A Viral Music Video in China Pokes Fun at Xiaomi CEO’s Imperfect English · Global Voices
Screen capture from YouTube.
<PERSON>, the founder and CEO of Chinese tech firm Xiaomi, is the latest public figure to be autotuned.
The company unveiled its latest smartphone, the Mi 4i, which is specially designed for the Indian market, in New Delhi on April 24. Near the end of the launch event, <PERSON> joined Vice President of International <PERSON> on stage and announced that they would give everyone in the audience one of the brand's fitness trackers called Mi Band. As the crowd cheered, <PERSON> asked the gathered Indian Mi fans in English, “Are you OK?” — a phrase which usually implies something is wrong. <PERSON> probably meant “Do you like that?” or “Are you happy?”
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<PERSON>, an user on Chinese cartoon video website BiliBili, remixed that phrase and others to the tune of German singer <PERSON> “Angelina,” creating a music video titled “Shaking with Boss Lei Jun! Are you OK?” The video has since gone viral on the Chinese web:
Responding to the attention that his English-language address was receiving, <PERSON> wrote three days later on microblogging platform Sina Weibo:
上周四小米印度发布会，@HugoBarra 主讲，我上台讲了几句英文，主要是想娱乐一下印度米粉。万万没想到，视频火速传到国内，全国人民都笑了[吃惊][吃惊][吃惊]
现在国际米粉越来越多，我的确应该把英文学好，不让大家失望！加油！
At the launch event last Thursday, over which <PERSON> presided, I wanted to delight Indian Mi fans by speaking a bit of English. It never occurred to me that [my speech] video would rapidly spread across the country and amuse my fellow Chinese [Awkward Emoji][Awkward Emoji][Awkward Emoji]
As Mi fans grow in numbers around the globe, indeed, I should learn English well, and I will not disappoint everyone. Cheer up!
Many Chinese netizens have poked fun at <PERSON>'s English in the comments section of his post, like this one:
雷总，这不怪你，当年我们隔壁班的英语老师就是这样教的！[嘻嘻]
Boss <PERSON>, forget about it. The English teacher next to our classroom back then had a same teaching style as you demonstrated! [Giggle Emoji]
<PERSON>, the celebrity son of Asia’s richest person <PERSON> whose fortune was estimated over $35 billion, even commented on <PERSON>'s language skills:
其实英语不好的企业家，我真建议你们就干脆别出国掉这脸。
I advise entrepreneurs who have poor English to not disgrace themselves overseas. 153