bpnjensen wrote:
Many people from Asia are very strong in English as a second language
- however, I think actual westerners at Asian and other shortwave
stations are pretty common. I was just listening to CRI Beijing
yesterday briefly for an ID, and sure enough, a woman with a proper
English accent identifies herself as being an announcer in Beijing for
CRI, and when she says her name (a proper English name) you could have
knocked me over with a feather.

That means very little. She could be Chinese from Hong Kong with a British
father, or someone who changed the pronunciation of their Chinese name to
fit British standards.

It's also very common for DJ's, news "readers", actors, etc to take western
sounding names or more common sounding names to make them more attractive
to the public. For example, I'm sure you were a big fan of Marion Morrison
when he was alive, although I'd say it's likley you have never heard of
him by that name.

As for NHK, they also have an English language TV service, which is on
DBS here. My kids watch it.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.