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Planet Hanyu Staff

By Planet Hanyu Staff
in Yuzuru Hanyu

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axelsandwich Boobskirt

axelsandwich

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
Spoiler

 

Yeah, the translators have really upped their output and pulling through even for long interview vids so I can't wait for everyone to see this one. 

 

 

To be fair, there were a couple of decent questions, one of them even food related, in the FJCC (just realized I messed up the order the first time around xD) presscon. I like the one where the older gentleman questioned him about his diet management and the one that asked him for his take on the new rules and artistry vs technical argument. The one that asked him to put into layman's terms how difficult jumps are in figure skating (tough question #1) was actually a very interesting one as well, albeit a bit of a tall order since coming up with easy analogies on the fly, unless you have a flair for it, isn' the easiest thing to do. But the journalist wanted to help put into perspective to casual viewers just how tough it is and I can respect that.

 

And the moderator gave some very deep input as well, despite not knowing much about what Hanyu does. Like the guy seemed to be a casual viewer who was genuinely moved by both his performances and his achievements and perhaps bothered to do some very quick research. That and he actually seemed pretty shook being there seating next to Hanyu and talking to him, most clearly evidenced by some uncharacteristic linguistic slip-ups, despite being a native speaker of English. >_<

 

The interpreter was also super top notch. I kinda had to feel for Hanyu though when she declined to translate his intro into Japanese. The guy worked so hard and she just swept it all under the rug, and right at the beginning, too, hahaha. His face literally went like, "Omg...she didn't get me. After all the effort I put in, I still suck (ಥ_ಥ)" xxD Not that I can blame her, seeing as I don't really get what he meant by the living and dying part either but it would have been kinder for her to clarify and then do him the courtesy of translating it to the Japanese journalists. Hope this gives him enough kuyashii to fuel his motivation in bettering his English. He's been talking about wanting to improve it forever now and while not dismal, he seems to be stuck in a neither here nor there command level for some time now.

 

The quality of the questions in JPC presscon was markedly higher overall but there were a lot of semi-repetitive questions as well. The ones that kept recurring were always asking about his motivations in some form or another. And I give him mad props for finding  the different nuances in each and addressing them all differently and, even at the risk of being harshly criticized by those who make a living out of finding fault (sometimes even when there's really none to be found) in his honesty (he kinda also put it out there that he's fully expecting this to happen since the media has time and time again lived down to his expectations), gave us great insight into his mind palace world.

 

Oh, and the moderator for this one, while more well-versed in what Hanyu does, also seemed shook to be there in the same room, although in a demeanor that's different from the FJCC one. I guess slaying uncles everywhere is just part of the job for one Yuzuru Hanyu. xD

 

 

Interesting. I didn't like the quad explanation question at all. To me, it's like inviting a famous architect to explain how houses work. He can probably explain it, but why waste that valuable time asking an 'expert' in his field about something so basic? Your job as a journalist is to do the explaining (or the research to find someone who can explain. Go to a skating teacher or a researcher if you want a scientific explanation you know? Would you ask Roger Federer to explain how tennis racquets work?). The boy alluded to a history of cultural bias in expressionism, presented a new opinion abt quads/artistry (ie. abt foundations tho I can't remember if that was the JP presscon or the Eng one) and heck, seemed excited to talk about his fellow competitors... ask him about his creative process, the early schedule in PC, his awareness of the inaccessibility of figure skating to many fans...why not ask him about literally any of that?? The diet one would have been nice if they haven't already asked him that in multiple past interviews but to cut the journalists some slack, I'm not surprised they didn't have time to research that much. Then again, at least they didn't get him to explain Pooh again or ask him why he's so popular... :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:

 

Yes, the interpreter was great (and Australian I'm pretty sure! though with some funny American-accent slips in some of her language), absolutely nothing against her for doing a great job. The living/dying part was a joke lol, the delivery just needed...a bit of work. Like he had put his life on the line for the medal but...don't worry, he's alive! I actually interpreted it as a good thing she didn't seem to see the need to translate (ie. that it came across clearly enough), I didn't consider perhaps she was being asked to translate into Japanese lol, I think she assumed he'd do it himself if he wanted to. I think it's endearing he's starting to joke around a bit with the press in English, it's a bit clumsy but I think everyone gets it.

 

Yes, there were a few repetitive questions in JP media but the overall quality was much higher. Then again, I was listening to it while cooking so I may have missed some of it. Can't wait for translation. 

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KatjaThera Besti Squat

KatjaThera

Posted
Posted

I don't think it's really fair to expect the JCC questions to be very knowledgeable. From what I've noticed, it was in fact geared more towards general journalists, rather than FS journalists. And yes, they could do their research and explain the technicalities of figure skating, but they're target audience isn't the FS crowd. And if that target audience wanted to read objective explanations of FS technical stuff, they probably would have, but they don't really care. However, having the double Olympic Champion explain it in his words, from his point of view, is something else entirely and might appeal to the casual reader more. He's basically promoting FS to the non-fans, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact, I hope he'll do more of it, because I really loved the way he spoke about it. However, I agree the timing wasn't the best. He had tons of media and something like this was a bit of a waste of his precious time, I guess. But out of context, I think it's a great thing. (One thing I dream about is that, especially after Yuzu retires as well, he and Javi can make a joint 'promoting FS' thing, and work on that, in Spain, but also other countries, to help young skaters in places without much FS history. While not as badly as Javi in Spain, Yuzu has his own experiences with limited resources growing up, so I think it'd be a great project for them.)

 

The Japan press club is made up of people who, even if they're not very familiar with FS, they've heard and seen a lot more of him, so they're familiar at least with him, his popularity and the key words - quads, 4A, quints etc. I think both conferences had their good points and bad points, and in a way, the variety was probably good for him, too. If he always only did in depth interviews, it'd get tiring.

 

That said, I still have to properly watch the Japan press club one.

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