Mark Zuckerberg Speaks Mandarin At Tsinghua University In Beijing

HughPickens.com writes Abby Phillip reports at the Washington Post that that Mark Zuckerberg just posted a 30-minute Q&A at Tsinghua University in Beijing in which he answered every question exclusively in Chinese — a notoriously difficult language to learn and particularly, to speak. "It isn't just Zuckerberg's linguistic acrobatics that make this a notable moment," writes Philip. "This small gesture — although some would argue that it is a huge moment — is perhaps his strongest foray into the battle for hearts and minds in China." Zuckerberg and Facebook have been aggressively courting Chinese users for years and the potential financial upside for the business. Although Beijing has mostly banned Facebook, the company signed a contract for its first ever office in China earlier this year. A Westerner speaking Mandarin in China — at any level — tends to elicit joy from average Chinese, who seem to appreciate the effort and respect they feel learning Mandarin demonstrates. So how well did he actually do? One Mandarin speaker rates Zuckerberg's language skills at a seventh grader's speech: "It's hard not see a patronizing note in the Chinese audience's reaction to Zuckerberg's Mandarin. To borrow from Samuel Johnson's quip, he was like a dog walking on its hind legs: It wasn't done well, but it was a surprise to see it done at all."

Comments

Did he have a mysterious hump on his shoulder?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like the one W had?

http://www.salon.com/2004/10/09/bulge/

Re:/. is getting more and more unbelievable !!

[Taco Cowboy]

If you started with Chinese as your native tongue, then romance languages are very difficult too

I am a Chinese. Mandarin is my mother tongue

I do not know what you mean by "Romance Language" but the western languages, starting from the Latin to its derivatives (Spanish, Italians, Portugese, and French, and in some way in English also) at least, to me, are not difficult to learn

I would agree that any language would be difficult to master (For example: I haven't yet master my own mother tongue, the Mandarin Language, as it is a language with thousands of years of history and the ancient texts were written in a more condensed form) but it shouldn't be difficult to learn any language to the point that one can read, speak and write in that language

Re:Also notoriously difficult for westerners:

[morethanapapercert]

An amusing quote I read once:

English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and rummages through their pockets for loose grammar. - Paraphrase of a quote by James Davis Nicoll

To speak Chinese is not to know China

[enter to exit]

The former PM of Australian Kevin Rudd could also speak Mandarin. During one diplomatic spat, the Chinese embassy reminded him that:

"To speak Chinese is not to know China. Many examples can be found of people who speak Mandarin to a high level but who do not understand how China works. They may have learned their Chinese shut up in their study reading the Analects."

I think the Chinese regard this as an irreverent amusement more than anything meaningful