Translation Club

collaborative translation as a transformative peer-learning experience

How can we go beyond language learning, towards cross-cultural empathy? This question has led to the creation of an original event called Translation Club, through the Marco Polo Project.

Translation Club gathers speakers of two languages (typically Chinese or Japanese and English) to translate a text in small groups. The goal is not to make a perfect translation, but use the process to learn deeper realities of language and culture: from details of family life as expressed in a story to common grammatical structures that reveal surprising underlying value systems. Translation Club is a transformative experience of deep intercultural immersion. Learn more here.

Join Translation Club

Translation Club has been the beating heart of Marco Polo Project since 2016. W started gathering 10-25 people every week in Melbourne to translate a text about contemporary cultural issues in small bilingual groups. With the COVID pandemic, we shifted our events to an online format. We now gather learners from across the world, twice-weekly.

The event is designed for people reading Chinese at intermediate to advanced level. We welcome people at all levels – from NAATI accredited interpreters and translators to beginners with an open mind ready for a challenge. Check out our Chinese and Japanese meetup groups!

Host a Translation Club

Since our first pilot in 2013, we have run over 100 Translation Club events on four continents, with festivals, schools and universities. Translation Club runs in Chinese and Japanese, with a mixed group of 15-25 English and Chinese/Japanese speakers. We are looking for partners to help us scale the model around the world. Contact me if you would like to hear more, or host a translation club.