Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave his first interview in Mandarin Chinese last week at Tsinghua University (known as “China’s MIT”), where the audience hooted and clapped at Zuckerburg’s jokes and general good humor. But as admirable as his efforts are, it’s hard not to wonder how good is the Zuck’s Mandarin, really?
Zuckerberg has been studying Chinese for years — by his admission, partly to impress the family of his wife, Priscilla Chan, whose grandmother does not speak English. During the interview, the Facebook (FB) executive halted and mangled grammar and misused words (like calling Chan a “Zhongguo ren” – which implies Chinese citizenship – instead of “Meiji Huaren,” an American-born Chinese). In the brief open Q&A period (unlike the scripted interview), Zuckerberg needed questions repeated in English.
He may have tripped over his words a few times, but he certainly didn’t need fluency to charm his audience. Zuckerberg’s interview was widely reported in Chinese media; the video was uploaded to hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs and video-sharing sites. One popular link on YouKu (“China’s YouTube”) had 800,000+ viewings within 2 days of posting. Mistakes were part of Zuckerberg’s charm. Jokingly, he admitted his poor listening skills weren’t limited to Chinese; his wife, he said, tells him his listening skills are just as bad in English. Zuckerberg shared family stories (like Chan’s grandma’s surprise as he asked for her hand in marriage in Chinese).
Perfect grammar or not, he had the guts to do an interview in a language that he is clearly still learning. Like any good language student, he stuck to his messages and got his key points across and other executives may find he has once again raised a bar they didn’t realize they might someday have to cross.
Rebecca Weiner is co-founder of Strebesana Resources, a New York-based brokerage firm in U.S.-China optics trade.
