When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on stage at Tsinghua University in Beijing Wednesday for a 30-minute Q&A session, the audience expected him to do what foreigners generally do: Utter a few words in Mandarin to acknowledge their culture, then depend heavily on translators. Instead, Zuckerberg elicited gasps of approval from the audience when he spoke in Mandarin all the way. He had a strong American accent, it is true, and he often groped for words, but he managed to make himself understood and even crack a few jokes.
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Zuckerberg Talks His Way Into Chinese Hearts and Minds
Posted by: Richard Adhikari October 24, 2014 06:35 AMWhen Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on stage at Tsinghua University in Beijing Wednesday for a 30-minute Q&A session, the audience expected him to do what foreigners generally do: Utter a few words in Mandarin to acknowledge their culture, then depend heavily on translators. Instead, Zuckerberg elicited gasps of approval from the audience when he spoke in Mandarin all the way. He had a strong American accent, it is true, and he often groped for words, but he managed to make himself understood and even crack a few jokes.