A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
X 上，现在能看懂外国人说的话了
AI Translation Rebuilds a Modern Tower of Babel
About this story
AI Translation Rebuilds a Modern Tower of Babel. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 今天、想、看 and walks through 4 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Today I'll tell you a news story.
This news
is about "language."
What is "language"?
"Language"
is what people speak.
Chinese people speak Chinese.
Japanese people speak Japanese.
Americans speak English.
Different people
speak different languages.
So in the past
there was a problem:
I couldn't read what others wrote.
For example,
a Japanese person
writes a sentence online.
I don't know Japanese,
so I can't read it.
But recently
there is a new thing
that has changed this.
There is a mobile app
called "X."
What is "X"?
Let me tell you first.
"X" is an app
foreigners love to use.
It's like China's Weibo.
On it, people
talk
and write.
Recently,
"X" did a big thing.
It can now
help you "translate."
"Translate"
means turning one language
into another language.
For example,
a Japanese person writes in Japanese.
The app turns it into Chinese for you.
You can now read it.
Isn't that convenient?
Many people are very happy.
They say:
"Now I can see
"what people all over the world
"are saying!
But
some people are not happy.
Why?
Because some things
we couldn't see before,
we can see now.
For example,
some Japanese people,
inside their own country,
said some bad things.
They said some things
that Chinese people don't like.
We couldn't see them before;
now we can.
And the other way too.
Some Chinese people
said some things
foreigners don't like.
Foreigners didn't know before.
Now they know too.
So this thing
has a good side,
and also a not-so-good side.
I read this news,
and I thought of one thing.
We used to think
only our own people heard what we said.
Now it's different.
Every sentence you say
can possibly be seen by the whole world.
Finally I'll ask you:
If what you say
can be seen by the whole world,
will you still
talk the way you do now?
Think about it.
Okay.
That's all for today.
Talk tomorrow.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇Today. The narrator opens 今天我给你说一个新闻 — 'today I'll tell you a news story.'
To think. The closing line: 你想一想 — 'think about it.'
To read, to look. 我看不懂别人写的字 — 'I can't read what others wrote.'
To listen / to hear. 你听过"X"吗 — 'have you heard of X?'
Happy. 很多人很高兴 — 'many people are very happy' about the new translation.
To know. 以前外国人不知道。现在他们也知道了 — 'foreigners didn't know before, now they know too.'
Language. Beyond HSK1. The episode glosses it: 人说的话 — 'what people speak.'
Translate. Beyond HSK1. The episode glosses it: 把一种语言变成另一种语言 — 'turn one language into another.'
App. Beyond HSK1. "X" is a 手机软件 — a mobile app — that does the translating.
Online. Beyond HSK1. 在网上写了一句话 — 'wrote a sentence online.'
News. Beyond HSK1. The episode is built around this 新闻 — news story — about X's translation.
The whole world. Beyond HSK1. The episode's closing point: 你说的每一句话，全世界都可能看到 — 'every sentence you say, the whole world can possibly see.'
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法不一样的 X，V 不一样的 Y
A simple parallel pattern that sets up contrast across groups — the episode uses it to introduce the basic fact that different countries speak different languages.
不一样的人，说不一样的语言。
不一样的国家，写不一样的字。
比如 + example
比如 introduces a concrete example after a general statement. The episode uses it to make the abstract idea (translation) tangible.
比如，一个日本人，在网上写了一句话。
比如，一个日本人写了日语。
是不是 + adj?
是不是 + adj turns a statement into a tag question — invites the listener to agree.
是不是很方便？
是不是有一点麻烦？
反过来也一样
反过来 marks a symmetric reversal of what was just said. The episode uses it to balance the story: foreign content visible to us, AND our content visible to them.
反过来也一样。
有的中国人，说了一些，外国人不喜欢的话。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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