Thursday, July 03, 2008

Olympic Communication Part 2

Direct from the Olympic Security English textbook comes lesson 10: Interrogating People (pages 107-109). In this lesson, the police officer encounters a minor out at midnight. The youth is stereotypically rude to authority figures and rather unwilling to provide information when asked. They provide no reason to interrogate the juvenile other than it being so late. The beginning is quite dull, so we'll jump right into the middle of the conversation:

Police: You seem to have a bad temper. Is it because you quarreled with your parents and left home?
Minor: Leave me alone. I don't want to go home.
Police: Then come along with us to the police station.
Minor: No, I won't.
Police: We can't leave you alone here. Tell us your name, your home phone number.
Minor: How annoying! All right. My name is Helen. I live in Jian Guo Men Apartments for Aliens.
Police: Good! Now we'll take you home and leave you under your parents' care.

I really like the name of the apartment building. Apparently, the translator decided that 外交(wai jiao) is aliens rather than foreign affairs. I suppose this is what they think of the apartments that foreigners rent--they're really meant for extra-terrestrials. Or, it could just be another reason why so many people stare at the foreigners around here.

The other lessons on "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage" and "Frighting" are posted here and here.

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