Mandarin gets mandatory

If Mark Zuckerberg can do it, so can Julie Sinnamon.

Zuckerberg, the brainbox billionaire who founded Facebook, stunned a Beijing audience last month by addressing them in Mandarin, even if one unkind commentator said he sounded like "an articulate 7-year-old with a mouth full of marbles".

Perhaps he inspired Enterprise Ireland boss Sinnamon, who opened her speech at the CEO Forum in Dublin Castle on Wednesday morning with a dash of Mandarin. She did it to make a point: "If you want to be taken seriously in China, you need a minimum level of Chinese."

Not just if you want to be taken seriously. It also goes down well if want to be taken as a joke. Just look at US-Irish comedian Des Bishop, who is giving stand-up shows in Mandarin just 18 months after learning his first words.