Hi, thank you for joining our interview today! Can you briefly introduce
yourself?
My name is Li Wang, 31. I am from Xinyang, China.
Do you have any religious beliefs ?
No, I don’t have any religious beliefs.
So, how long have you been here in Australia.
I have been here for 2 years.
What is the reason you came here for?
I came to seek better jobs, I didn’t go to university in China instead I went to junior
college. And it is hard to find a satisfying job in China if you are not undergraduate or
postgraduate. I could only earn like 3000 CNY per month. (estimate 600 AUD) My
uncle offered me a chance to work in Australia so I came here to work for him.
Okay, so what is the job he offered to you?
I worked in his restaurant to help with kitchen, I do stuff like cutting the meat and the
veggies. I got paid pretty well here and I planned to earn more money.
Do you love to live in Australia?
I do, but only myself got this chance to come to Australia with the refugee visa, my
wife and children was declined, we are still trying to solve it but fortunately they are
not allowed to come at this time. I love the environment of Australia, but I still don’t
feel this is my country yet, it’s pretty hard for me to involve in this country.
Why, had you experienced any difficulties after your arrival?
I think language is one of the problems for me, I can barely speak English, but there
are a lot of Chinese here so I can ask them for help when I not able to do something.
And culture is pretty different between Australia and China, for example people in
China are always enthusiastic and talks loudly, but people here are usually more
gentle.
How good do you think your English is?
As I said I can barely communicate to local people, I only know really simple words, I
have to seek support from other Chinese people who can understand me.
So, do you have any experience of miscommunication or language related
problems?
Most of time people are nice and kind, but sometimes I’m really confused so it
becomes a little bit awkward. I want to improve my English skills but I don’t have time
to learn them, I tried to use English learning apps but it is too hard for me because I
have like 0 English learning experience before. I can only remember some simple
words.
What do you think about food in Australia?
I’m generally not used to western food or food from other nations, but I love to eat
some of them. It is hard for migrants like me to find restaurants that we like before we
actually go there. But sometimes the food from other cultures are just hard to swallow
for me, I think it is just simply a cultural difference. Maybe those foods are delicious in
their understanding, it’s a waste of money if we go to these restaurants.
Have you ever felt being left out or treated unfairly by society due to the fact
that you are not a local resident?
Once I was on the train and I talked with my other friends who work at my uncle’s
restaurant. They are all Asian, someone who is checking people using opal cards or
not. They skipped a whole carriage and went straight to us, only we were checked, I
think that’s kind of stereotype.
That’s it. Thank you for your time.