does add a few phrases in his translation. He got the job because he was the best person out there that wasn't Asian and knew what basketball was. Yao is picking up English pretty well so it won't matter much longer.
Actually we have no clue as to what Yao has been saying for 2 months ! For all we know, Pine could be making everything up....he's a PR guy, he says all the right things
watching Yao listen to D.A. and then "listen" to Colin, I couldn't help but feel like Yao was thinking: "Rockets of Houston, why have you attached me to this professional friend talker? His words are like a stained-glass window."
Translating from one language to another is always hard, especially from Chinese to English, or vice versa, since they are so different. It is like translating a "C" program to a "Fortran" program. It is not straightforward.
