English at interview?

[Brian121247]

After about 6 months in Administrative Review, I've learned that my K-1 application has been forwarded to Guangzhou on Oct. 16.

 

Now I'm worried about my SO's limited ability to speak English at the interview. I believe this has been less of an issue lately than in the past.

 

What is the group consensus based on recent interviews about the likelihood of getting a blue slip because of inability to speak English? I've been pressing my fiancee to go back to studying and have sent her more money for classes. She confesses that learning languages is difficult for her and it has not been a problem for her friends at recent interviews. I'm trying to decide how much to press her on this and how to come up with a strategy to learn at least just enough to get through the interview.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Brian

[david_dawei]

This concern comes up often.. I would agree that over a year ago this seemed to be a bigger issue. But really almost a non-issue now.

 

Many (including my SO) could barely speak english... We had a game plan which she followed (say hello, when asked about language she gave our practiced line "I'm learning but will understand you better in chinese; answer the simpliest questions in english but follow up with chinese to make sure it's correct).

 

It's more about how the relationship appears to the VO. A denial due to language (ie: request for video) is to me a sideline issue that they question the relationship a little bit.

 

Have her prepared and confident; smile and greet the VO.

 

Read the Interview FAQ for tips and questions that can be asked...

[chilton747]

This concern comes up often.. I would agree that over a year ago this seemed to be a bigger issue. But really almost a non-issue now.

 

Many (including my SO) could barely speak english... We had a game plan which she followed (say hello, when asked about language she gave our practiced line "I'm learning but will understand you better in chinese; answer the simpliest questions in english but follow up with chinese to make sure it's correct).

 

It's more about how the relationship appears to the VO. A denial due to language (ie: request for video) is to me a sideline issue that they question the relationship a little bit.

 

Have her prepared and confident; smile and greet the VO.

 

Read the Interview FAQ for tips and questions that can be asked...

 

David,

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

[david_dawei]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

[chilton747]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

My SO said that she could not understand the VO's chinese. This leads me to believe that he only knew cantonese. I do know that Guangzhou speaks primarily cantonese. Just an observation on my part.

[Guest Duke]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

My SO said that she could not understand the VO's chinese. This leads me to believe that he only knew cantonese. I do know that Guangzhou speaks primarily cantonese. Just an observation on my part.

 

Because the official language of the station assignment is Mandarin, the VO's primarily speak Mandarin as a foreign language. Nearly all are able to conduct interviews in competent Mandarin. They do have a limited number of translators available for Cantonese. As David said, language issues are really relationship issues. They are resolved by proving the couple can and does communicate and has an ongoing valid relationship.

 

Although my wife was practiced in her confident hello and could answer many questions in English, the American VO beat her to the greeting with excellent Mandarin and not a word was spoken in English. She was asked if she spoke English and if I spoke any Chinese. She answered "a little" to both questions.

[warpedbored]

Contrary to others I don't think you should shrug off the language barrier as a "non issue". The fact is no one ever knows what the VO's will be asking for from one week to the next. Your best option is to be as prepared as you can. If you have never made a video speaking together I would suggest you make one on your next trip. If possible go to the interview. VOs can and do question relationships when the beneficiary's language doesn't appear to be good enough. It may not happen as much now as it did say 2 years ago but it still happens from time to time.

[Ggirt]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

My SO said that she could not understand the VO's chinese. This leads me to believe that he only knew cantonese. I do know that Guangzhou speaks primarily cantonese. Just an observation on my part.

 

Because the official language of the station assignment is Mandarin, the VO's primarily speak Mandarin as a foreign language. Nearly all are able to conduct interviews in competent Mandarin. They do have a limited number of translators available for Cantonese. As David said, language issues are really relationship issues. They are resolved by proving the couple can and does communicate and has an ongoing valid relationship.

 

Although my wife was practiced in her confident hello and could answer many questions in English, the American VO beat her to the greeting with excellent Mandarin and not a word was spoken in English. She was asked if she spoke English and if I spoke any Chinese. She answered "a little" to both questions.

 

My wife speaks English and Russian better than your Chinese is I would think?

[Brian121247]

My situation is this: on my second visit in April, 2006, I videotaped us twice - once in her Shenzhen apartment and again a few days later in our hotel in Guangzhou.

 

On the first attempt, I decided to ask her questions about our schedule and it went something like this:

 

"On Saturday we're going . . . (she makes swimming motions and burbling sounds) - yes, honey, to the beach."

 

On Sunday we're going to . . . (she makes train noises) - yes dearest, to Guangzhou."

 

On Wednesday I'm going . . . (she makes airplane noises with outspread arms) - yes my love, I'm going home."

 

She was damn cute doing the airplane thing!

 

On the second attempt, I recorded us communicating through her Chinese electronic translator, which we have used heavily, and I thought it clearly demonstrated that we could carry on a detailed and fairly complicated conversation. I narrated both our written messages via machine, and I think it was obviously not staged.

 

Unfortunately, both tapings really point out that her English is poor, while demonstrating some ability to communicate through alternate means.

 

On my most recent visit last month, I really didn't realize until after I returned home that she had picked up several useful words that we used daily: "We go to: bank, taxi, eat, sleep." She also learned "money," "You Like?," "You Buy?," "Dollars," and "Toilet." She was one mean negotiator when we argued prices with the vendors every day! Anyway, I didn't try to make another tape, and I mailed the ones I previously made to her last week. If the VO sees the airplane segment, it should at least rate a smile!

 

My visa lawyer has been telling me that she will not get her visa unless she improves her English. So I've been urging her to return to the classroom or hire a private tutor to help her learn at least enough English to let her recognize and answer a few of the most common questions. What I'm hearing in the feedback so far confirms my assumption that it really depends on which VO she gets as to how the interview is conducted and how important English is considered.

 

I remembered some advice a few days ago that I read on CFL regarding writing a timeline and attaching photos to serve as a description of the evolution of a relationship. I started doing one for us last night, and am currently working on a section tentively called "How We Communicate." I want to keep the whole document fairly short (with mostly carefully selected photos) so the VO can read it quickly after my SO slips it under the glass window. But I hope to describe how we have communicated over the past 18 months using several different methods: email, human and electronic translators, gestures, Yahoo Messinger, ESP, you name it. Maybe I can head off any pesky questions about her Engish by addressing it this way!

 

Brian

[Cerberus]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

Dave,

 

I asked Alice, about this. She stated that the man that interviewed her spoke very passable Beijing dialect Mandarin. She personally speaks Mandarin with a Sichuan dialect (akin to the difference of Southern US and Western US English). Alice speaks English very well. As I posted a while back, asked the interviewer to use English. This information is quite useless to the OP, perhaps useful for someone else.

 

IMHO, very fluent English or English that shows the fianc¨¦e/spouse has studied ( she/he will never be perfect ) would be definitely be a benefit. However, most will not fall into this category. I tend to agree with warpedbored. Preparation is a key. The problems of little to non-existent English would indeed place a ¡°spotlight¡± on her and make a VO wonder about the validity of the relationship. We already know from past posts that some VOs immediately demanded videos, etc. Then the sponsor and petitioner have some problems. I definitely wouldn¡¯t Alice or myself to be in this predicament.

 

I asked her if she could remember her interview the use of languages. From what she relates to me all of the major dialects were spoken. However, it was a bit of ¡°luck of the draw¡± to find your own dialect! Some were like her interviewer spoke Beijing dialect very well; some of the women related to her at the hotel that their interviewers spoke Cantonese very well.

 

It is hard to draw any firm hard conclusions from this intelligence. Perhaps, GUZ speaks?

 

Dave

[Guest Duke]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

Dave,

 

I asked Alice, about this. She stated that the man that interviewed her spoke very passable Beijing dialect Mandarin. She personally speaks Mandarin with a Sichuan dialect (akin to the difference of Southern US and Western US English). Alice speaks English very well. As I posted a while back, asked the interviewer to use English. This information is quite useless to the OP, perhaps useful for someone else.

 

IMHO, very fluent English or English that shows the fianc¨¦e/spouse has studied ( she/he will never be perfect ) would be definitely be a benefit. However, most will not fall into this category. I tend to agree with warpedbored. Preparation is a key. The problems of little to non-existent English would indeed place a ¡°spotlight¡± on her and make a VO wonder about the validity of the relationship. We already know from past posts that some VOs immediately demanded videos, etc. Then the sponsor and petitioner have some problems. I definitely wouldn¡¯t Alice or myself to be in this predicament.

 

I asked her if she could remember her interview the use of languages. From what she relates to me all of the major dialects were spoken. However, it was a bit of ¡°luck of the draw¡± to find your own dialect! Some were like her interviewer spoke Beijing dialect very well; some of the women related to her at the hotel that their interviewers spoke Cantonese very well.

 

It is hard to draw any firm hard conclusions from this intelligence. Perhaps, GUZ speaks?

 

Dave

 

This has already been answered.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...p;hl=Translator

 

3)Most Consular Officers here speak Mandarin Chinese well enough to perform interviews in that language. If the applicant cannot speak Mandarin or English, then we usually have one of our Chinese co-workers who speaks the applicant's dialect translate. However, most applicants, especially fiance or marriage based visa applicants, speak Mandarin or English well enough that this is not an issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

IV Unit, U.S. Consulate, Guangzhou, China

[chilton747]

Can you ellaborate on the use of manderin vs cantonese by the VOs?

that's a good question... hope others will chime in.

 

I understand that they might call out during the check in, in a local accent or dialect, but not sure I've ever heard if the VO conducts it in something other than English or Mandarin.

Dave,

 

I asked Alice, about this. She stated that the man that interviewed her spoke very passable Beijing dialect Mandarin. She personally speaks Mandarin with a Sichuan dialect (akin to the difference of Southern US and Western US English). Alice speaks English very well. As I posted a while back, asked the interviewer to use English. This information is quite useless to the OP, perhaps useful for someone else.

 

IMHO, very fluent English or English that shows the fianc¨¦e/spouse has studied ( she/he will never be perfect ) would be definitely be a benefit. However, most will not fall into this category. I tend to agree with warpedbored. Preparation is a key. The problems of little to non-existent English would indeed place a ¡°spotlight¡± on her and make a VO wonder about the validity of the relationship. We already know from past posts that some VOs immediately demanded videos, etc. Then the sponsor and petitioner have some problems. I definitely wouldn¡¯t Alice or myself to be in this predicament.

 

I asked her if she could remember her interview the use of languages. From what she relates to me all of the major dialects were spoken. However, it was a bit of ¡°luck of the draw¡± to find your own dialect! Some were like her interviewer spoke Beijing dialect very well; some of the women related to her at the hotel that their interviewers spoke Cantonese very well.

 

It is hard to draw any firm hard conclusions from this intelligence. Perhaps, GUZ speaks?

 

Dave

 

This has already been answered.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...p;hl=Translator

 

3)Most Consular Officers here speak Mandarin Chinese well enough to perform interviews in that language. If the applicant cannot speak Mandarin or English, then we usually have one of our Chinese co-workers who speaks the applicant's dialect translate. However, most applicants, especially fiance or marriage based visa applicants, speak Mandarin or English well enough that this is not an issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

IV Unit, U.S. Consulate, Guangzhou, China

 

Yes this has been answered but with the words "most" and "usually." But it is not "all." Speaking from experience, my SO could not understand the VO's mandarin and he could not understand her mandarin. Eunice had told me that it was a specific dialect problem. Carl said it best. One needs to be fully prepared for anything and everything.

[david_dawei]

My personal feeling is NOT to push anything in front of the VO [preemptively] that is not asked for... Have anything made up ready to hand over is the kind of preparation I would recommend, and hand selecting good pictures is a good thing to do.

 

Another personal opinion: I would NOT make a video specifically for the interview... They are not interview material but overcome material and you can deal with it should it come up. If your not at the interview, how would someone make a video without a trip. If you at the interview, it's easily done in GUZ if requested. JMO. Good luck

[Trigg]

 

My visa lawyer has been telling me that she will not get her visa unless she improves her English. So I've been urging her to return to the classroom or hire a private tutor to help her learn at least enough English to let her recognize and answer a few of the most common questions. What I'm hearing in the feedback so far confirms my assumption that it really depends on which VO she gets as to how the interview is conducted and how important English is considered.

 

 

Brian

As is the case with many 'visa lawyers' your is an idiot when it comes to visas and visa related issues. There is NO rule that says your SO must speak English. Rather, as proof of relationship they may ask 'how do you communicate'. Chinglish, some English, some Chinese, pocket translators, computer translators and human translators are all valid forms of communication. Just be sure your SO tells the VO you use them.

[SmilingAsia]

Speaking from experience, my SO could not understand the VO's mandarin and he could not understand her mandarin. Eunice had told me that it was a specific dialect problem. Carl said it best. One needs to be fully prepared for anything and everything.

If she is relaxed, not nervous, she will understand VO's mandarin better. I did hear several applicants said VO speak hard-learnt mandarin (but we speak hard-learnt English ).

VO speaks English and mandarin, not Cantonese.

 

I did say all the Cantonese women I know in person passed their interview cuz they spoke their clumsy mandarin slowly and VO had no problem understanding them.

 

It does happen sometimes Cantonese and northern Chinese don't understand each other's mandarin.