leejcandle

Folks, I called DOS as usual 7:30 local this morning. My Julia's interview is set for 1/26/2005, 8:00 AM. The P4 was mailed to her today. I just called her on the phone in the midst of her English class to give her the good news.

CSL&LCY, Could you post your timeline?

Aw shucks! That kills the deal. But back to the topic: Has anyone had any success with Text-to-Speech products? That's where, as a student of Mandarin, I want to fill a gap. I have seen many products, but I want to hear peoples' experience before I buy. I have used Clavis Senica, which sounds like syllables of a natural voice pasted together; still unnatural sounding. Maybe if I can find some reviews, I can make a decision.

enight, Can I get your husband to live on my hard drive?

I found while using TranStar that it really did some stupid things. So I got in the habit (after learning basic Mandarin) of reading the translations. Initially, I actually sent my emails to her and our translator bilingually; using a table in the email with English on one side and Chinese on the other. But once I got better vocabulary, I saw that TranStar was doing some really silly things with parts of speech being put in the wrong part of the Chinese sentence; I was having to edit much of what I wrote. Stay away from TwinBridge (SharpEye OCR and dictionary); bad installation, poor usability. NJStar (word processor) has been nice. Unlike the MicroSoft Pinyin IME, it has some radical lookup tables, and several input methods. While I was in Nanning, someone on Candle recommended KingSoft. It turns out I could see on my fiancees computer several KingSoft products; now I know she had earlier versions of what I eventually bought. I did some searching on the net (still in Nanning) and found Chinese advertisements for KingSoft QuickTrans and PowerWord. I'll post the simplified Chinese here so you can do your own search. KingSoft QuickTrans 2005: ½ðɽ¿ìÒë2005 KingSoft PowerWord 2005: ½ðɽ´Ê°Ô 2005 Have your sweetie buy it for you; much cheaper than the English version whenever it comes out. You'll have to correct a few minor problems by creating your own entries in the user dictionary. But I've had good experience with the general quality of translation. The bottom line on these two is 50 Yuan each. Have your sweetie get both; at a total of 100 Yuan, my sweetheart complained that they are too expensive. But I knew that I was only spending $12 US.

I bought KingSoft Translator and Dictionary in Nanning for just a few bucks. Best I've had so far.

My method has been not only to spend lots of time with my sweetie in China (3 visits so far, 3 weeks duration in September). But instead of 'dating' once or twice a week online (which is how we started), we spend nearly all our free time on Yahoo Instant Messenger with video. If I'm busy for example; she might watch me work. Or maybe we're just having companionship; she might be studying English while I'm reading. Luckily, I have a laptop with a wireless connection. I carry 'her' all over the house with me. Once at a soccer tournament in a distant city, I used the hotels wireless access so that we still stayed in almost constant contact. Our method is to be nearly constant companions with each other; even though we're thousands of miles apart. We keep each other entertained, and we try to council each other on keeping our patience.

I think the "current pregnancy" clause needs to be taken in context. If the pair hasn't seen each other for awhile, that might be a problem. I'm sure the American fiancee might have strong reasons to end the relationship if he suspects an unborn child isn't his. In our case, we discussed the timing of her period in relation to my having been with her. If she were pregnant, we would be able to vouch for our child with the other evidence of my visit and her subsequent conception. We're comfortable with the idea that we would be married already if it weren't for the wait. So now we're crossing our fingers and hoping she's pregnant with a girl.

Yave20b, I was in Nanning with my sweetie last month also. We speculated about getting pregnant, because of the possibility of expedited processing. We're still waiting to know if we got 'lucky'. I'm in Round Rock, north of Austin, by the way. I should also put that in my sig. Congratulations.!!

http://usa.bbs.net/bbs/01/319561.html Original information: [Return] Preface number:319561 Mark:Everyone's SEE SEE(2,000 words) Addresser:flyaway83 [Deliver the short news] Of hour:2004-09-28 21:50:11 Reading number of times:65 Detailed information: The Guys' Rules At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.) We always hear "the rules" from the female side Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE! 1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down. 1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be. 1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way. 1. Crying is blackmail. 1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! 1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. 1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for. 1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor. 1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days. 1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys. 1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us. 1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one. 1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself. 1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials. 1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we. 1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is. 1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that. 1. If we ask what is wrong and you say nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle. 1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear. 1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really. 1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks. 1. You have enough clothes. 1. You have too many shoes. 1. I am in shape. Round is a shape. 1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

I'd like the url for this other all-Chinese forum.

I'm not Eric, but... Would you mind saying where you read this? I went through the first page of posts on the 001 site without seeing it. Is there another Chinese text forum besides 001? I like to keep tabs on that type of behavior myself. My fiancee has told me about those sorts of things.

I can tell you about the similarities; In Mandarin, the same sound is used for the sexes, even though it is different in writing. And while studying Mandarin myself, I complain to the native Mandarin speakers how so many things sound the same. So they yell at me louder when they hear I'm not getting it right. The door swings both ways on this one.

So it should be ok to declare them and bring them in my luggage? I was worried about freshness, in the sense that I'll be here till the 24th. I wanted to bring them home; not eat a mooncake per day till I leave.

Is it prohibited to ship or bring mookcakes; from China to the US? I was weaned onto mooncakes by a Vietnamese girlfriend years ago. So I appreciate them, though I can't eat them everyday. Yesterday (I'm in Nanning) my fiancees Aunt gave me an expensive box of mooncakes. So if I bring them back in my luggage, will they be confiscated?

I used a lawyer, with relatively good results. My experience is different from others. Mine seems to have processed the paperwork well; my time to approval through Texas Service Center was fast. My reason for going with a lawyer was that my job situation keeps me from investing the time and attention to detail that I felt was necessary. This includes the time it might take to research the excellent help that can found on forums like Candle. I had decided at the beginning that I would visit my fiancee in China every 3-4 months; and that if he saved me one more trip, his fee would pay for itself. But he (and seemingly no one else) can't help what seems to be the big problem: Guangzhou. After approval and being sent to Guangzhou, our package sat in customs for several weeks. Now even though all the clearances seems to be done, we're looking at December for the interview. So even though my lawyer did his job for the most part (maybe our TSC approval time was faster that others who filled out the paperwork on their own, or maybe had RFE's), he can't make Guangzhou speed up. Don't misunderstand my conclusion; my lawyer may have made my overall timeline faster; but he can't control anything after the package gets forwarded to Guangzhou; and that's where we see will be the largest amount of time spent. YMMV.

Chinese Wife?, I agree that going to the consulate personally is the right idea. Julia and just haven't made it a priority to travel there from Nanning. What I might have done differently would have been to stay in Guangzhou overnight before continuing on my connecting flight to Nanning.

Ok; mine is in the upper right. Previously, I was looking elsewhere in the browser window. Thanks.

Baiyun is "White Cloud" not "White Cloude". How does one edit one's own posts?

oregonknl, ChineseWife, On my "polite request"; They denied it fairly quickly. For some reason, I tend to get email responses from them within a day; but there's usually weeks since I've emailed them previously. (I always use the "Other" topic selection, and I write as if to a friend or a good coworker.) Having seen how they're having to wade through fraud cases, being creative about how they see our legitimate cases is important. My flight layovers in Guangzhou or Hong Kong haven't been long enough for a personal visit; so I've taken the tack of using email, but the the tone that they are friends helping me solve a problem. Possibly when it comes to my babe's interview, if I can't be here; this paper trail of cooperative emails may have already helped. By they way; for those of you who haven't been through the new Baiyun (White Cloude) airport, it's an interesting place. But I felt I had to walk 5 miles to get from my Customs to the domestic terminal for my Nanning flight. <whew>

I'm in Nanning now. The previous time I emailed the Consulate, I let them know when I was coming, with a polite request that they schedule the interview while I'm here. (You never know until you try; right? ) After I arrived, I registered online at the DOS travel registration website. Just yesterday, I emailed them to let them know I'm here, and asked if they've scheduled the interview yet. I intend to call DOS this evening (7:30 AM US Central Time.) I feel these sort of contacts can definitely help us stand out against the noise of fraud cases the consulate is having to deal with.

Thanks guys, I'll give them a ring in the morning. ------------- Lee

Hi All, My application was DHL'd to GZ on 5/28. From the DHL tracking number(s), I know it has cleared customs between 6/07 and 6/23. I've emailed GZ with no answer. What is the phone number for DOS? I apologize if it's obvious, but I didn't find in searching through the FAQ thread. Thanks in advance for any help. And good luck to all who are waiting :-) ------------------- Lee in Texas.