My First Public Speech in Chinese - Elementary Level

billglover
 October 12, 2008, 09:44 PM posted in General Discussion

Come sometime on Friday afternoon I will be making a speech to around fifty close family and friends. Some of that speech (well enough to apologise that I need to switch back to English) is going to be in Chinese.

I've spent an evening on ChinesePod, Google Translate and Bablefish trying to put something together. I don't know how bad it's going to be, but I'm going to give it a go.

I would only rate myself as an Elementary level student, so mistakes are garuanteed. Anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you get on?

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sebire
 October 12, 2008, 10:18 PM

Good luck! How much are you intending to say in Chinese, a paragraph or two? Perhaps you should run it past a native first?

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xiaohu
 October 12, 2008, 11:54 PM

billgloveruk

I for one would be happy to help you draft something up, and there are many native speakers who, I'm sure would also help you draft something that's suitable for your level.

If you need my help, just e-mail me at: xiaohucai@gmail.com

 

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tvan
 October 13, 2008, 01:13 AM

PowerPoint works well.  Even if nobody understands you, they at least get the gist from the characters on the slide.  Also, if you know you have problems with a certain phrase, you can point to it as you say it.