image: Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, a country led to independence by Mandarin-speaking Lee Kuan Yew | Wikipedia





It’s hard to stay motivated when learning Chinese.

Your goal - fluency - seems abstract and far away. Yet the studying you’re doing right now is hard.

It’s too easy to feel tempted to quit. Or at least to stop studying right now.

But I want to keep you inspired. So you can actually get to fluency.

That’s why I wrote this post. Read on to see the story of several famous non-Chinese who all succeeded in learning Mandarin - as adults.

You’ll also show how all these learners benefited hugely from their new fluency.

You can get the same benefits. Just stick with it!





Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, is probably the most famous example here.

In October 2014, he showed of his Mandarin skills at Tsinghua University, Beijing. Despite only having studied in his free time he managed to give a half hour Q&A entirely in Mandarin.

Audience members were surprised - but extremely supportive of Zuckerberg’s efforts to speak their language.

You can see the Q&A, including the audience reaction, in the video below.

Apart from being cool, knowledge of Chinese will undoubtedly benefit Zuckerberg and his company.

That’s because people tend to be flattered if you learn their language. They take it as a sign of respect and a gesture of friendship.

Zuckerberg has now flattered many Chinese people and made himself popular within the country. You can see how popular speaking Mandarin made him just from the video.

Chinese netizens also seem pleased; there were lots of supportive comments on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Popularity is a good thing in itself. But it will also be financially beneficial to Zuckerberg as he tries to do business (or anything else) in China.



Herbert Hoover

Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, picked up Mandarin. He did this in just 2 years - whilst working in China as a mining engineer. Impressive!

I’ve only been able to find one thing for which Hoover used his Chinese skills once back in the USA. That was spying on Chinese delegations to the White House!

OK so maybe this isn’t that inspiring. But I suppose it does show how useful a language can be…

Hoover certainly gained an advantage in negotiations from secretly knowing what Chinese delegations really wanted!





Kevin Rudd

Rudd was the Prime Minister of Australia between 2007 and 2010 and then again during 2013. For all of this time, he was able to speak Mandarin fluently - having studied it at university.

Mandarin was and is an essential part of his (very successful) career.

First let’s look at how he got into politics: He became a diplomat posted to Beijing.

Without his knowledge of Mandarin, it’s unlikely he would have gotten this post. After all, being able to speak the language of the country you’re negotiating with is a pretty important skill for a diplomat.

Being a diplomat was Rudd’s first step on the political ladder. And, as the Chinese proverb goes, 千里之行,始于足下 - a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. So who knows? Maybe if Rudd hadn’t learned Chinese, and so got the diplomat job, he never would have made it to Prime Minister.

During his time as Australia’s leader, Rudd was again helped by his Chinese knowledge.

I found several posts on the internet where Chinese citizens said they liked Australia more as a result of its prime minister knowing their language. As with Zuckerberg, they were flattered.

Being liked would certainly have helped Rudd as he tried to broker deals. Moreover, he created Chinese good feeling towards the entire Australian nation. So businessmen and other Australians benefitted too.

Mandarin also helped Rudd in that it made his meetings with Chinese politicians effectively twice as long: He didn’t have to waste time with interpreters!

Even after he left office, Rudd has found good use for his Mandarin skills.

He’s a visiting Professor at Tsinghua University (The same place as Zuckerberg’s Q&A)



He sits on the International Advisory Committee of Peking University



And he co-Chairs the China Global Affairs Council of the World Economic Forum



These positions will all gain him credit when he stands for UN Secretary General next year.

That’s an illustrious career - and one that’s pretty dependent on the Chinese language.





Lee Kuan Yew

Lee (yes, that’s his surname) was the founding father of Singapore. He is most likely the reason why the country turned “from Third World to First” in just one generation.

Lee passionately believed in the importance of speaking Chinese. That’s why he learned 2 dialects - Mandarin and Hokkien - as an adult.

Here he is delivering a speech in Mandarin:

And here he is delivering a speech in Hokkien:

Moreover, Lee instituted a “bilingual policy” in Singapore’s schools. Students were taught in English and their “ethnic language”. For most of Singapore’s population this language was Mandarin.

The policy meant that many Singaporeans grew up able to speak Mandarin - when they wouldn’t have done otherwise.

The results speak for themselves:

This Singaporean Forbes writer says that her resulting bilingualism shaped her career



This paper sites the policy as contributing to the country’s economic success



The paper also says the policy is largely responsible for Singapore’s social cohesion.



In short, Lee’s perseverance with Mandarin helped not just him - but his whole country.





Dashan

Last example!

大山 (Dashan) is the stage-name of Mark Rowswell, a Canadian performer and comedian

Dashan isn’t at all famous in the West. The only exception to this is in Canada - where he’s received honors for his promoting Sino-Canadian relations. He’s received the Key to the City of Ottawa and was made a member of The Order of Canada.

Here’s why Canada gave their countryman these honors: In China, he’s incredibly successful.

He’s been awarded a White Magnolia Award. This is the Chinese equivalent to an Oscar. He’s the first non-Chinese to have ever gotten one.



He was also the first non-Chinese to get the Outstanding Youth of Beijing honor.



He has more than 5 million followers on Weibo. (As mentioned, this is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter).



And to continue the theme that you’ve hopefully spotted by now: Dashan’s success is largely due to his Mandarin speaking.

His Chinese debut was on CCTV’s New Year Gala. Viewers were shocked - Dashan didn’t just speak Chinese, he spoke it really well. (Have a look at this Quora discussion to see how great people think his Chinese is). His popularity rocketed from there onward.

I’m not saying that speaking great Mandarin will turn you into a media star. But it will definitely help you be respected / liked if you go to China.





Wrapping up

The thing that links all the people here (maybe with the exception of Hoover), is that they shared the view epitomised by this Nelson Mandela quote:

"If you speak to a man in a language he speaks, it goes to his head. If you speak to a man in his language, it goes to his heart.”

Zuckerberg could have spoken English in that Q&A. The room was full of advanced business students - they would all have understood him.

Yet he choose to speak Mandarin because the audience - and the rest of China - were more receptive that way. It’s the same story with Lee Kuan Yew and Kevin Rudd.

They all understood that people like to be spoken to in their native language. And trying to do this will make you popular with those people.

This is what helped the politicians, businessman and entertainer above succeed.

It’s a pretty good reason to keep improving your Chinese.

Post by Ollie Guest of Chinese Musings

Twitter @ChineseMusings