——专访英语口语快线事业部总监马赛龙

<INTERVIEWER>Good morning Marcelo, before we start our chat today I would like to confirm one thing. 

Is it true you left Brazil in the middle of the World Cup to come to Beijing?

记者：马赛龙你好！在开始今天的访谈之前，我想先证实一件事情。你真是在世界杯举办期间从巴西飞来北京的吗？

<MARCELO> haha yes, that is true. I was visiting my hometown, Rio de Janeiro, while the Brazilian team was still doing well in the tournament. I even had the chance of watching a game in the Maracanã stadium.It was quite an experience.

马赛龙：哈哈，没错。里约是我老家，去那儿算是故地重游吧。巴西队当时表现不错，我还真去马拉卡纳球场看了场比赛，感觉棒极了。

<INTERVIEWER> I am glad you made it here. Welcome to Beijing!

记者：很高兴能在北京见到你，欢迎欢迎！

<MARCELO>Thank you. It’s my pleasure and honor to talk to you and your distinguished readers.

马赛龙：谢谢！很荣幸能接受你的采访，也请向各位读者转达我的敬意。

<INTERVIEWER>Let us start talking a bit about how you came to Beijing.

记者：先说说你是怎么来北京的吧。

Your background is very unique. You grew up in Brazil, worked in investment banking in London, studied MBA at MIT in the US and founded an education startup.  What made you decide to chase your dream in China?

我看了你的个人经历，很不寻常。你在巴西长大，曾在伦敦做投行工作，之后去美国麻省理工学院读MBA，毕业后创办了一家教育机构。你为什么会打算选择在中国发展呢？

<MARCELO>My dream is to use my international business experience in England, knowledge acquired at MIT and techniques developed in the startup world, to make a true impact in Education.

马赛龙：我的梦想是利用我在英国的工作经历，在MIT学到的商业知识，以及在创业中获得的经营技能为教育行业带来改变。

I also love living in China.

而且我也很喜欢中国的生活。

With China’s approach to education undergoing such significant change, moving here combined my passion and desire!

中国的教育行业正在发生巨变，我来到这儿可谓是满腔热忱也满怀希望。

<INTERVIEWER> You spent most of your career in investment banking. Why now education?

记者：可你之前一直在投行工作，为什么会对教育行业发生兴趣呢？

<MARCELO> My passion for education comes a long way, particularly for learning new languages.

马赛龙：我对教育的兴趣可谓由来已久，特别是对语言学习，尤其感兴趣。

I grew up in an English-Portuguese bilingual home in Rio de Janeiro. Both my parents can speak 5 languages and they gave me the opportunity of learning foreign languages from a very early age.

Throughout my life I acquired the ability of speaking 7 languages. Mandarin was the latest one, and the one I enjoyed learning the most.

As an ever-inquisitive student, I have always sought to experiment on myself different techniques to learning languages.

我在里约长大，一直接触的是一个英葡双语环境。我父母俩都能讲5门语言，所以我从很小的时候就有机会学习外语了。

目前为止我陆陆续续掌握了7门外语，最近我正在学汉语，这也是我最喜欢的一门语言。

我是个特别有好奇心的人，一直都乐于尝试用不同的方法学习语言。

<INTERVIEWER> Still, quitting a prestigious job in a promising career is a very courageous move. How did you decide to take the leap? Were your family and friends supportive of your decision?

记者：可是你原先有那么令人羡慕的工作，前途无量啊，选择转行真的需要很大勇气，你是怎么下定决心跨出这一步的？家人和朋友都支持你的决定吗？

<MARCELO>Society hasn’t changed much it’s approach to education for centuries. I feel that technology and globalization is allowing society for the first time in history to seriously consider revolutionizing its approach to education.

马赛龙：我们现行的教育模式几百年前就在用了，没有任何变化。我觉得技术的进步和全球化的趋势给了我们一个机会，能够给这个传统行业带来新意。

A prestigious career in investment banking wasn’t attractive enough to hold me from taking part in this much larger and structural change.

投行的工作的确令人羡慕，但还是不足以把我留下，因为我现在做的事情为这个社会带来的变革会更大。

Also it wasn’t a sudden decision. Since early 2011 this interest in innovative education methods flourished into almost an obsession.

By 2012 I was already applying for an MBA at MIT, where I eventually dedicated most of my two years there to developing and testing new techniques for learning foreign languages.

而且呢，这也不是一时冲动随意做的决定。2011年的时候我就已经开始在考虑如何推动教育行业的创新了，而且这个信念越来越坚定。

2012年我开始在MIT读MBA，在MIT两年的时间里我一直在寻找和检验外语学习的新方法。

** The MIT experience **

**在麻省理工学院的经历**

<INTERVIEWER> Since you brought up your experience at MIT. Could you tell us a bit more about life on campus?

记者：你刚才提到你曾就读于麻省理工学院，能不能谈谈在麻省理工的校园生活呢？

Life on MIT campus is exhilarating. The famous expression “Studying at MIT is like drinking water from a Fire Hose” is no exaggeration.

Every single day you have to make the ‘executive decision’ of which unique events you will have to miss out, since the limits of time and space don’t allow you to participate in all of them.

MIT的学习生活很是令人兴奋。有句话大家都很熟悉：“在MIT读书就好比对着高压水枪喝水，”这一点儿不夸张。

每天你都要面临“抉择”，也就是那些事情你不得不放弃，因为时间和空间实在是太有限，有时不可能面面俱到。

Examples of such activities are: Hackathons (weekends dedicated to creating new products and solutions), case competitions, consulting projects for live issues with real startups local and global, design thinking workshops, entrepreneurship labs, info-sessions with CEOs and top scientists among many others.

这些活动包括：比如说“黑客马拉松”（用几个周末的时间去开发新产品或解决方案），案例竞赛，为海内外的初创企业提供咨询意见，设计头脑风暴研讨会，创新思维实验室，会晤各企业CEO以及科学家等等。And finally, since MIT has collaboration with Harvard, this allowed me to take a course at Harvard School Graduate of Education, on the Technology and Innovation of Education.

，因为MIT和哈佛有校级合作关系，我又去哈佛教育学院选修了一门教育技术及创新课程。

<INTERVIEWER>This sounds like a very special experience. I am sure some of our readers are curious about how you got into MIT. Would you have any suggestions for those aspiring to be accepted by MIT?

记者：这些经历听起来的确颇为不俗。我想很多读者也会对另一个问题很感兴趣：你是如何成功申请MIT的？对想申请MIT的同学有没有什么建议？

I learned that the admissions officers are looking for innovators, creative and critical thinkers and most importantly, “doers”.

Success and failure in life are valued the same, so long as you show that you learned from either.

马赛龙：据我所知，招生官会希望申请人有创新精神，有批判性思维，而最重要的，一定要有好的执行力。

成败本是人生的常态，能从当中有所领悟就好。

Character is also on the cards. Otherwise I see no explanation for having been surrounded by so many colleagues with the delightful combination of being over-achievers and an unshakable collaborative and humble personality.

性格也是一个重要考量因素。我周围的同学不仅仅有对成功的强烈渴望，也有极强的团队协作精神，而且待人谦逊，这很说明问题。

And finally, achieving a GMAT score of 730 and TOEFL score of 118, also contributed to the process.

一点，我的GMAT成绩考到730分，托福118分，这对成功申请MIT非常有帮助。

** Moving to China **

**来到中国**

<INTERVIEWER>Thank you. Now coming back to your decision to come to China. You previously mentioned that you loved living in China. How did you discover this?

记者：谢谢。我们再来说说你决定来中国发展这事儿吧。你之前提到过喜欢这里的生活，能具体谈谈吗？

<MARCELO> Actually this discovery is closely linked to my passion for learning new languages.Just before starting my MBA, I decided to spend 5 months in China learning Mandarin.

马赛龙：这其实也和我对语言学习的兴趣有关系。读MBA之前，我决定花5个月时间来中国学习汉语。

In early 2012 I moved to Guilin. I was enchanted by the city’s natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere. I made good Chinese friends and fully immersed in Chinese language and culture.

I ate Guilin 米粉 and played badminton almost everyday.

在2012年初，我到了桂林，那里的自然风光和平和的生活氛围一下子就把我吸引了。我认识一些当地的朋友，完全沉浸在中国文化和语言里面。

在那儿差不多我每天都要吃桂林米粉，还有就是打羽毛球。

I became obsessed with coming back to China ever since.

从那时起我就决心一定还要回来。

I suppose there is truth to the saying 桂林山水甲天下.

所谓“桂林山水甲天下”，一点儿不错。

<INTERVIEWER>Guilin is truly a beautiful place. How do you feel about moving to Beijing?

记者：桂林风景的确很美。那又是怎么来北京的？

<MARCELO> Guilin will always have a special place in my heart. But my passion is in making a difference in education. Beijing is where this transformation is taking place.

马赛龙：桂林在我心里有着特殊的地位，但我的理想是为教育行业带来改变，北京在这方面有更大的施展空间。

Also I was happy to discover that most Bejingers I met so far don’t carry the hurried, almost stressful, personality that I often encounter in other large cities like NewYork, Hong Kong and London.

I am truly happy with my decision to move here.

而且我也很高兴看到很多我遇到的北京人都很平和，不会给人压迫感，这和我在纽约、香港、伦敦这样的大城市的感受很不同。

我想我决定来北京是对的。

** English Express – Taking on a new challenge **

**口语快线– 接受新挑战**

<INTERVIEWER> At the moment there are many people and companies looking to enter the education space. And we all know that China is considered the ‘holy grail’ of the education markets. How do you plan to enter this, as some would say, crowded industry?

记者：现在很多人很多企业都想涉足教育行业。而且当下中国教育市场已成兵家必争之地，能谈谈你的具体计划么？

<MARCELO> This is an excellent question, and I have given it a lot of thought.

马赛龙：问的好，我之前也确实反复考虑过。

In the beginning of this year, I had the chance of meeting Professor Hu Min in Boston in person.

今年年初，我在波士顿见到了胡敏教授。

We soon realized we shared the same vision and passion for education.

我们很快就意识到大家都对教育行业有极大的热情，而且很多看法也极为相似。

Professor Hu Min has almost 30 years of experience in the English language education industry and is currently President of Beijing New Channel School. When he invited me to join him in the journey to transform the way Chinese students learn spoken English through the English Express course, I didn’t have to think very hard.

胡敏教授目前是新航道学校校长，在英语教学方面有近30年的经验。当他提议我们一起携手通过“口语快线”这一全新模式来帮助中国学生学习口语时，我毫不犹豫就答应了。

Combining Professor Hu Min’s great achievements and reputation, with the cutting edge methods and techniques I acquired at MIT and the startup world, we are together taking on the challenge of making English Express the new frontier of English language education -in China.

有胡敏教授在教育行业的建树和影响力，加之我在MIT校园以及创业中积累的先进方法和技能，我们决定齐心协力将口语快线课程在中国推广，将中国的英语教育推向一个新高度。