proof read my visa app!

[新墨西哥人]

Hey, we're going to China next month (woo hoo!) and we're going to send off our visa applications today. I wrote some of it in Chinese but need proofreading/help.

 

My daughter's application:

Alice 跟她爸爸妈妈一起要去中国。Alice 四岁。她要学普通话，认识新的朋友，还在一家幼儿园去玩儿。

 

In English: Alice will go to China with her mom and dad. Alice is four years old. She wants to learn Mandarin, make new friends, and go and play at kindergarten.

 

My application: (needs major help,especially the duration of stay part)

 

My husband has been invited to be a visiting professor at 中国科学院上海。我先生要工作。我跟我女儿一起

要也去上海。我们要参观上海，认识新得朋友，也学普通话。

我在中国可能待一百八十天次。如果没可能，我们在中国待六十或者九十天次.

 

--------------------------

My attempt at the first sentence:

中国科学院上海给我先生请(to be visiting) 教授

 

English: My husband has been invited to be a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. He will work. My daughter and I will explore Shanghai, make new friends, and study Mandarin. If possible, I would like to be able to stay for 180 days at a time without having to exit and reenter the country. If that is not possible a stay of 60-90 days at a time would be nice. (FYI we are staying for close to 180 days, asking for a multiple entry visa good for one year as it would expire in less than 180 days from issuance).

 

I suppose I could  just have my paragraph in English but I wanted to write it in Chinese.

thanks!

[anonymoose]

I suggest for something formal like a visa application, you should just stick to English.

 

And if you get a 180 day visa, it is valid for 180 days from the date of entry, not the date of issue. In fact, most visas are valid (for entering China) for 3 months from the date of issue, regardless of how long you are permitted to stay once you have entered.

[新墨西哥人]

OK, well I have to head to Post office soon anyway to mail this off, so I'll just write in English.

 

By the way, I'm checking the box that says "Multiple Entries Valid for 1 year from date of issue." We will be staying from March 14- September 1st. We will need th visa to be valid for 1 year from date of issue as we will be getting it before March 1st. On the official letter inviting my hsuband they asked that we be given a visa that lets us stay in the country without having to exit every 30/60/90 days or whatever is typical.

[889]

There are certainly times when it's appropriate to show off your Chinese a bit. But this is not one of them. As said, stick to English. You want your application to look as close as possible like everyone else's application, so it just sails through.