CRI听力:Young Reporters Program Attracts Journalists to Nanjing

One of the features of this year's Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing is the Young Reporters Program.

The program has brought together 35 young aspiring journalists from a number of different countries to cover the Games.

CRI's Jordan Lee has more.

Jerick Sablan was working as a print journalist for the Pacific Daily News in Guam when he got the word that he was headed to Nanjing as one of the program's young reporters.

"It was really out of luck that I got into this program. My paper wanted to send another reporter, but they already met their girl quota for the program, and they needed another guy. So they asked me to sign up."

The 23-year old is something of a linguistic genius, proficient in Japanese, English, Korean, Portuguese and Italian. But he's proudest of his ability to speak Chamorro, the language of the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands.

Sablan has spent a lot of time covering this people group and interviewing war veterans and survivors from of the invasion during World War II days.

In Nanjing, Sablan is shifting his journalistic focus to what's unchartered territory for him: the sports world.

"Sports reporting is really, really awesome. I actually think it's a lot more fun than the news that I report. Not saying that news isn't fun.. but sports reporting is a little bit different, and it's kind of interesting being here and getting to learn all the skills to be a sports journalist."

Sablan said he's a big tennis fan, and idolizes Rafael Nadal, but he's unfamiliar with a lot of the sports taking place at the Youth Games.

"Yesterday I covered golf, and I have no idea about golf at all. I had to learn a lot, and learn the words, and learn the point system. "

"Reporter: What kind of question do you like to ask athletes to get to know them better, like one of your go-to questions?

One of my go-to questions is why did you get into the sport. I mean your devoting your whole life to this one sport to get really good and compete in the Olympics, why did you want to do that? And that usually brings out a lot of good stuff."

In addition to Sablan, the young reporter program has overseas reporters hailing from countries like Jamaica, Ghana, Norway, and Lebanon. The program has also selected ten young Chinese journalists.

For CRI, I'm Jordan Lee.