Cultural awareness far from foreign at club

LOS ANGELES－Toastmasters International, a US-headquartered organization that promotes public speaking skills and leadership, has opened a branch in California that pushes the members' language skills a step further.

The members refer to themselves as "lao wai", the word for foreigners in Chinese.

The Lao Wai Jiang Zhongwen Toastmasters, or Chinese-speaking foreigners Toastmasters, is a Mandarin-language club for advanced learners who want to practice their Chinese and public speaking. They meet in El Monte, a community near Los Angeles.

"When we first started this club on our own in 2017, the idea was just to get together with like-minded individuals, and people who have been to China or who were doing business there and to speak Chinese together," Angela Efros, the vice-president of new business development for HG Plus Consulting and club president and co-founder of the Chinese-language club, said. "It's such a big part of our lives."

More than 50 members and guests gathered to celebrate the club's launch and were joined by elected officials including US Congresswoman Judy Chu.

Toastmasters International caters to people of all ages. It was founded in 1924 in California by Ralph C. Smedley and today, through its 16,200 clubs, serves 364,000 diverse members in 145 countries and regions.

Public-speaking skills

The members of the Lao Wai Jiang Zhongwen Toastmasters "wanted to improve their Chinese-language public-speaking skills, and being part of Toastmasters would push us all to the next level," Efros said.

"Even though I'm fluent in Mandarin, like a lot of us are, I've held back from taking more gigs or giving speeches in public. Toastmasters will change that for all of us."

Many members felt there are exciting cultural benefits that could only be shared and appreciated when one learned the native language of another country.

"I think learning a new language helps to understand people on an entirely different level," said club member Natalie Ronquillo, a marketing manager.

"There is something really special about communicating in someone's else's native language that makes the effort well worth it."

Wayne Lee, president of machinery maker Powertec and the club's treasurer, agrees.

He said that while translations are adequate for everyday use, communication in the original Chinese provides "a window into the culture and minimizes misunderstandings" that can be caused by meanings being lost in translation.

The leadership of the Chinese-language Toastmasters is drawn from some of the original club founders from 2017 as well as new faces.

Their goals have evolved into something far more timely and significant, the members say.

Xinhua