+Goktimus Prime exactly. It's a joke that he would do this in China while the government represses free-speech. But when have liberals ever really cared about such things? As long as it helps make him more money, he will exploit these opportunities. Also, his Chinese sucks.
Paul Gainer I don't speak Chinese, but he does seem capable to maintaining a sustained conversation in that language. Bear in mind that the core function of any language is communication, and if he can maintain communication with someone else in Chinese, then I don't know if I'd say that it "sucks." He is demonstrating some level of communicative competence. Look up Barack Obama speaking (or failing to speak) Indonesian. He only says a few words but otherwise just speaks in English. In other words, he doesn't seem capable of maintaining sustained communication in Indonesian (possibly because he hasn't spoken it since he was in high school, and it's easy to forget a language once you stop using it). Obama fails to demonstrate communicative competence in Indonesian. Note: This has nothing to do with anyone's personal views towards Zuckerberg or Obama, I'm speaking PURELY about their ability to speak other languages.
physika I lived in China for many years, there's no free speech. The media is completely controlled by the government as is social media/internet. That being said, China is doing better in regards to human rights than many western media outlets would have you believe, but yes, they are still far away from western standards in regards to human rights and freedom of speech.
Yeah, when I was in Guangzhou, my friends told me to just not worry about the tones at the beginning. They said it is easier for them to understand me if I don't try to use any tone than if I use the wrong one.
Idk why people keep complaining about his pronunciation. I understood him fine. You have to consider how different English is from Mandarin. Or East Asian and Romance or Germanic languages in general, they are extremely different. Therefore flawed pronunciation is expected.
I'm so proud of him. Even though his Chinese isn't perfect, I have mad respect that he would do a public interview entirely in Chinese. 真的好厉害。谢谢，Mark! :D
Even his Chinese is not perfect, I am impressed that he is brave enough to do in a public setting. A very intelligent person in deed, who loves his wife and desires to learn her culture.
Folks, Zuckerberg's hard work is impressive. *REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU HEAR A FOREIGNER SPEAKING ENGLISH!* We don't usually clap and smile when a Chinese person speaks English, yet millions of them learn it every year. Just adding some perspective here--I still think Zuckerberg is great, and this video is great. But I know I forget to appreciate the converse situation. Also...if you've ever been in the situation he is in in this video, you know it is one of the most elating feelings there is to be able to step into someone else's world and speak to them in their own language. Let's more of us do that. To a more language-literate and appreciative world! ;)
Hey Nathan. I think everybody is speaking Eng right now, It doesn't seem to be that "impressive" to speak English whatever your origin is. CUZ English is kinda easy to learn and use. As far as I know, there'r tons of smart Chinese students who can speak English like a native speaker, yet there weren't many American who can manage Chinese.
Mike Town That is true. English is easy. I speak english fluently and my native tongue is spanish. Which do you think is the easiest and most useful language to learn? Or which language do you think could fit the role of being the world's common language?
True. I've struggled for the very small amount of foreign languages I understand. I have to give people who learn English (especially those whose native language isn't Indo-European) silent applause. They're obviously much smarter than I am.
***** You probably wouldn't think English was easy if your native language were Mandarin. Consider all the complicated grammatical features in English like plural nouns and verb conjugation, not to mention the spelling.
Mandarin is my native language, I can proof that his Chinese is excellent, only some tonal mistakes. I understand almost all of what he has said in the video! Good job, Mr. Zuckerberg!
Try learning a foreign language while running a public company and then have a half hour conversation in front of the world - Let's see how you do? Oh wait you're just an anonymous keyboard warrior.
+Jeremy S. Don't agree with you. It's only because not many foreigners could speak Chinese or learn Chinese as a second language that makes them so suprise.
I see what youre trying to say My friend sadly theres a double standard there! If a non white person speaks bad English he geta crucified if a white person tries to speak another language he Gets glorified. Its racist
@@r.crowder8819 Its not a double standard, stop being an idiot. The reason why Chinese people are praising him for speaking Chinese is because its so rare for a foreigner to speak it. If it was super rare for a non-English person to speak English, then they would be getting the same reaction when they spoke English.
If Chinese was the international language - which it is not - nobody would be impressed and would be more picky about this pronunciations. To compare them as if they are on equal status is denying reality and history and how the human societies has evolved. It's used as the international language in every country, airport, programming, internet and so on. English is also a far more easy language, small alphabet and with very simple grammar. I'm not an English native speaker either, and my language is more complicated, which very few people speak, which I fully understand why English is the better option for international language.
To learn chinese at such late stage, and able to speak and understand what the host said, that's commendable of Mark. I believe his sincerity and afford should impress China leader, which in return may see his facebook social site allowed in China.
Much worse than that. I have been living in the States for 24 years, and I do speak English quite well. However, every time I made even a slightest mistake, I will be HARSHLY CORRECTED. Not to mention, countless time when the local Americans look in condescending if every now and then, I do not understand what they say. Also not to mention, How many times I was stereotyped with the stereotype of not being able to speak English. Look carefully at this video interview on how polite and respectful the audience to Mark Zuckerberg. Mark speaks adequate Mandarin, even though there is always a room for improvement. But all in all, it is rather okay (his command in Mandarin Chinese) If I speak English with the same level with the level of Mark's Mandarin Chinese, people in America will laugh left and right. I, personally, will congratulate Mark for being able to speak this very difficult language quite adequately. I will not criticize on whatever he still needs to learn. I will generously but objectively compliment him on how he has accomplished so far in mastering this Mandarin language. Of course, I personally could only fantasize to expect the same level of respect from average Americans on my effort to speak English.
WING SMITH I wouldn't worry about being criticized for making a few English mistakes. Because most Americans can't speak two languages. They shouldn't talk shit. If they can't back it up. I'm American as well.
yeah It's sad isn't it. the fact that english, being the lingua franca of the world, has bred this sense of entitlement and superiority in the minds of many white native english speakers. I can't speak on the behalf of other countries, but in east asian countries, ppl are genuinely thrilled when they find out that you were interested enough in their country and culture to learn their language.
Linds Tee English is litarelly the number 1 second language in the world. English is not the number 1 native language. Chinese and Spanish come first. but many people in china do speak English. (granted its not good English) but its still fucking English. that being said. I don't know many americans who flat out know a second language. Americans are really missing out, on the benefits of a second language. go to ANY country in the world. I promise everyone knows at least 2-3 languages. the usa needs a better education system. or we will litarelly be last. good thing me and my son and my wife all know three languages. so we are not falling behind.
As a Chinese, I have to say Mark is doing great. Learning a foreign language may not seem to be that difficult, but to give a speech and really communicate with it is another thing.
Martin, Thank you so much for taking the time to add the English subtitle to his speech. You have done a great job, and we have shared your video with many students who are learning Chinese. At the 18:45 mark, the host did not say the word "English", but he was telling the audience that "With a such a hard question, Mark is doing great by using just one sentence of English (which refers to Mark's uttering of "It's amazing"). Let's give him a round of applause."
Your welcome. I'm glad it was helpful. Thank you for the feedback, that makes a lot of sense and I just didn't get it. I've updated the subtitles to include your interpretation.
Hi Martin, Also at the 10:10 mark, wei-ruan (微软) is the Chinese name of Microsoft. Perhaps you could update the subtitle as well. Thank you again for the wonderful work you have done to help many people understand his speech.
I admire his courage for taking on an entire interview given his relatively short period of study. his command of intermediate/advanced level words is impressive even if he gets word order misplaced here and there. what blows my mind is how his tones are so poor given his command of words. he uses the textbook "xiang yao" combination frequently while it is in fact more infrequently used by native speakers.
He obviously has an "accent" speaking because Mandarin isn't his native language. I've only taken one year of Chinese (I'm studying in China) but I understood quite a bit of what he was saying. Having a full blown conversation in a new language and having others actually understand you is an amazing feeling. I was just as excited for Mark as he was getting positive feedback from the Chinese audience. Hen hao, Zuckerberg!
Either Chinese mass habitually enjoy giving out warm welcome and applause, or they are treating him like a toddler who tried to impress adults with standing up.
Why there are so many people make comments base on their political views and their political bias toward to someone willing to communicate in broken Chinese Mandarin? His quality of conversation in Chinese is not import but his courage is inspiring and that is what counts.
Neuroscience (brain scanning) has revealed that conservatives reason emotionally, whereas liberals reason more rationally. Multiple studies have confirmed this, in fact. This explains nearly everything to do with their decrepit worldview, including their use of fallacies and their overwhelming delusions of racial tension. In other words...they're snowflakes. ;) Masters of projection, too.
To all who can't see the subtitles. My wife found that after enabling subtitles on her iPad, she still had to go full screen on the video before she could see the subtitles. Maybe an issue with iOS Safari. All I can say is try watching the video in another browser or another device. Also make sure you enable closed captions.
As a Mandarin mother-tongued and native-speaking Chinese myself, I'm pretty impressed with how Mark Zuckerberg had successfully managed to grasp and comprehend the language unbelievably fast, with modest yet firm command of this incredibly complex dialect common to all Chinese. ;)
To anyone who thinks learning a new language is a waste of time, play them the reaction in the first minute. Learning a language is a guaranteed way to bring receive lots of smiles in your into your life.
interviewer/guy on the right seems to have a Canton accent? Also, Mark's Chinese is pretty good. As a Chinese, we don't expect everyone who learns the language to be perfect. We're certainly not perfect at English either c:
I found the subtitle and it's very great that the world's biggest personality is trying to speak in Chinese.Its his greatness that he wants to expore the Chinese culture being an American. Huge love from us :)
When I first watched this videos years ago, I was really impressed by his Chinese. As a 外国人 (foreigner), seeing others speak Chinese is always something to be respectful of, it isn't an easy language. I would love to see an update on his progress in Chinese, I'm sure it's night and day different today. Fast forward to today, I now live in Beijing, have been studying Mandarin intensively at a language university here and have now been in China a while, so listening to him speak Chinese now is a little cringe-worthy, but still - I respect him for putting himself out on display like this. Deserves respect!
Juan Gonzalez Everyone is "hungry" for the Chinese market. Zuckerberg said he wanted to learn Chinese to communicate with his wife's side of the family.
Everyone is talking about his Chinese, but at the end of the video he was talking about the future, the next 10 years of facebook, and he's actually doing all that in 2024. Respect !
I'm a native mandarin chinese and english speaker. And tbh I couldn't understand most of his mandarin, save for a few simple phrases/words. But I applaud his effort! Chinese is not an easy language, and his willingness to learn is truly commendable. :)
This is very inspiring! I want to learn Mandarin because like Mark said in this video it is VERY challenging. I feel like learning other languages is very cool and beneficial.
The audience seems very encouraging and supportive of his speaking Mandarin, even if he has an accent or stutters a lot, rather than being impatient with him if he didn't speak the language perfectly.
everyone feels like happy just because everyone learns english in a long time (not a chance to speak in real life)and all foreigners speaks english in china (most) so it would be glad to see some foreigner speaking chinese(rare, interested, respected)
There is some mistake in the translation, for example, Mark mentioned about "going mobile" in 2012 not the "public"; also AI is 人工智能，Ren Gong Zhi Neng. Glad to help you though.
so proud of him. im half chi and i can only understand 50% of what hes saying coz of the pronounciation, but his vocab is on point. REALLY, coz for eg when he was listing his reasons, he can just use 理由， but he used 理论。 really commendable. it really is difficult to learn chinese but he's doing well. having a chinese wife encourages him too i guess. props! yes yes i should say 'mandarin' but whatevs
To be honest, his Chinese grammar is correct, but his pronunciation is very bad, especially because he does not pay attention to tones. I simply couldn’t understand what he said! I still remember when I was taking Chinese lessons on the first day, our Chinese teacher from Beijing University told us that the most important thing is that foreigners should pay attention to the tone! If you can't learn it, you will easily be misunderstood! For example, if you want to say the word “mother” (māmɑ), but you say “hemp” (máma), “horse” (mǎma) or “to insult” (màma) instead [same pronunciation, different tones], what should you do? This can be summed up in this way: his Chinese isn’t remarkable at all! 实话， 他的汉语语法对是对，但是，他的发音非常不好，特别是因为他并不注意声调。我根本听不懂他说的话哦！我还记得我第一天上汉语课的时候，来自北大的我们中国老师对我们说，最重要的就是外国人要注意声调！学不会的话，你很容易就会被误解啊！比如说，你想说 妈妈 这个词，可是你把 妈妈 说成 麻麻， 马马 或者 骂骂，怎么办呢？这可以这样概括起来。 他说的汉语没什么了不起的！ PS: I'm an Italian student who is still Learning chinese...
Hi Martin: I am wondering if you have the subtitles file for this video. I present at various high schools throughout Ohio about the importance and applicability of learning a second language in the globalized world. I use the first two or three minutes of this video as an excellent way to show how cultural bridges can be crossed by learning another language. Students really respond to it. So far I have not yet run into a high school that does not have internet access, but it is a possibility. Having the subtitles file would allow me to download the video an have the subtitles file ready in the event that I have a spotty internet connection. Thanks in advance! Kip
Martin Woolstenhulme Good question. I use VLC media player and I downloaded the file as an avi (although I don't think that matters). I have only used the .srt file format in the past, but my guess is that VLC handles all of them. Wait - are you saying we--regular users--can download the subtitles file in those three formats on our own? Or is this something only you--the uploader--can do? If the former, I did not realize that and can look into it; if the latter, I really do appreciate your taking the time to send them to me.
Kip Tobin Your welcome, I glad to hear its been beneficial. I don't know if viewers can download the subtitles, I was speaking from my perspective as the uploader. I'll send you the .srt, but to where? I'm assuming an email address.
Martin Woolstenhulme my address is kiptobin@gmail.com or kip at tobin at gmail dot com. (my name is without spaces.) again, many thanks Martin! muchos saludos, Kip
+Rose Lee Interesting that Zuckerberg has learnt Chinese - clearly an impressive achievement (Mandarin being radically different from English or any other European language); yet you say: '[he] has strong accent. I can't understand much of what he said. Without your translation I would not be able to understand him.' Doesn't that rather negate the advantage of being able to speak any foreign language?
Are you serious? I just turned 19 and the only languages I know are Spanish and English. I'm currently learning Japanese and I'll later learn Mandarin and Korean.
I am surprised to find Mark speak so good Chinese. I think his Chinese is much better than he sounded. He could understand those questions which were actually quite complicated even for a Chinese native.
I was impressed with his vocabulary, but his intonation needs a lot of work. When you get the tones wrong in Mandarin the word can mean something completely different. For many Chinese in the audience it is hard to understand. Personally, it's not as hard to understand because I learned the language in a similar way, by relying on alphabetic representations of Chinese characters, called "pinyin". While tones are always presented in "pinyin" it takes time to master vocalizing the subtle nature of tones. All things considered, he's still a beginner if total fluency is the goal. In fairness he's only been learning for 4 years and happens to be one of the most influential people on the planet right now. I think it's a safe bet that he doesn't have the time to be immersed in an environment that would help him achieve total fluency.
Eddf Fdfdf Chinese is an incredibly difficult language to learn, even for Chinese people. Zuckerberg has only spent 2 years learning it by the way and he definitely knows his grammar and vocabulary. The only problem is his pronunciation, which needs a lot of work.
He only summarizes the occasional statements though right? Looks like it's going pretty well to me. I do find it strange how they are constantly shocked by every sentence... that suggests maybe they're hearing something much more interesting than he intends.. haha
+Jadiewady Priscilla's parrents are vietname chinese which speak cantonese not mandarin. Mandarin Chinese is spoken mainly in north China before, then promoted in all over China just in recent twenty years.
wa...first time that i know a US born non-Chinese can speak Chinese....I mean... so good! So fluently! Even better than some from my Chinese friends'd kids who is always in a chinese-speaking family.
+detmay kinhbac using of private vpn support, millions went around the firewall, and don't mention to me about anything like getting caught and the consequences, those are urban legends
Good for Zuckerberg. What I like is that if we all learn to speak chinese and Arab to have them join our ideology we should go through. They (all the people of this World) want to be like us so let them know that they could be if they join us. Stop the fight! Come into our world and we will live in peace all together!
Highly impressive i actually undermost most of his mandarin. Zuckerberg is probbaly one of only big American CEOs that could actually speak Mandarin or understand it.
I respect him for trying, but that is bad. Maybe he was very nervous. I certainly would be. By the way, you do not need perfect tones to speak solid Mandarin. The meaning of words with the wrong tones are easily understood from context. The pronunciation is far more important, and this is fairly easy if you study pinyin. For non-native speakers, correct tones really come around when you hear a lot of Chinese being spoken and you just start re-producing the way native speakers say certain words. If you are considering studying Mandarin, don't focus on tones. They will come, but are too difficult to master in the early stages. Learn to pronounce each pinyin syllable.
I THINK THE PUBLIC KEEPS LAUGHING BECAUSE SOME WORDS MEAN SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WHEN THE TONE IS CHANGED! YOU CAN SAY OBSCENE WORDS NOT WANTING TO BY JUST CHANGING THE TONE OR IMPROPERLY ACCENTUATING.
I’m a white American learning Chinese as well. His grammar is better than mine, but his accent isn’t that great. I have an American accent too but I feel like my tones and pronunciation are better. But either way great job Mark! I get very nervous speaking Chinese in front of crowds.
First of all I wanna Thanks so much to FB which he and his friend Created .Because of FB I/We all can have a very easy and good connection with my families ,Relatives, Friends around the World .So thankful To him and his friend as well . He and his wife is Wonderful & Very Smart I must say. He /both husband and wife are so calm and cool .They are so rich but ,they didn't showed anything Wonderful Couple !! they look so respectful and very kind too .They are sincere and lived their life simple . I wish them and their families may God Bless them ,watching and protecting them as usual . I 'm so proud of him that he speaks Chinese so well .Amazing Guy !!! :) Shair,Shair Ne !!!
We see the Chinese people embracing his hard work and diligence to learning Mandarin Chinese. However the same energy is not present in North America, instead we seem to discourage and mock those who cannot speak english. The mentality of the two cultures is a clear line between the thought processes positioned on opposite sides of the "cultural mentality spectrum".
I am a native speaker and I can only understand 20% of what he said. There are five tones in Mandarin, you can't change any tone or the meaning is different. The same syllable can be pronounced with different tones, and the meaning will change. If he speaks like this on the street, people will have a very hard time understanding what he says.
Think about it this way. What if Zuckerberg asked your advice: "I'm about to have a talk with Chinese university students. Should I go crazy and pull the talk in Chinese? My Chinese is not 100% perfect but I should be able to cobble it together." Would you really answer "No, you have to practice much more in your privacy." or rather "If you have the balls, that would be a cool challenge." It's easy to point flaws in his pronunciation, but in the end of the day, he did the right thing.
Oh c'mon guys, don't expect him to have a perfect mandarin (汉语）he's not a native speaker, the principal use of a language is communicate what you want to say, as a Chinese student speak as he does is one of my goals
he's speaking mandarin, but he doesn't have a dialect due to his VERY thick accent. but his CHinese is pretty good for just learning for a couple of years? i think. (coming from my point of view. aka a fluent mandarin speaker who speaks mandarin everyday)
* Language Pack - Successfully Installed *
Lmao
Toma tu like
The irony is that Facebook is blocked in China.
+Goktimus Prime It's not hard to overcome. College students do that constantly.
+Goktimus Prime exactly. It's a joke that he would do this in China while the government represses free-speech. But when have liberals ever really cared about such things? As long as it helps make him more money, he will exploit these opportunities. Also, his Chinese sucks.
Paul Gainer I don't speak Chinese, but he does seem capable to maintaining a sustained conversation in that language. Bear in mind that the core function of any language is communication, and if he can maintain communication with someone else in Chinese, then I don't know if I'd say that it "sucks." He is demonstrating some level of communicative competence.
Look up Barack Obama speaking (or failing to speak) Indonesian. He only says a few words but otherwise just speaks in English. In other words, he doesn't seem capable of maintaining sustained communication in Indonesian (possibly because he hasn't spoken it since he was in high school, and it's easy to forget a language once you stop using it). Obama fails to demonstrate communicative competence in Indonesian.
Note: This has nothing to do with anyone's personal views towards Zuckerberg or Obama, I'm speaking PURELY about their ability to speak other languages.
+Paul Gainer how is there no free speech in China anyway ? or just that they are not speaking English that's all ?
physika I lived in China for many years, there's no free speech. The media is completely controlled by the government as is social media/internet. That being said, China is doing better in regards to human rights than many western media outlets would have you believe, but yes, they are still far away from western standards in regards to human rights and freedom of speech.
honestly his pronunciation sucks but his grammer is like 100% no lie
yea he doesnt do tones I realised haha
Yeah, when I was in Guangzhou, my friends told me to just not worry about the tones at the beginning. They said it is easier for them to understand me if I don't try to use any tone than if I use the wrong one.
He is an alien
many of his expressions sound unnatural
Idk why people keep complaining about his pronunciation. I understood him fine. You have to consider how different English is from Mandarin. Or East Asian and Romance or Germanic languages in general, they are extremely different. Therefore flawed pronunciation is expected.
I'm so proud of him. Even though his Chinese isn't perfect, I have mad respect that he would do a public interview entirely in Chinese. 真的好厉害。谢谢，Mark! :D
Even his Chinese is not perfect, I am impressed that he is brave enough to do in a public setting. A very intelligent person in deed, who loves his wife and desires to learn her culture.
As much of a shady dude he may be, you don’t build a hundred billion dollar company by a lack of intelligence . Dude is clearly very bright
Folks, Zuckerberg's hard work is impressive. *REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU HEAR A FOREIGNER SPEAKING ENGLISH!*
We don't usually clap and smile when a Chinese person speaks English, yet millions of them learn it every year. Just adding some perspective here--I still think Zuckerberg is great, and this video is great. But I know I forget to appreciate the converse situation.
Also...if you've ever been in the situation he is in in this video, you know it is one of the most elating feelings there is to be able to step into someone else's world and speak to them in their own language. Let's more of us do that.
To a more language-literate and appreciative world! ;)
Hey Nathan. I think everybody is speaking Eng right now, It doesn't seem to be that "impressive" to speak English whatever your origin is. CUZ English is kinda easy to learn and use. As far as I know, there'r tons of smart Chinese students who can speak English like a native speaker, yet there weren't many American who can manage Chinese.
Mike Town That is true. English is easy. I speak english fluently and my native tongue is spanish. Which do you think is the easiest and most useful language to learn? Or which language do you think could fit the role of being the world's common language?
***** Esperanto
True. I've struggled for the very small amount of foreign languages I understand. I have to give people who learn English (especially those whose native language isn't Indo-European) silent applause. They're obviously much smarter than I am.
*****
You probably wouldn't think English was easy if your native language were Mandarin. Consider all the complicated grammatical features in English like plural nouns and verb conjugation, not to mention the spelling.
Mandarin is my native language, I can proof that his Chinese is excellent, only some tonal mistakes. I understand almost all of what he has said in the video! Good job, Mr. Zuckerberg!
+Concerned Hermit Come on! That is not excellent what you mean is, "Excellent for a foreigner".
What are you talking about? What makes you think I said "Excellent for a foreigner" ? That's just your own understanding......
his mandarin sucks.
Try learning a foreign language while running a public company and then have a half hour conversation in front of the world - Let's see how you do? Oh wait you're just an anonymous keyboard warrior.
His Chinese is horrible
It's incredible that he insists on speaking in Chinese during his speech. He did a good job!
When Asian speak English, American laugh at their accents, when American speak Chinese, it's like god is talking...
+Jeremy S. Don't agree with you. It's only because not many foreigners could speak Chinese or learn Chinese as a second language that makes them so suprise.
I can't agree with your opinion. Mark's Chinese is good enough and the audience were all surprised.
I see what youre trying to say My friend sadly theres a double standard there! If a non white person speaks bad English he geta crucified if a white person tries to speak another language he Gets glorified. Its racist
@@r.crowder8819 Its not a double standard, stop being an idiot. The reason why Chinese people are praising him for speaking Chinese is because its so rare for a foreigner to speak it. If it was super rare for a non-English person to speak English, then they would be getting the same reaction when they spoke English.
If Chinese was the international language - which it is not - nobody would be impressed and would be more picky about this pronunciations. To compare them as if they are on equal status is denying reality and history and how the human societies has evolved. It's used as the international language in every country, airport, programming, internet and so on. English is also a far more easy language, small alphabet and with very simple grammar. I'm not an English native speaker either, and my language is more complicated, which very few people speak, which I fully understand why English is the better option for international language.
Having spent about 1.5 years studying Mandarin through public high school, I am glad that I can understand almost all of what he is saying.
Bu,t some how, I can't
Omg I'm impressed, he's not one of those westerners who can only speak hello in mandarin, I can actually understand the whole thing.
To learn chinese at such late stage, and able to speak and understand what the host said, that's commendable of Mark. I believe his sincerity and afford should impress China leader, which in return may see his facebook social site allowed in China.
Funny how happy they are to see an American learning their language, but here in the Anglosphere we expect it and give foreigners shit if they don't.
Much worse than that. I have been living in the States for 24 years, and I do speak English quite well. However, every time I made even a slightest mistake, I will be HARSHLY CORRECTED. Not to mention, countless time when the local Americans look in condescending if every now and then, I do not understand what they say.
Also not to mention, How many times I was stereotyped with the stereotype of not being able to speak English.
Look carefully at this video interview on how polite and respectful the audience to Mark Zuckerberg.
Mark speaks adequate Mandarin, even though there is always a room for improvement. But all in all, it is rather okay (his command in Mandarin Chinese)
If I speak English with the same level with the level of Mark's Mandarin Chinese,
people in America will laugh left and right.
I, personally, will congratulate Mark for being able to speak this very difficult language quite adequately.
I will not criticize on whatever he still needs to learn.
I will generously but objectively compliment him on how he has accomplished so far in mastering this Mandarin language.
Of course, I personally could only fantasize to expect the same level of respect from average Americans on my effort to speak English.
If you are as rich and famous as he is you would get same treatment in the U.S.
WING SMITH I wouldn't worry about being criticized for making a few English mistakes. Because most Americans can't speak two languages. They shouldn't talk shit. If they can't back it up. I'm American as well.
yeah It's sad isn't it. the fact that english, being the lingua franca of the world, has bred this sense of entitlement and superiority in the minds of many white native english speakers. I can't speak on the behalf of other countries, but in east asian countries, ppl are genuinely thrilled when they find out that you were interested enough in their country and culture to learn their language.
Linds Tee English is litarelly the number 1 second language in the world. English is not the number 1 native language. Chinese and Spanish come first. but many people in china do speak English. (granted its not good English) but its still fucking English. that being said. I don't know many americans who flat out know a second language. Americans are really missing out, on the benefits of a second language. go to ANY country in the world. I promise everyone knows at least 2-3 languages. the usa needs a better education system. or we will litarelly be last. good thing me and my son and my wife all know three languages. so we are not falling behind.
As a Chinese, I have to say Mark is doing great. Learning a foreign language may not seem to be that difficult, but to give a speech and really communicate with it is another thing.
Martin, Thank you so much for taking the time to add the English subtitle to his speech. You have done a great job, and we have shared your video with many students who are learning Chinese.
At the 18:45 mark, the host did not say the word "English", but he was telling the audience that
"With a such a hard question, Mark is doing great by using just one sentence of English (which refers to Mark's uttering of "It's amazing"). Let's give him a round of applause."
Your welcome. I'm glad it was helpful. Thank you for the feedback, that makes a lot of sense and I just didn't get it. I've updated the subtitles to include your interpretation.
Hi Martin,
Also at the 10:10 mark, wei-ruan (微软) is the Chinese name of Microsoft.
Perhaps you could update the subtitle as well.
Thank you again for the wonderful work you have done to help many people understand his speech.
Howard Chen Thanks again. I learned that after I first translated it and didn't go back and make the edit.
I admire his courage for taking on an entire interview given his relatively short period of study. his command of intermediate/advanced level words is impressive even if he gets word order misplaced here and there. what blows my mind is how his tones are so poor given his command of words. he uses the textbook "xiang yao" combination frequently while it is in fact more infrequently used by native speakers.
我想要改变世界
He obviously has an "accent" speaking because Mandarin isn't his native language. I've only taken one year of Chinese (I'm studying in China) but I understood quite a bit of what he was saying. Having a full blown conversation in a new language and having others actually understand you is an amazing feeling. I was just as excited for Mark as he was getting positive feedback from the Chinese audience. Hen hao, Zuckerberg!
Either Chinese mass habitually enjoy giving out warm welcome and applause, or they are treating him like a toddler who tried to impress adults with standing up.
+Kevin Y You hit the nail on the head !
I've been to Beijing and they are naturally very friendly.
Hunter Jagart He said "or"...
Mark Zuckenberg is the Florence Foster Jenkins of Chinese pronunciation. He's bad but you know he tried with all his might.
This is amazing. His vocabulary is awesome for someone who has never lived in China.
Why there are so many people make comments base on their political views and their political bias toward to someone willing to communicate in broken Chinese Mandarin? His quality of conversation in Chinese is not import but his courage is inspiring and that is what counts.
Neuroscience (brain scanning) has revealed that conservatives reason emotionally, whereas liberals reason more rationally. Multiple studies have confirmed this, in fact. This explains nearly everything to do with their decrepit worldview, including their use of fallacies and their overwhelming delusions of racial tension. In other words...they're snowflakes. ;) Masters of projection, too.
Thanks for your subtitles
To all who can't see the subtitles.
My wife found that after enabling subtitles on her iPad, she still had to go full screen on the video before she could see the subtitles. Maybe an issue with iOS Safari. All I can say is try watching the video in another browser or another device. Also make sure you enable closed captions.
You aree soo COOL coolest videos:))))
Thanks for adding subtitles to the video.
Issue: You were not using the RUclips app.
+Martin Woolstenhulme Thank you for your effort !
As a Mandarin mother-tongued and native-speaking Chinese myself, I'm pretty impressed with how Mark Zuckerberg had successfully managed to grasp and comprehend the language unbelievably fast, with modest yet firm command of this incredibly complex dialect common to all Chinese. ;)
To anyone who thinks learning a new language is a waste of time, play them the reaction in the first minute. Learning a language is a guaranteed way to bring receive lots of smiles in your into your life.
He is so adorable.
2010cyberguy He is adorable.
2010cyberguy Because it's Xmas
2010cyberguy Lol
thank god im not the only one who thinks this
no homo
interviewer/guy on the right seems to have a Canton accent?
Also, Mark's Chinese is pretty good. As a Chinese, we don't expect everyone who learns the language to be perfect. We're certainly not perfect at English either c:
English is a lingua franca, and is also much easier to learn being phonetic and all. That's why its so impressive for him to have learned it so fast
我觉得最好的公司成立不是因为创设人想要公司，但是因为创设人想要改变世界。
I found the subtitle and it's very great that the world's biggest personality is trying to speak in Chinese.Its his greatness that he wants to expore the Chinese culture being an American. Huge love from us :)
maximum respect. According to a survey, Chinese is the most difficult language to learn. He is amazing
I love how all the audience goes : "Whoooooaaaa!" every time Mark says something in Mandarin the first minute of this video.
When I first watched this videos years ago, I was really impressed by his Chinese. As a 外国人 (foreigner), seeing others speak Chinese is always something to be respectful of, it isn't an easy language. I would love to see an update on his progress in Chinese, I'm sure it's night and day different today. Fast forward to today, I now live in Beijing, have been studying Mandarin intensively at a language university here and have now been in China a while, so listening to him speak Chinese now is a little cringe-worthy, but still - I respect him for putting himself out on display like this. Deserves respect!
The purpose of Mark's trip to China? Of course is to double the number of his product user.
I guess that's why he's learning Chinese as well. He's hungry for that market.
Juan Gonzalez Everyone is "hungry" for the Chinese market. Zuckerberg said he wanted to learn Chinese to communicate with his wife's side of the family.
WuWei Xu I admire your beautiful naivety. He certainly is eager to have long conversations with his mother in law.
Juan Gonzalez Nothing wrong with that. It's quite normal for all entrepreneurs. Kudos to him.Not arrogant or discriminatory.
CHAOZHOUREN Facebook is banned in China. And has been since 2008.
Thank you very much Martin for your great work in providing the subtitles.
Super Fantastic! Thank you for uploading. Mark is great! Chinese people love him. The world loves him.
Everyone is talking about his Chinese, but at the end of the video he was talking about the future, the next 10 years of facebook, and he's actually doing all that in 2024. Respect !
Really intimidating position to be in! [Mark]
I respect the guy, honestly. He's definitely got vision and you can tell he works hard
Mark really knows how to work his audience.
I'm a native mandarin chinese and english speaker. And tbh I couldn't understand most of his mandarin, save for a few simple phrases/words. But I applaud his effort! Chinese is not an easy language, and his willingness to learn is truly commendable. :)
His Mandarin is good. His hard work is easy to see. Congratulations! Keep it up!
His Chinese is pretty good. I feel like at times the sounds of the tones are missing. But overall Mark speaks pretty decent.
This is very inspiring! I want to learn Mandarin because like Mark said in this video it is VERY challenging. I feel like learning other languages is very cool and beneficial.
The audience seems very encouraging and supportive of his speaking Mandarin, even if he has an accent or stutters a lot, rather than being impatient with him if he didn't speak the language perfectly.
wow he can converse, despite the accent. I studied chinese, im ethnically chinese yet it is so hard to express myself in chinese.
now i know how it feels for native speaker to listen to english with asian accents ..
everyone feels like happy just because everyone learns english in a long time (not a chance to speak in real life)and all foreigners speaks english in china (most) so it would be glad to see some foreigner speaking chinese(rare, interested, respected)
He's way better than I thought. He's got bad tones and pronunciation, but he understands and speaks far beyond a beginner.
Chinese people are so adorable. The happiness they show when a foreigner tries to speak their language. It would be an honor to speak Chinese.
This is just so amazing !!! Chinese is one of the most difficult languages and he's learnt it as an adult. Impressive!!!
+Sijimol C. Thambi yep
+Nicole zhong You are hot
:0 thx ..
@@nicolezhong4153 *DOUBLE ACCOUNTS*
Mark is amazing, he is Chinese is not bad at all for someone learn it from adulthood. What a smart guy and loves the changeling!
I'm kinda impressed. Ofc His Chinese is not perfect at all but he tried his best to speak Chinese here
Mark's Chinese competency may be worth millions of dollars if facebook can spread in China. He is really a smart and hard-working guy.
There is some mistake in the translation, for example, Mark mentioned about "going mobile" in 2012 not the "public"; also AI is 人工智能，Ren Gong Zhi Neng. Glad to help you though.
He is a great person, and a role model for everyone, thumbs up
so proud of him. im half chi and i can only understand 50% of what hes saying coz of the pronounciation, but his vocab is on point. REALLY, coz for eg when he was listing his reasons, he can just use 理由， but he used 理论。 really commendable. it really is difficult to learn chinese but he's doing well. having a chinese wife encourages him too i guess. props! yes yes i should say 'mandarin' but whatevs
it is so funny and heartwarming to hear all of their wows at the beginning when he starts talking
To be honest, his Chinese grammar is correct, but his pronunciation is very bad,
especially because he does not pay attention to tones. I simply couldn’t
understand what he said! I still remember when I was taking Chinese lessons on
the first day, our Chinese teacher from Beijing University told us that the
most important thing is that foreigners should pay attention to the tone! If
you can't learn it, you will easily be misunderstood! For example, if you want to
say the word “mother” (māmɑ), but you say “hemp” (máma), “horse” (mǎma) or “to insult” (màma) instead [same pronunciation, different tones], what should you do?
This can be summed up in this way: his Chinese isn’t remarkable at all!
实话， 他的汉语语法对是对，但是，他的发音非常不好，特别是因为他并不注意声调。我根本听不懂他说的话哦！我还记得我第一天上汉语课的时候，来自北大的我们中国老师对我们说，最重要的就是外国人要注意声调！学不会的话，你很容易就会被误解啊！比如说，你想说 妈妈 这个词，可是你把 妈妈 说成 麻麻， 马马 或者 骂骂，怎么办呢？这可以这样概括起来。 他说的汉语没什么了不起的！
PS: I'm an Italian student who is still Learning chinese...
Hi Martin:
I am wondering if you have the subtitles file for this video. I present at various high schools throughout Ohio about the importance and applicability of learning a second language in the globalized world. I use the first two or three minutes of this video as an excellent way to show how cultural bridges can be crossed by learning another language. Students really respond to it.
So far I have not yet run into a high school that does not have internet access, but it is a possibility. Having the subtitles file would allow me to download the video an have the subtitles file ready in the event that I have a spotty internet connection.
Thanks in advance!
Kip
Is there a specific file format you're looking for? RUclips has about 3 options: .sbv, .vtt, and .srt.
Martin Woolstenhulme Good question. I use VLC media player and I downloaded the file as an avi (although I don't think that matters). I have only used the .srt file format in the past, but my guess is that VLC handles all of them.
Wait - are you saying we--regular users--can download the subtitles file in those three formats on our own? Or is this something only you--the uploader--can do? If the former, I did not realize that and can look into it; if the latter, I really do appreciate your taking the time to send them to me.
Kip Tobin Your welcome, I glad to hear its been beneficial. I don't know if viewers can download the subtitles, I was speaking from my perspective as the uploader. I'll send you the .srt, but to where? I'm assuming an email address.
Martin Woolstenhulme my address is kiptobin@gmail.com or kip at tobin at gmail dot com. (my name is without spaces.)
again, many thanks Martin!
muchos saludos,
Kip
+Rose Lee Interesting that Zuckerberg has learnt Chinese - clearly an impressive achievement (Mandarin being radically different from English or any other European language); yet you say: '[he] has strong accent. I can't understand much of what he said. Without your translation I would not be able to understand him.' Doesn't that rather negate the advantage of being able to speak any foreign language?
he is brave enough to speak in mandarin and show his respect.. i dont think a lot of people as brave as him!
I'm Haitian but Im a self taught Chinese speaker. I speak Chinese, English, French, some Spanish and creole (my native language). And I'm 19.
nice profile picture
Are you serious? I just turned 19 and the only languages I know are Spanish and English. I'm currently learning Japanese and I'll later learn Mandarin and Korean.
I watched this video in Chinese website, I can get what he said, though sometimes relied on captions. Quite amazing he could speak mandarin well.
I am surprised to find Mark speak so good Chinese. I think his Chinese is much better than he sounded. He could understand those questions which were actually quite complicated even for a Chinese native.
hahaha, he is so adorable, speaking Chinese like a baby, but I appreciate his effort.
Thanks for the subs!
He may have a typical Caucasain accent, but I'm impressed.
I have more respect for him knowing he learned Mandarin just so he can communicate with his wife's mother and to broaden his linguistic capacity.
His Mandarin Chinese is pretty good, sounds cute like a kid. :) Impressive really, given all the hard work and persistence he put in.
I seen him speak in public since then. His mandarin is a LOT better nowadays
How is his mandarin? It seems bad since the Chinese guy has to summarize his statements to the audience
I was impressed with his vocabulary, but his intonation needs a lot of work. When you get the tones wrong in Mandarin the word can mean something completely different. For many Chinese in the audience it is hard to understand. Personally, it's not as hard to understand because I learned the language in a similar way, by relying on alphabetic representations of Chinese characters, called "pinyin". While tones are always presented in "pinyin" it takes time to master vocalizing the subtle nature of tones.
All things considered, he's still a beginner if total fluency is the goal. In fairness he's only been learning for 4 years and happens to be one of the most influential people on the planet right now. I think it's a safe bet that he doesn't have the time to be immersed in an environment that would help him achieve total fluency.
Martin Woolstenhulme
He's been studying 4 years and sounds that bad? Yikes.
Eddf Fdfdf Chinese is an incredibly difficult language to learn, even for Chinese people. Zuckerberg has only spent 2 years learning it by the way and he definitely knows his grammar and vocabulary. The only problem is his pronunciation, which needs a lot of work.
He only summarizes the occasional statements though right? Looks like it's going pretty well to me.
I do find it strange how they are constantly shocked by every sentence... that suggests maybe they're hearing something much more interesting than he intends.. haha
Eddf Fdfdf Man, I bet that you with a 4 years mandarin couldn't speak that much. hahahahaha
That's right, if you want to know, you have to learn!!!
Wow, this is great ! I had no idea he knew Chinese so well
His Chinese is quite good, but his pronunciation...
+Jadiewady Im a chinese and his pronunciation is quite good, not very fluent.
I saw a new year video and his Chinese was super good, but his wife's mandarin sounded reeeally weird to me. And she's ACTUALLY Chinese. Haha
+Jadiewady Priscilla's parrents are vietname chinese which speak cantonese not mandarin. Mandarin Chinese is spoken mainly in north China before, then promoted in all over China just in recent twenty years.
His Chinese is even better than his wife.
no china has over 200 different dialect. none of them are the "correct way"
I love him so much more right now, such a great guy, trying his best as always to do things.
wa...first time that i know a US born non-Chinese can speak Chinese....I mean... so good! So fluently! Even better than some from my Chinese friends'd kids who is always in a chinese-speaking family.
facebook is totally blocked in china, how the people know him ??
Facebook is indeed banned in China, however, Chinese do know it(and it's creator) exists;)
+detmay kinhbac using of private vpn support, millions went around the firewall, and don't mention to me about anything like getting caught and the consequences, those are urban legends
Good for Zuckerberg. What I like is that if we all learn to speak chinese and Arab to have them join our ideology we should go through. They (all the people of this World) want to be like us so let them know that they could be if they join us. Stop the fight! Come into our world and we will live in peace all together!
Highly impressive i actually undermost most of his mandarin. Zuckerberg is probbaly one of only big American CEOs that could actually speak Mandarin or understand it.
I respect him for trying, but that is bad. Maybe he was very nervous. I certainly would be. By the way, you do not need perfect tones to speak solid Mandarin. The meaning of words with the wrong tones are easily understood from context. The pronunciation is far more important, and this is fairly easy if you study pinyin. For non-native speakers, correct tones really come around when you hear a lot of Chinese being spoken and you just start re-producing the way native speakers say certain words. If you are considering studying Mandarin, don't focus on tones. They will come, but are too difficult to master in the early stages. Learn to pronounce each pinyin syllable.
tones are not important... you don't speak chinese do you haha
THAT GUY IS SO
AMAZING
I THINK THE PUBLIC KEEPS LAUGHING BECAUSE SOME WORDS MEAN SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WHEN THE TONE IS CHANGED! YOU CAN SAY OBSCENE WORDS NOT WANTING TO BY JUST CHANGING THE TONE OR IMPROPERLY ACCENTUATING.
No matter how “simple” it is he did this for 29 mins
I’m a white American learning Chinese as well. His grammar is better than mine, but his accent isn’t that great. I have an American accent too but I feel like my tones and pronunciation are better. But either way great job Mark! I get very nervous speaking Chinese in front of crowds.
As an english native speaker and never lived in china, his mandarin is good enough!
new google translation program was put into marks metal brain before the q and a session
Mark is so cute and adorable. Gotta love this tech entrepreneur!
He's STRAIGHT and married so back off
他很聪明。 His vocabulary is very broad for not having lived in China.
I don't speak Chinese cos i am from india but mark Chinese is perfect i knew it from the subtitle 👍👍👍
First of all I wanna Thanks so much to FB which he and his friend Created .Because of FB I/We all can have a very easy and good connection with my families ,Relatives, Friends around the World .So thankful To him and his friend as well . He and his wife is Wonderful & Very Smart I must say. He /both husband and wife are so calm and cool .They are so rich but ,they didn't showed anything Wonderful Couple !! they look so respectful and very kind too .They are sincere and lived their life simple . I wish them and their families may God Bless them ,watching and protecting them as usual . I 'm so proud of him that he speaks Chinese so well .Amazing Guy !!! :) Shair,Shair Ne !!!
his chinese is little more better than mine, for the same reason. My ex-wife was chinese. This help a lot!
+Michele Agosteo Notice how when he is asked a question not pre-screened he didn't understand!
We see the Chinese people embracing his hard work and diligence to learning Mandarin Chinese. However the same energy is not present in North America, instead we seem to discourage and mock those who cannot speak english. The mentality of the two cultures is a clear line between the thought processes positioned on opposite sides of the "cultural mentality spectrum".
Умничка! Не взирая на слабое произношение, он старается! 👏Very cute ! He is amazing, despite of his bad pronunciation ,he is doing his best !!!!👍👍👍👍
I am a native speaker and I can only understand 20% of what he said. There are five tones in Mandarin, you can't change any tone or the meaning is different. The same syllable can be pronounced with different tones, and the meaning will change. If he speaks like this on the street, people will have a very hard time understanding what he says.
Think about it this way.
What if Zuckerberg asked your advice: "I'm about to have a talk with Chinese university students. Should I go crazy and pull the talk in Chinese? My Chinese is not 100% perfect but I should be able to cobble it together."
Would you really answer "No, you have to practice much more in your privacy." or rather "If you have the balls, that would be a cool challenge."
It's easy to point flaws in his pronunciation, but in the end of the day, he did the right thing.
对于外国人来说，说得蛮好的，我都基本听懂了。i could understand the most of what he said
Oh c'mon guys, don't expect him to have a perfect mandarin (汉语）he's not a native speaker, the principal use of a language is communicate what you want to say, as a Chinese student speak as he does is one of my goals
哈哈哈哈
Mark 學習中文很難
沒錯
真的很難加油多學習中文
他的普通话是非常好! 他的难工作不难见。恭喜您! 加油!
I have been learning Chinese for 5 days and I understood nothing. )
keep moving, u will get it. 最好能进入一个汉语环境，你会进步的很快
😂😂😂
this is fuckin epic! this video needs its own facebook page. what kind of chinese, and dialect is he speaking?
he's speaking mandarin, but he doesn't have a dialect due to his VERY thick accent. but his CHinese is pretty good for just learning for a couple of years? i think. (coming from my point of view. aka a fluent mandarin speaker who speaks mandarin everyday)
EXO-L
Its probably early to learn a language when you can hire 20+ teachers to follow you around all day