Mr. Downer 要你们鼓掌他
September 8, 2007 | Filed under Asian-ness, Politics
Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, has scoffed at the language capabilities of Kevin Rudd, the Opposition Leader. He’s basically said: “Ha! So what if he can speak Mandarin Chinese? I learnt French in two months and it took him two years to learn Chinese!”
Mmm…methinks sour grapes and petulance Mr. Downer?
You can’t compare the complexity of Chinese, which is in every way removed from the English language, to French, which is, etymologically speaking, very much related to English. Most words in French are aurally similar to their English equivalents. A bulk of modern English is in fact derived from French roots. Can you say the same for the relationship between Chinese and English? Clearly not.
Verbally, the Chinese language is also clearly different from English. The pronunciation of characters has no English equivalent – it took centuries before an accepted English form of Chinese (written) was decided upon. Written Chinese is also remarkably different – with over 45,000 pictorial characters to represent different words even native speakers have difficulty recognising all existing characters. French on the other hand, is based on the same Latin alphabet. I’d venture as far as to say that French and English have at least 75% of their language in common, whereas there would only be 5% in common (at most!) between Chinese and English. The different levels of difficulty of learning either language when you’re a native English speaker is obvious.
On a completely unrelated note, in light of future developments in the world’s economy and political environment, it makes more sense to be Chinese-competent than French-competent. While not a slur on the French and their relevance in the world, as Australians, our geographic proximity to Asia and the obvious economic developments to come (I guarantee that China will be the next world leader) makes Chinese a smarter choice than French.
I’d rather a prime minister who can communicate properly with Hu Jintao than a prime minister who snuggles up in bed with Bush. Australia’s economic and cultural future lies in China – better to concentrate on cultivating those ties than to continue hanging onto U.S. political alliances. KEVIN RUDD PWNS THE LIBERALS!
NB: The blog entry title loosely translates to “Mr. Downer wants you to applaud him”.
14 Responses to Mr. Downer 要你们鼓掌他
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The more I hear you talk about the language, the more I think I should learn it too… D:
Jordie on September 8, 2007 #
我都覺得對!!!
Mish on September 8, 2007 #
That guy is a world class idiot. I learned basci German and intermediate Italian, just by watching anime, in about oh… 3-4 months. But Italian is extremely similar to Romanian, while German resembles (grammar-wise) to Hungarian (my mother tongue), plus it’s quite similar to English.
I’ve been watching anime for roughly 10 years (though most of the time dubbed, granted), but I’ve yet to be able to hold any kind of simple conversation.
Me suggests someone give a language grammar/vocabulary textbook to Mr Downer.
Vera on September 8, 2007 #
I definitely agree, Chinese would be so much more useful. And yet, in schools here we are forced to take French.
The stupid students in my school can get a basic comprehension of French in one semester. I’d love to see them try Chinese!
Kaylee on September 8, 2007 #
I can understand basic rules of French after three classes we had this year (so far).
It’s not easy, but I don’t think it can be compared with Chinese. Politicians are stupid.
Zala on September 9, 2007 #
As a bilingual Canadian (I speak English and Quebecois – which is Quebec French), who wishes to learn more languages, I can definitely agree with your point. I can see the similarities between English and French, and therefore I can read and understand a large part of languages such as Italian and Spanish. I can understand small amounts of Japanese and German. But put Chinese-Mandarin in front of me, and I will draw a complete blank. Chinese is much more complex.
Aisling on September 9, 2007 #
A politician actually said that? Wow.
You’ve got some very interesting leaders in Australia.
Oh, and all of the business majors at my uni have to take Chinese as their foreign language. It’s basically a given.
Jennifer on September 9, 2007 #
Le français est une langue teeeeellement complexe et tellement…utile en politique! :P
“I did mine in two months and he did his in two years, that could say something about him and me or something about the two languages. I think the former but that sounds a tad partisan.”
I vote the latter and my cat seconds.
Julie on September 9, 2007 #
At my school we have the choice of studying Chinese or French. Both classes are a joke, but despite the general lack of learning that goes on in my French class I was able to read tourism websites, entirely in French, for an IT assignment last year. If the assignment had been “a holiday in China”, and if I had been in the Chinese class, I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t have been able to do that.
I have very little patience with Alexander Downer. I’m not all that fond of Rudd, either, but his ability to speak Chinese is, in my opinion, wonderful, and it certainly puts him a cut above Howard.
Jessica on September 9, 2007 #
I would’ve chosen Mandarin for school, but I don’t think I can handle memorizing all the characters, the means and the pronunciation of the characters. It’s funny he compared that to French, since as you said, they are almost nothing alike…
Meh, Vancouver is heavily populated by Chinese, although most people I know speak Cantonese…
Eina on September 9, 2007 #
I bet that Mr Downer learnt French at school. Did he not live overseas as a child, in a environment where French was spoken. I fail to believe that you could become proficient in any language in two months unless you were brilliant at acquiring another language. Mr Downer’s hatred of Mr Rudd is becoming embarrassing. It makes you wonder re his objectivity in anything he has anything to do with. He has become obsessed.
Florence Howarth on September 9, 2007 #
Whoa, fluent Chinese in two years? I find that very, very impressive.
Kycoo on September 10, 2007 #
Whatever the language, ‘fluent’ is a level that is hard to attain, but as someone who has been through pain and torture to get a reasonable level of Chinese (going on 5yrs now) and still short of fluency, I’m thinking ‘fluent’ isn’t a word that people should just claim
(rudd and downer are both guilty in this respect)
p.s new reader to your blog, very impressed.
gazdurrant on October 5, 2007 #
I am Australian Chinese hence speak English as well as Cantonese. While I have never learnt French (save a year of being taught the numbering system in Pre-school) being as possibly aware of the world as possible the line can obviously be drawn to say that French is a much more easier language to learn for fluent English-as-first-language speakers than Mandarin Chinese.
You made an excellent argument when you pointed out that Australian-Chinese relations are more necessary, and of current times more prominent, than Australian-French relations.
Alexander needs to think a little bit more over what he says and it comes as quite a surprise considering that he is the Foreign Minister.
Learning an Asian language is no easy task (I have been studying Japanese for 10 months and I am still talking like an elementary school kid) and I reckon that Kevin Rudd did outstandingly well in being able to reach such a high level of proficiency in only 2 years.
Tim on November 4, 2007 #