Posted on June 04th, 2003 06:48 PM by admin

By Steve Markos author of the book Russian Women F. A. Q.

Q: Should I have my letters translated into Russian (or whatever) if the women do not speak English? Is it easy for them to get the letters translated?

First off, deal only with agencies that have some sort of English rating system. There are many agencies that do not provide this information and they should be avoided. It is of the utmost importance that you have this information prior to deciding whom to write to.

There are many reasons why a woman does not reply to a man’s letter, and not being able to read it is certainly high on the list. When considering whether or not to translate your letters into Russian for a woman who cannot read English, let’s turn the tables for a moment. If you receive a reply written in Russian, what would you do? You must either find a friend who speaks Russian or you must hire someone to translate the letter. How many friends do you have who speak Russian? Probably about as many as she does who speak English! Thus, more than likely you'll have to pay for a translation, which is not a big deal to a man with a decent job. However, a typical RW might not be able to afford to have the letter translated. The final result is that your letter gets thrown into the garbage or into her drawer until she one day stumbles upon someone who will translate it for free.

One other point to consider is that Russian people are very private. Many women may be embarrassed to have a personal letter translated by someone who is not extremely close to them. Others may not want anyone to know that they are trying to meet foreign men through a dating service. Russians have a "small town" mentality as far as gossip is concerned. Each apartment complex is like a little "Mayberry." Thus, in an effort to keep their personal lives to themselves, many women who can't speak English well enough to read your letter just might not bother to have it translated.

To best illustrate the need to have your letters translated, let me tell you a very funny story. One day in Kiev I went to visit a girlfriend of mine who does not speak English. She got around to pulling out a stack of letters and asked me to translate them into Russian (orally). So I obliged her and did the best I could. One man had written her four letters, all of which were in English despite the fact that her bio had clearly stated that she spoke absolutely no English. Now here's the funny part. She had actually answered him twice! She had never read a word of his letters and just wrote back the standard BS about what she likes to do, her personality, etc. (any of you guys ever wonder why your questions seemed to be ignored, well this might be the answer). Anyway, she wanted to know what he was writing and what he wanted to know. Well, each of his letters told about how he was planning to come and see her and how he was going to buy a ticket soon. Finally, after reading the fourth letter I told her, "He thinks you are coming to meet him at the airport next month!" It turned out that he was fifty years old—she was eighteen and had no intentions of meeting him.

Here is a young woman who says she can't speak a word of English, yet men write to her in English. One man even had the nerve to write, "Please write back in English only." I don't know what he didn’t understand about her "0" English rating given on her Internet bio page. Some men sent English letters that were two and three typed pages long. I wouldn't even read them to her being a good friend, so you can pretty much guess that anyone else would want to get paid.

My advice is that if you don't want the hassle or expense of translating letters into Russian for women who do not speak English, simply do not choose to write to them. There are plenty of women who speak English. Keep in mind that translation costs can get expensive, especially if you mange to start up a lengthy correspondence. I know of one woman who writes 10-15 page letters every time. Translation costs are $100 or more. So consider all of this when deciding whom to write to. There's more to it than just who has the biggest breasts and longest legs.