Question about speaking english at interview

[m-coon]

HI,

 

In reading the most recent denial of Richard and his SO - I become even more paranoid.

 

In this long thread - there was mention that his SO could only speak in chinese at the interview - this is the topic of my question.

 

My wife can speak a little english. But she understands spoken english even less. Therefore the VO would have to speak in Chinese for her to be able to understand the questions - and then perhaps she could answer many of the questions in english.

 

Can you all give me your opinion and experience on this topic? Is this going to be acceptable? What if she gets a VO who does not speak Chinese? And what advise can you give me that will help her through this delima?

 

Thanks so much all.

 

Richard - I am deeply sorry for your denial!

 

Scott

[MoonCarolCafe]

HI,

 

In reading the most recent denial of Richard and his SO - I become even more paranoid.

 

In this long thread - there was mention that his SO could only speak in chinese at the interview - this is the topic of my question.

 

My wife can speak a little english. But she understands spoken english even less. Therefore the VO would have to speak in Chinese for her to be able to understand the questions - and then perhaps she could answer many of the questions in english.

 

Can you all give me your opinion and experience on this topic? Is this going to be acceptable? What if she gets a VO who does not speak Chinese? And what advise can you give me that will help her through this delima?

 

Thanks so much all.

 

Richard - I am deeply sorry for your denial!

 

Scott

166868[/snapback]

AFAIK the VO will speak Chinese. IF she can show that she speaks some english it will help. If she has trouble with her english you may be asked to provide a video of you two communicating... which is why it's best to do the video beforehand and have her bring it with her (we found this out the hard way).

 

Remember, VHS tape, NTSC format, which will be tricky because the standard in China is PAL

Edited November 7, 2005 by MoonCarolCafe (see edit history)

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Scott,

 

I would send a PM to Carl. He has personal experience with this.

 

Good luck

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Carl is warpedbored

[IluvmyLi]

just more bs. If i had to provide a video speaking chinese, our visa would never be approved. God help me.

[cosmiclobster]

The requirement is that you and your SO have the ability to communicate.

This can be through very poor English and with the help of translators.

If she doesn't speak a word of English, you may have a problem.

From what I've seen, if she makes some attempt to speak English, the VO will be O.K. with it and will often finish the interview in Chinese.

[IluvmyLi]

my SO can speak a little bit. But I dont think the VO will be interested in her saying "I miss you".

 

I still feel the same as everyone else. The proof is sitting in front of the VO. Just look at it for cripes sake.

[mrjones]

Scott,

 

My SO can read and write English fairly well but her listening and speaking are very limited. I told her that if she doesn't understand a question, ask if the VO can write it down.

 

She told me that she understood his first question, which was, "Do you speak English?" Her answer was, "A little".

 

That's as far as they got. She could not understand the next question, stared at him for a moment, and asked if he could write it down. He immediately called over a Chinese interpreter and that's how they did they interview.

 

She passed the interview. I don't think you need to be too concerned about her not speaking English.

 

Hope this helps.

[tonado]

My wife had a Chinese VO, so they spoke Mandarin. It all depends on the VO. If your SO speaks good English, she (or he) should speak English.

[david_dawei]

This issue seems to change like New England seasons...

 

Early in this year, it appeared that quite a few interviews were denied and asked for a video... so much that it became standard advice to have a video prepared.

 

Suddenly, that all changed... the last person I recall needing to submit a video was Boba (april 2005). You can read one lengthy comment here by him:

 

Bob's view on reasons for denial

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9850&hl=

 

There have been so many interviews over the last few months in chinese that I'm surprised at this turn of events... but happy none the less.

 

My SO spoke very little english by the interview...

 

I prepared her for an opening greeting in english. And then to expect to be asked about her english (which she was) and how to answer; "I'm learning english, but i will understand you better in chinese"... the rest of the interview was done in chinese...

 

In the past, there were translators available... I have yet to hear that this is the practice at the new consulate, only because they are occurring in chinese by the VO, who knew chinese. (This was just answered by another post.. translators are available).

Edited November 7, 2005 by DavidZixuan (see edit history)

[warpedbored]

My wife at that the time of interview spoke functional English but had a hard time hearing English. When the VO said something she didn't understand the VO made no attempt to communicate in Chinese. With or without a translator. She rudely snatched the folder out of her hands and rifled through it for the I-134. She then promptly wrote out a blue slip and ended the interview. Total interview time maybe 90 seconds. Moon went through the same thing. If you are planning on making a trip to China before the interview I would highly recommend you make a VHS video in the same format they use here in the states just in case. They haven't been asking for these lately but you never know.

[david_dawei]

Video Tape

 

A.2.12.3

You will have to make an NTSC VHS tape. VCD/DVD won't work. Reason being the only equipment they have is for NTSC VHS. I got this from the mouth of a staffer in the citizen services section who used to work downstairs in Immigration.

[warpedbored]

I don't know one format from another but I do know that every electronic device in the consulate is american format. You use the same format you would use to make a VHS video here in the USA. There are services that can do it for you in GZ.

[shyaushu]

It's easy to get paranoid with almost every part of the interview. So much is riding on it. And communication is a big one.

 

I am a bit worried: my wife speaks almost no English at all: "how are you?" and "Today work?" are about it. Consequently, we only speak in Chinese, both in person and on the phone.

 

My Chinese is good enough so that we had no problem communicating (except for really technical or subtle things) for the month we recently spent together. We were on top of one and other (so to speak) twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, nothing but Chinese. It was great fun!

 

But I think I would probably have a hard time making a video tape of my speaking Chinese for 10 or 15 minutes, since my Chinese is really "jie-jie ba-ba" (pidgeon Chinese). My grammar is very poor and my pronounciation is even worse. I probably called her mother a horse a thousand times!

 

Nevertheless, Zhenshu always knows exactly what I said, and usually translates my "Chinese" for other Chinese people who seem confused at my jibberish. Someone listening to a video of me talking might seriously wonder what I was saying.

 

And there's no chance, at this point, in making a joint video since we are not together.

 

Can my wife just say "my husband and I speak Chinese together, but that we use dictionaries and on-line translators to help us with hard-to-say things?"

 

I believe words and subtlties can often get in the way of communication, and I feel our communication is really special: basic and direct. We say so much in so-called "non-verbal" communication and in the way we say things that I will really miss "the good old days" when I can really speak Chinese well.

 

How worried should we be?

Edited November 7, 2005 by shyaushu (see edit history)

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

The requirement is that you and your SO have the ability to communicate.

This can be through very poor English and with the help of translators.

If she doesn't speak a word of English, you may have a problem.

From what I've seen, if she makes some attempt to speak English, the VO will be O.K. with it and will often finish the interview in Chinese.

166889[/snapback]

Steve,

 

I don't believe there is a requirement that states that both must have the ability to communicate or speak the same language. What becomes a problem is when a VO suspects fraud and a sham relationship because of the difficulty in communicating one with another.

 

My SO speaks very good English, but I know there are many whose partners do not. Some have gotten themselves into trouble by saying they can speak Chinese, when in fact their usuage, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar suck. If you aren't excellent at speaking it then I would refrain from making the claim.

 

With that said I think one could be VERY creative making a video showing how the two of you communicate. Only the one made of stone would NOT agree that most communication between loving partners is non-verbal anyway.