American journalists in foreign countries

American journalist Richard Baimbridge has been talking about his experiences living and working in China for the past five years on a well-known journalism website. It's a very interesting story he has to tell; he has really immersed himself in the language and culture and for a time even joined a monastery in Yunnan to study martial arts.

Unlike most other foreign journalists living in China, he has managed to spend a lot of time in the south and southwest, which he discusses in the article. He also criticizes the non-Chinese speaking segment of the foreign press corps in China:

I was surprised to discover that an appalling number of foreign correspondents here (and I mean for major publications) speak no Chinese at all, relying totally on translators, which perhaps explains why American media coverage of China is so poor. (If you want to know what's happening in China, read French or British newspapers).

This problem exists everywhere. Foreign journalists, who are expected to explain to home audiences what's going on abroad, are sent to or stationed in these countries without learning the language, customs, history, etc. Interviews must be conducted through translators or English-speaking intermediaries, and other details are gleaned from sources such as local English news services and foreign wire reports.

It's understandable that a journo won't be able to learn Mandarin for a two-week assignment in Beijing, but if a reporter is stationed there for longer than six months, he or she should have some language skills to start with, or make a point to study the language after arriving.

While learning how to read and write Chinese is extremely difficult, spoken Mandarin is not hard. when I lived in Taipei in the 1990s, I reached a proficient level of spoken Mandarin after four months of classroom instruction (10 hours per week plus a few hours of homework). Within a year I was able to be interviewed in Mandarin for a newswriting job (which I got), and after about 18 months of instruction was conducting news interviews in Mandarin on my own.

Having local language skills makes you a better and more effective journalist. It allows you to interact with the people and society in ways that are not possible through a translator or other sources, and also lets you work with local colleagues, businesspeople, and officials far more efficiently.