Outlook for Children of joint Western/FSU relationships

[Trenchcoat]

I know there are several members on here who have had children with FSW. I have been wondering what do you see as their outlook in life potentially?

Do you see their future as better off getting with a Western Woman or an East European Woman like yourself?

Are you teaching your child just the English language or Russian, Ukrainian, etc languages as well?

Do you see them as ever going out to the FSU much in future? I know some here may live in the US so the FSU is a long flight journey away. Others here live in Europe so FSU countries are relatively close by at hand in comparison so potentially allowing for more frequent visits with shorter and cheaper travel time.

[olgac]

Ours is basically an American and speaks very little Russian with horrible accent. It's pretty hard to preserve RUssian when English is spoken at home. My twin sister's husband is Russian, who came here on H1B and their daughter speaks Russian, not a very sophisticated Russian, with an accent, but still. Nobody I knew (male children) went back to get an FSU wife except a son of my Ukranian friend who married a Ukranian girl. My friend treated her as her own daughter, was very happy, but it turned out she had a boyfriend back home, did not love my friend's son and left him after couple of years. He was devastated.

All the other young men, sons of my FSUW friends are just dating American girls not even americanized russian-speaking like themselves, but the ones born here. Often different race. One young man married a latina in California, others married americanized asians, some white american girls

[Trenchcoat]

Ours is basically an American and speaks very little Russian with horrible accent. It's pretty hard to preserve RUssian when English is spoken at home. My twin sister's husband is Russian, who came here on H1B and their daughter speaks Russian, not a very sophisticated Russian, with an accent, but still. Nobody I knew (male children) went back to get an FSU wife except a son of my Ukranian friend who married a Ukranian girl. My friend treated her as her own daughter, was very happy, but it turned out she had a boyfriend back home, did not love my friend's son and left him after couple of years. He was devastated.

All the other young men, sons of my FSUW friends are just dating American girls not even americanized russian-speaking like themselves, but the ones born here. Often different race. One young man married a latina in California, others married americanized asians, some white american girls

That's interesting to know Olga. It looks like for the US that children don't so much get with the native tongue of one of their parents. Probably varies a bit, I know Krim said that his daughter's spoke Russian. Here in the UK we haven't had a big FSU community until the recent last few years where we got a lot of Ukrainian refugees and also quite a lot of Russian ones escaping Putler's Russia. I know many Polish here enrol their Children in Polish weekend school to teach them Polish or just teach them it themselves. Should be interesting to see if the shorter distance makes a difference on whether children learn FSU language of their parent while in the UK.

[Steven1971]

My son is bilingual in French and English. It's really important to insist they consume the language at home they don't use at school and with friends. I wouldime to take the credit, but South Park and YouTube did a lot of the heavy lifting.

[Trenchcoat]

My son is bilingual in French and English. It's really important to insist they consume the language at home they don't use at school and with friends. I wouldime to take the credit, but South Park and YouTube did a lot of the heavy lifting.

Thanks Steven, that is good to know and confirms stuff that Google has thrown up. Basically having stuff in the other language around, books, films, as you say You Tube maybe even Social Media can help a lot. Speaking the language of the country you are not in at home is a good idea as then it gives it regular practice to stay in use. That no doubt helps with remembering and recall of a language beyond the initial learning of the language.

Myself I've never obtained a fluent conversational level in any language. Looking at the task after learning some Russian I can see the monumental task in gaining this fluency. It's not really a weekend hobby or like they teach us French, etc when we were in School of a few hours a week in class and a bit of homework. It really seems to take a lot more time and be in a situation where regular use of the language is needed to obtain that desirable level of fluency.

I think use of more than one language that is widely spoken can be of great use to any person, adult or child. Unfortunately here some people choose to waste their time learning Welsh which is hardly ever spoken lol.

[2tallbill]

Ours is basically an American and speaks very little Russian with horrible accent. It's pretty hard to preserve Russian when English is spoken at home.

Mini Me takes classes taught in Russian where nobody is allowed to speak
English. All the teachers are Native Russian speakers but Mini Me won't speak
Russian except when forced to do so.

His Russia is rudimentary. Compared to parents who both speak Russian at
home.

[krimster2]

years ago, I was hoping my kids would at least get part of their education in Russia
for example, learning the technology behind the fast breeder reactor BN-350, a 50 year old liquid sodium cooled Soviet Breeder reactor
I actually went to visit it's remains in Kazakhstan, and found/purchased official Soviet design documents from the Kazakhstan ministry of interior

imagine making a breeder reactor that could be made with 50 year old Russian technology, that NEVER runs out of fuel
and updating it, using modern technology, a mass-produced Small Modular Reactor made in a factory that takes only a month to install on site
a foolish dream...

but not now...
in Russia, it's a police state on steroids
you are just one word/action away from bein "detained"
the sword of Damocles is always hangin over yur head
Putinism means the Russian language doesn't connect to my kids future any more, just their past...
but they had a glorious childhood in Crimea
sledding in the winter, the black sea in the summer

now, it's off limits to them

the USA extradited a Russian hacker a couple of weeks ago
it means another American is gonne be detained at Moscva, to be swapped later