On Saturday, March 22, Marco Polo Project held its first international ‘all-you-can-translate’ event – in Melbourne and Nanjing. Across these two cities, thirty-five learners of English and Mandarin came together and, in the course of an afternoon, translated 10,000 Chinese characters into English.

The pieces translated covered topics as varied as Chinese characters in Hollywood, medical reform, and sex education, and prizes were give to the fastest and most elegant translators. All participants translated texts by Zhang Tianpan, featured author of the 2014 Marco Polo Festival of Digital Literature – you might want to tackle one yourself!

We are extremely happy with the result of this event – and hope to run more like this in the future. If you would like to run a translation event with us, please send us a line at info@marcopoloproject.org