Hi jan,
I can relate to the language thing from my ex who was Korean. She learned english all by herself , and she could both talk and write it very good. But when she was trying to learn me korean she was more confused then i was lol
Approaching the translator. Im not really sure what technique would be the best but others here have better combined experience. My translator is a female, i dont know what would be better if it was a guy. But a guy would have easier to relate to what i want to say and translate it much in a way he would as a guy. But the female, knows what the other female wants to hear and not , well on a grand spectrum not down to everyones unique individuality. However having a male translator for some reason feels more awkward to me. Males are alpha predators hehe, but that wont work on the girl so you have to drop that armor and that feels abit awkward atleast for me.
I approached my translator by questioning her sincerity. That might not be the best advice in all cases. But in mine it worked really well. The translator wrote back to me and presented herself and explained she was working in the best of interest for my lady and if there was any problem i should let her know immediately. My lady had a cold recently and said she would go see the doctor if it didnt get better. I was abit worried she wouldnt so i stated my concern to the translator, she then personally checked on the lady.
So im feeling very comfortable right now, even she still adds som fluff here and there. After 20 letters or so you should be able to see through what is and whats not.
Also as someone else pointed out in another post i read. The frequent usage of the words dear or darling often in early stages might get you wondering. But if you do a translation of these words to mandarin, you will see they dont mean the same at all as they do for us and it all makes more sense.
Yes they dont forward some of your questions some times or leave out some part(s). Happened to me and alot others from what i read too. But its quite logical, atleast somewhere in that vortex of vacuum between my ears that if things are moving too fast they will pull the break abit to make sure u stick to the EMF as long as possible. If its moving too slow, they will spice up the ladies reply to motivate you to write more, and more passionate. My translator has evidently even personally recommended my lady to stick with me for which i am very grateful. The EMF´s might end up costly in the long run but if u feel u can trust the translator then thats not a problem for me to keep using it now and then. If i was in doubt however i would do everything to get the lady on alternative communication channels permanently.
Jan, a bit of advice for your trip. You live in Finland, buy your ticket STRAIGHT from Finnair. trust me, there is NO airline in Europe that will get you there safer , quicker or in most cases even cheaper. Finnair is #1 in Europe for any flights to South korea, Japan, China and India by far. And they fly nonstop from Vantaa. You should be there in 12 hours and due to the excellent service and comfort onboard trust me, its not even tiresome. You get several meals, have your own entertainment system etc. well, you
should know all this if you went anywhere in Asia with them before. December might be abit more pricey due to xmas and newyears, and note that theres often a huge price difference depending which city you decide to fly too. You can choose
Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou,
Hong Kong, Kunming, Quingdao, Sanya,
Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin hehe and Xiamen. Quite a slection. Prices might vary greatly so plan your trip well, and note that only bold ones are direct flights with Finnair. Beijing will probably be the cheapest option, depending on dates and availability roundfare tickets will be between 500€ to around 1000€. i think HK and Shanghai during same periods are often 100-200€ more then Beijing. Checking now for my planned trip it would cost 689€. At less convenient dates cheapest now seems to be 511€
If you for some reason will be forced to fly with another carrier, avoid Aeroflot at all costs. Or make sure you have atleast 500€ cash in your pocket, chances are quite good that u have to transfer through Sheremetyevo. And that my friend, you dont want to hehe. If ur alone, chances are great that the customs will harass you. 500€ and problem is solved in a sec. No money and they wont mind harassing you far beyond the event that you have already missed your plane. just google and get horrified
.
about QQ, my lady also confirmed everyone has it if they are within reasonable age. if they say no, somethings wrong. And she doesnt have to always be at a computer to be able to use it. Most of them also have it on their cellphone. but ofcourse, for some it might be very inapropriate to use when they work, for some others its ok from what i have learned so far.
Chinese culture and history is for sure more delicate then Korean and Japanese, also in Korea and japan its fading quicly with the new generation of people who doesnt care much or value it, I hear its the same in China too in the big cities just abit earlier stage. But i think it will not die out in China with the exception for the big cities. The country is too big and too many people live in all the country that divides the cities. In Korea and japan, the landmass i very small and everyone lives close to a big city more or less. It has both its advantages and disadvantages ofcourse. The great advantages is that it takes very little time to build infrastructure and to be able to provide the whole country with fiberoptics, 4G networks etc and at very small costs, this advantage is also selfexplanatory as to why they are far ahead the rest of us technologically speaking. Provided the facts are correct (or im gonna look like an ass there) i really enjoyed reading: (and im far from finnished)
Berkshire Encyclopedia of ChinaIts a 5 volume set. Totaling 2800 pages. Might be abit pricey to buy. I have it in scanned PDF version if anyones interested.
EDITI wrote the above before you added a copy of the letter which i just saw. Thank you for sharing it with us, its not always easy to openly share your feelings in a place like this where many will read that you dont personally know. But i think it shows your sincerity in every word, otherwise you would never had posted it.
I also think you showed alot of respect and humbleness while still managing to get all your questions through. Now we can only hope the translator will see that
aswell.
I only see one minor mistake which is:
I also read that almost everyone at China uses QQ, so I read more about it. Do you have that? I would like to try that sincerely with you sometimes. I wish that you would not be scared about this either. I can try to write some bad Chinese or read Chinese somehow if you hesitate about something. With translator of course.
I think that could easily be misinterpreted and would had been better if you had emphasized translator = internet translator like Google or Babylon
Im crossing my thumbs for you. I presume she will receive it around midnight your local time depending when they start working. If she responds reasonably fast it may be in your box when you wake up for work.
// Mikael
