Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
I am imagining a visit from my Chinese ancestors – my surname Qin is the name of China’s first and most famous emperor who built a stone army to guard his tomb in China. As Hong Kong University’s Xun Zhou has said: “No Qin, no China.” And we would have needed to find a different
Wednesday, May 8th, 2019
I grew up in rural Victoria – up in the Mallee – a long way in those days from Melbourne. In a small country town the school was bland and vanilla compared to multicultural Australia as we...
Wednesday, April 24th, 2019
The top political topics on English language social media are the Adani coal mine, economy, social policy, governance and the environment (Fin Review, 24 April 2019), with Bill Shorten, Scott Morrison and Pauline Hanson the top politicians...
Tuesday, April 16th, 2019
by Kate Ritchie Sunday afternoon at the Mountain View Hotel – not the usual meeting place for Chinese voters – saw an encounter between the two Chinese candidates standing for the Federal election which will deliver the...
Thursday, April 11th, 2019
By Julia Jiang, Chinese and Japanese Translator On 1 April 2019, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Minister Yoshihide Suga appeared in front of a large media contingent and revealed a card with calligraphy on it – the much anticipated...
Monday, April 1st, 2019
“Open up your hearts”, as Elton John sang, could be the theme song for The Australian Way, a new app to help migrants “find an island in the sea” (Elton John, Harmony) which was launched on Harmony...
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
In an increasingly globalised world today, to get the language and culture right when doing marketing communications to a foreign country seems a widely adopted idea for brands. However, although the former has become easier — thanks...
Monday, January 21st, 2019
Welcome to the enthusiastic Pig Year. It starts on 5 February 2019 and will be overtaken by the Rat on 25 January 2020. The pig is the last animal in the Chinese zodiac reflecting their slow speed...
Monday, January 14th, 2019
If you are a tourist operator or receiving Chinese tourists anywhere in the world, the key periods to prepare for are Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and Golden Week (National Day/Moon Festival) holidays. First of all you...
Monday, January 7th, 2019
A client visited us this week confused about China’s requirements for her consulting and potentially a large contract to deliver services in China. It turns out that communications had been hampered by poor translation. She had been...
