「Ta’k-ke ho!」
Jenny Bloomfield – Constant Code-switching

By ｜ Kolas Yotaka
In the head office building of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade​ in Canberra, there is a special exhibition titled "Portraits & Mirrors" that features photographs of the first Australian women to be posted as ambassadors to various countries around the world. One of the photos shows a familiar face, a face that looks a little younger than it does now. The caption reads:
"Jenny Polyxeni Bloomfield, Ambassador to Greece, 2011-2014."


Bright eyes that sparkle, an air of confidence, and dimples that never seem to fade from her cheeks, are Jenny's trademarks. Jenny's life is a testament to the way Australian society has embraced diversity. She immigrated to Australia with her family from Greece when she was young and, after becoming an Australian citizen, she entered the Australian public service as a career diplomat and went on to become Australia’s first female ambassador to Greece, her own country of birth. It was an outcome that Jenny's parents could hardly have predicted when they first arrived with her in Australia.


Jenny was posted to Taiwan in 2021, and I was working in the government at the time, so I had the opportunity to meet her on a number of occasions. Elegant, warm, welcoming, and eager to learn, she quickly became active and influential within the foreign diplomatic community in Taiwan. Curious about all things Taiwanese since she first took her post, she not only became fluent in Mandarin, she also studied Taiwanese and picked up some words in Hakka and even indigenous languages. She often charmed her audiences by opening her speeches in one of these languages; and upon her departure from Taiwan, she recorded a warm, 2-minute farewell video spoken entirely in Taiwanese. A Greek-Australian, she studied law, political science and languages at the University of Melbourne, joined the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra as a career diplomat, and in 2011 she made history by becoming the first Greek-born, and the first woman, Australian Ambassador to Greece. In DFAT Jenny also met and married fellow Australian diplomat James Bloomfield, since deceased, and they have four young adult children.


When we met for this interview, it was Jenny’s first time back in Taipei after leaving office almost one year earlier. She was here for the launch of a new book, published by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, an event that would showcase the deep friendship and cooperation between Taiwan and Australia. The volume contains documents, speeches, press releases and

joint statements produced during her term in Taiwan. She told me that she wrote her own speeches, even in Mandarin, with input from her Australian Office colleagues; and all of them seemed to begin with ‘Ta'k-ke ho’ (Taiwanese: ‘Hello everyone’) or ‘Nga'ayho’ (Amis: ‘Hello’). She also used words in Hakka and other indigenous languages. All of this was of great interest to me.


Just like me, Jenny loves languages. Her first language was Greek, and after immigrating to Australia she became fluent in English. French is her third language, and she is just as fluent in Spanish, and in Japanese. Not to mention Persian, Italian, Mandarin and Taiwanese, which she has learned through her various postings. Whenever I see Jenny, it's like we're two computers sitting across from each other. The casings are transparent, and we can see through them as we start switching between different codes. Within a very short time, we can pick up each other's channel and start communicating at the same frequency. By frequency I don’t just mean the language, but also our views on subjects like foreign affairs, national security, energy, gender, ethnicity and culture.


It takes confidence and wisdom to be able to switch modes in life. At the end of her term in Taiwan, Representative Bloomfield declined to take further overseas assignments. Having served as a diplomat continuously for over 29 years, she chose to retire in order to spend more time with her children and her family. But she has continued to travel, working with thinktanks and speaking at conferences in Australia, Taiwan, Japan, and the European Union. After years of diplomatic service, of travels and rich professional and personal experiences, she has now switched to ‘being herself’. Before she set off back to her home in Melbourne, we met in Taipei, where I had just returned from a study trip to the United States. When the creative team at Peoplefish Poetry &Life invited me to chat with Jenny, I remembered what it felt like to be a reporter, and I immediately agreed. Switching modes in life can be fun. It is for me, and for Jenny too.