Monday, April 7, 2008
Barack Obama Gets High Marks for Speeches in Japan
Well, last week was a good week for Barack Obama around the world - and I've been happy to do what I can to help.
Yesterday, I posted a clip from the CBC's "Cell Phone: The Ring Heard Around the World," aired on April 3, in which I and the documentary praise the Obama campaign's savvy use of cell phones.
Turns out I was also on the air in Japan last Friday - April 4 - giving Obama and his speech writer Ron Favreau very high marks (I also grade Hillary Clinton). The above clip with me, from NNN-TV News in Japan, was recorded in January (same week as the CBC clip). You can see the entire report in Japanese - with a comparison of Obama and Martin Luther King - on the NNN-TV News 24 website.
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5 comments:
Nicely done Levinson-sensei.
I might be your only reader that can understand the entire clip. Maybe one or two others, perhaps.
I've sent this to all my friends and colleagues in Japan to catch them up on what they're missing so far from the Bronx.
Yoku dekimashita!!
Very cool- I am one of your many readers that have no idea what was going on.
mike 1: thanks!
mike 2: me too! :)
Professor,
I notice some very interesting things in this video clip:
1. In the beginning of your comment about Obama's speech, you says, "I will give Obama a 98. You know, once in a while, he slips off, but he is really superb. I would give Hillary an eighty." However, in the Japanese translation, we can only see that "Obama's speech is 98 points, and Hillary is 80 points." It seems like only the scores matter.
2. The pronunciation of "writer" in Japanese is "laita," which sounds like "lighter." "Speech" is prounced "supiichi; "Hillary" is "Hilaly;" and "Obama" is--"Obama." Ohhh Yehhhh!
3. My school--Fordham--in Japanese is "Huodamu." I believe no Japanese have heard of Fordham unless I prounce it the right way.
Fascinating and informative post, Peter - many thanks!
I find it especially interesting that the translation omitted my slight qualification of Obama's 98.
And also that of all the names, only Obama's is exactly the same in Japanese.
On the name Fordham: at least the written words say "Fordham," right?
Thanks again!
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