Paddy Ashdown speaks … Mandarin Chinese

Did you know that Paddy Ashdown, one time leader of the Liberal Party  in the UK and British Diplomat,  is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is a fully qualified Chinese Mandarin interpreter?

Find out how to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese and get the Chinese language advantage>>

After trying to teach himself Chinese, Paddy Ashdown learnt his Mandarin Chinese during a Royal Naval interpreter at the joint services language school in Hong Kong.   In 1970, way ahead of his time, he gained a first-class interpretership in Chinese, recognised by the civil service at the time as the equivalent of a first-class degree in the language.   He claims, however, that he failed his French O-level miserably.

Read more about Paddy Ashdown’s Chinese learning in his biography A Fortunate Life.