How important is woman's English abilities?

[swindoom]

"But not many here have the strength to do what Les did."

So your saying that men who only select English speakers lack strength or are just plain lazy,  both characteristics not desired by genuine FSU ladies.

I repeat, English ability only becomes important when things start getting serious, that is when you start to consider marriage as you both need to be very clear what the other persons says or means.

[andrewfi]

No, most guys will not spend the time, make the committment or learn the lessons that he did.

Whether people who do not do the right things, right, are lazy, or not, does not matter. He and others like him have the strength to do the right things right.

Strength may be strength in purpose, strength in resources, strength in congnitive ability - if you are going to make a success of your planned adventure, you'd better have the requisite amounts of all these forms of strength. Compromising with yourself and then rationalising those compromises are not signs of any of these kinds of strength.

Sorry.

[swindoom]

:DFortunately for me I am not some inexperienced newbie, I have been through exactly the same situation as Leslie and now I have a wife who is totally perfect for me in every way. If I had been that narrow minded and compromised when I started communicating with her back in 2004 I would have missed out on a very intelligent, articulate and now very good English speaker.

It is just very disingenuous to tell newbies that non-English speaking women are somehow inferior/lower quality and should be over looked for this reason. It is perfectly acceptable for a bloke to decide to only look for English speaking women if they do not want the extra hassle/effort.

[andrewfi]

You were lucky, you met a woman who likely forgot what she had been taught and despite your inability to use unintermediated verbal communication you met a woman that you still like. That is luck, not design and thus you have no need to take any credit for it. It is interesting that you emulated Les in every aspect of your search, I have always been of the impression that we all live individual lives.

I am sure that, in all honesty, you would not recommend seeking a woman with whom you could not share unintermediated verbal communication, over one with whom you could talk, all other things being equal.

[swindoom]

She did not forget any English as she learnt German.

We all need lots of luck when looking for our other half, which ever country she is from. I take plenty of credit from it as I never used an interpreter during my visits, the advantage of intelligence is the ability to overcome problems and difficult situations. I would not let such a minor trival problem be a road block to meeting someone as it is a transient problem not a permanant one.

I would tell anyone the same, do not use English ability as an issue to determine if you should make contact and find out some more information about them.

I should have written "similar" not "exactly".:brightidea:

[Turboguy]

If they lack the comittment to even start the process of preparing for a favourable outcome then, frankly, they are not worth bothering with. (your opinion and standards may vary!)

3) If you actually participated in the process of learning Spanish, rather than simply attending classes, then you would probably find, as most who actually bothered to learn do, that one's knowledge rapidly comes back to the fore. Of course, it could be that you are seeking somebody at a similar level of attainment as yourself and so do not find it odd that somebody taught a language for 3-5 years and exposed to it, on a daily basis through TV, might not know anything. This is always a problem in a discussion; finding the level.

If you want to marry a lazy or dumb, or a passively reactive woman then have fun, it is not my choice! Perhas when giving your opinion you should qualify by telling us what your criteria are?

Given that, it behoves you more ordinary fellows to improve your chances and thus look for a woman who is setting herself up for success not failure and with whom you can have the kind of conversation that enables a relationship based upon mutual understanding and knowledge to grow!

But, to repeat myself, there are many who are desperate enough or with low enough standards that communication can be removed from the picture.

Andrewfin, you strike me as being one of the more articulate members of RWD and as being a one of the more educated as well.   I enjoy your posts but I don't always agree with you, and sometimes I do.

I don't think a woman who does not know English is necessarily lazy,  dumb or passivly reactive.   Truthfully I think every person on this planet is important and that there is no one who is NOT WORTH BOTHERING WITH.   I will agree we only have so much abiltiy to meet and to spend time chasing our dreams so we have to make some choices.

Frankly Andrewfin I think everyone has thier priorities and someone whos priorties are different than yours is not indication that they are desperate or low.   Persoanally as far as my established critereia, I could not give a plug nickel as a preference between a girl being fluent in English or not knowing how to say a single word in English.  In practice the gals I met who had no English were ones that I did not feel raport with but it was not intentional. 

Unlike many guys, I don't get overly concerned with degrees or profession.  In America I tended to be more attracted to educated gals.   It is not important to me but I do like an intelligent gal.  Intelligent and educated do not mean the same thing.  Intelligent means someone is smart.  Educated means they have attended school a lot.   Henry Ford had an 8th grade education and Einstine flunked math.   As far as profession, I am not looking for someone to support me.  I don't care if she works or doesnt work.  If she scrubs floors or ends up being an astro physisist.  The importnat things to me are that she is happy in what she does, happy with me and makes me happy. 

Andrewfin, people with different ideas and goals than you have are not necessarily desperate and low.    I respect you a lot.  I agree with a lot of your ideas.  Just this one time I disagreed with how you expressed them.

[Photo Guy]

[color="navy"][size="3"]I think  there is a lot to be said for non-verbal communication. It is a  powerful form of communication that we use constantly, in our day to  day interactions. This kind of communication is all about emotions and  attitudes.  I do look forward to the day when we will be able to  talk about the differences between Manet and Monet, or about  intellectual concepts, rather than living in a world comprised of only  attitudes and emotions. Having said that, I still get enjoyment out of  this world, watching her emotional reactions to the world around her  and conveying my own emotions to her. This limited world is not as  simple as people might assume.

As for her language skills, she has recently forced me to stop speaking  Russian to her. She WANTS to hear it in English. She is dead serious  about learning the language and serious about her ESL classes.   Her attitude is encouraging and so I maintain my optimism. -doug[/size][/color][/b]

[andrewfi]

Swindoom ~ I already noted upthread that people who did not learn English learned French or German. It is the main reason why a woman who, other than being dim or lazy, has no English. Having command f a second language is a big help in being able to deal with a third. For example, I am capable of being fluent in French, that knowledge is a big help in Russian, given the number of imported words. German likewise, but to a smaller degree. A second language greatly expands the number of common words shared by people who do not share a common language.

I find it strange that you would not agree that it was better, all thngs being equal, to choose a woman who did share a common language. It comes under the heading of things that are blindingly obvious.

TG ~ It may be that you have unlucky enough to meet the dim and lazy ones, I don't know. This is not an issue of priority, except in so far as a person who has expressed a desire to attain a goal does not do the single thing that wil make the bigget diference between success and failure! perhaps your selection criteria have been a tad skew-wif! If you want to find someone who can succeed at sharing a life with you, find someone who has demonstrated their desire and ability to do so!

Doug ~ Of course you believe that non-verbal communication can solve all your problems, you have little choice, given your circumstances. If you think verbal communication is so important; tomorrow when you are driving your bus around, don't say a word to anyone, all day, not when you get lunch, fill with fuel, accept payments or deal with your boss. See just how long you last. If you are lucky, you might still have a job at the end of the day. For ALL expressions of fact, for all communiations of ideas and concepts we use words. (well the civilised ones do!) The non-verbal stuff is about emotion and animal needs. If you are the kind of guy who gets by on grunts and finger pointing then, perhaps you have a point. Most of us are more developed than this and need a little more. But we are all different!

It is easy to rationalise sub-optimal choices, butwhen we have the time and opportunity to reduce risk, to improve the chance of success and happiness then we owe it to ourselves and those we end up living with to make the good choices.

[rose]

andrewfin,
Sorry, to me your statement about laziness seems to be ridiculous. It's the same if I'll say something like that: "All people who don't know relativity theory/how to play the piano/cannot dance in the ballet/..." are lazy. You have a gift of learning languages, somebody has given some different gift. Your opinion is really subjectively centered toward your vision of the world.

[Albert]

andrewfin,
Sorry, to me your statement about laziness seems to be ridiculous. It's the same if I'll say something like that: "All people who don't know relativity theory/how to play the piano/cannot dance in the ballet/..." are lazy. You have a gift of learning languages, somebody has given some different gift. Your opinion is really subjectively centered toward your vision of the world.

Rose, you are not quite on the same wave length with Andrew here.  His drift was that many people learned English in school.  So, if these same gals who learned English are those who are now interested in a man from west, and they can no longer communicate in English . . . . then they are lazy.

Also, your analogy re piano, ballet, etc., is not quite on the point.  English, being the language of business internationally, is of great value to anyone seeking to better themself and their family in a economic sense.  While there is great joy to be had from cultural accomplishments, they do little to help feed the family.

Sorry!!  :-))

[Turboguy]

Doug ~ Of course you believe that non-verbal communication can solve all your problems, you have little choice, given your circumstances. If you think verbal communication is so important; tomorrow when you are driving your bus around, don't say a word to anyone, all day, not when you get lunch, fill with fuel, accept payments or deal with your boss. See just how long you last. If you are lucky, you might still have a job at the end of the day. For ALL expressions of fact, for all communiations of ideas and concepts we use words. (well the civilised ones do!) The non-verbal stuff is about emotion and animal needs. If you are the kind of guy who gets by on grunts and finger pointing then, perhaps you have a point. Most of us are more developed than this and need a little more. But we are all different!

It is easy to rationalise sub-optimal choices, butwhen we have the time and opportunity to reduce risk, to improve the chance of success and happiness then we owe it to ourselves and those we end up living with to make the good choices.

Andrewfin, I can not argue that for the relationship to work there needs to be a strong effort to make it work, there has to be a desire and a committment on both parts.  There needs to be a lot of things but English is not one of them.  It does make it easier though.   You can have English and not have patience and have it work.  You can't be lacking in patience and English and have it work.

[rose]

Rose, you are not quite on the same wave length with Andrew here.  His drift was that many people learned English in school.  So, if these same gals who learned English are those who are now interested in a man from west, and they can no longer communicate in English . . . . then they are lazy.

Well, I've "studied" English at school. During all those classes we've discussed the latest gossip, nothing more. After 3 years of such studing I discovered that "a/an" is an article! Unfortunately, teaching of English not always is so great or even acceptable. Very often, a girl who "studied" English at scholl doesn't have to recall anything, because firstly, she never knew it.

[Leslie]

This idea of learning a foreign language in preparation to marry a foreign guy is BULL.  The only women who do this are "professional" daters and committed economic migrants.  A sane guy would not touch either sort of woman with a 3 metre stick.

Many women know some English as it is the Language of business.  Besides that the Teenagers want to know what Eminem is saying!!

I know some of the agency owners in Vinnitsa personally.  She success rate over 4 years is less than 2 percent and more than half of the marriages are to Germans.  So learning English in preparation would be a very poor strategy.

My wife was not involved in the agency scene much at all.  She had been to school with one of the agency owners who persuaded her to sign up when they were on holiday together.  She thought she was more likely to be hit by lightening than marry a foreign guy.  Besides that she lead a very busy life.  Performances 5 nights a week.  Piano lessons during the day.  After we met it was a different matter.  Natalia committed to learn English and she did.  Her English is now way better than my Russian.

The lazy people are the MEN. 

What percentage of the members of this board speak Russian well enough to travel in FSU UNASSISTED (i.e. no Minders/Fixers) ?  I reckon we are talking single digit percentage and I think the majority that could are either European or already married!

I find this situation weird! 

The guys here want to marry a woman from another culture yet make little or no effort to learn the language??  How can you understand the culture if you can't even read a newspaper?  How are you going to communicate with your wife's family and friends??  Telepathy?? 

My personal opinion is that NOT making a real effort to learn Russian could haunt you later if you succeed and marry.  It also shows disrespect for your wife's culture. 

On a lighter note - My daughter's first word was Russian.

Mel'atchko Toma? 

(Turns her head, looks at me shaking a bottle of formula)

Da! (Slapping the tray of her high chair)  Da!  Da!

 

 

 

 

[BC]

Leslie,

Re languages, the couples we know here first communicated in english then switched to italian after a time.  All the men now speak at least rudimentary RU and can carry on basic conversations.  Most young Germans can usually communicate pretty well in english.

Yes.. us guys do like the easier softer way..

Don't have to learn the language
Don't have to pack only 20 kilo's of our life and get rid of the rest.
Don't have to give up family and friends for prolonged periods
Don't have to adjust to a new environment
etc etc..

Quite egoistic indeed.. but in the end what goes around usually comes around.. it's sorta like getting on a horse, thinking it will be easier to do a saddle jump from behind like indians in movies do..  just try!  ouch!!!

[edit]

btw kids are great.. our 2yr old spits out a bit of english, RU and italian but Da! and eto! are absolute favorites.  Understands all three languages quite well.  

[ronin308]

Photoguy, non-verbal communication can't solve even some of the most basic things.   For example ordering dinner in a language where you can't read the menu and even can't understand the person explaining your choices.  I did this a bit in some of the restaurants where they lacked an English menu.

Non-verbal communication can supplement communication but cannot supplant it.  For example suppose your fiance starts smiling.  Without language you won't know why.

[andrewfi]

TG ~ My guess would be that you can not read cyrillic, if you could, you would know that French is a significant part of Russian, as is English and German. Languages very often share words from one to another so knowledge of one is a benefit when it comes to a second. It is also true that learning a second language does help when learning or a third.

Leslie ~ When you say that sharing a language is not necessary, I think you might be forgetting your own experiences? Also, whilst it is polite to learn the langauge of our interlocutor, given that she is planning to come live in OUR world, a good knowledge of our language is a prerequisite of success.  Of course if a woman is in an agency that palce most of its women with Germans then learning German makes sense, but it is likley that if there is such an affinity, that the women probably learned German in school. We are talking about langauge ability and this board is largely populated by people from North America. I can imagine the same thread on  german speaking board in relataion to German.

Let's put this the other way around...

If you guys wanted to work abroad, for example, in China, what would you do to prepare yourself and to make it possible, or likely that from a pool of candidates that you might be chosen?

Might you do some or all of the following?

1 - Find an employer who has business in China?

2 - Develop an interest and understanding of business culture in China?

3 - Start to learn the language?

-and which might be the most important success factor? Perhaps the last?

So, when a woman makes a choice, to try to find a foreign guy, might it not make sense that she does one or all of the following?

1 - Find a marriage agency that has a clientele from a country that she is interested in?

2 - Develop an interest and understanding of how things might be in the target country (s)?

3 - Start to learn the language?

-and which might be the most important success factor? (IMHO short term joining an agency but long term, learning the langauge)

Rose ~ Albert was correct! Language uptake is one of the most significant success factors for life in a foreign country. Learning the piano is not. You were taught a second language at school, you probably were not taught the piano. You have daily opportunities to practice your English, not so for the piano, or relativity theory or brain surgery or whatever. It costs almost nothing to watch tv, books on English are so cheap that there is no excuse not to buy a basic language primer.

To return to the hypothetical I proposed above; if you were planning to employ somebody to work in your firm's Shanghai office, all things being equal, would you select the guy who claimed to be very motivated and interested in the post, but who had done nothing to back up his words, or would you instead choose the guy who had learned how to say hello/goodbye and to introduce himself? A very significant part of this process is selecting not only a person who can stand to be with us, but who can succeed in her new environment. It is no good choosing hte most loving, attentive and beautiful woman who simply can not stand living in our home environment! To return to the business analogy again. It is reckoned that over 70% of all overseas postings of Americans fail, msot fail during the time abroad and some fail on return (reintegration issues) How do you think that the women that you guys choose to marry are going to be any better than your countrymen at living in their new environment?

 

[Bruno]

[size="3"][/size][size="3"]On a lighter note - My daughter's first word was Russian.[/size]

Not so lighter note.... it simply show the need of know some basic russian language...

A Russian mother will learn Russian to his child... and this remember me problem i have know with Anastasia and his mother ( my ex-wife )... when they have argument together, they make it in Russian and i was not able to understand... with time, it is a little girl from 5 year old who have try learn me the base of Russian since her mother was not wishing learn it to me...

Knowing some base of Russian can be interresting when you have argumemt with your own wife too... When the emotional level become high, she will use more easily his mother language : Russian...

[swindoom]

It is just very disingenuous to tell newbies that non-English FSU speaking women are somehow inferior/lower quality and should be over looked for this reason.

"Target countries", so now FSU women should compromise and limit themselves to certain countries, many FSU women wish to remain fairly close to home and live in western Europe, which language should they start learning then. Maybe English speaking guys should limit their search to very good English speaking, well travelled FSU women, who live in Moscow, have a good job so can pay for their own travel,  and have a broadband connection with pc plus webcam at home. That way you have far less effort and money to spend in finding your perfect partner, nice and easy just like real life.

Foreign language ability at the very beginning of comunication is not important, once the FSU lady has decided that something serious may happen with the guy she is corresponding with then she should start to sort out learning the language of her potential husband, if required. That's when you find out if the woman is lazy or a dummy as her attitude and ability to learn a new language become very apparent. Once again I repeat, being able to communicate with each other becomes very very important when the relationship reaches the talking about marriage stage.

 

[Turboguy]

TG ~ My guess would be that you can not read cyrillic, if you could, you would know that French is a significant part of Russian, as is English and German. Languages very often share words from one to another so knowledge of one is a benefit when it comes to a second. It is also true that learning a second language does help when learning or a third.

Sorry to disappoint Andrewfin you but I can read cyrillic just fine.  I guess you are right that French and Russian share a lot of commonality.  After all Taxi is about the same in French and Russian so if I had not learned French, I might not have known that.  The same is true for Cafe.  Humm Andrewfin is right.

Frankly Andrewfin, you strike me as a very intellingent person with some very strong opinions.   My biggest difference with you is that you seem to think that your opinions are the "only way"   Sorta like a "my way or the highway' type of thinking.  I, on the other, hand think we are all unique individuals and things that may not work for one will work fine for another.   I still feel if a gal does not know English is is not a reason to exclude her.   I still believe that if somene wants to make thier dream come true they will work hard to have it happen.  

Personally I went into this not caring if a gal spoke English or not.   Not caring if she was a curvy blond or a slim brunette,  Not caring if she was an rocket scientist, a teacher, a sales person, a street sweeper.   Not caring if she was 21, or 41.  Not caring if she was from Moscow, Lugansk or eastern Siberia.   I just figured someday I would find the right one and would know it when I did.  I hope I may have done that now.  Time will tell.   I am not foolish enough to think that the criteria that is right for me is right for everyone.    

I will add one after thought here.  You said you guessed I could not read Cyrillic.  Reading cyrillic is not the same as knowing Russian.  When I said I could read cyrillic, I can.  I was not saying I could read Russian.  I can not.   My Russian vocabulary is probably around 1000 words which does not get you far. 

[525i]

It is just very disingenuous to tell newbies that non-English FSU speaking women are somehow inferior/lower quality and should be over looked for this reason.

"Target countries", so now FSU women should compromise and limit themselves to certain countries, many FSU women wish to remain fairly close to home and live in western Europe, which language should they start learning then. Maybe English speaking guys should limit their search to very good English speaking, well travelled FSU women, who live in Moscow, have a good job so can pay for their own travel,  and have a broadband connection with pc plus webcam at home. That way you have far less effort and money to spend in finding your perfect partner, nice and easy just like real life.

Foreign language ability at the very beginning of comunication is not important, once the FSU lady has decided that something serious may happen with the guy she is corresponding with then she should start to sort out learning the language of her potential husband, if required. That's when you find out if the woman is lazy or a dummy as her attitude and ability to learn a new language become very apparent. Once again I repeat, being able to communicate with each other becomes very very important when the relationship reaches the talking about marriage stage.

 

I believe that some women have target countries, and some even say it in their ads. "Only from Japan", "only form Italy", "only from USA, because my sister lives in there", etc. Sometimes they even write their ad in French, or in German. It's then quite clear what is their targer country or area.

Many have quite wide range of target countries, they usually say "a man from USA, Canada, Europe or Australia". If their target is so wide, which language to study? Would Swedish be a good choice? Maybe, if she limits her search to Sweden, Norway and Denmark. If you do not know, Norwegian is quite similar with Swedish. And with Danish too, but with more differences. What about Spanish or Portuguese? The most logical decision is to study English. It will open the whole world for her.

I believe that for the woman the man's English ability is important too. Especially, if the man is not native English speaker. It tells to woman that this man is capable. Maybe she then starts to think that every man in this country speaks English as well or as badly as he does.

I believe that common language is important from the beginning. I found one woman. Her English is quite similar with mine. We had a good communication on a phone. We agreed to meet each other (she invited me). We decided the dates and I booked a hotel and flights. I called her agian few times and during the communications I started to see things that I did not want to see in my future wife. All this happened by communicating with her on the phone. Not meeting her. I think that this would not have happened by e-mails. I would not find this out if there would be interpreter involved. Her attitude and few other things were a turn offs for me.

If I would meet this same woman without knowing what I now know about her, how long would it take to see it? How long from her would take to learn a language to say things she thinks? Would we be married and then I realise her true nature?

This is one of the reasons I decide to search only women who can communicate with me and express their thoughts. She does not need to be fluent. Fair is fine, if she will understand most of what I say and she can say most of the things she want to say.

Also, when she can communicate with a man, she will understand man's thinking too. She will have much more pieces in her hands to build the buzzle. How can she build the buzzle, if she does not have enough pieces to build from? She builds some kind of dream image and it collapses when she realises what kind of pieces she actually has in her hands. When she has enough pieces, then she has a possibility see the buzzle before the buzzle is finished. It's easier to see will she like the buzzle or not.

I have four women now and I will drop one of them. Next I continue communication with two of them by phone and I try to figure out the good, bad and the ugly, I mean common interests and lifestyle. We have already agreed to meet each other. I think my first meeting will be after two weeks. The third woman is by e-mail and so far she seems good.

[525i]

I believe that there are a lot of gems around there who do not speak English. They are harder to realise, because lack of common language. You can realise something by translated e-mails and by interpreters, but their great personality that match with yours, can be a hidden treasure.

If you look for example women from Barnaul. I believe that there are women with great personality, but most of them do not understand English (in profiles Basic level). I do not believe that they are lazy. They just do not have need for the English language.

And, in Russia and in Ukraine, the English programs/movies etc are dubbed in Russian/Ukrainian. TV does not teach you English as it does for example in Finland where we use subtitles.

[KenC]

[user=266]525i[/user] wrote:

I believe that there are a lot of gems around there who do not speak English. They are harder to realise, because lack of common language. You can realise something by translated e-mails and by interpreters, but their great personality that match with yours, can be a hidden treasure.

If you look for example women from Barnaul. I believe that there are women with great personality, but most of them do not understand English (in profiles Basic level). I do not believe that they are lazy. They just do not have need for the English language.

And, in Russia and in Ukraine, the English programs/movies etc are dubbed in Russian/Ukrainian. TV does not teach you English as it does for example in Finland where we use subtitles.

There is no doubt that there are great women in Russia that cannot speak a bit of English.  That is a no brainer.  But it is so much more difficult to judge them in any way but their physical appearance without a common language.  I don't put too much faith in emails that are translated either.  Are you seeing the personality of the woman you are pursuing or that of the terp?  You just cannot know for sure.  Other than the translation of very basic information, I think that correspondence through a third party is a crapshoot.

KenC

[andrewfi]

Ken is right, how the hell do you make an informed choice about somebody with whom you can not communicate?

Swindoom ~ if a woman joins an agency that focuses upon English speakers then, perhaps that might just be a clue as to where she might end up, want to end up or with whom she might end up. If a woman joins a marriage agency that focuses upon foreign guys, well, guess what, that is a decision, a choice. Of course, as a sensible person, I expect people to prepare for the outcomes that they overtly choose. Of course others are less demanding.

If you choose a woman who joins a marriage agency that features English speaking men, in English speaking countries, and that woman has gone through her schooling and managed to forget all she was taught, or having made the choice about destination, decides to do nothing to prepare for success, by starting to learn, or realearn English (or German, or French, or Italian), then I suggest that she is lazy and that by not preparing for a favourable outcome she is demonstrating a significant lack of cognitive ability. But of course, if you can not communicate, you will not know just how dim or lazy she is for some time. (Don't ever forget why they want to marry you foreign guys in the first place)

TG ~ There are many ways to attain failure, often there is only one way to achieve success. Am I right about the benefits of a woman with whom you can share a language - Frankly it is REALLY hard to suggest that a woman who can not speak your language is a better choice, from the point of of a successful long term relationship. That is not to say that one can not succeed, but having done it both ways, I know were the sensible approach lies. I would ask you the same question, in different words as I did Swindoom: If you had your choice of one from two girls, twins, one of whom spoke no English and the other who spoke a little English, which would you choose to get to know better?

The reason there are so many French words in Russian (and there are LOADS) is that during the 18th and 19th century many, if not most of the aristocracy spoke French and to a lesser degree German in preference to Russian. There are whle blocks of vocabulary that are from these languages and in the case of naval usage, Dutch.

If you can not read cyrillic, you can not read Russian. If you do not know Russian words, knowing the alphabet does not help you much, but if you can read cyrillic one of the first things you notice is just how many imported words there are. If you have an active vocabulary of 1000 words, in Russian, then you have a greater degree of proficiency than I, but you and I can both read and learn.

525i ~ I agree with most of what you have just written. There are gems who speak no English, but they should not be in agencies, promoting themselves to English speaking guys. When they do not prepare for their stated desires they are making a statement about themselves and demonstrating their less than 'gemness'.

Secondly, English language TV programmes are broadcast with the English soundtrack and overdubbed. DVDs almost always have an English soundtrack, unless they are from the Baltic markets. It is not too difficult to hear the English and listen to it alongside the Russian overdubbing.

[Jay Patches]

Ken is right, how the hell do you make an informed choice about somebody with whom you can not communicate?

You both make a big assumption: an informed choice. 

JP

[andrewfi]

Whoops sorry JP. My mistake!:shock:

Go for it guys! Who needs to know anything about anything?