In a harvard business school class this week, we discussed the supply chain management system of a leading Chinese manufacturing company, tentatively called its x company. Surprisingly, ms. Y, the protagonist of the case and the global supply chain director of X Company, parachuted into the class before the class and discussed business development with the students at close range. As a Chinese student, my pride is overflowing with words - Y Company is also an absolute industry leader in the world.
As soon as Ms. Y appeared, she was favored by the whole class. She is young and temperamental, easy-going and without losing the competence of a leader. Professors and classmates are looking forward to her sharing. This was Harvard, and for the next twenty minutes, she needed to speak English the whole time.
"i am very honored to have this opportunity to meet you today..." (I was honored to have the opportunity to meet you today) Ms. Y opened with a smile and applause. After the greeting, Ms. Y went straight to the point, and I began to feel strange from then on.
This strangeness comes from Ms. Y's English. To be fair, her pronunciation is excellent among the Chinese, the speed of speech is moderate and clear, and the problem is all in her wording. Apparently, she was speaking chinglish, "Chinese English", and almost all the sentences were literal translations from Chinese to English.
"She's a native of China, and it's good to be able to speak in English." While secretly cheering her up, I was also nervous, afraid that she would make jokes about saying the wrong thing in the future. In a foreign country, identity and instinct make me want every fellow citizen to be well.
Helplessly, what I was worried about happened. When talking about employee management, Ms. Y smiled and said the sentence in her gentle and clear tone: when my people make stupid mistakes, i take care of their shit. (When my team makes stupid mistakes, I take responsibility for them.) ）
I'm sure she wants to say this sentence in parentheses, or maybe she wants to humor and use a Chinese proverb that "when so-and-so does something wrong, I wipe his ass" ("wiping ass" means to take care of the aftermath and solve the problem). Sadly, she didn't realize that she had uttered a phrase that at that moment was enough to describe it as "shocking"—shit means shit, and take care of the shit can't be literally translated as Chinese "responsible for xx" /"wipe xx's ass". Well, even if it could be understood that way, this expression was crude and unusual, and should never be used in formal lectures, let alone in a Harvard Business School classroom. It doesn't hurt for an unguarded man to bite a, but Ms. Y is an elegant and dignified executive of a multinational company...
Hearing the moment of shit, the whole class was stunned. Out of respect, some classmates are very stoic and try to keep their faces from changing their color; some classmates can't calm down, they stare wide-eyed, and exchange incredible looks with the people around them, and even a few classmates look at me from China, meaning probably: leo, can you help me confirm what she just said is "shit"? really...?
After taking care of the shit, Ms. Y said a few more thunderous words, and even the professor's look began to be embarrassed. At that moment, I really wished I could go on stage to help her do simultaneous interpretation, or to help her explain, round the field, eliminate misunderstandings, I hope that time can pass a little faster, a little faster...
This embarrassment due to english problems was no accident. At Harvard Business School, there are often top companies from China who do recruitment seminars, and there are always famous executives who attend short-term training here. I am reminded of another thunderous incident earlier this semester: One day, as a student assistant, I had dinner with a domestic financial predator and professors on a business trip to Harvard. After three rounds of drinking, the predator was no longer restrained and began to chat awkwardly with the crowd in English. There was a pleasant white female professor on the bureau. The predator looked at her and suddenly said, "You know, you have a good-for-husband face!"
Can you know what he's trying to say through this sentence? Maybe—" You're a wanfu! "(There is no such expression in English) But forgive me for being unresponsive, I was stunned and didn't understand. In fact, not only me, but all the old beauties present did not understand.
“your face, very good for husband! very good!” The predator complimented again. Seeing that everyone was dumbfounded and confused, the predator suddenly stabbed me and said, Leo, do you agree? Isn't her face a wanfu? You help me tell everyone what "Wangfu" is, hahaha.
I can't help but think back to last month, a domestic aircraft carrier-level Internet company (tentatively known as Z Company) came to Harvard for a sharing meeting. Z Company is the pride of the Chinese nation that resounds as a hard state, and it is in the world. At that time, because of the time conflict, I regrettably did not go to the scene. But a large number of my old American classmates all participated, and it can be said that they flocked to see the style of China's top brand enterprises. I am naturally happy to see that Americans are so enthusiastic about the businesses in our country.
After the sharing session, I met two American classmates on the road who were very familiar. I asked them how they were, did they gain anything? Without thinking about it, they complained: "Leo, to be honest, this event is disappointing. I'm sorry, but it may make you uncomfortable to say this, but the Z Company HR Director from Beijing has almost no presentation ability. Well, maybe it's just because they don't speak English very well. Aside from the fact that the interactive session of sending the company's mascot plush toy was a little better, other times I couldn't believe that this was a briefing for one of the largest Chinese companies. I wanted to apply for their summer internship, but this event almost extinguished all my illusions..."
Jokes and misunderstandings made because of Chinese English are staged every day in all corners of the world. You, me, and he can be perpetrators and victims at any time.
Returning to the above example, it is true that the global influence of X and Z is obvious to all, but it is not enough to have a brilliant performance. In the international arena, our national enterprises also need to be very proactive – in an Environment where English is the communication tool, they need executives with strong English skills who can make beautiful presentations in front of foreigners, rather than embarrassing people with Chinese English. The light is hilarious, and the heavy causes displeasure and disputes, and even damages the company's image and loses business orders.
Of course, to digress, English is by no means only a big head for the Chinese people, but also the neighbors of East Asia, Japan and South Korea. Ever heard this (unassailable) joke? The Japanese prime minister forced a few English conversations to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. I wanted to say the first sentence of the formula dialogue, "How are you?" (How are you?) But because of the nervousness, it became "who are you?" (who are you?) Obama was dumbfounded, but still responded politely in a joking manner, "Well, i'm michelle's husband. hahah.” (I'm Michelle Obama's husband, haha.) The Japanese prime minister then replied with a pre-memorized phrase : "me too!" (Me too!) ）
Take another look at your own black history. When I first came to Yale for my freshman year, I was not very good at English, and even though I got to 110+ on the TOEFL test, my spoken language was still relatively catchy. One day, I was chatting with a couple of American classmates. One of the buddies is working out and his muscles are changing rapidly. Watching him show off his abs, I wanted to ask him, "How strong are you going to be?" In fact, I can ask questions in the simplest colloquial language, such as "hey, how muscular do you wanna be?" But then I came across a new word on a TV talk show called "hunk," which means "big guy, big guy." It is said that it is recognized, but in fact, its use is still ambiguous. Hunk is An American slang word, and I thought it was cool, so I asked this question: to what extent do you want to become a hunk? (What extent do you want to become a big guy?) ）
Instantly translated into Chinese, this question is also extremely weird and awkward, not to mention the wonderful mixture of the crepe phrase to what extent (to xx extent) and the casual slang word hunk. Listening to my question, several American classmates were stunned at first, and then burst into laughter at the same time. "Hahahahaha, leo, this question is too classic. Haha..."
These frustrating real events that I have experienced reflect a frustrating truth: at least in this era, English is still the first international language. No matter how confident you are, how bullish you are, how much you look down on the West and Westerners, when dealing with foreigners, you still have to use English most of the time. Therefore, no matter how reluctant and how much you want to scold the mother, you have to force yourself to learn and use English well.
How to say goodbye to Chinese English? Based on the process of learning and using English from the age of 9 to the present, I can responsibly tell you that there is no shortcut to killing chinglish. Only by constantly tempering and constantly encountering walls and accumulating and summarizing can we finally achieve positive results.
The most effective way is to immerse yourself in an authentic English learning environment as much as possible. It doesn't matter if you don't have the opportunity to study in an English-speaking country, learning English at home is not an excuse to learn English badly. One way to help me is to find more good audiovisual material to practice, such as classic speeches on various subjects — Oscar acceptance speeches (I was impressed by Harry Berry's tearful impromptu speech when she won Best Actress), college commencement speeches (such as Jobs's speech at Stanford University, Jk Rowling's speech at Harvard), and public assembly speeches (such as Martin Luther King's i have adream). You may wish to imitate the video and speech text, summarize the most authentic expression methods in the manuscript, and even recite the whole text and turn it into your own dry goods.
You can also consciously check some information, such as "Chinese English summary", give yourself a preventive injection in advance, and avoid all wrong statements. When communicating with foreigners in English, try to force yourself not to translate Chinese literally into English, but to organize the language directly in English thinking - this is not difficult, it takes time to reach this realm, but you have to believe that one day you will be able to talk and laugh in English "without thinking".
We have to remember that hard power is not enough; sometimes, "speaking" is more important. Being able to explain things in English is a technique that you can master after hard work, not a profound art. If you want to make some achievements on the international stage, whether you are an individual or a business, you must work harder in English.
Of course, we should also look forward to the real rise of mother tongue Chinese.