CCTV 9

CCTV 9 is the Chinese TV channel, all the channels are pretty much names CCTV 1 through whatever, that is broadcast in English. The channel is apparently broadcast around the world on various cable packages. Despite this the anchors on the channel don't seem to have such a great command of English. Now I'm not say there exactly bad at it, they certainly have functional speaking ability, you'd just think they would be really good at if they were the face of Chinese news to the world. During the show I was watching Dialogue the anchor seemed to be constantly struggling to come up with the right word. Despite the use of some English idioms like referring to people as hawkish, his command was certainly less then perfect. In fact some of the Chinese people I know at this school seem to be better then he is. What was also interesting was some of the language they used on the show. The main topic was about an American arms sale to Taiwan. While I'm sure there's a lot of editorial control over what they say the format is that of a news program. For example they did not condemn the sale so much as the talked about the governments response. They even interview a former Taiwanese legislator, though one who clearly favored joining China. What I thought was most interesting was the way they referred to China itself. Since they consider Taiwan a part of China they can't talk about Tawianees Chineese realationships, as that implies that they are seperate. So what they talk about instead is Taiwans relationship with the "main land."