Markham
Markham resident translates Chinese myths and legends into English
Candy Lin has come a long way from first speech on school PA system 2 decades ago
Jan 30, 2018 by Tim Kelly Markham Economist & Sun
Markham resident Candy Lin, who came to Canada as a child in 1997 from Hong Kong and learned English through the English as a Second Language (ESL) program, has been translating Chinese Myths and Legends from a book she owns on a blog she writes online. You can read what she calls her "amateur" translations at http://9622580696.blogspot.ca. - Tim Kelly/Metroland
Markham newcomer Candy Lin didn’t know much English when she spoke up in front of her entire elementary school.
The 10-year-old had just arrived that same year from Hong Kong and was an English-as-a-Second-Language student at Reesor Park Public School. She bravely ventured forth to deliver a short speech on the school’s PA system during morning announcements.
Lin decided she would tell her fellow students the story about how the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac raced to determine what order they would wind up in.
“Usually in school you read from the textbook and I wouldn’t volunteer to read because I read with an accent,” Lin said, thinking back on that time two decades ago.
“I couldn’t speak clearly and I wouldn’t feel comfortable reading in front of the whole class.”
Yet she took on the daunting task of speaking on that PA.
“I pressed on the speaker button, I was going to say my first word, and I ended up coughing and that is how I started my announcement,” she chuckled.
“I told the story of the 12 animals and how the rat wins by cheating (he can’t swim) by sitting on the cow as they cross the water, but I messed up the story because I switched two characters. But when I got back to the class, they all clapped and said ‘You did a good job.’
“It gave me some confidence,” she said.
Now so proficient in English, the Markham resident, who works part-time in a local law office, is spending a lot of her time translating 190 myths and legends of China into English.
“I am only at the beginning, but I always wanted to read this book. It is separated into categories. It begins with how the world started and moves on from there,” she said.
Born in Hong Kong, Lin said she looked forward to coming to Canada because there would be “less homework.”
She remembers it being “very crowded in Hong Kong.”
She has been back once since coming to Canada but said a lot had changed there since she had come to Canada.
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