WuKong Education “Tell Us You’re ABC Story” Award-Winning Story: The Family Translator

Welcome to Our ABC Stories! In 2023, WuKong Education’s “Tell Us Your ABC Story” Global Story Contest invited Chinese families worldwide to share their tales. Actor Daniel Wu and author Vincent Yee, and the WuKong Judge Team, collectively selected 21 finalists from touching submissions. “The Family Translator” by Lilian Yuqin Chen, aged 11, has been honored with the “Cultural Heritage Award.” Lilian’s narrative takes us on a whimsical journey into the world of language translation within her family. Take a moment to be inspired by her incredible story, offering a glimpse into global Chinese experiences.

  Hi, my name is Lilian.  On a sunny day, I woke up and got ready for a train trip to Auckland! I quickly packed my bag and got ready with my grandma and my younger sister. On the train to Auckland,I was thinking about all kinds of enjoyable food and places to visit. When we arrived, we met up with friends and went to wait for a bus to go eat icecream. We went alongside the beach and the view was pretty.  When we arrived and got ready to pick flavours, I got ready to help out my grandma because in my family my grandma is the only one who does not under- stand English, so this gave mean amazing opportunity to help her out and also improve my English and Chinese translation skills. The flavour I got was strawberry and my grandma got blueberry cheesecake. It was really good and I also managed to eat the whole icecream just before the bus we were waiting for arrived. Something that normally bugged me was when I got a certain question and I had no idea how to answer it because sometimes I forgot or the word I was trying to translate was beyond my limits. Some of my goals were to reply in the shortest amount of time and to make it as accurate as possible. In Auckland, we visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum and it was super cool, but not as good as the Wellington one (Te Papa). I helped both my grandma and her older friends to make sure they knew what most things were and what they did. There were amazing dinosaur bones and different earth elements. “这是什么?” my grandma asked. I thought for a few seconds and then replied “这是一座火山.” After visiting the museum, we had something super delicious for lunch, SOUP DUMPLINGS! We hopped on a bus and arrived at Sunnynook, the destination for lunch.  During our lunch, I chatted with my friend and enjoyed the scrumptious food. After lunch, we hopped (not exactly) back on a bus to my grandma’s friend’s house and prepared for a train trip back. My grandma’s friend made chicken noodles and it was super-duper yum. We also went out shopping for some extra snacks, wishing to buy some waffles in a cup, but the store seemed closed and we had bad luck. The people taking a train back to Hamilton were my grandma’s friend and her granddaughter, my grandma, my sister, and me.  When getting prepared to return home, we made sure we had everything we needed and then left for the train station. On the way back, we three girls played on an iPad and a phone. What a goodtime we had! It was a very nice day trip. I felt really proud that I used my knowledge and helped people. This was basically the same every day, but it was different from when I was visiting China my relatives asked me questions like “How do you say this in English?” I translated it and spoke it out for them to make sure they understood how to say that word and the definition of that word. I love China  so much, but I can’t fully read Chinese words  quite  yet. My  mum  currently  teaches  me Chinese, and I hope one day I will be fluent in speaking Chinese and can travel all around China, tasting new food  and  visiting  tourist  sites.    I  am  super  happy because I get to help the elderly and younger children with their English or Chinese.  This is my day and a little bit of my normal day!

Summary

Thank you for immersing yourself in “The Family Translator,” an enchanting exploration of language translation within Lilian Yuqin Chen’s family. Lilian, at the age of 11, has received the Cultural Heritage Award for her delightful storytelling. Lilian’s story adds a delightful layer to the diverse tapestry of global Chinese experiences. We express our gratitude to Lilian for sharing her unique narrative and contributing to the rich collection of global Chinese stories. May we continue to celebrate these stories that make our cultural heritage wonderfully diverse.