Non-English speaking Ukraine lady visit

[JensenHealey907]

OK, so I got back from my visit to Zaporizhzhya in Ukraine last week and I am catching up on life here in Colorado now. I have to say the whole group of nay-sayers who were telling me to not visit a lady who did not speak english were ... well, full of it. Now that said it turned out this lady was not actually completely non-english speaking. She actually knew more english words than I did Russian words. Two of the three days I hired an interpreter for short 2 - 4 hour periods and that helped too but we also spent time alone using google translate on my laptop and her using the same on her smart phone. Now if I was to do this over again I would figure out how to somehow bring along or borrow a Russian keyboard to allow her to do faster input than trying to type text into her phone. Perhaps a second laptop rigged up for Russian Cyrillic input would work well.

As far as the trip and the pollution I was worried about, that whole thing was a non-issue for the time I was there. The air quality seemed fine and I did not really see lots of vehicles belching black smoke. Now the roads in Zaporizhzhya, that is a whole different issue. I was amazed and horrified when the lady I was visiting was driving us around there. Truly horrible roads for paved "improved" roads (i.e. not dirt roads which I did not see at all). I am amazed I did not see more vehicles with suspension problems broken down on the side of the road. I think I did notice a marked difference in the quality of the roads when we passed from Zap to Dnipropetrovsk when she took me back to the airport in Dnipropetrovsk.

Also the little time I spent in Dnipropetrovsk showed a marked difference in cleanliness and over all attractiveness of Dnipropetrovsk verses Zaporizhzhya. It seemed to me that Zap was a way more economically depressed and almost slum like city than Dnipropetrovsk. To me it seemed like the Detroit Michigan or Gary Indiana area of Ukraine. I visited the home of the lady's parents where the two parents and her brother's family lived (brother, wife, and three little children). In asking questions I discovered the brother was supporting his family with an income of $400 per month and that may have been supporting the mother and father too. They had chickens in the back yard and a small vegetable garden that the father worked completely by hand. When I was there the interior of their home very much reminded me of my grandmother's former home in the 1960's and 1970's in Hammond Indiana except the Ukraine home was much cleaner. They were very friendly and hospitable and I enjoyed the visit. We visited the Cossack island museum one day with the interpreter and that was interesting.

The apartment I rented in downtown Zaporizhzhya was very nice on the inside but the outside of the building and the surrounding area was again almost slum like. In short Zaporizhzhya is not someplace I would ever consider visiting for a vacation. There probably are areas of Ukraine that are quite nice but this was not one of them. I took some photos of the area around the apartment and of the Cossack museum on the island so I will try to post those later in this thread.

The strangest thing I encountered was the grocery store next to the apartment I rented. It was a Bila store and when I was walking around in there two times by myself, the music playing over the store audio system was slightly older american songs.

We did go to a ethnic Ukraine restaurant in Zap on the last day I was there and there was a small four person group of two ladies and two guys performing ethnic Ukraine folks songs. The two guys were playing accordions and the ladies were accompanying them on tambourines while all four sang. It was a really original and wonderful experience.

If I was to do the whole thing over again I would try to get more photos than I did on this trip. On the way there I passed through Amsterdam and had a fairly long layover so I went into the Centraal part of Amsterdam and walked around a while. On the way back I had another long layover in Istanbul and did the same thing. I would like to go back to both of these cities for a longer visit. In fact the lady I visited in Zap may be meeting me in Istanbul at some near future point for a second extended meeting.

[JayH]

JH-it sounds like you have done very well. Very happy that you too also "saw" the air in Zp !!! 
You can plug cryllic keyboard into any computer-- buy  mini so it is easily carried.

[JensenHealey907]

If I plug a cryllic keyboard into a US laptop (probably running Linux) wouldn't I have to switch input languages each time? I.E. just plugging in the keyboard will not enable cryllic fonts to show up in a text input area. I am going to do more research on this to see how I can accomplish this.

[Gator]

JH907,
 
I am happy for you. 
 
Keep in mind that her limited English will constrain her adjustment if you two decide to marry.  For example, your friends will be polite but not want to spend a lot of time with the two of you.
 
Then there is the potential for misunderstandings, particularly resolving them.  Some couples have trouble resolving differences even with a common language. 
 
If you plan to see this woman again, I suggest that you propose that she now take English lessons (you pay).   Her interest in learning your language is an excellent gauge of her sincerity.
 
Finally, you should try to be very patient. 
 
 
 
 

[JensenHealey907]

 
If you plan to see this woman again, I suggest that you propose that she now take English lessons (you pay).   Her interest in learning your language is an excellent gauge of her sincerity.
 
Finally, you should try to be very patient.

I am way ahead of the curve here. This is already happening. I started her on english lessons about a week or two before I went over there.

[mendeleyev]

Glad that you had a nice time.

The apartment I rented in downtown Zaporizhzhya was very nice on the inside but the outside of the building and the surrounding area was again almost slum like.

Very typical. Apartments are individually owned in most cases so there is pride of ownership. The outside and interior common areas don't fare so well as they lack the pride of ownership aspect, and money earmarked for maintenance and upkeep is usually inadequate while much of the funds allocated is siphoned off by corrupt officials.

[Faux Pas]

If I plug a cryllic keyboard into a US laptop (probably running Linux) wouldn't I have to switch input languages each time? I.E. just plugging in the keyboard will not enable cryllic fonts to show up in a text input area. I am going to do more research on this to see how I can accomplish this.

AFAIK any computer or operating system you plug a cyrillic keyboard into, you'll also have to change to language in the operating system. Not worth the hassle IMHO. This would likely create a problem if you were using one computer switching back and forth for each translation. Buy an electronic translator or a separate tablet or laptop. You can also buy cyrillic stickers to go on the keys

[Hammer2722]

I have a Russian translator app (free) I installed on my Skype. You could type in English and it instantly translates to Russian. All you need is to buy some Cyrillic stickers (ebay) and you and your lady can chat on Skype using one pc.

[northkape]

Nice to hear that everything worked out JH

I was in Zap a week and a half ago myself, visiting a non English speaking beautiful young woman.
We had a great day together, also visiting the Cossack museum which I really wanted to see.

If you have newer smartphone, Android or Apple you can use Google voice,, works OK when you get used to it.
Speak in English and it will translate into Russian voice, then your girl can answer in Russian and you will hear it in English.

Outside museum with my lady to the left and her friend with daughter in front:

[tfcrew]

I have to say the whole group of nay-sayers who were telling me to not visit a lady who did not speak english were ... well, full of it.[?] Now that said it turned out this lady was not actually completely non-english speaking. She actually knew more english words than I did Russian words. 

Your post earlier...
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=16615.msg346788#msg346788
..states that you were grateful for the heads up.
So let it be.
Every individual is different.

Some couples have trouble resolving differences even with a common language. 

Absolutely.
Universally, Russians know more English than Americans know Russian.

[JensenHealey907]

Wow, I stood at that same point with my lady friend and her 9 year old daughter probably just a few days before you did.

What did you think of the roads in Zap? I thought my teeth were going to fall out a couple of times when we were riding around. I definitely got my ass bounced around a lot. That one double-decker bridge going across the river looks like it might not meet american or european safety standard so everytime we went across it I kind of held my breath and hoped it would not fail while I was on it.

[northkape]

If you find the roads in Zap to be somewhat less than good,,,
there are some serious surprises waiting for you in other places.

This is what my all of my wheels looked like, after driving through the dark night,
in snow / rain till it was no longer possible to move the car at all...
Had to leave the car and start walking at five o'clock one sunday morning in March month this year..

[GQBlues]

...If you have newer smartphone, Android or Apple you can use Google voice,, works OK when you get used to it. Speak in English and it will translate into Russian voice, then your girl can answer in Russian and you will hear it in English.

So very true! And since most everyone in the US already have smartphones, you won't have to worry about introducing her to friends and family...I can almost visualize the room full of friends and family, each hoisting and speaking through their smartphones then swaying it to face the girl as it 'speaks' in Russian. Then she does the same with hers, vis-a-vis - LOL.

Steve Jobs would be proud!

Of course, if the message had to be delivered all at one time, then you can look into possibly hiring Thamsanga Jantjie. I understand he's interpreted to world leaders before so he's well vetted.