A multilingual, multicultural magazine
Taiwan Panorama’s editor-in-chief Ivan Chen opens the forum by playing a photomontage video on Taiwan’s ethnic diversity, illuminating how the magazine has been crossing ethnic and linguistic divides over the years to present this nation’s mixed cultural heritages. Chen says that Taiwan, despite being a small place, is home to people from many different ethnic backgrounds, who all work hard to improve our lives on the island. “This is what motivates Taiwan Panorama’s long-term commitment to multilingual communication, and this is one of the reasons why we are holding this forum.”
Our three translators share their experiences passionately during the forum. Japanese translator Yukina Yamaguchi’s small physique belies her steely resolve. She started to learn Mandarin at the age of 26, determined to master the language by 30 and to make a living out of it. Yamaguchi subsequently married a Taiwanese person and moved to this country. It was during her second year here that she embarked on her long career in translation and interpretation.
Robert Fox, who has been working as a Chinese‡English translator for 14 years, begins his talk with a greeting in fluent Taiwanese, winning loud and excited applause from the audience.
Temmy Wiryawan, our Indonesian translator, entered the industry by sheer accident. When he was still in Indonesia teaching Mandarin, a chance encounter brought him a translation job at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: “I never ever imagined that while working at a tutoring company I would meet someone who could introduce me to a job at the UN.”
Wiryawan is happy to put his expertise to use. During the pandemic, he has been translating the government’s anti-Covid measures and public health policies into Indonesian, enabling Indonesian people to keep pace with Taiwan’s efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Yukina Yamaguchi. Native language: Japanese; years in the industry: 29