A year ago when I started with Richloom Fabrics here in Shanghai I made a semi-promise during our Chinese New Year dinner that the following year I would do my best to give some of my speech in Chinese rather than have it translated.
So along with my Chinese teacher the past few months I have worked on this to make good on my promise. I didn't tell anyone in my office I was going to attempt it.
This past Thursday night was our dinner. We had about 70 people total of which probably 60 were local Chinese. I, as the boss of the office, was the first to speak. I called up our GM as he usually translates for me. I started in English saying a few things to him and then to all I said that Paul would translate and I wanted him to see the speech first. I showed him my paper and he says in total shock and laughter "what is this???" Even at this point most people had no clue what I was doing.
Back up a few minutes more and I had just used the rest room and washed my hands. The water was absolutely frigid! I hadn't much to eat since lunch and had consumed a 5 hour energy a few hours ago (basically a caffeine kick). So between cold hands, empty stomach and caffeine I was already shaking...
But then as I stood there looking at everyone staring at me my hands and really my whole body started to shake! I haven't been so nervous to ever speak in public before.
Below is the text of my speech. End result was a fantastic job if I do say so myself. A few mistakes of course but everyone was super impressed. I guess next year I'm going to have to stretch a bit further and do a speech without notes.
By the way my Chinese language skills are piss poor. So that makes the whole thing even more impressive to me.
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