Can Xi Jinping speak English?
6 ANSWERS
Jason Chen, a Chinese native, Chinese history and culture fan and researcher
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Although Xi can read English, he can barely speak.
Just as I mentioned in Jason Chen's answer to How did Xi Jinping rise to power? , Xi Jinping entered Tsinghua University in 1977 as one of the College Students of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers ( 工农兵大学生（学生群体）_百度百科, sorry in Chinese only). Compared with the later official full-time college students, this group's academic system and curricula were rather incomplete and inferior, let alone the unanimous teaching of English was still not resumed and there was lack in good English teacher due to the turmoils of the Cultural Revolution. I am quite sure this is the main reason Xi and his peers like Wang Qishan had not received systematic education on English.And after Xi's graduation, most of the time he was busy at working, there was little time for learning English as well.
One convincing proof was Xi and President Obama's private meeting in California in 2013. During which they talked about sports, the Chinese interpreter made an obvious mistake by translating Xi's swimming 1 kilometer everyday into 10000 meters instead,which made Obama rather surprised and Xi had no reaction as it was clear Xi didn't get the message.
Here is the clip.
After that Chinese media had reported this episode and translation expert had explained this was common and not a diplomatic disaster. Furthermore, in this report, this expert Mr. Jin Canrong, Vice Dean of International Relationship School of Renmin University of China mentioned Xi could read English but had difficulties in speaking and listening, and he mentioned Xi' wife Peng Liyuan was good at speaking English too.(习近平称自己每天游泳1千米 被翻译成1万米, sorry in Chinese only).
Furthermore, although Xi did not behave in the grandstanding style of his predecessor Jiang Zemin, he often mentioned his being fond of western cultures, in particular obsession with Hollywood Blockbusters such as the Godfatherand Saving Private Ryan. Had Xi been good at speaking English, he should not have wasted the precious opportunities to prove being a true fan.
On the contrary, Premier Li Keqiang is rather good at speaking English as he learned from his wife, Cheng Hong, who is a famous professor expert at English literature and teaching, used to translate Rachel Carson's the Silence of Springinto Chinese. Here is a report on Li's bilingual speech in Hong Kong University.
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