On the beach, you'll find them there

This photo by Ross Thomson, appears under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license.

This is the final part of my first interview with Jack. I have presented it in its original format, with Crystal's translation of my original questions left intact. Jack articulates some interesting ideas on how international students might be able to learn more about the lives of Melbourne locals and also offers some advice to newly arrived students.

Many international students find life in Melbourne to be quite boring, with not many social activities of interest. We’d like to hear your opinion on this matter?

In some ways this is true because we find it very difficult to become a part of the local social scene. What appears on the surface to be a friendly exchange of amenities does not necessarily signal that you have successfully integrated with local society. Sometimes this is a complex problem, incorporating cultural differences, language barriers and differences in habits and customs. However, if you want to resolve these issues there is only one way, and that is to stay here long enough. So for students who have just arrived, life can be very tough and lonely.

Have you ever attended any social activities or events in Melbourne, such as a sporting event, a music concert, a university club function or a church event?

As a matter of fact, I’d love to attend events like these but I wouldn’t have anyone to talk with. Normally the thought of going to something like that makes me quite nervous, after all I'm a stranger in a strange land. However I would probably adapt pretty quickly. A church meeting might be the best place for me.


Have you met any local Australian families or students?

The only family I’ve met were a Chinese family who immigrated to Australia around 20 years ago. We met on the plane trip to Australia. They sat down next to me and we chatted happily. The father had actually graduated from the university where I am about to commence my studies. After the plane landed they accompanied me to my new house and we have stayed in contact since then.

What do you feel is the greatest difficulty in adapting to life in Melbourne for international students?

Actually, the only real difficulty is the loneliness. Apart from this, most students find it relatively easy to adapt to life here.

If you could, what changes would you make to improve the quality of life for international students in Melbourne?

I feel that the Australian Government could establish more scholarships for overseas students. Also, I think we shouldn’t be viewed merely as consumers, give us more opportunities to contribute to society. For example, we could visit the homes of older local residents and do volunteer work. We don't expect young Australians will be that interested in making friends with overseas students, they are busy enjoying their own lives. Older people on the other hand are often just looking for someone to talk with.

Up until this point in time, what has been your best experience here in Melbourne?

I was walking along the beach at some bay, the name of which escapes me, picking up shells, enjoying the sun's rays and the gentle breeze. It felt so good. I thought to my self, this is truly living!


Overall, would you describe your experience of life in Melbourne as pleasant?

Yes, relatively pleasant. I find life here agreeable, the pace of life is very slow and I am free to do the things I want to do.

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。

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.

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.