Chat attack

illegal immigrant 

非法移民

(fēifǎ yímín) 

A: The price of being an illegal immigrant is just too high.

做非法移民的代价也太沉重了。

(zuò fēifǎ yímín de dàijià yě tài chénzhònɡ le.) 

B: Maybe these people being smuggled had no other choice. A lot of people have huge debts in their hometowns, and so they want to head overseas to make money to send to their families.  

也许这些偷渡客真的是走投无路了。很多人都是在家乡负债累累,想要出国工作,赚钱补贴家用。

(yěxǔ zhèxiē tōudùkè zhēnde shì zǒutóu wúlù le. hěnduōrén dōushì zài jiāxiānɡ fùzhai lèilèi, xiǎnɡyào chūɡuó ɡōnɡzuò, zhuànqián bǔtiē jiāyònɡ.) 

A: I feel that they won't necessarily find the right job in a new country. 

我觉得他们在新的国家也不一定就能找到合适的工作。

(wǒ juédé tāmén zàixīn de ɡuójiā yěbù yīdìnɡ jiù nénɡ zhǎodào héshì de ɡōnɡzuò.) 

B: Yeah. Especially since a lot of them don't understand English. They work all night and day, go hungry and be frugal to save money, and still have to worry about hiding from the immigration officials. 

是啊。尤其是很多人还不懂英语。他们日夜干活,省吃俭用,还要提心吊胆地躲着移民局的人。

(shì a. yóuqí shì hěnduōrén háibù dǒnɡ yīnɡyǔ. tāmén rìyè ɡànhuó, shěnɡchī jiǎnyònɡ, háiyào tíxīndiàodǎn de duǒzhe yímínjú derén.)

Illustration: Xia Qing/GT