Translation Work

For the past couple of months, I have been assisting with the translation of a book from Chinese to English, prepared in memory of an elderly couple who passed away in Australia. The wife passed on in 2005, followed by her husband in 2006. They had migrated to Sydney to join their unmarried daughter, who had settled there earlier.

One of the couple’s other daughters, Ms. Wong Won Ying, who was once my Chinese teacher in primary school, still lives with her husband in Sabah. However, she often travels to Singapore to visit her son, who is now married to a Singaporean and has made his home there.

The commemorative book is a heartfelt collection of articles written by the couple’s daughters and grandchildren. Through their stories, I came to see the lives of simple migrants from China who worked tirelessly to build a livelihood and raise a family in Sabah. There was nothing glamorous or extraordinary - just the quiet dignity of ordinary people living ordinary lives.

From the writings, it became clear that the spinster daughter, who had lived with her parents until their passing, took their loss very deeply. This book was largely her way of paying tribute - a personal labor of love to honor the memory of her beloved parents.