Jan 24, 2011

VOA Special English News 1

Every day morning, on my way to work place I listen to the news program on VOA Special English downloaded on my i-Pod shuffle. But, VOA does not offer any scripts of the News on its web-site. Now, I will try to dictate it on this blog to brush up my English. And also I will try to translate it into Japanese.
(If you find my mistake in the script, please tell me correct words.)

"The temporary cabinet of the government in Tunisia says it will recognize political parties that have been banned. It will also agree to pardon to political prisoners. Officials announced their decisions Thursday after the cabinet held its first meeting since the ouster of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The cabinet also said they there would be three days of mourning begining beginning Friday for victimes victims of the unrest that forced Mr. Abidine to flee."

チュニジア政府の暫定内閣は、これまで禁止されていた政党を認めること、政治犯に恩赦を与えることを発表した。政府関係者は、木曜日、ザイン・エル・アビディン・ベン・アリ大統領の追放後初めて開かれた内閣の会議の後、彼らの決定を発表した。また、内閣は、アビディン大統領を追いやった紛争の被害者のため、3日間喪に服することも発表した。

3 comments:

ジョン said...

Wow, very nice!

1. "It will also agree to pardon to political prisoners."

This should probably be "It will also agree to pardon political prisoners."

This meaning of "pardon" can be used as an verb or as a noun. In the sentence above, it appears as a verb. Here is how the sentence might look if "pardon" was used as a noun:

"It will also agree to issue pardons to political prisoners."

"Issue pardons" is kind of a set phrase, I think.

2. "The cabinet also said they would be three days mourning begining Friday for victimes of the unrest that forced Mr. Abidine to flee."

Hmm, I wonder if this sentence was like this: "The cabinet also said there would be three days of mourning beginning Friday for victims of the unrest that forced Mr. Abidine to flee."

I think that everything else looks fine. Your Japanese translation looks perfect too. I have to say, I'm very impressed with how well you did. I'm not very sure that I could understand the Japanese version of this story if I heard it on the radio! It makes me think that I need to put more effort into my Japanese studies. :-)

bikenglish said...

Jon-san,

Thank you very, very much for correcting my mistakes.

In fact, at first it sounded "there" to me. But, after hearing it several times, I chose "they". I often make a mistake in hearing these two words. I tried to listen to this news again, but I couldn't because I had already deleted it. But, I think your "pointing out" is right.

ジョン said...

I'm glad to have helped. Let me know if you'd like me to do this for you a bit more often. I always feel like I'm being rude when I just correct other people's English without being explicitly requested to.