A charismatic show host, an articulate debater, and a competent translator—these roles may not be typically associated with a young woman in her early twenties. Yet, Queenie Chan Sio Kuan, a fourth-year student majoring in Portuguese studies at the University of Macau (UM), excels in all these roles. Embodying the wisdom of the Chinese proverb, ‘One minute of glory on stage requires ten years of hard work off stage,’ Queenie finds deep fulfilment in her journey learning Portuguese. She shares how she has developed a diverse set of skills in the world of the Portuguese language.
The only multilingual emcee
In late August 2024, a student variety show titled ‘Dancing to the Rhythm of Youth’ was held at the UM University Hall. A total of 1,100 students from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and UM came together to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR with an array of music and dance performances.
The show featured four emcees, one from each university, with Queenie representing UM. Proficient in Portuguese, she stood out as the only emcee that evening capable of hosting in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and Portuguese. As the spotlight shone on her, Queenie eloquently extended her blessings to the country and Macao in Portuguese, one of Macao’s official languages. She also interacted with her fellow emcees and introduced the programmes in a lively and engaging manner in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, catering to the diverse language needs of the audience. Her precise word choice, effective tone, as well as elegant and confident demeanour deeply impressed the audience.
After the show, Vénus Viana, a UM resident fellow who supervised the emcees, praised Queenie for her outstanding stage performance. Queenie’s impressive performance was not simply a stroke of luck; it was the result of thorough preparation. During the show, Queenie held a thick stack of scripts marked in four distinct colours, each representing one of the four languages she used. These marks not only aided her memory, but also highlighted her diligent efforts to master the material. Moreover, her extensive experience as an emcee at various UM events contributed to her confident delivery. As Queenie says, ‘Portuguese is one of the official languages of Macao. Therefore, Portuguese-speaking emcees are required for many large-scale official events at the university. This role has given me opportunities to showcase my knowledge, build my confidence, and refine my emcee skills.’ Clearly, a promising Portuguese-speaking emcee is emerging.
Participating in university debate competition in Portugal
Over the years, UM has trained numerous Chinese-Portuguese bilinguals and Portuguese-speaking legal professionals, establishing itself as the largest Portuguese language teaching hub outside Portugal and Brazil. Queenie highlights UM’s ideal Portuguese learning environment, which has not only enabled her to acquire foundational knowledge in the classroom, but also provided her with numerous opportunities to practice her skills. These practical experiences are essential for beginners to quickly improve Portuguese proficiency.
Queenie has effectively utilised UM’s Portuguese learning resources since her first year at the university. She enjoys reading Portuguese books and newspapers in the Portuguese Corner in the library. She also frequently engages in discussions with Portuguese professors about news and current events. However, she notes that it was after joining the UM Portuguese Debating Team that her Portuguese language skills saw significant improvement. Specifically, debating has enhanced her speaking abilities in several ways. Her oral expression has become more fluent, and her critical thinking has sharpened. Under her leadership, the Debating Team has won championships in various competitions. During her third year, while on exchange at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, Queenie joined the university’s debating club to further refine her skills. She humorously says that she did it because she was itching to practice her debating skills, but more importantly, ‘I wanted to challenge myself and see what it feels like to argue with native Portuguese-speaking students.’
Unlike the typical debating style in Macao where there is only one proposition team and one opposition team, debate competitions in Portuguese universities follow the British parliamentary style, which consists of four teams of speakers: Opening Government (first proposition), Opening Opposition (first opposition), Closing Government (second proposition), and Closing Opposition (second opposition). Queenie explains, ‘This style allows for a broader range of viewpoints to be explored, making the debates more exciting. We debated policy issues and tried our best to outperform the other three teams. It is an excellent test of responsiveness, logical thinking, and language expression.’
Thanks to her exceptional performance, Queenie gained the qualification to participate in the National University Debate Competition in Portugal, becoming the only Asian contestant in the event.
From initially struggling to find enough vocabulary for daily conversations, to now being able to fiercely debate with native Portuguese-speaking students, Queenie attributes her remarkable improvement to her hard work over the years. She firmly believes that language learners can create the language environment by themselves. ‘As long as you have the determination, you can practice Portuguese anywhere,’ she says.
　
Using Portuguese to promote Chinese culture
While on exchange, Queenie also took on the role of a Chinese culture ambassador, teaching Chinese characters, history, culture, and traditional customs to the Portuguese. Recognising the interest in Chinese culture among many Portuguese people, she dedicated time to working as a Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute at the University of Coimbra. As an experienced language learner who understands the challenges of learning a new language from scratch, she carefully analysed the learning needs of her native Portuguese students and introduced them to Chinese culture in a lively and engaging manner.
Drawing on her years of experience learning Portuguese and the rich Chinese cultural atmosphere at UM, Queenie meticulously designed her teaching materials. Aware of the cultural differences between China and Portugal, she recognised that many Chinese concepts cannot be literally translated into Portuguese. Therefore, she structured her lessons to introduce concepts progressively, moving from simple to complex content for her Portuguese students. For example, when teaching Chinese characters, Queenie started with hieroglyphics and shared strategies for memorising them.
Queenie explains, ‘When I taught the character “目” (meaning “eye” or “vision” in Chinese), I would start by drawing an eye on the board. Then I rotated it 90 degrees to turn it into a vertical rectangle. Next, I asked the students to visualise the two horizontal lines in the middle as the dividing lines between the iris and the white of the eye. Once they understood the meaning of “目”, they realised that characters containing this radical are mostly related to vision.’
Of course, teaching and learning are interrelated. While teaching Chinese, Queenie chose to think in Portuguese to better understand her students’ cognitive processes when learning a foreign language. This approach helped foster a dynamic environment that enhanced both teaching and learning. ‘Sometimes I even find myself speaking Portuguese in my dreams,’ Queenie says.
Studying Chinese-Portuguese business translation
The annual Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF) is a significant event that showcases Macao’s role as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Students from the UM Department of Portuguese often participate by providing Chinese-Portuguese translation services. This year, Queenie was selected as the Portuguese emcee. She also worked as a Chinese-Portuguese interpreter for several business matching events at MIF, where she facilitated communication and cooperation between exhibitors from China and Portuguese-speaking countries. In addition, Queenie took this opportunity to conduct interviews with exhibitors about the translation services provided at the fair, so as to collect data for her thesis.
Queenie notes that existing research on Chinese-Portuguese translation in Macao primarily focuses on the judicial and administrative sectors, with less attention given to the commercial domain. Given Macao’s role as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, a detailed exploration of this sector is essential. To address this research gap, Queenie discussed with her supervisor Julio Reis Jatobá the feasibility of conducting a study on Chinese-Portuguese business translation. Based on her research interests and the available target audience, she developed a research plan. She decided to use MIF as a case study to analyse the role of consecutive interpreting in business communications between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Under the guidance of Jatobá, Queenie identified two groups of interviewees at MIF: exhibitors from Portuguese-speaking countries and onsite Chinese-Portuguese interpreters. During the interviews, she asked participants about the challenges they encountered in business communications. She shares her findings, ‘After the interviews, we can draw some preliminary conclusions: there are higher requirements for the quality of interpreters working for international business events. This includes the need for interpreters to be familiar with logistics and tariffs in various countries, as well as possessing in-depth knowledge of the exhibitors’ products. These insights can help enhance the teaching of Chinese-Portuguese interpreting in the future.’
Enhancing Portuguese language learning in secondary schools 
In addition to providing data for her research, these findings also deepened Queenie’s understanding of what her professors always stress: becoming a competent interpreter requires more than solid translation skills—interpreters must also possess extensive industry knowledge and a good understanding of social developments. She explains, ‘For example, you need to be well-informed about the latest developments of Macao, such as its Light Rapid Transit, new urban zones, and the Macau New Neighbourhood Project in Hengqin. Without prior knowledge of these terms, translating them can be very challenging.’
Reflecting on her time at UM, Queenie considers debating as the most effective way to improve language skills. Inspired by this belief, she has set a goal to promote the culture of Portuguese debating in secondary schools. She aims to contribute by establishing debate teams in secondary schools and organising inter-school debate competitions. Queenie shares her vision: ‘Whether through regular classes or extracurricular activities, I hope to plant the seeds of Portuguese language learning in secondary schools, so as to create an environment where Portuguese debating can grow and thrive, thereby strengthening the foundation for Portuguese learning.’
Text: Kelvin U, Trainee UM Reporter Wang Chuyue
English translation: Bess Che
Photos: Provided by the interviewee 
Source: My UM Issue 139