It turns out sweaty, 6'8" guys beat the hell out of Rosetta Stone ... 'cause NBA great Yao Ming says he learned to speak the King's English ... hanging with the boys in the locker room.
We got Yao enjoying some NBA All-Star game festivities and asked him how he learned his mastery over the English language ... given that he spoke barely any English when he first got to the NBA.
Check out the clip -- Yao says he didn't hire any fancy teachers or coaches to perfect his words ... and credits all his time spent hanging around the locker rooms with his ability to talk his talk.