Speeches in Chinese

[ouyangjun]

In the 2015 goals thread I had posted that one of my goals for 2015 was to get better at speeches in Chinese.  In January roddy suggested that since this topic hasn't really been discussed in detail that I post a new thread about it in the forums.  Considering how much good info the forums have brought me, I figure I should take roddy's advice and start a thread and maybe give some back to the community. 

 

A bit more detail on my goal of getting better at Chinese speeches...

 

I'm the plant manager and in charge of our China manufacturing facility.  Our facility has over 1,000 employees and we have very few foreigners.... I'm the only white foreigner (and only American).  We have some Singaporean and Malaysian guys (and a handful of Hong Kong guys, though HK I guess is officially China)... In short the other foreigners have native or near native mandarin ability, so English is not the common used language in our plant... not to mention there are at least 700 employees who speak little to no English.  This means that in order for me to connect with more people than just my management team I need to be speaking in Chinese.  When speaking to the team my goal is to communicate our vision and help people understand the roadmap to get there and motivate them in the process.

 

Since taking on this role I'm often required to give short notice speeches with little to zero notiece, but this type of speech is breif and normally just thanking the team, which is normally a smaller specific group... Although I do want to get better at them, I'm not as concerned with these impromptu speeches.  The speeches I want to really get good at are the big speeches where I'm addressing the entire facility.

 

Just recently I gave the main speech at our Chinese new year party.  This was the first time I addressed the entire plant...  I have to admit I was very anxious and nervous leading up to this event.  I've never given a speech (in English, let alone Chinese) to over 1,000 people, and I was worried that once I'd get on stage and see that sea of people that I'd get some sort of stage fright...  In order to prep for this event I started my speech preparation around 30 days in advance.

 

My process was as follows...  First draft a speech in English.  Second, ask my wife (native Chinese) to translate it in Chinese.  Third, study and recite out loud...  This methodology did not go well.  Since it was not my Chinese I had no confidnece or solid connection to what I was saying.  My wife threw in colliquial Chinese that I do not use, so not only did I have to remember a speech that was not mine, I also had to learn new vocab.

 

After over a week of frustration on this speech I decided to ditch it altogether.  I went back to the drawing board and thought to myself, "What are the key points I want to deliver in this speech, and in what order?".  I then wrote those down in my notebook and proceeded to write the speech in Chinese... my Chinese. 

 

This ended up being a much better method and much easier to remember.  The speech went about 5 minutes, and since it was the Chinese New Year speech it focused on 2014 accomplishments, thank you's for hardwork, 2015 outlook, best wishes to the company and the employee's.  Leading up to the day I had to speak I would practice my speech two times per day.  Once in the morning as I was getting ready for work (in the shower), and once in the evening in front of a mirror looking at myself and focusing on my words and body language.... when my wife was around she would be my audience of one.

 

The speech ended up going really well.  My fear of being nervous in front of such a large audience was eliminated due to my preparation (which led to confidence in what I was going to say).  Once I got up on stage and started speaking in Chinese the eruption of cheers and applaud from the audience gave me a pump of adrenaline and confidence that carried me through the speech and left me feeling happier than I ever imagined.  The bar was low... I'm the new leader here and most of the employees did not expect me to give a speech in Chinese

 

Now that I have done a speech in front of such a large group and have the confidence in doing this, my next step is to continue to get better at the speeches and become more precise, clear, and motivating in delivering my message.  Going forward the plan is that one time per quarter I will be holding a town hall with the entire facility.  The town hall will focus on quarterly business results along with emphasizing the vision of where we want to go.  In short, this type of speech will be more important, especially now that I've set the bar that these will be done by me, without a translator... and it is my only opportunity to address the entire facility.

 

That's my story...  I'm interested to hear any of your experiences with speeches in Chinese on what works and what doesn't.  I'd particularly be interested if Chinese speeches should follow a "specific" format to deliver a message, or if there are very common things done in Chinese speeches that I should be doing. 

 

What has been your experience, what advice do you have?  (advice and experience on speeches in general is also appreciated).

 

Cheers!

[michaelS]

Very well done!

 

Speaking to a large group is a completely different skill from chatting or conversing one-to-one, it requires just as much practice, and a lot of very specific vocabulary. I'm an English teacher, and have done quite a lot of teaching of this topic - but in English. I'd also like to develop my ability to give speeches and presentations in Chinese.

 

I often have to give presentations to large groups of students (100-200), and have recently started doing so partly in Chinese. I still feel like I'm a long way from being able to do so exclusively - and whether I should is another question, as they're supposed to be learning English...

 

I use Chinese to get their attention at the beginning and end - as you said:

 

Once I got up on stage and started speaking in Chinese the eruption of cheers and applaud from the audience gave me a pump of adrenaline and confidence that carried me through the speech and left me feeling happier than I ever imagined.  The bar was low... I'm the new leader here and most of the employees did not expect me to give a speech in Chinese

 

and although I don't get quite such an enthusiastic reception it definitely helps to engage. I also use Chinese to stress and reiterate key points, the things that they need to understand (e.g. log-in details, deadlines, course pathways - this stuff they need to know and those with poor English shouldn't be penalised, well at least not until assessment).

 

I also just finished four weeks at a Chinese language school, and gave a thank you speech in Chinese at the end, which was quite intimidating but very rewarding.

 

I'd like to start creating a bank of materials related to giving presentations in Chinese. In English, one of the barriers to speaking in public is that certain items of vocabulary and structural devices are needed which are generally not covered by your common- or garden- oral English classes/ textbooks. An example of this would be 'signpost language', which indicates to the audience where you are in the speech, what's coming up later, the transfer between topics or sections, etc. E.g. "that brings me to my next section", "before I finish, I'd like to...", "I'll begin by...", that kind of thing.

 

I've been trying to record this in Chinese when I come across it, but it's thin on the ground as a resource - you need to discover it in the wild, it seems to me.

 

Here's my first contribution:

 

That brings me to my second point - 这导致(我的)第二点

 

It would be interesting to here from better Chinese speakers how natural this type of thing sounds, and how necessary it is in presentations.

[ouyangjun]

Good point about switching between topics/points.  

[arreke]

I would recommend to visit one of the toastmasters clubs in China, I've seen many of them in Beijing, Shanghai, must be some in your place as well.

Some of my Chinese friends increased their public speaking skills dramaticaly in those clubs.

Although they usually do public speaking activities in English, some of them do it in Chinese too.