Hello, everyone Welcome back In the previous two sessions, we talked about how we are going to build up a new building, which is called English speeches and presentations In the first session, we talk about our blueprint, how we are going to build up this big building And in the second session, we lay out one cornerstone, which was called “pronunciation and intonation” And today we are going to talk about how you deliver a speech or presentation in an intercultural perspective Ok, to begin with, I would say how many of you will feel that you are not very comfortable when you are required to speak to a group of people from other cultures? You don’t even know their languages, you don’t know about their culture, and you don’t know what to say So many times when Chinese, they are first confronted with international group of people, most of times, we were at a loss To make a simile out of this, you can imagine to deliver a cross-cultural speech, it’s like to trespass a landmine zone And you know they are dangerous somewhere, you don’t know, you don’t want to touch those mines.Right? So what’s would be your best hope? Or some would say, I hope there will be a guinea pig So it can do all the tasks and know where is safe Yes, someone will say I hope there will be someone who actually made it and came back and tell me which way is safer, right? Hopefully, he or she will tell me how I can equip myself with all the necessary equipments So I can make a safe route And to make that efforts better, we prefer to do a teamwork, if there are a lot of us, we are doing the same thing, and then we’ll find ourselves in a more advantageous position And this is why I want to share in the beginning my own story I was one of guinea pigs and fortunately I made it And this is the first story that I want to share with you would be my election speech for HEC MBA Students’ Union that in 2002, October Ok, to give you a better picture about that election, I would like to give you some background about the program I’ve taken The MBA Students’ Union was called HEC MBA program We pronounce it in French way “HEC” in English, in French, we say “HEC” I would like ask you to repeat after me because I didn’t donate so much money to HEC, but I believe I can make this name more popular Most Chinese, you would say “HEC” Ok, this is the very MBA School, claimed to be, actually, the No.1 in history, which means it got the longest history in running a business school And it was also very prestigious in the way that it is always recruiting a group of international students To take my class as an example We got more than 200 students from 42 nations, so it’s quite international body And people were smart, the average GMAT score was 690 And those are experienced people, the average working experience was 9 years And some will say because it is in France, then French culture will be the dominant one Nobody conceit so because 30% are from France So it’s quite international students’ body and no one will know which culture prevail or what you do will attract supports So nobody really knows that And then one month after we were admitted and news come that we were running election for this students’ association And my fellow Chinese students, they told me, “Hongyan, why don’t you go? You know, you have made so many English lectures back in China, ok, so just five minutes Here you go, we’ll support you” So I was pushed up And at that time, we had no knowledge about the cultures about election campaigns, we really do not know I mean, others are better prepared Like some of them, they would distribute their fliers, and they would say this is what they want to do if they got elected And they distributed this and they printed it and distributed this to your mail-box So you see some fliers from them And some did a very good preparation, one Italian guy, who was from Sicily, he got a very powerful uncle, a politician And he was kind of rich and from a very influential family, so I clearly remember the day we were holding this election speech On that very morning, we have a marketing class You know, there was a case, there was related with Italian Telecom And this candidate actually invited the CEO of Italian Telecom and to do online telephone interview right in the classroom actually And professor was so happy he praised that candidate by his name 3 times He was very confident, you know, everybody knows his name Some would like to do a little bit bribery, we say a gift, ok? Some candidates printed name cards for the rest of the class, I mean a pack of name card in Europe is kind of expensive It’s not like in China In China, it’s been like 30 kuai, right? But in Europe, it may require 20 Euro, that equals at that time, 200 RMB It is kind of expensive, but he did it But nobody will know whether this will work or not For this is the funniest part And also there were candidates who held parties, they invited the whole class to come, and to make them known to others It happens a lot, some will simply come and drink those free drinks and free beer, but still got no knowledge about their names It happens a lot Ok, so what did we do? Nothing, but a preparation for a five-minute English speech That’s what we did Well, and then I would you like to know what really happened, I am going to reproduce the whole situation again So what happened that day? Actually, that night Right in the binning, we have observed another,a very, you know, emotional and appealing image, a little boy came with his mother, and there was a label, here, and says, “Vote for my daddy!” you see, they are campaigning all the time with all occasions And here we come, what did he say in the beginning? “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen My name is Hongyan, if you really wanna practice your Chinese once in your whole life, you can start by my name” OK, this is what I said in the beginning And then it was so strange that they surprised me, they really started to practice outside Some would say, “hongyan” and clearly they were wrong You know, most French, they do not pronounce this “H” sound, so they simply say “ongyan” And I repeated “Hongyan”, and they say “ongyan” ”Hongyan!” “ongyan…” ok, later we find out that my name was repeated three times, actually And then I continued For those who find it too difficult, you can simply call me David You know, later on I found out nobody tried to call me David, they all tried to remember my name to prove they are not a steward, you know they want to be a giant in language And then I showed them this picture “So why I come here tonight, I just heard they need a cook in their students’ association Basicly, I believe that they are kind of doing the same thing I don’t see why a good cook cannot be a good BDE member Here I made this point And you know what China are famous for, originally, china, and now, the whole world, they would like to eat Chinese cuisine, and they have met so many successful restaurant owners in Europe I remembered once I was travelling in Italy, and on an airplane, the guy who was sitting beside me who clearly, an Indian, he was asking me, “Just tell me, how big is your restaurant?” ok, they assumed people who look very healthy and kind of fat would be an owner of Chinese restaurant or something Ok, when I showed this picture, everybody laughed Ok, it’s a Chinese cook And here are the whole things that out of here and then I started my reasoning “NO1，they both do teamwork Say, if we want to organize a dinner party, I would ask, “Hi, Hans， could you please run to the supermarket and get back two kilos of beef” Hans was a Canadian guy, you know, he was very strong, as far as I can remember, he simply wear underwear in classroom In winter, I mean He was very strong Monique is an American blonde, who just made her speech five minutes ago “I would appreciate that very much if you can help me cut the meat! You know, we were doing Jiaozi(dumplings) or something whatever, we need someone to cut the meat This sounds bazzar to everyone, you know, to ask an elegant lady to make the meat-cutting But, you know, it was fun, people loved that “NO2，they both do back-stage work Many times you have a very good dinner at the restaurant, seldom will you see the cook come in front of you and say you that he cooked those delicious food you just enjoyed For the same reason， you must not know who have organized the party last night” We are talking about party, and those were make campaigns and I didn’t expect that the two guys who actually organized that party raised up and waved their hands to others You know, this is their culture They did this, and they wanted others to know them by their names And as I said, “Olivier and Christophe! How many drinks did you guys have last night?” And they answered me on public And they said, “Well, I have no time to drink” Another said, “Not even one” You know, they were busy serving the rest of the people who crowed here for free drinks, you know So after that, I made my third point “No3，I believe， ladies and gentlemen， we are not here tonight to decide who is the smartest guy among us I know many of you are smarter than I am， we are here to decide who is more willing to serve the public interest By saying this, I was telling the truth You know, they were really real smart guys in my class, you know, the guy in the first day in an orientation party, and meet each other and then on the second day, he called your name in your own language for the whole class, you know There were classmates who kind of spoke seven languages They were language genius, and you know, there are many genius in my class And then, I said ”If a man loves cooking， he must love his family A man who does not love his family normally does not cook So，girls，if you get married, do ask him if he can cook” And the ladies laughed” A man will serve the public only if he loves his family in the first place And a man who loves cooking must love his family So a good cook makes a good BDE member” Here comes the logic You know, the westerner, they prefer if you are reasoning critically, they liked that Some of them are very slow in critical reasoning, so I remembered when I said this, there were laughter and applauses, but they came to me in batches I mean, some didn’t got that, and he got some hints from others, and they started to laugh Ok, I believe that everyone got a point, actually And then I said, “How many of you believe I am a good cook?” Again, I didn’t expect that they would be any response, but what really happened was, you know, in the beginning of this semester, I have invited the five other group mates to my apartment, my wife and I, we cooked a dinner We held a Chinese dinner party for them, and they loved that And now they are President, and they can’t wait to agree with me And they knocked on the table, and they said,“Well, I know I know you are, a good cook!” ok, actually, this is a rhetoric means, when we call, it is a pun it is a pun But we take it literally, ok? You can also take it as true that it is literally Good cook And then I continued, For those who are not so sure， I will convince you in the near future!” And then as far as I recollected, many of my fellow classmates, hey do take this literally So that means next time you made them and they would say, “Hi, President, when you invite me to your apartment to have dinner?” And what happened that later, I did invite some of my classmates, you know, that’s a Chinese way of communicating, socializing with people, we do like to socialize with people in a very noisy, café bar or something, you don’t like it, but if you invite him or her to your apartment and have dinner together, you have a long time to know about each other Yes, this is the Chinese way And then I identified some key issues, something that people care And today I really, really forget what I have said about that time, just some small things, but it doesn’t matter, and I got time limits, five minutes, you see So it was very soon, until I said this, Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen Since I do not have much time to talk about my action plan after being elected, I will deliver the menu directly to your email box very soon Thank you!” and for this, I ended my speech and they gave the longest applause ever for that night, ok? I mean, it took two days for the message to spread around campus, and it turns out it worked by 70% of the whole class voted for me I was fortunately, I would say, unfortunately, elected as the President of Students’ Union of this 100 year-old prestigious University and for their MBA program Here you can see the picture, when here This is Hans from Canada, and Jane from United States, Gianglugi from Italy, Cecilia, a guy from Canada, from Brazil and from France So this is a totally international group of people, you know, we fought against each other every day, probably, because you know, there was so many issues to take care of I was received and encouraged by, at that time, Ambassador Wu Jianmin, and he came to campus, and he demanded me, “Hongyan, how did you make it? I’ve been here in France for many years, I know French people are so, inside of, in the bottom of their heart, they are so proud of their own culture, their own language It is hard for them to accept a foreigner, especially a Chinese!” And at that time I really got no idea how did I make this, you know, and later on I spent a lot of time, researching on how a Chinese, can better communicate himself or herself to the whole world I believe this is also the lesson most Chinese, they want to spend sometime on.
