On Feb 23, 3:39*am, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote:
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.

Yes, I realize this - but the mannerisms, the flow of speech, the
timbre of the voice and everything I could tell, suggested a solidly
European background. Not that it matters - I was just surprised

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.

Yeah, I know. Why an international shortwave program host would do
this is beyond me - I doubt if psychologically it would make much
difference to the listening audience. Similarly and as an example,
there is a reporter by the name of Willoughby who works at/for Radio
Prague in the Czech Republic, and he fully gives the impression that
he is not a native-born Czech but an import who does English service
for them. Not as extreme an example as the CRI example, but along the
same lines. Everything is international these days.

As for the movies - I am neither a big fan nor detractor of Marion
Morrison, whose pseudonym I know well, although I have enjoyed a few
of his movies when they were good movies. He played a limited number
of character types, and played them very well. Some of his somewhat
lesser known movies (such as The Quiet Man) are among his better
ones. I have yet to see John Ford's "Stagecoach", which is on my list
of must-sees. A movie I enjoy very much is 'The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance" but as much or more for the ensemble cast, the story and the
fine Ford direction as for MM's performance.

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

Geoff.

Not surprised at all by this last.

Bruce
*******

--
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.