Chicken Same Duck Talk: Diary of an Australian Teacher in China -
鸡同鸭讲: 澳洲老师的日记

Thinking of teaching English in China?

I wasn’t either!

Regardless, not only did life take me there, but also my expected one-year teaching stint turned into a nearly decade-long stay, for reasons which all lie within this book.

Whether you’re planning to teach, do business with, make friends with or marry a Chinese person, this book gives useful insights into their language, culture, cities, customs, food, education system and business practices. Why? Because I knew NOTHING about them before going – therefore, you learn it all with me, as I did, discovery by discovery.

Thirteen years in the making, and very personally written, this is an average Australian’s reaction to street-level life in contemporary China – the good and the bad, the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful, the euphoric and the what-the-hell-was-that, all laced with a somewhat absurdist sense of humour.

Oh, and what does "Chicken Same Duck Talk" mean? It's from a Chinese expression about miscommunication, ji tong ya jiang (鸡同鸭讲), meaning "I might as well be a chicken talking to a duck"...however, it literally translates as "Chicken Same Duck Talk". It's a wonderful, and wonderfully appropriate, bit of Chinglish.

ISBN 9780646804521

362 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2019

Available as ebook here, physical book here

If you live in inner Melbourne, Australia, you can borrow it from the public library here

Read sample chapters here (coming soon)