In the year 1999, with the help of more than a dozen friends who pooled their resources - some $60,000 - Jack Ma, founded Alibaba, a business-to-business online platform. No one at that time would have thought a small start-up would initiate the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) on Wall Street, earning higher profits than those of interational giants like Amazon.com and eBay combined.
1999年，數位朋友集資6萬美元，幫助馬雲創建了阿里巴巴——一個B2B的在線交易平臺。當時，沒有人會想到這家剛起步的小公司會在華爾街上市，並且融資額超過亞馬遜，eBay等國際巨頭，創下美國市場最大規模IPO紀錄。
Ma’s bold ambitions, which were birthed in a time when China was a digital backwater, were realized last week.
馬雲的無畏抱負在中國數位化落後的年代產生，上周終於得以實現。
The initial public offering, which will raise as much as $25 billion, cements his position as one of China’s richest.
(阿里巴巴)首次公開募股，股指就達到250億美元，使馬雲一躍成為中國首富。
Charismatic and energetic, Ma is nicknamed 「Crazy Jack Ma」 and is seen as China’s version of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, according to AP. And his story of starting an empire from scratch already makes him an inspiration to millions across China.
馬雲的超凡魅力和活力，被美聯社暱稱為「瘋狂的傑克•馬」，將其視為中國的賈伯斯或比爾•蓋茨。而他白手起家創建電商帝國的故事也早已激勵了數百萬中國人。
Ma isn’t just popular because of his wealth. He also possesses communication skills that allow him to communicate with audiences from a wide variety of cultural contexts through roadshows and TV interviews.
馬雲不僅因其財富而出名，在路演與電視採訪中，他還展示出與各文化背景觀眾無障礙交流的強大溝通能力。
Reflecting on his success as a startup manager and English major, we try to analyze how Ma used his language skills to become an international superstar and profound visionary.
不論身為企業創始人還是英語專業畢業生，馬雲都是成功者。下面，就為大家分析馬雲是如何運用他的語言能力成為國際注目的商界明星，成為富有深刻遠見卓識之人。
Underdog who seized the moment
抓住機遇的「失敗者」
Ma failed his college entrance exams twice. He managed to enroll in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt, where he studied English.
經歷了兩次高考落榜後，馬雲終於在第三次勉強考進杭州師範大學學習英語。
He graduated in 1988 and taught English for years at the Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Engineering.
1998年畢業後，他進入杭州電子工業學院，教授了數年的英語。
Ma first experienced the Internet in 1995 on a short trip to Seattle. He can remember searching for the word 「beer」 on Yahoo!.
馬雲第一次接觸網絡是在1995年。當時是短暫途經西雅圖，他第一次在雅虎上搜索了「啤酒」這個單詞。
Ma noticed there was not a single online listing for 「China」 and 「beer」, unlike those that popped up for American and German beer.
他注意到沒有一家網站上有「中國」的「啤酒」，而當時彈出框中美國或德國的啤酒隨處可見。
He quickly became obsessed with this online information system. Gradually, his obsession turned into a vision.
他很快就沉迷於這種在線信息系統。漸漸地，他的沉迷變成一種願景和遠見。
According to USA Today, he believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese did. So in 1999, Alibaba, which is dedicated to promoting online businesses, was born in his apartment.
根據《今日美國》的報導，在鮮有中國人注意網際網路的時候，馬雲已經開始看好網上市場的潛力。於是，1999年，致力於連接商家之間的網絡交易平臺「阿里巴巴」公司在他的公寓中誕生。。
At the time e-commerce was unheard of in China.
那時，電商在中國還聞所未聞。
「I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,」 he once said to The Guardian.
談到當年的決定，馬雲對《衛報》的記者說：「我覺得自己就像騎在盲虎背上的盲人。」
It turns out he was right.
結果證明，他是對的。
「The business model Ma Yun created in China suited the Chinese market,」 said Feng Pengcheng, director of the China Research Center for Capital Management at the University of International Business and Economics.
外經濟貿易大學中國資本運營研究中心主任馮鵬程說：「馬雲在中國創建的商業模式很適合中國市場。』』
「Ma seized opportunities as China was transforming into a market economy with the middle class unleashing buying power online on a significant scale.」
他說，「馬雲抓住了中國向市場經濟轉型的機遇，此時，中產階級正釋放出空前規模的網上購買力。」