Author Topic: Hello all.  (Read 5978 times)

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Paul Todd

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2011, 05:32:05 am »
Chocolate cake! now you have my full attention ;D

Yahoo is quite common over here but qq is by far the most popular choice for Chinese people. Here is the link to download it
http://download.imqq.com/download.shtml
It has everything you could wish for,well almost!

I'm afraid both Facebook and You tube are blocked and the only way of accessing them reliably is by using a paid for proxy. As for using skype in a net cafe I would have thought QQ would be a safer bet and it would be no trouble at all to set up a meeting this way. Of course it would depend on your lady feeling comfortable doing this and then there is the language barrier to sort out. No small matter! :-\ When my wife and I first started doing web cams together we were faced with a whole barrage of small problems. To start with my computer did not even recognise Chinese characters! ::)  Which was quite fundamental! Then there is the whole question of which translation software to use. Everyone here has their favourite but mine was google and it worked fine for us as well as being free which helped!. You do get really good at cut and paste and in fact we ended up just sending Chinese script which I would translate and reply with. The main thing to remember is that the translations are by no means perfect and if your not careful misunderstandings can cause you lots of problems. For example google would often confuse and substitute the word love for hate....not good :-* :'( . If you start with the basic premise that you are not going to send anything that is deliberately hurtful then translation errors can be quite fun, so share them. I wish you the best of luck......

Offline Scottish_Robbie

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2011, 12:46:54 pm »
welcome Iceland

I think Mike deserves the cake... ;D ;D
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" Winston Churchill

Offline Iceland

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2011, 06:14:10 pm »
Yes, Mike deserves the Chocolate cake and so do the others who have replied to me here. I will email it to them as soon as I get my hand on their email addresses.

But what a relief to find this forum. I feel save and secure.

Mike, thanks for the info regarding the translation issue. I will be much more aware of this "problem" from now on. But it raises another question: I thought the translation was done by human translators. I can understand that the initial translation is done by software but I would have thiought that translators would read it over to check to see to that obvious faults are corrected?

And then ... If I am getting a software translation with the faults still attached, how about the lady I am writing to? Isn't she also getting it wrong ... or incorrect?

Are you experienced guys living in China or in your home country with your Chinese wifes?

I have downloaded the QQ software and signed up. My number is 1504962919. Would anyone of you care to contact me and give me a practice lesson? I have never used a software like this or a webcam before.

I am on GMT here in Iceland.

Warning: Those that connect with me might want to know that I sometimes turn into Mr. Annoying Many Questions.


Paul Todd

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2011, 06:51:01 pm »
I'll remember that Rob!  ;)

Iceland, Mike and myself were talking about the translations you will do personally when you web cam with your lady and not the Chnlove/EMF's that you pay for, they are done by human translators. That is a whole other story!
I am living here in China with my wife and it will be our second anniversary in September. ;D

Offline Martin

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2011, 07:00:51 pm »
Iceland...you will find that people here cover all ends of the spectrum.  A couple of our members are married, and living in China.  More have their wives living with them in their home countries, while many are married, and trying to bring their wives home.  Some men here are dating, while others are still looking for the right person.  So we cover all the angles here.

Offline Neil

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2011, 07:01:05 pm »

1) And then ... If I am getting a software translation with the faults still attached, how about the lady I am writing to? Isn't she also getting it wrong ... or incorrect?

2) Are you experienced guys living in China or in your home country with your Chinese wife?


Welcome Icelander.  You've hit the nail on the head with that one.  I can tell you that my former girlfriend didn't receive wrong translations, she just didn't receive much of anything.  90% or more of our conversations were between me and the translator, with little or none filtering through to her.  She knew very little about me and a lot of what I knew about her was plain wrong.  EMF was the biggest joke on me.  Expensive joke too.  Unfortunately, EMF is sometimes the only option until you actually meet her face-to-face or at least on webcam. 

I'm currently married and my wife is still in China.  We are working on the immigration process now.  I hope she can come to Canada soon, but I have a feeling it will be a while yet.  We met on qq.  She added me randomly and we became friends long before we ever decided to meet. 

Neil

Good luck to you.  This is the best adventure you'll ever have, but it is not easy, or cheap.  As I tell my wife, we chose a difficult path, but the final destination will be worth the effort.
...as irresistible as chocolate

Offline David E

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2011, 07:34:46 pm »
Iceland

I am married to a Chinese lady and we are currently waiting for her visa to Australia to be processed. I tried the CHNLove route for nearly 2 years but I actually met my wife on another Dating Site that was free from EMF charges...only paid a small one-off joining fee.

The issue with translations is peculiar to China. In China there is a very low level of English understanding in general, it is a very rare occurence to meet a Chinese native who  has excellent English (not impossible, but rare).

So even the Translators will get it wrong often.

The biggest problem is the accurate representation of language idioms and colloquialism...plus our tendency to spell words wrongly...this leads often to translation screw-ups !!

You will note that Mike's example of "I cant wait to see you" is literally translated as "I am unable to see you"....ie the word driver  "I cant wait"...is translated literally as "I cannot wait"

My Daughter explained it all to me very clearly. (She is a Teacher in an English Second language School). When she first spoke to my (then) fiance on QQ she quickly assessed her "English language age" as 4 years old. So she began to speak with her as you would speak to a 4 year old !!!...and the communication was much better than mine, because I was trying to speak as if to a adult. So I modified my words to keep only simple, short sentences and to avoid "can't, shouldn't , wouldn't "etc....I am sure you get the drift here.

Over the last 12 months, My wife's English has improved out of sight (try to translate that expression !!!!!) to the point where my Daughter says she has an "English language Age " of about 10 years.

My Daughter tells me that the Language Age of 10 years is about the maximum that a non-English speaker can achieve without a period of total immersion in the language...ie to get better, they need to live inside an English speaking environment .

Chinese people who speak English seem to have an English language age somewhere about 7 or 8 years (I think this is due to the many years in the past where they were totally isolated from the Western World and the population had almost no exposure to the Western World or it's language and culture).

Now, before anyone starts throwing stones, this is a generalisation only and I do not make comment or criticism about any individual !!! But it is close to the reality of the situation

David

ps You can easily see this effect in the postings we read in the Forum, for instance, because he is a Pom, Willy has a language age of about 7 years, and Robbie who is unfortunately a Scotsman has a language age of about 3 months  ;D ;D ;D ;D...while our resident wordsmith..Rhonald...appears to have a language age of something like 756 years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (just joking guys)
« Last Edit: April 13, 2011, 08:36:18 pm by David E »

Offline Scottish_Robbie

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #22 on: April 13, 2011, 07:39:31 pm »
hehe mike better share that cake with Paul.... ;D ;D

Sorry mate, I meant you too... ;D :D :D
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" Winston Churchill

Offline shaun

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #23 on: April 13, 2011, 10:21:22 pm »
Hey I'll take Mikes cake.  Ooo... wait you guys are using a different icing.  Never mind.  ;D ::)



Welcome Iceland.  I'd comment but it looks like it has already been said.

Offline halfpint

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #24 on: April 13, 2011, 10:36:35 pm »
I must be one of the lucky ones.  I met a lady on a web site without spending a dime on EMF's, and she speaks, writes and read's English very clearly.  She's smart, nice and pretty.  She has a lot of good qualities...I am lucky!
My qin ai de is in Shanghai, and I'm not

Offline Neil

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #25 on: April 13, 2011, 11:01:09 pm »
You're definitely one of the lucky ones, Halfpint.  You were blessed to have her come to visit you.
...as irresistible as chocolate

Offline Willy The Londoner

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #26 on: April 14, 2011, 01:41:59 am »
Robert

Now dont get me started about the Illegal Boat Immigrants that are pouring into our North West !!!!.....I could blow a fuse !!!!!!


We had the same problem with the Scots coming into England so we built a wall between Scotland and England. But the cunning devils found a way even if it was only as far as Barrow in Furness.

Willy
Willy The Lpndoner

Now in my 12th year living here,

Offline Scottish_Robbie

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #27 on: April 14, 2011, 01:52:22 am »
LOL.......And when exactly did 'The Romans' become English ?  :o :o ;D ;D ;D

Or was Hadrian really a 'My Smith' from stoke on trent...hahaha
« Last Edit: April 14, 2011, 01:55:12 am by Scottish_Robbie »
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" Winston Churchill

Offline Iceland

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #28 on: April 14, 2011, 04:56:21 am »
Oh, my ... I wish I had discovered this forum at the very beginning. It would have saved me a lot of time, not to mention quite a few qpid credits.

But, well, sometimes it is better to learn the hard way.

Regarding the EMF. Although I am new to this my feeling is that the EMF's are as different in quality as the agency's are many. All in all I have in the past month communicated with 8 different ladies through EMF. I am absolutely sure that at least 2 of these contacts were fake, that is, the agency, or someone there, was pretending to be the woman.

In at least 3 cases I would bet the EMF's were generated as Mike was describing. A part of it is from the lady, but then the letters were filled up with meaningless ladida's from the agency.

But then there were 2 or 3 that felt like they were coming from the ladies themselves, especially the one's that came from the lady who is now my only contact. All her letters have been consistent in style and character, she remembers well what we have talked about earlier and she has always made an effort to address and respond to everything I have said in my letters - and she has done so in a very sincere and authentic way. I am now looking very much forward to communicating with here through qq.

And I am very happy that the studio pictures are out of the way. I have sent her many real and brand new photos of me and she has sent me real and brand new photos of her. I don't think it would be a good idea to meet one of these ladies on qq or face to face if you have only seen her studio pictures.

Thanks to those that have contacted me on qq. I am looking forward to shamelessly taking advantage of you and drive you half crazy with stupid questions. And thanks to all of you for being here. I am hoping that in time I will be able to join the "experienced team" and my "adventure" will become a help to others too.

Offline daghoi

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #29 on: April 14, 2011, 01:44:19 pm »

You are very welcome with all your questions.

I'd like to bring up one point that was brifley mentioned earlier. Investigate your opportunities to travel to China, both financial and practical. Then you are ready to travel in (fairly) short notice. When you have established good contact with a woman it is important to be clear about when you can go, and that is not that far into the future.