I studied Chinese at Leeds University in the UK, including a year in Beijing, then came to Taiwan after graduation for a year’s language course. I read my master’s degree at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature at National Taiwan University and now work as a translator/editor. I set out with this blog to practice literary translation and I post translations of short stories and excerpts from novels, but there are also posts on a variety of stuff from reviews of the Taiwanese/Chinese books I’m reading and Chinese and Taiwanese language films I am watching to some interesting language tidbits I have come across in the study of Mandarin and Taiwanese as well as general (and amateur) observations of Taipei. I welcome contributions from people who have an interest in translating Taiwanese and Chinese literature (literature from Taiwan) or who have interesting Taiwanese or Chinese vocabulary to share.
Your blog is really underrated as it gives insight to the everyday life of the people in Taiwan, from a balanced perspective. I’ve seen far too many recent expats that can not communicate in the local language who try to blog. I guess their views are always welcome but it ends up every skewed in terms of perception.
Hey Michael – thanks for reading my blog. I agree with you that it’s very easy to project one’s political alignment with a certain party in one’s home country on to a political party in Taiwan, without a thorough examination of what that party stands for. But I think we’re all guilty of that to a greater or lesser extent. I would love to have the time to do more reading on the history of the two main parties here. BTW just read your blogpost on One Punch Man, I really enjoyed the TV series although I didn’t read the manga. Interesting analysis, I liked how you brought in Animal Farm. I thought the funniest part of the whole series was how serious Saitama was when he was revealing the secret to his super powers.
Wish you all the very best for your goal!
Working with an online language coaching organization. Would love to connect with you because the language posts are very relevant to intermediate and advanced level English language learners. But we would need to know some details about who you are. You don’t even have a by-line or a name listed on this page. I can understand why you might not publish your details. If you want to check us out, we are http://www.glish.guru . Leave a message with Dani Leis, CEO and she will get back to you.
Hi Conor,
What a great blog! I’m very impressed. I ended up here because I received your NAIPO newsletter (I’m a tech/IP lawyer in Taiwan) and enjoyed that. I also know your colleague, Scott, very well. Anyway, I sent you a LinkedIn request, but I also look forward to returning here to your blog.
Cheers!
Chris
Hi Chris – I’m flattered you liked the blog. Thanks for reading the newsletter too. Scott’s a nice guy – very friendly and knowledgeable in terms of IP. I got your invite on LinkedIn and accepted. Always looking to collaborate – whether it’s on books or IP. Thanks for reaching out! 🙂
Conor
I’m a friend of Colin! He recommended I check out this site and it’s definitely very interesting to see a very different perspective of my home land. I love the effort and the work! Perhaps you’d like some of the poems on my blog as well ^_^
Thanks Sarya, Sorry I seemed to have missed your message. Thanks for reading the blog and I’ll definitely check out your poems!
Very useful insights, thank you!
I’ve started working my way through the entire back archive of this blog. Colin, we don’t know each other— though in Taiwan, but of course, we have mutual friends— but thank you for the gift of such fantastic work!
Hi Scott. Great to hear you’re interested in Taiwan lit and language. Let me know if you ever want to write a guest post, and always appreciate book or resource recommendations.
Wonder what classmate唐湘龍thinks of Tsai’s call to Trump?
Not too sure… Maybe you could hazard a guess? lol. Found this on ptt though – thought you might find it amusing: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Gossiping/M.1480732394.A.F55.html
Hey Conor, I’ve just been looking through Stand proofs, saw your bio said you were based in Taipei, and followed the link here (this is blog is amazing; I’m looking forward to reading through properly) — I’m going to be in town until the end of May and meeting other translators always makes me happy, so let me know if you’re up for tea/coffee sometime! I’m not sure whether wordpress is going to make my email address visible to you but, if not, I’m natascha[dot]bruce[at]gmail.
Hey Conor, I’ve just been looking through Stand proofs, saw your bio said you were based in Taipei, and followed the link here (this is blog is amazing; I’m looking forward to reading through properly) — I’m going to be in town until the end of May and meeting other translators always makes me happy, so let me know if you’re up for tea/coffee sometime! I’m not sure whether wordpress is going to make my email address visible to you but, if not, I’m natascha[dot]bruce[at]gmail etc
Hi Tascha,
Thanks for reading! Would be happy to meet up with you, will send you an email and we can arrange a good time.
Conor
Hi,
Just wanted to add my name to the growing list of fans — I’ve been really enjoying your blog, and I’m really glad it exists. I work in an unrelated field (mathematics), but it’s been an on-and-off hobby of mine to read Chinese language books, especially Taiwanese books, and also some amateur translating.
加油！
-Harrison
Hey Harrison, that’s really nice of you to comment! Let me know if you have any book recommendations or if you’re ever visiting taipei!
So, I will actually be in Taipei for the next two weeks. If you’re free to grab coffee or drinks sometime, let me know; my email is chenhi@math.berkeley.edu
Hey, sorry Harrison. I was back in Ireland visiting family. Let me know if you’re still here!
Hey, this is Wayne Chen. I was surfing the internet and found the piece you wrote on one of my campaign flyer. I have to say you’re right on point. Though I don’t dare to say KMT followers are children or Jerusalem but KMT must remain strong in times of peril and in the face of annihilation.
Hey Wayne, yeah, I appreciate that it was a metaphor and a creative one. 👍
Hi~! Just found your blog and thought it is a lovely resource.
I’m also a translator based in Taiwan and would love to connect! You can find me on Facebook or email darice d chang at gmail dot com.
Hey, lovely to meet you Darice!
It seems I found a pearl amidst oceans of empty, meaningless blogs! Thanks for all your writings, it will take some time to dig through all your posts 🙂 What I’d be curious to know: What about the ebook situation in Taiwan? I need to get my literary fix, but since I’m not based there, I rely on ebooks. Besides haodoo.net I haven’t found anything useful yet. What would you recommend? What are your go-to sites to buy ebooks from Taiwan and Hongkong (in Chinese)? Which apps? It would be a blog-post I’d love to read too!
Hey, Mimi, thanks for reading. I’ll get on to a post about that soon hopefully.
Really late I know, but I finally got round to that post you asked for.
Hi, I am interested in high quality gaming translations. We require people as good as for the film industry.
I like the handwriting received in Taiwan, so I made a website platform for everyone to collect and share ：https://www.streetword.com.tw/streetword/#/
What a cool collection, Akira! Thanks for the link!