Mandarin-English Dialogue #12 – Becoming an Australian Citizen

Briefing

This is a phone conversation between Miss Miao, a Mandarin-speaking woman, and an officer at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Miao is making enquiries about applying for Australian citizenship.

 

Listen to Dialogue

Mandarin-English Dialogue #12 – Becoming an Australian Citizen

 

Transcript

DIAC Officer: Good morning. Department of Immigration and Citizenship. How may I help you? (早上好,这里是移民与公民事务部。有什么能帮您的?)

Miao (苗): 嘿,你好,我想问一些问题,跟如何成为澳洲公民有关。[Hi there. I have some questions about how to become an Australian citizen.]

DIAC Officer: OK, no worries. Perhaps you can start by telling me a bit about yourself? (好的。请告诉我您的一些基本信息。)

Miao (苗): 好的,我叫苗素,中国人。去年12月份我和一位澳洲公民结婚了。他是布里斯班市的议员。我们一直在讨论我是否需要申请澳洲公民的事儿。他说,即使我是他的配偶,我还是不能自动拿到公民身份。是这样吗?[OK. My name is Miao Su. I’m Chinese. December last year I got married to an Australian citizen. He’s a councillor of the City of Brisbane. We’ve been discussing whether I should apply for Australian citizenship. He said, even as his spouse, I can’t automatically get granted citizenship, is that true?]

DIAC Officer: Yes, you’re right. Partners of Australian citizens do not have an automatic right to Australian citizenship. They need to apply for citizenship and satisfy the eligibility criteria in the same way as other adult applicants. (没错。澳洲公民的配偶不会自动有权获得澳洲国籍。和别的申请人一样,他们也需要申请,并且满足申请条件。)

Miao (苗): 是的。我还知道,要成为澳洲公民的话,我需要放弃中国公民身份。真是左右为难啊,毕竟祖国是生我养我的地方,所以在决定之前,我觉得我得好好权衡一下。 [Yes. I also understand that, to become an Australian citizen, I’ll have to give up my Chinese citizenship. I’m really conflicted about this. After all China is the place I was born and raised. So I think I’ll have to weigh things up carefully before I make a decision.]

DIAC Officer: Well, I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have. (我会尽我所能回答您的问题。)

Miao (苗): 好的,如果我成为公民的话,需要对澳洲尽什么样的义务呢?[Well, if I do become a citizen, what obligations do I have to Australia?]

DIAC Officer: Well, as a citizen of Australia there are a number of obligations you have. Firstly, you must obey all of Australia’s laws. Secondly, you have to defend Australia should the need arise. Thirdly, you are required to serve on a jury if called to do so. Oh, and one more thing that’s very important – you have to vote in all elections held. (作为澳洲公民,确实有一些义务要尽。首先,必须遵守澳洲的法律。其次,如果有需要的话,您必须捍卫澳大利亚。第三,在被召唤的情况下,必须尽陪审团义务。哦,还有一件非常重要的事,您必须在所有的选举投票。)

Miao (苗): 我明白了,我的理解是在公民申请前,我必须是一直居住在澳洲四年以上,并持有有效的澳洲签证,对吗?[I see. My understanding is that I must have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years before applying for citizenship, is that right?]

DIAC Officer: Yes, that’s right. (是的,确实如此。)

Miao (苗): 哦,这没问题的。我五年前来的澳洲,那会儿我是教芭蕾舞的。自始至终我都是合法待在澳大利亚的。[Well that should be no problem. I came to Australia over five years ago. At that time I was a ballet teacher, and I’ve been living here legally ever since.]

DIAC Officer: And have you been absent from Australia during that period? (在那期间,您离开过澳洲吗?)

Miao (苗): 每年春节我都飞回去中国见我的家人。我去年还参加了全球巡回演出《罗密欧和朱丽叶》,总共花了三个月的时间,我们去了温哥华、西雅图、墨西哥城等等。这些算不算?[Every year I fly home to see my family during Spring Festival. Last year I performed in Romeo and Juliet on a worldwide concert tour. The whole thing lasted three months. We went to cities like Vancouver, Seattle, Mexico City, and so on. Do those times count?]

DIAC Officer: Yes, that does count, as it is a requirement of the application process that you must also have not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total during that four year period. (是的,这些都算。根据申请要求,在四年间,总共离境时间不能超过一年。)

Miao (苗): 应该没问题。我回国一般只待不到一个月的时间 。我还听说要成为公民的话得通过一个考试,这考试通过率怎么样?[That should be fine as I never go back for longer than a month or so. I also heard that you have to pass a test to become a citizen of Australia. What’s the pass rate like?]

DIAC Officer: The pass rate? Wow. That… I’m not too sure about. However you should know that all applicants must pass the citizenship test before they can submit their actual application. (通过率?我也不确定。但是,请注意,所有申请人在提交申请前,都应当通过考试。)

Miao (苗): 那考试是什么形式?考试是最伤脑筋的事情了。您可不可以就考试的这些题目给我举些例子呢?[So what’s the format of the test? Exams are such painful things. Could you give me some examples of the kind of questions that appear on the test?]

DIAC Officer: Well, there’s a whole range of different types of questions. Some are relatively simple and just require common sense to answer. For example, it may ask you where Australia’s Federal Parliament is located – that’s in Canberra, of course. (有各种各样不同类型的题目。有一些比较简单,只要常识就能回答。例如澳洲联邦议会在哪?答案是堪培拉。)
(…)
Others – like Australia’s first PM – well, may be trickier. The answer to that one, by the way, is Sir Edmund Barton. Another difficult one is, “What is Australia’s national flower?” The answer to that is the golden wattle. Don’t worry – many Australians don’t know that either. (还有些问题,例如澳洲第一任总理是谁,这个问题可能比较难一些。顺便说一下,答案是埃德蒙·巴顿爵士。还有一个比较难的问题,澳洲的国花是什么。答案是金合欢。别担心,很多澳洲人都不知道这题的答案。)

Miao (苗): 那考试有没有参考材料?[So are there any reference materials available for the test?]

DIAC Officer: All the material used in the exam is drawn from the official guide called “Becoming an Australian Citizen”. You can download it from the department’s website. (所有的考试题都来自于一本官方指南,叫做《如何成为澳洲公民》。你能从部门网站上下载到。)

Miao (苗): 这个没问题,我们中国人最擅长死记硬背啦。多少分才算通过?[That should be no problem. We Chinese are the best at learning by rote. What mark do I need to get to pass it?]

DIAC Officer: A mark of 75% – that’s 15 out of 20 questions correct – is required. (必须要至少75分,也就是每20道问题要答对15道。)

Miao (苗): 谢谢您的帮助。还有一个问题我想问,考试有没有中文版本?[Thanks for your help. One more thing I’d like to ask – is the test available in Chinese?]

DIAC Officer: No, I’m afraid the test is only available in English. I guess we’ll leave it there then. I wish you all the best with your application. (没有,只有英文版的。我想应该差不多了吧。祝您申请成功。)

7 Comments to "Mandarin-English Dialogue #12 – Becoming an Australian Citizen"

  1. sixzero's Gravatar sixzero
    17/06/2012 - 11:43 am | Permalink

    A typo in the sentence “Firstly, you most obey all of Australia’s laws. ” most -> must

  2. Siqiu's Gravatar Siqiu
    22/06/2012 - 5:00 pm | Permalink

    I love this site, and I really appreciate the interpreting resources, and hope they can stay there for as long as possible.

  3. Xinyu's Gravatar Xinyu
    18/09/2012 - 4:52 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for invitation to your blog. I’m really impressed. Good job, mate! Love it!

    I have a question regarding the translation of “毕竟祖国是生我养我的地方 ” in Dialogue 12;

    do we say in English “China is the place I was born ” or “China is the place I was born in”? I felt the latter sounds more grammatically correct, but correct me if I’m wrong. 🙂

    • Ana's Gravatar Ana
      27/07/2023 - 10:49 pm | Permalink

      “毕竟祖国是生我养我的地方
      After all, China is my motherland where I was born and bred.

  4. Amanda's Gravatar Amanda
    29/02/2024 - 7:00 pm | Permalink

    2024, still using it.

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