English at interview?

[chilton747]

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.

 

Excellent advice and information. Brian I hope you are paying attention to this.

[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

 

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

Duke,

 

Thanks.

 

Since Alice passed her interview approximately 1 year ago, I seldom read GUZ speaks. Guess I better RTFF! LOL! I stand humbled! That was one of the reasons that I don't post much here in this sector. Most information is old and after changes were made in GUZ, 80% would be useless.

 

I should point out that Alice and I both felt sorry for many of the fianc¨¦e¡¯s and spouses there at GUZ. They (spouses) wanted to have a good grasp of the English language. However, approximately 85% had to little to none. Most are probably good people. They were just crap at leaning new language skills. If roles were reversed for Westerner sponsors attending the hypothetical SF GUZ, immigrating to China I would imagine that Westerners would have the same identical problem! Imagine yourself doing a video tape, to show that your "sponsor" to China and yoursef could communicate. LOL BTW, the Chinese need a good joke/laugh now and again!

 

Dave