A couple has claimed that Google Translate is the key to their marriage due to not speaking the same language.
Madina and Matthew Harbidge first met in 2018 while Kazakhstan-based Madina was visiting Australia.
After feeling the initial chemistry while friends were translating for them, they turned to the search engine to communicate with each other on their own.
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Madina returned home nearly 5,000 miles away while Matthew remained in Australia, but the pair spoke daily via the online translator while learning one another's native languages, before eventually speaking on video calls in English.
They made their relationship official after meeting up in Amsterdam again later that year and dated virtually in between travelling to see each other in either Kazakhstan, Germany or Australia every few months.
But even the transcontinental distance or the distance made via a global pandemic couldn't keep the pair apart, with Matthew proposing via video call in August 2020.
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After a total of 145,559 Facebook messages and 48 days spent communicating on the phone, the long-distance element of their relationship ended when Madina eventually moved to Australia last May, with the pair tying the knot this June.
The love birds are urging anyone who knows they've found the one but are separated physically to pursue a long-distance relationship, as difficult as it is, enduring temporary unhappiness is worth it to spend the rest of your days with the love of your life.
Matthew, of Darwin, Australia, said: "We fell in love thanks to Google Translate, it helped.
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"Our relationship progressed from Google Translate, which was amazing, the translator worked really really well.
"Sometimes Russian and English handle context very differently so I had to learn how to write so it translated correctly to Russian and Madina had to do the same thing.
"Otherwise, it was excellent for doing that and we transitioned from writing in each other's languages to phone calls and video calls together."
After hitting it off when meeting for the first time, the pair thrust themselves into learning one another's native languages – with Matthew grappling with Kazakh and Russian.
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But Madina's English became significantly better than Matthew's Russian after the first six months, so from that point onwards the pair mainly communicated in English.
To make their relationship work, they agreed to speak every day, as well as scheduling a date day every weekend and then tried to see each other physically every three to four months.
But after deciding they wanted to live together, the pandemic struck, meaning they didn't meet up again for a year and a half.
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Matthew said: "Of course, we were trying our hardest to make things work but we didn't know when Covid was going to end.
"We kept saying 'it will just be a few months, but that became a lot of months and it became a year, and still there was no end in sight.
"The structures that we sort of built-in, saying good morning and good night to each other and spending as much time as we could together, it really helps but it was bloody hard. It was a tough time.”
In the end, Matthew bought Madina an engagement ring and proposed to her from 4,970 miles away.
"I bought a ring for Madina for us to get engaged. I lived quite close to the beach at the time, it was one that Madina really liked, and proposed to her there remotely from 8,000 kilometres away.
"I got out the ring, turned the camera around and said, 'will you marry me?' and she was very, very happy.
"The moment was lovely, I was really scared about dropping the ring in the sand."
The lovebirds were eventually reunited after Madina's Australian visa was approved.
They were warned the process could take up to two years, but only had to wait eight months in the end.
Their long-distance relationship officially ended in May 2021 when she made the continental move to Australia.
The pair got married this June at the nature reserve where they spent their second date.
Madina said: "Matt managed to stand outside my hotel when I was in quarantine [for two weeks] and he sent coffee, food and pictures to paint my room.
"After I left quarantine we saw each other and I don't know how long we stayed there crying, kissing and cuddling each other.
"If it's someone who you really love and know you'll be with them forever, you need to work on the relationship.”
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Topics: World News, Google, Google Maps, Australia
Gabriella Ferlita