Learning a foreign language can be frustrating. When you are attempting to acquire a new language, you have to learn a whole bunch of new vocabularies, pronunciations, grammar, slangs, idioms, etc. It’s literally a life-long process to acquire a new language.

How cool would it be if there was only one language in the world?
Everybody would just speak the same language and communicate with each other effortlessly regardless of race. Is it really possible? Of course it is; take a look at how Beagles talk to German Shepherds, and how Superb Lyrebirds sing with Kakapos. If animals can share the same language with the same species, why can’t we?

With only one language in the world, we won’t have to worry about language barriers anymore. Therefore, we could travel around the world, work across the globe, read the original versions of the most famous literature from different countries, and meet new friends from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, companies will have more business opportunities, because they can produce commercials in just one language, and expand their market across the globe. As far as medicine is concerned, western and eastern medical researchers can exchange thoughts and ideas, learn from each other, and work together to fight incurable diseases.

Everything has two sides. Of course there are both advantages and disadvantages to only having one language in the world. Translators could lose their jobs; local businesses could face fierce competition from international giant companies, etc. However, in the big picture, I think it’s a good thing to unite all languages.

With the development of human culture, many countries promote diversity and equal opportunities by fighting racial discrimination. I think that unifying language is the best way to totally eliminate racial discrimination, because the fact is that people don’t discriminate against skin color; people discriminate against the language you speak.

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

Freelancing sounds like a dream job to many people, because you can make a living by doing something you like to do, and you can have flexible working hours, work remotely, address your own opportunities, have more variety in work, earn your own rewards, and you will be treated with respect. Above all, you can get away from numerous office policies. But is freelancing really for you?

When It Comes To Business

Creative talent is like a unique gift. However, in reality, creating pure art is not always good enough to earn a living. If you want to secure a stable income, you will most likely have to produce commercial art that fits the market. When you are producing art for commercial purposes, you will need to keep abreast with the market trends and new technologies, know how to market yourself, learn to communicate with noncreative clients, create arts under limited conditions, accept criticisms, and make compromises.

Some people choose to be a fine art artist in order to keep their creativity fresh. Some people go for commercial art for a stable income. I manage to have a good balance of both.

What Does It Take To Be A Freelance Designer?

Business Skills - It’s sad to say that having both talent and creativity is not enough to be a freelance designer. Freelancing is pretty much a one-man show. Therefore, you will not only be a designer, but also a business development director, a project manager, an account representative, a marketing coordinator, an accountant, and a filing clerk. You will be amazed at how much you will learn by freelancing!

Initiative - Freelancing is like running your own business. It’s nice that you can be your own boss, but on the other hand, you have to take the initiative to create a business plan, market your business, manage your budget, follow up on projects with clients and vendors, and maintain a long-term relationship with your clients.

Conquering – “Graphic design is to conquer, conquer, and conquer!” – My instructor at design school.

Freelancing is all about conquering. You will need to conquer technical problems with hours of research, unrealistic deadlines with days of sleeplessness, financial pressures with marketing to increase business, technological gaps with continuous upgrades to computer programs and continuing education to keep your skill set up to date, etc.

Planning

If you decide that freelancing is for you after weighing out the opportunities and risks, sit down and write a business and marketing plan. Freelancing is like running a business. The more you plan and prepare for your business, the easier your freelancing business will reach success.

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

Chinese kung fu is like a super power to me. If you were a Chinese kung fu master, you could jump very high and far, attack and defend several people simultaneously, and beat armed people with bare hands. You could literally build up a special kung fu army and conquer the world! It’s hard to that the spirit of this powerful skill is actually about defending peace, not destroying.

In the movie of The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) moved from US to China and got bullied from local kids with Chinese kung fu. Dre turned to a secret kung fu master, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), and urged to learn Chinese kung fu in order to fight them back. Instead of just teaching Dre kicks and punches, Mr. Han also taught Dre maturity and calm. During the journey of learning Chinese kung fu, Dre has learned to stand up for his fear and realized that kung fu is about fighting for peace.  

The Karate Kid movie is a big hit, not only because Jackie Chan is a real Chinese kung fu master, but also Jaden Smith is a very talented young actor. As you know, Jackie Chan is famous for his kung fu performance. Even though he doesn’t fight much throughout the movie, he definitely ensures the action quality of the film. As far as Jaden, I knew that he is Will Smith’s son for a while, but it was the first movie I watch him. Well, I have to say that I am totally impressed by his talent. The Karate Kid character requires both acting and action performances, and Jaden has totally nailed it. The audience in my theater gave him bursts of applause during the final fight.      

Some people criticized that the name of the movie is confusing, because the movie has nothing to do with karate but only Chinese kung fu. Other than that, I think this is a good movie and is worthwhile watching.

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

As we grow up, we may not be able to spend as much time as we used to with our families, because we are always busy with school, work, social events, etc. Therefore, it would be a good idea to set one day just for the whole family to catch up, eat, and have fun on a regular basis.

In Chinese culture, family value is very important. Traditionally, Chinese people like to have their family days once a week, usually on Sundays. On a typical Chinese family day, the whole family, including your parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, will meet and have lunch at a dim sum restaurant. You will need a big table if you have a big family. If you have a really big family, you might even have to book a private room just for lunch, which has 2-3 tables. Can you imagine that?

After lunch, the grown-ups will usually chat or play mah-jong, while the kids will hang out and play games together. During the evening, women, like your mom and aunts, will make dinner together. Family day ends after the family finishes dinner at their grandparent’s home. Then everybody will go home.

Nowadays, Chinese families might not be able to meet as often and do as many activities together as they could because of the change in life style, but people still try to meet and catch up with the whole family every one or two weeks.

I like to have family day once a week. On that day, I completely take off from work and enjoy the day with my family. How about you? Do you like family day? What does your family usually do on that day?

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Edith Chan

It has been a while since the last time I updated my blog. Today, I have 10 exciting things to talk about:

1. Edith Chan Design Website Goes Live

I am excited to announce that my website, Edith Chan Design, has officially launched. It has been a long road from planning, design, production, development, to the launch today. With this website, I am able to showcase my artwork, share my design tips, and get freelance projects online. Go ahead and check out my website here!

2. Work From Home

In my last blog, I mentioned about resigning from my part-time job. Well, it turned out that my boss offered me to work from home in order to keep me. So, right now I am working from home. That way, I can secure a stable income but also work on my freelance projects and go to school at my own schedule. It’s like having the best of both worlds.

3. Design Project

In early May, I was fortunately enough to get an identity design project for Southern Post, which is one of the biggest newspapers in South China. You can see detail of the project here.

To be honest, I wasn’t very confident when I first accepted the project, because the timeline given to me to finish the project was very short. I was required to design a logo and a T-shirt in 5 days. However, the project turned out to be very successful. My client loved my design the first time around. No revisions! How about that!

4. Photography

Photography was one of my favorite subjects when I was studying in university. However, because of the high expenses of required equipment, I had to eventually give up on photography.

With the new era of digital camera, I decided to get back to photography and was able to get a DSLR at a very good deal. Moreover, Mason is interested in learning photography too. I expect a lot of photography trips with Mason in the near future. I will publish my photos gallery on my website later. Stay tuned.

5 Badminton Club

I joined a badminton club in early May. Yes, I admit that I barely knew how to play badminton before, but I thought that it would be good to do a sport and interact with other people on a daily basis, and that it could balance my life and remedy the shortcomings of working from home. The good news is that I can play much better now, thanks to the badminton lessons that Jenny gives me.

6. Graduation

I am going to complete my Graphic Design Certificate Program this summer. Frankly speaking, I enrolled into the program with lots of doubts and uncertainties. I am proud that I am able to make it this far.

7. Tuition Subsidy

Macau is giving 1,200 US dollars for its residences who are studying abroad during last year. Well, it’s not a lot of money, but it’s very helpful to a poor student like me.

8. Mexico Trip

Mason and I are traveling to Mexico to celebrate my birthday in early August. I am very excited about this trip because Mexico is famous for beautiful beaches and sunshine, which make it a perfect location for a holiday get-away. We have even bought snorkeling gears and new swimming suits. That’s how much we look forward to going on the trip. By the way, we are thankful that Jenny is  willing to take care of Sushi for us during our trip. Sushi has promised that she will be a good girl. Hehe.

9. Home Office

I have been suffering from back pain and shoulder pain for long hours of drawing on computer. Today, I was finally able to get a new office chair that fit me the best. The chair has lumbar padding to support my back and adjustable armrests to support my elbows when I draw on a tablet. I am very happy with my new chair.

10. My Big Day

As you know, my birthday is approaching quickly, don’t forget to get me birthday presents!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Edith Chan