Monday, February 23, 2009

Word List 1 Part 1 : 兼职


Photo by Zsolt Bugarski, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.


Whilst translating Jack's last Soy Sauce entry I encountered many words and phrases that were unfamiliar to me. Perhaps I had never encountered them before or maybe I had just forgotten, whatever the reason I would like to spend some time writing about some of the language elements that sent me scrambling for my dictionary. And this is just the first paragraph! I find translation almost endlessly fascinating.

1) I never had a decent part time job in China.

在国内的时候,我没有做过像样的兼职

像样 This adjective can be translated as decent, presentable or sound, conveying the idea that the noun being described is nothing to be ashamed of. In this sentence Jack uses it to describe part time work - 像样的兼职。 It could also be used to describe a decent meal 像样的饭菜 furniture 像样的家具 or even a suit 像样的套装。Interestingly enough you could also use it in the same way English speakers say make yourself presentable. For example, the sentence - Make yourself presentable for the interview, could be rendered as 面谈时收拾得像样点儿。

2)
When I had time I mostly squandered it having fun.

有时间都浪费在玩儿上面

浪费 is a verb meaning to waste or squander. As a noun, the character 浪 means a wave, 巨浪 meaning mountainous wave. As a verb this character takes on the very wave like meaning of being unrestrained, hence its ability to convey the meaning of squandering time by having fun 浪费在玩儿上面。 One could also waste one's money 浪费金钱, words 浪费口舌 or even one's youth 浪费青春. Interestingly, 浪 also appears in 浪漫, meaning romantic. Here both characters convey a sense of something that cannot be contained, an overflowing of emotion made even more poetic by the presence of the water radical in both characters.

3)
To be honest I haven't been that considerate of my parents.

说实话,我不是一个能体谅父母的人。

体谅 is a verb meaning to be considerate or to show sympathetic understanding of. When describing the character of a person or place in Chinese it seems quite common to use the pattern 我是/不是一个能做某事的人 meaning literally I am a person who can/cannot do something. I don't know why but this kind of pattern reminds me of a song lyric by the Beijing band Car Sick Cars called Square where singer Shou Wang sings 这是一个没有希望的广场, this is a (public/town) square without hope.

4)
However since arriving in Australia, I have begun to appreciate the hardships associated with earning money.

不过来澳洲, 我能感到赚钱的艰辛

赚钱 is a verb meaning to earn money. 艰辛 is a noun meaning difficulties and hardships, the first character also appearing in the more commonly heard 艰难。Last semester I also remember coming across the character whilst reading the words of the famous Chinese author 胡适. He used the word 艰深 meaning abstruse as a way to describe theories 艰深概念 that by right should be critically analyzed in order to discover their true worth to society in his essay 新思潮的意义, commonly translated as 'The meaning of New Thought'。 As a way of wrapping this post up you might notice that the title of the essay employs the character 潮 which literally means tide. However, 潮 here is used figuratively to describe a social upsurge, in this case the influx of western ideas in China during the early 20th century. So we can have a wave of refugees 难民潮 and, going back to our earlier character 浪 we can describe a tidal wave of reform - 改革的浪潮。

Sunday, February 22, 2009

And you may find yourself in another part of the world


When I started this blog, I had several goals. One of them was learning more about the Chinese international student community. I feel that over the last couple of months, my interviews with students such as Xiu, Pei Pei, Jack, Crystal, Wei Jia and Neil have helped me gain a much clearer understanding of life in Melbourne for international students. To this end I have discovered that most students face big difficulties finding houses, securing jobs that pay a fair wage and attaining a sense of attachment to their new city. But from these stories of difficulty have also come both positive experiences and new ideas.

These ideas constitute the second goal for Soy Sauce. I hope that the discussions and ideas expressed here will play a part in improving how international students are welcomed by the city of Melbourne, and that with our help, those students who have chosen this city as their new home will be able to lead active, interesting and enjoyable lives filled with new experiences, new friends and the achievement of their scholastic and personal goals.

As our cities most valuable export industry, worth over $4 billion dollars to this state if the word on the street is anything to go by, we cannot afford to lose our reputation as a safe and welcoming city that provides a supportive and hospitable environment in which students from all over the world can chase their dreams.

More than this, as Australians we have come to pride our self on our ability to offer everybody a fair go, reveling in our status as a multicultural society that gives everyone a fair crack at achieving their full potential. But is this sense of being an open and friendly nation that offers all an equal playing field merely a myth? What are we really doing to make international students feel truly a part of life here? I hope that over time Soy Sauce will be able to devote more page space to good news stories than dwelling on the many problems faced by students here.

Finally, I had really hoped that through this blog I would be able to practice my Chinese. In this regard I have been quite lazy but recent submissions by Jack have really reinvigorated my love of this most interesting of languages. As a result, I would like to start posting some entries discussing some of the translation that goes on behind the scenes at Soy Sauce, posting up a word list to accompany some of the articles. The first one will focus on the most recent entry regarding Jack's work experiences in Melbourne. Also, it will include some discussion of the wonderfully worded survey questions which were so excellently translated by Crystal when this all began in November of last year.

Wading through shallow waters


Here is the second part of my interview with Jack. Here he talks about his experiences working in Melbourne and coming to terms with the difficulties of supporting yourself for the first time.

I never had a decent part time job in China. When I had time I mostly squandered it having fun. To be honest I haven't been that considerate of my parents. However, However since arriving in Australia, I have begun to appreciate the hardships associated with earning money.

Whilst I was completing my English course, I worked as a removalist. I got this job through my roommate. We got six hours to unload containers in a ware house and the pay was really good, $15 an hour plus one meal supplied. Because there were four of us working together the workload wasn’t that heavy and we usually had it all finished within 5 hours. At the end of the day each person would walk away with $90. It was definitely worth it but I have a feeling I am not going to be able to find another part time job that paid as well as that.

Recently I have been looking for work in Chinese convenience stores but the pay is pretty low, usually around $7 an hour. Apart from the difficulty of finding a well paying job, I haven’t really been entangled in any negative workplace situations like having a bad boss. But maybe that is just because I haven’t been around long enough!

In terms of jobs that I would really like to have whilst in Melbourne, I kind of envy those students who have jobs where they come into contact with local people quite frequently or they work in a place where the boss is an Australian. This is because improving my English is something I feel is really important.

Monday, February 16, 2009

On an island in the sun...



Introducing Pei Pei whom I met whilst teaching a fantastic group of students at the Monash University English Language Centre a year or so ago. It was great reading that she had some great experiences doing vacation work on Boyne Island in Queensland, a remote island that most Queenslanders would never have even heard about, let alone visited.


I’m Pei Pei from China. Right now, I am doing third level of Materials Engineering at Monash University. Before I came to Australia, I finished the first two years of university education at my local university.

I believe that the three main reasons why students leave China to study abroad include a better quality of education, a chance to improve their language skills in an English speaking environment and the possibility of future immigration. As for those students who don’t come overseas, budget and language limitations are two of the main factors. Also, many students would find it very difficult to live without having their friends and family around.

I chose to come to Australia because I was offered a place in a program that allowed me to finish my bachelor degree at Monash University. Actually, it might not have been my first choice if there weren’t so many terrorist-attacks in the United States. :)

It’s hard to tell whether other students from China are satisfied with their educational experience or not. Personally, I’m content with what I’ve gained from my experience. For instance, there is help offered by various levels of organizations and individuals out there. There are all kinds of tutorials and programs helping international students with their studies, communications, and health.

Regarding work, I haven’t had a part-time job since being in Melbourne. Usually coping with lectures and exams is already enough to keep us occupied during our free time. As a result, not many of my friends have taken part time jobs because we think of them as being dangerous. This is because if we fail one subject we have to pay 3,000 dollars to repeat the course, compared to the paltry amount of money earned by doing laboring work it just really isn’t worth the risk.

Although I’ve never taken any part time in Melbourne, this summer I did do some vacation work at Boyne Smelters Limited in Queensland. I’m really lucky that I got this opportunity, because it’s extremely hard, almost impossible, for international students to get vacation work due to the difference in our educational background and language level when compared with local students.

It has been a great experience for me! I have gained industrial experience and contacts, as well as living with locals and hanging out with them. To be honest, if not for these three month, I may never have chance to mingle with local students and experience Australian culture. Now that I have friends who have grown up in Melbourne, even when I go back, life will be different.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Everywhere you go, you always take the weather



I was Neil's English teacher when he first arrived in Australia to complete a bridging course before entering his Masters at Monash University. Amongst other things, I remember his love of astronomy and the fact that as a boy, he made his own telescopes in order to gaze at the stars. I hadn't ever met anyone who had done that before and it struck me as fascinating.


My name is Neil and I come from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China and I have been in Australia for about ten months. I live with my uncle’s family at the moment in Hallam. Before I came to Australia, I studied at Chengdu University of Technology of Sichuan Province and majored in Geology. After my graduation, I worked in the E-commerce department of a children’s clothing company.

I think the top three reasons why students leave China to study include the fact that some developed countries still have a higher level of tertiary education than China does. Secondly, the diploma or certificate from a developed country may make it easy to find a better job in China. Thirdly, many students go abroad to study for the sake of emigration.

As for why students don't make it overseas, well firstly living costs and tuition fees are very expensive and not every family or individual can afford it. Secondly, their English level mightn't meet the requirements of the overseas college or the immigration department. Finally, their previous academic performance might not be enough to meet the demands of the overseas tertiary institution.

I chose to study in Australia for several reasons, including the fact that I have many relatives living in Melbourne. I also love the climate, weather and environment in Australia. Also, it was easier for me to apply for a course in an Australian university than in an American or a British one.

I think most Chinese overseas students are generally satisfied with their educational experience in Melbourne. The biggest complaint I think is that the number of Chinese and Indian students is just too big.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Somewhere over the rainbow...



Photo by Fernando de Sousa entitled VIBGYOR, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.

Just had a quick flick through the Rainbow Guide, an orientation and pre-arrival handbook funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, International Quality Branch. The guide is available to download from the excellent International Education Association website ISANA. The Rainbow Guide is basically a template that can be adapted by all education providers throughout Australia in an effort to help student service professionals provide students with a thorough orientation to both their institution and life in Australia.

The AEI website describes it as a synthesis of orientation best practice and Soy Sauce was really impressed with both the presentation and the level of information that the document provides. Also, Soy Sauce is really supportive of this kind of top-down best-practice standardization. With all of the controversies late last year over dodgy education providers, moves from the DEEWR to provide leadership in areas such as pre-arrival and orientation will hopefully raise the level of service provided to all international students during the time leading up and immediately prior to their arrival in Australia.

One area that I find interesting especially in light of recent stories featured on Soy Sauce, is the section of the document covering permanent accommodation. There is a wealth of information and advice provided in relation to renting, all of it presented in clear and simple language. The section covers everything from information about bonds to advice on how to select suitable housemates. It also provides contact details for relevant bodies that can provide further help such as the Tenants Union of Victoria.

However, with the lack of rental properties available in cities such as Melbourne, the document inadvertently serves to highlight the fact that not all service providers have a dedicated accommodation service, and that despite this wealth of information, students face the difficult challenge of actually finding and negotiating a rental arrangement alone. Perhaps if institutions where required to assist students secure suitable accommodation for their first couple of months in their new city, then the depressing tales of students being forced into signing overpriced leases through non-mainstream providers might be less common. So, whilst this document is a great start, further work needs to be done to provide international students with support in securing permanent accommodation.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The importance of being harmonious



This post introduces Jack, a student who I first met whilst working at RMIT English Worldwide. Jack was always really funny and interesting in class so I was keen to ask him to contribute to Soy Sauce. In this first excerpt, he talks about some of the reasons why Chinese students come to Australia and goes on to give some really interesting anecdotes about the problems many students face when trying to find suitable accommodation in Melbourne.


My name is Jack and I come from China. I have lived in Melbourne for four months. I finished my Bachelor degree in China with a major in applied mathematics.

I think the main reasons Chinese students go abroad for further study include widening their own horizons, improving their English skills and also exploring the possibilities of future immigration. As for those students who choose not to go abroad, they probably cannot afford the financial burden and their parents have rejected the idea, or they simply want to start their careers early. Personally speaking, I came to Australia to improve my English and I’m also interested in migrating here one day, even though I’d prefer to live in Canada.

On the whole I have been satisfied with my life in Melbourne although I’m always annoyed that there are so many Chinese here, which limits my chances to speak English.

I think one of the biggest problems facing Chinese students when they come to Melbourne is housing. When we arrive in Australia, usually our English speaking and listening skills are not sufficient to interact with local agents. We have to say ‘pardon’ so many times that they become impatient and bored, leaving with the impression that Chinese have poor communication skills. As a result local agents seem like they really don’t want to do business with Chinese students, which really limits our options when it comes to renting a house.

However, we still need to live somewhere so we are usually forced to seek help through more established Chinese immigrants operating within the rental market. Because the properties controlled by Chinese in Melbourne represent only a small section of the overall market, we are forced to compete with all of the other Chinese students here who face the same problem. As a result of this fierce competition the prices go up and up. In the end, Chinese students usually end up living in places where the rent seems irrationally high!

To add to this problem is the difference in the exchange rate between China and Australia. Let me give a specific example, the money used to pay a month’s rent in Australia on a single room is equivalent to what it would cost to rent an entire apartment for a whole month in some mid-scale Chinese cities.

Because of this, most of my friends here live in share houses with other international students. This experience is not without its problems and some of my friends have been forced to move house. A couple of my friends have even moved house several times in one month! Honestly though, I would probably do the same thing as I believe in the importance of harmony when one is living abroad alone. I would rather avoid conflict even if it meant losing a little bit of money. I guess that is because I am a pretty easy-going guy with not much in the way of aggression.