Bi-lingual help needed

[Feathers268]

Here is the situation. Jen's AOS interview is in Fresno on Thursday April 13 at 11:00 AM. The problem seems to be finding someone who can translate for her. Her cousin is far too nervous about doing it being related and whether she could legitamently or not, if she is not comfortable, I don't want that becoming problematic.

Any suggestions of where to look? Any volunteers would be welcome but I understand that being in Fresno on a weekday morning would not be easy.

Any advice is most welcome.

[NY-Viking]

How good is Jen's English?

 

Provided she can tell the interviewer how you met, spell her name, and provide her address and telephone number, and answer "no" to all of the questions on the I-485, a translator might not be necessary ...

 

In our interview, for any question my wife did not understand, the intervier repeated it 2 or 3 times in different ways.

 

At the same time, if you feel she needs it, I certainly wouldn't persuade you otherwise ... you obviously know ...

[Feathers268]

Thanks for the input. Jen has a hard time understanding much but usually if I change the word order to match more of a Chinese grammar she can understand. I'll try working with her and see how she does.

That being said, has anyone started a list of possible questions asked?

[jim_julian]

It's certainly your decision Jim but, as a casual observer, Jen seemed to understand quite a bit the day we all spent together. It's probably a matter of confidence and with you there to provide support and adjust word order I would guess you'd get through this just fine. The validity of your relationship and the love you have for each other is very obvious.

 

Undoubtedly I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

 

Good Luck!

[Feathers268]

It's certainly your decision Jim but, as a casual observer, Jen seemed to understand quite a bit the day we all spent together.  It's probably a matter of confidence and with you there to provide support and adjust word order I would guess you'd get through this just fine.  The validity of your relationship and the love you have for each other is very obvious.

 

Undoubtedly I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

 

Good Luck!

203539[/snapback]

Thanks Jim,

Fortunatly we still have a little time to get it together and I feel a lot better knowing that I can be there too instead of having to send her in there all alone. We'll see how she does here over the next couple of days.

[LeeFisher3]

We joined the local Chinese network association and posted our need to their newsgroup. Had 6 responses from people volunteering to help, actually 4 volunteers and 2 wanted to be paid for their service.

 

My biggest concern is how the questions on the DS-230 PartII are worded, they confuse me unless I study them in detail.

[jemmyell]

It's certainly your decision Jim but, as a casual observer, Jen seemed to understand quite a bit the day we all spent together.  It's probably a matter of confidence and with you there to provide support and adjust word order I would guess you'd get through this just fine.  The validity of your relationship and the love you have for each other is very obvious.

 

Undoubtedly I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

 

Good Luck!

203539[/snapback]

Thanks Jim,

Fortunatly we still have a little time to get it together and I feel a lot better knowing that I can be there too instead of having to send her in there all alone. We'll see how she does here over the next couple of days.

203542[/snapback]

Hi Jim,

 

I wish I could offer anything more than encouragement, but as Jim Julian said nobody could doubt your relationship after meeting both of you.

 

As an idea, Fresno City College has a language department with Chinese being taught. Maybe one of the instructors knows a student or coworker who could help?

 

http://www.fresnocitycollege.edu/humanitie...ng/chinese.html

 

-James

Edited April 1, 2006 by jemmyell (see edit history)

[Feathers268]

Thanks Lee and James,

Youi both have great suggestions. We have a church near hear that offers Chinese services, I think I'll call them and see what the have to say. I also like the idea of contacting Fresno State. So far the only definate offer wants a lot of money and I'm not ready to swallow that.

[pkfops]

We're up for tomorrow in SF.

 

We were going to have my wife's cousin come but

my wife decided aginst it and want's to do it herself.

 

I'll let you know how things work out.

[Feathers268]

We're up for tomorrow in SF.

 

We were going to have my wife's cousin come but

my wife decided aginst it and want's to do it herself.

 

I'll let you know how things work out.

204064[/snapback]

Thanks and good luck. I'll be looking to see how it goes. I think Jen just might be able to pull it off herself so we will be working hard on it iver the next week. B)

[tonado]

We're up for tomorrow in SF.

 

We were going to have my wife's cousin come but

my wife decided aginst it and want's to do it herself.

 

I'll let you know how things work out.

204064[/snapback]

You are taking a big risk without an interpreter. We had to go back a second time because I thought my wife can handle the questions. I was wrong.

 

Good luck. You probably will be fine. My wife's English wasn't that good.

Edited April 4, 2006 by tonado (see edit history)

[pkfops]

Just got back from the interview today.

 

The guy was a bit hardcore at first and asked my wife

if she could speak English; she said "a little".

 

He wasn't pleased with her answer but my wife said she

could handle it.

 

He asked for:

 

All ID's for both of us.

 

A copy of my 2005 tax return.

 

Employment Letter.

 

Evidence of relationship, PG&E and Phone Bill.

 

Two "happy photos".

 

Then asked my wife the "are you a commie" questions.

 

He then went through the stack of papers and looked at

our marriage certificate and asked where we got married.

 

The conversation then became casual and I was allowed to speak.

 

He told my wife her English was good and the GC will be issued

once the FBI clears her finger prints.

 

All done.

[Feathers268]

Well, after spending the cursory long time on hold today, I actually got some good information from USCIS. At least if it pans out tomorrow, it will be good.

First on the missing letter. Besides giving me the line about having to wait one month, he put record of our conversation into the Fresno data base so that it will be available to explane not having done biometrics. He also suggested printing the notice on the website to be able to produce. I had already thought of doing this, but it is good to hear someone with a helpful bit of information.

The second part was asking about having Jen's cousin as a translator. He advised against it stating the typical "no family" position but he followed up by asking my zip code. He then followed up with 2 phone numbers for organizations in the area that support Chinese and are on file as a resource for services such as translators. If this pans out tomorrow, I think this is a good thing to know in that USCIS could be very helpful if finding a translator is problematic.

[alaskagypsy]

My Lao Po was confident she could do it without a translator.

Especially after hearing from her friends who had passed the interview with no problem and few questions. (I tried to explain in Alaska, there wouldn't be many interviews so they would have more time to do interivew - I was right - only three that morning)

She frooze at the interview.

The interviewer was Asian (Japanese), spoke good English, except with a heavy accent and this confused her.

The interview didn't last 5 minutes, when he stated we needed a translator , showed us where the notice stated so) and would have to re-schedule.

I told him it was hard to find a translator 400 miles from home.

He then said we could have the next interview in our home town, where they have an office they visit once a month or so.

BE PREPARED, you never know.