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Hao is Gillibrand's Chinese
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2009
Modified Feb 15, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2009
Modified Feb 15, 2009
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New Senator Kirsten Gillibrand may be called a flip-flopper, but her command of the Chinese language is considered just fine. At least to NY Times reporter David W. Chen, who observed the upstater at the Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown two weeks ago. Gillibrand, an Asian studies major at Dartmouth, studied for six months in China and Taiwan: "Ms. Gillibrand’s Chinese is rusty now. But she tells her 5-year-old son, 'Man man yi diar,' or 'Slow down a little,' and calls chopsticks 'kuaizi,' out of habit." Yan Tai, a reporter for Chinese-language newspaper The World Journal who spoke to Gillibrand told the Times, "she definitely understood what I was saying, and she had good pronunciation. Actually, I was very impressed.” (Bonus: Gillibrand's Chinese name is "Lu Tian Na".) And Gillibrand, now on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Times, "Our relationship with China is extraordinarily complicated, and when you do understand the culture better, having that appreciation means you can hopefully find compromises."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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