The recruitment of international academic staff is viewed as one of the strategies to internationalise the universities. International academic staff, however, usually encounter many challenges when in a foreign context. This study aims to investigate the challenges of Chinese academic staff teaching in the UK in terms of language, relationships and culture. Eight Chinese academic staff from three different disciplines in one UK university were interviewed. The interviews focused on three areas: their language abilities, socialisation patterns and ideas of pedagogy. It is hoped the study may help institutions, educators and scholars to consider this worthwhile issue as an area of study and provide better support to meet the needs of international academic staff. (Contains 1 table.)