#33 Athlete who speaks fluent Chinese 那些汉语很溜的运动员

大家好，欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese。今年的八月，东京奥林匹克运动会结束了。今天，我们一起来聊一聊一位中文说得非常溜的外国运动员——安赛龙。

安赛龙，Viktor Axelsen，来自丹麦，今年二十七岁，是一位优秀的羽毛球运动员。他十九岁开始学中文，安赛龙是他的中文名字。“安”，来自他的姓，“赛”，有“比赛，赢”的意思，“龙”，是中国人认为的最厉害的动物，最强的动物。所以安赛龙的名字，有“战胜最强的人”的意思。今年，安赛龙做到了，他赢了，在东京奥运会，他拿到了羽毛球男子单打的金牌。现在，我们一起来听一听他的中文吧：

“大家好，你看，奥运会的金牌。我真的不知道要说什么，但是我想感谢你们大家对我的支持。你们的支持对我来说是非常重要的。非常感谢。赢了奥运会真的是一个梦想的实现。从我小的时候，这个是我的梦想，所以我真的很开心。”

你们觉得他的中文怎么样？首先呢，我觉得他的发音很标准，也很自然，尤其是他的声调非常好。他也用了一些很常见的表达，比如：“对……来说很重要”，大家的支持对安赛龙来说很重要。我的朋友们对我来说很重要。听众们的意见对MaoMi Chinese来说很重要。

安赛龙还说：“从我小的时候，这个是我的梦想。”我们可以改一点这个句子，让句子更地道一点：“在我小的时候，这个就是我的梦想。”“在我小的时候”，When I was little。“就”，是一个副词，意思是事情发生得很早。我们可以说，“在我小的时候，我就去过中国了”，“他19岁就开始学中文了”。

有记者问他学习中文有什么秘诀，安赛龙是怎么说的呢？我们来听一听：

“我觉得学习一个新的语言，我没有什么秘密。我觉得，如果你想学会一个新的东西，那你需要好好学习。但是呢，我的老师是非常棒。所以，有一个很好的老师，可能是我的秘密吧。”

这里有两个近义词，synonyms，“秘密”和“秘诀”。秘密，意思是secret，比如：“你最近很奇怪，你有什么秘密吗？”“秘诀”，意思是“secret of success”，比如记者问安赛龙“你学习中文有什么秘诀？”我们也可以问安赛龙：“你打羽毛球打得这么好，你的秘诀是什么？”很多时候用秘密也可以，只是我们用“秘诀”会更地道一点点。

总而言之，我作为一个中文老师，我认为安赛龙的中文非常非常棒！他的发音几乎完美，他也能说很多的词和表达。说实话，如果我不看视频，如果我不知道他是丹麦人，我会认为这是一个中国人在说中文呢！安赛龙也分享了他学中文的秘诀，就是“好好学习”，还有找一个好老师！我们一起加油吧！

Hello everyone. Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese. In August this year, the Tokyo Olympic game was finished. Today, let’s talk about a foreign athlete who can speak really fluent Chinese, Viktor Axelsen.

Viktor Axelsen is from Denmark and 27 years old. He is an excellent badminton athlete. He started to learn Chinese when he was 19 years old. 安赛龙 is his Chinese name. 安 is picked from his surname, 赛 got the meaning of to compete, to win. 龙, dragon, is the greatest and strongest animal in Chinese people’s mind. Therefore, his name got the meaning of ‘beating the strongest’. This year, Viktor did it. He won. In the Tokyo Olympic Game, he got the gold medal of Badminton Men’s Single. Now let’s listen to how he speaks Chinese:

“Hello everyone. Look, the gold medal of Olympic Game. I really have no idea of what to say, but I would like to thank everyone for the support you gave me. Your support is really really important for me. Really appreciate that. Winning in Olympic Game is really a dream coming true. Since I was little this was my dream, so I am truly happy.”

What do you guys think of his Chinese? First of all, I think that his pronunciation is very standard, as well as natural. His tones are especially good. He also used some very common expressions, for example, something is very important for someone. People’s support is very important for Viktor. My friends are very important for me. Audience’s opinions are very important for MaoMi Chinese.

Viktor also said, “Since I was little, this was my dream.” We can change the sentence a little bit and make it more authentic.  ”When I was little, this was already my dream.”就，is an adverb, which means that something takes place very early. We can say that“When I was little I’ve already been to China”, “He started to learn Chinese when he was only 19”.

A journalist asked him what secret of success he had in learning Chinese. What did he say about it? Let’s have a listen:

“I think that learning a new language…I don’t have any secret. I think if you would like to learn a new thing, then you should study hard. However, my teacher is super good. So probably having a good teacher is my secret.”

There are 2 synonyms. ‘秘密’and ‘秘诀’. 秘密 means secret, for example, ‘You are very suspicious recently. What secrets are you hiding?’秘诀means secret of success, for example, the journalist asked Viktor ‘What secret of success do you have in learning Chinese’. We can also ask Viktor, “You play badminton of so well. What’s your secret of success?” Most of the time we can use 秘密, but we just use 秘诀 to make it sounds a bit more authentic.

Overall, as a Chinese teacher I think Viktor Axelsen’s Chinese is super good! His pronunciation is nearly perfect and he is able to say lots of vocabulary and expressions. To be honest, if I don’t watch the video or don’t know that he is Danes, I will think that this was s Chinese people speaking Chinese! Viktor Axelsen also shared his secret of success in learning Chinese, which is studying hard, as well as finding a good teacher! Let’s work hard together!