QQ is killing me

[Neil]

I don't think I can take much more of communicating through QQ.  I am nearly to the point of blocking my fiance.  It is frustrating to receive messages that are so poorly translated that I can't understand even half of what she is trying to say.  Sometimes I can get the general idea.  Here are some examples of messages I've received:

How long does see you return an ability resist?

My home hasn't packed net line, the today report pack, very quick can need not work of time with you chat

Dear of, by this time you be certain to sleep positive joss-stick?I am lightly positive of walk to your bedside, does the mansion body kiss you!The day had you is true happiness

We have a friend that will translate emails for us, but I have a feeling that she doesn't want to say anything too personal since he is a friend of hers, possibly a coworker.  I'm sure things will get better once we get past this stage a bit, but it is frustrating.  I'll try to get her to concentrate on emails for now I think.  I guess I just needed to vent.

[RobertBfrom aust]

Neil , you do not say at which end the translation is happening , is she sending to you in Chinese and your doing it ? or is she sending in English ? it would help all to know this to throw in their 2 cents worth , my Ying has a magic translation system at her end for yahoo M and never a stuffed up word , regards Robert .

[wilsbrough]

Hi Neil,

it maybe like what Robert could be thinking, is she translating it first in China and sending it to you? Is it QQ that is doing the translation, or another program? One thing i do sometimes if the English makes no sense, is to get the girl i'm Chatting to, to send it to me in Chinese script, then using Mdbg to translate it myself by copying and pasting the text. This normally works. I know this sounds a bit of a long winded way of doing things, but if you have Mdbg open at the same time as QQ you will be surprised at how quick it can be done with a bit of practice. :icon_biggrin:

Well all the best. Andy

Oh, and i do find by keeping the sentences short, it does give a more accurate translation.

[Neil]

Yeah, she is sending me translated messages in English.  I think she installed some translation software, but I'm not too sure.  I told her I would prefer that she send me Chinese script and I'll translate through MDBG, maybe that will help.  

Thanks guys.

[brett]

I am lucky my girl's English is quite good, although her spoken English is much better than her written, I don't know if that is usual.

Even then she sometimes writes me the strangest things on MSN, and I find it absolutely adorable.

[Bob]

Niel, My wife and I have been using Google translate for almost a year now and it does a pretty good job. I tried some other translation software programs but I found Google translate to be the best since it made fewer mistakes and it is free. My wife sends me her messages in Chinese, I translate her message then write back to her using the Google translate program (I send my message to her in Chinese). I always check it before sending it to her for any possible mistakes. If  I find a mistake I would simply re-word the sentence.

[shaun]

When I was on "another web site."  I was speaking to two women.  We would use google and I would send English and Chinese.  They would do the same.  When the message didn't make sense I would use different software like Babel Fish and a couple of others.  It would shed different light and I could get the message she was wanting to convey.  Not all software is good all of the time but quite often when ones fails the others work well.  It is extremely time consuming and can be quite frustrating, but the end product was well worth the efforts.  Every once in a while I would get a thank you for the English translation because the google translation did not work well.

[Neil]

I just got a QQ message from Nina.  She's at work and didn't bring the laptop since her DSL will be hooked up tonight at home.  She didn't have her translation software and wrote me a few sweet messages in Chinese which translated fine in MDBG.  Then she tells me that we get to video chat later tonight after work, and it just so happens that I work afternoon shift tomorrow so I can stay up late to meet her.  How perfect is that?!?

[Norb Smith]

Only thing that would be more perfect then that Neil is for you to be there with here is the only thing I can think of at the moment.....lol

[Skip]

[/quote] We have a friend that will translate emails for us, but I have a feeling that she doesn't want to say anything too personal since he is a friend of hers, possibly a coworker.  I'm sure things will get better once we get past this stage a bit, but it is frustrating.  I'll try to get her to concentrate on emails for now I think.  I guess I just needed to vent.
[/quote]

Neil,

I struggle with this as you do.  The web cam seems to help with facial expressions and verbal cues..But, who in the hell could dream up the garbage that rolls out of Google Translator?    My lady, who is very quick to pronounce and learn English, and I spend the time teaching each other how to say simple Chinese/English phrases.  Here is a good web site:  http://www.learnbasicchineselanguage.com/  The site it has the Mandarin pronunciations.  They seem to be very accurate and easily understandable to some one who REALLY speaks the language.  It seems both of us, despite the struggle, are very pleased with the time we spend together.  I know it can only get better from here.

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