My first speech in Chinese: Tier 3 & 4 cities in China

[jaapgrolleman]

A speech I gave yesterday. Some mistakes in my Mandarin still.  I said 荣幸 wrong, I forgot 大众点评 “的地方” and also said “面皮“ when I should have said ”面包皮“. It was pretty hard because I had the habit to say 幸荣 (don't know why) and so in my head I was only focussing on: "start with 荣", "start with 荣", "start with 荣".

 

I didn't speak perfectly, but I'm pretty satisfied! It's a bit above my language level, and I rehearsed pretty hard for this. I got third prize in the contest.

 

https://youtu.be/sspgIF1Q9iY

[vellocet]

When you say 江山 it sounds like you're saying 江xiang.

[jaapgrolleman]

On 12/5/2021 at 6:32 PM, vellocet said:

When you say 江山 it sounds like you're saying 江xiang.

 

Yeah you're totally right 

[889]

Really impressive that you memorized the whole thing. But you were obviously nervous and rushing to get it over with.

 

You should have slowed down and paced your speech out, using a more conversational style. No matter what language, if you're not relaxed and comfortable the audience won't be either.

 

I thought you murdered 热门 and 昆明 didn't go over too well sometimes, either.

 

But still, very impressive. How long have you been studying?

[jaapgrolleman]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:40 PM, 889 said:

Really impressive that you memorized the whole thing. But you were obviously nervous and rushing to get it over with.

 

You should have slowed down and paced your speech out, using a more conversational style. No matter what language, if you're not relaxed and comfortable the audience won't be either.

 

I thought you murdered 热门 and 昆明 didn't go over too well sometimes, either.

 

But still, very impressive. How long have you been studying?

Thank you! I think I should have picked some more natural vocabulary to me, because now memorizing it all was more difficult, and my head was full and nervous with that. When I practised at home it was much smoother of course.

 

Thank you for your kind words and feedback. I've been studying for 3 years now.

[Flickserve]

It was good considering public speaking is a highly stressful experience. 
 

You might have had a fair amount of new vocabulary and it’s not easy to use these new words in a speech, especially when rushing.

 

Quite a lot of people try to fit too much information into a presentation. Slowing down and having a strategic pause every so often means a more effective delivery of your message. 
 

 

[jaapgrolleman]

On 12/6/2021 at 12:45 PM, Flickserve said:

Quite a lot of people try to fit too much information into a presentation. Slowing down and having a strategic pause every so often means a more effective delivery of your message. 

 

What also didn't help is that the 10 people before me ALL went over time, so I was super worried I'd also ran out of time. But no I was too fast. I learned sooooooo much though and look forward to a next speech so I can improve myself. But yes indeed it is quite stressful in a language which you don't fully master.

Thank you!

[alantin]

@jaapgrolleman, thanks for sharing! This is very inspirational! one of my long term goals is to give presentations in Chinese to our own staff.

I've also learned that the speed is usually just right when you feel like you're talking too slow and repeating yourself too much. But I'll also have watch out not to rush it.

Though, I think your nervousness showed, I don't think your speech was too rushed and you kept your cool well. It had a good structure and a clear message. I also liked that you DID have some casual conversational contact to the audience. The joke asking who has been to 江山 got some chuckles. I don't know too much about Chinese audiences but I generally feel that if you get anything from your audience during a speech beyond blank stares, you've done a really good job. ? I also think the slides not containing walls of text but pictures and keywords also did a good job to support your presentation.

However, it was a little bit difficult to understand your pronunciation (though the slides helped there) so I would suggest focusing on improving pronunciation, especially initials, and the tones. I think that would also be the best way to improve the delivery of your presentations, since I think you obviously know how to deliver a good presentation and the vocabulary and grammar don't seem to be an issue either.

[jaapgrolleman]

On 12/6/2021 at 4:42 PM, alantin said:

your audience during a speech beyond blank stares

 

There were 12 speeches in total, and most of the audience was on the phone the whole time. I could just clearly see the first row but they weren't on their phone, so I was already happy with that! The other speeches were mostly about graphs though, not any personal stories.

 

On 12/6/2021 at 4:42 PM, alantin said:

However, it was a little bit difficult to understand your pronunciation (though the slides helped there) so I would suggest focusing on improving pronunciation, especially initials, and the tones.

 

I try! Whenever I find myself speaking out a wrong tone I will correct myself. But it's still a very difficult process and I don't really know where to start, except with my teacher. My Chinese friends I don't expect them to correct me like this of course.

 

Thanks for your kind words & encouragement!