OYENTE

Jack Hanson

  • 2
  • opiniones
  • 28
  • votos útiles
  • 6
  • calificaciones

Another butcher of the Chinese language

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-19-21

While Ezra Vogel’s text is one of the greatest texts in the library of modern China Studies, this audiobook is yet another in Audible’s collection in which the narrator makes no attempt at learning to read basic Pinyin. While it is unreasonable to expect anyone who reads a book about China to be fluent in Mandarin, the reader’s lackluster pronunciation of almost every Chinese proper noun that is not “Deng Xiaoping” makes it very difficult to follow. Even in the first hour, I found myself often having to piece together what the reader is trying to say, distracting me from following Vogel’s argument. It is disappointing to me that many audiobooks about China make this same mistake. Please, Audible, spend some time training readers how to properly pronounce non-English languages!

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 20 personas

Thoughtful Book, Challenging Audiobook

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
1 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 05-21-20

Economy is thorough in discussing the various changes afloat in President Xi’s China. Drawing from Chinese and English source material as well as her decades of experience with China, she addresses typical US concerns about China but goes beyond the “mainstream media” perspective about the country.

While the book is an informative read about a changing China, the reading is at times incomprehensible. Perrin has clearly not been coached on basic Pinyin pronunciation, so some Chinese sayings or names are totally meaningless and completely mispronounced. I understand how difficult Chinese is and I would not expect the reader to master the four tones, but they at least need to have a general sense of how Pinyin consonants are pronounced (“X” is always pronounced like “SH” and not “Z”, “ZH” is pronounced similar to “J” and also not “Z”...). I am not being just a Mandarin snob about this— the reader fumbles through lists of names and slogans so much that I have given up hope of looking up these ideas in other sources. If this was my uncle reading a newspaper out loud I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but an audiobook should not waste the listener’s time with such sloppy pronunciation.

If anything this motivates me to buy the physical book!

In summary, five star book, one star reading.

Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro768_stickypopup