Australian Prime Minister makes whiteboys everywhere proud (and jealous)
A very short post.
Caught this video whilst scrolling through youtube one day. There are a lot of whiteboy/girl speaks mandarin type posts on youtube (for that matter there are hundreds if not thousands of videos for EVERYTHING on youtube), but this one was particularly impressive. Why?
1. He is the head of a freaking country! Without a doubt he has an extraordinarily busy schedule, so where he fits in the time neccessary to master the language is beyond me.
2. Accent. Wow! If you close your eyes you wouldn’t know he’s not a native speaker. Even watching him speak you question whether it’s a camera trick. I’m sure his accent doesn’t mark him for having grown up in the heart of Beijing to the astute native-listener, but to me it’s pretty darn convincing.
3. Confidence. Of course you have to have a great deal of self-confidence, and with that confidence in public speaking to become a head of state. For him to speak a non-native tongue as if he spoke it all his life impresses me.
So, without further adieu:
DANG