What if the lady can't speak English?
There is a highly likely chance that any of our ladies will be able to at least speak some very basic English. English is a compulsory subject taught at all schools. Different ladies will have varying capacities to read, write, speak and understand English. There is a high likelihood that any lady will have been taught several years of basic English, therefore she will most likely be able to understand you if you speak slowly and clearly.
Some ladies are very efficient in English and have very good grammar skills. You will find that generally all of our ladies are interested and keen to learn English. Some ladies have a limited vocabulary of English and will need some help, therefore we can help arrange English lessons for your lady if she needs it or even just to polish up a little. However, most ladies will have a basic understanding of some English vocabulary. If necessary, with a few lessons or English books to help her and your willingness to assist, you will find that any perceived language barrier should not be too much of a concern.
How can I arrange English lessons for my lady if she needs it?
Arrangements can be made for English lessons for your lady and we have various options to choose from to help her develop her English. These range from personal tutorials to ordering books and other resources for your lady.
You can find information about personal tutorials by clicking on the "Language school" on our home page. You can choose courses that also include personal tutorials for your lady's children if she has any. To find information about other services and resources to help your lady with English, click on the "English lessons" link on your account page. Here, you will see a variety of English courses and material available that you can order for your lady. Included in our variety of packages is a special course for children. By clicking on any of these links, you will be able to read specific information about what each particular English course entails, as well as optional materials to help your lady become fluent in English.
You can easily request these services and products by purchasing them through your shopping cart. Also, if you would like your very own video that is recorded while your lady takes her English courses (by your request) you can order this by following the simple ordering procedures by clicking on the link under the "shopping cart" link.
Please bear in mind that as many ladies do not have their own transport, it may be necessary to arrange a taxi for your lady if she attends English classes which may finish at 9 pm. Please refer to information under "A beginners guide to personalized services" to find out how you can arrange transport for your lady.
Will I need to learn Russian? If so, how can I do this?
As you are required to meet the lady in Russia first before any application can be submitted for Visa's, it would certainly be handy to know a little Russian. It is not absolutely essential though.
For your convenience, we have an online course you can do in Russian. Click on the link on our home page that says "Online Russian course" , and this will give you information about various courses we have available.
We have courses ranging from 5 days to several months. Our 5-day course includes essential grammar and vocabulary that will be highly beneficial for your trip to Russia. You will see prices for our variety of Russian courses that you can choose from.
You can also find more information about our 5-day courses by clicking on "English lessons" under "orders and requests" on your personal account page. Click on the link that says " Express course of the Russian", and this will give you a description. You can order this using your shopping trolley and follow the usual methods for requesting services.
If you would like even further development of your training with learning Russian, you can even choose a package that includes home-stays with your personal tutor. We offer tour packages coinciding with tutorial lessons, and you will see a link on this page which will give you information and further resources available through Virginia Travel.
If you would prefer to do an online course and/or do a course in a one-to-one environment, we offer this as an option if you find this personally more appealing to you. Whichever option you decide fits you best, you can sign up by just selecting the course you want to do, enter some very basic details of yourself and click the "sign-up" link which you will find by accessing the link that says "click here to sign up". All of these services are available to you online and you can choose one that suits your time and budget.
Also, if you would like to learn some basic Russian literature, please click on the link that says "Cultural differences" under "stories" on our home page. You will see some links on the opening page where you can learn some more basic information which will help you communicate clearly with your lady.
I wrote to Tatyana, and Tanya answered?
Part of Russian culture involves variations of Given names. Generally, most Russian women's names have a shortened form and a form of affection, with some names also including a further variant of an intimate form of their full Given name.
An example is "Tatyana" is a Given name in full and the shortened version is Tanya, and also the affectionate name is either Tanechka or Tanyusha. So it is quite a customary norm in Russia to answer letters by using a shortened name. This will explain if you have written to a lady and it appears somebody different has replied.
To find a list of Russian women's names with their variations in form, just click on "Cultural differences" under the section "stories" on our home page, and click where it says "Russian women names". Here you will find the list of names to help you to learn variations of the names of ladies you have written to.
I have questions for the ladies, but I'm concerned that some of them may sound too personal. How will I know?
This is something that should be considered simply because of cultural differences. Consideration should be given to how your questions are worded or expressed. Try not to be too concerned though, as the ladies have available translators who are very qualified and competent in English and also it may be that Russian and western culture may not actually differ as much (as in verbal intellect) as what some western men may think. For example, Russian women refer to their male partners as their other halves, just as western men refer to this too.
You will find some very valuable information regarding what sort of things to avoid saying to a Russian woman in general, and also some tips on helpful things you can do too, by clicking on "Frequently asked questions" and finding the link that says "Any letter writing tips or helpful hints?". This is a good introductory guide as to things to do and things to avoid saying.
As far as personal questions in regards to her personal details such as her address and telephone number, you will need to make requests directly through our agency and a main reason for this is in regards to safety measures for both you and the ladies. This leads to another point that western men may have in relation to background checks about scam, criminal history or other. You may want to know about these things, but are not sure how to ask. Again here, this is where Maxim's background checks are discretely conducted and the ladies won't even know that you are doing a background check unless you yourself tell the ladies directly. Maxim's will do this with complete confidentiality.
You may have personal questions about what the lady likes and dislikes. Rather than (in the initial stages) of asking direct questions to a lady which you may be concerned about causing offence or misunderstandings, a way of actually getting to know about the lady's more personal side is to request a personal interview for the lady. This can be conducted by qualified staff at Maxim's who will interview the lady. You will be designated your own personal matchmaking manager who will give you thorough details of not only answers to personal questions you may have such as health issues and so-forth about your lady, but you will also be given etails of her general behavior including reactions to your questions, her body-language and attitudes she may have for you, which are not so easy to detect in written letters.
Generally speaking, if you avoid asking her sensitive questions in which you yourself may feel uncomfortable if someone asked you, you should find very few problems.
How can I go about asking her any personal questions which I might like to know, but feel uncomfortable in asking her directly?
Providing your inquiries about personal questions are not outside of what would be regarded as appropriately satisfactory or suitable, we have various decent and proper ways you can get to know your lady more personally without being concerned about stepping outside of personal boundaries.
We understand the curiosity involved in getting to know more about your lady, so we have compiled a questionnaire available that you can request for your lady. It consists of over 120 questions (over 6 pages) of various questions which are not only insightful but actually help initiate further comfort between yourself and the lady if you are well matched. You will get to know some more of her personal traits, her dislikes and likes and more. To see information about this, simply click on the link near the bottom of our home page that says "120+ questions for your lady". There are other ways you can access this request/service throughout our web site, but this would be the easiest way to do this in the beginning. Enter a few basic details, send through your request, and the lady of your choice will be given this interesting questionnaire to fill in. After she has done so, we will send you the entire questionnaire with all of her personal answers which you can then print and keep. This is an ideal way to get to know more about the ladies, and has some humorous questions included, with the enormous benefit of both yourself and the ladies saving some possible embarrassment as you are getting to know each other.
You will find useful information you can access on this general theme, and other related topics surrounding cultural differences, in the previous question. You will come across much information relevant to this, by just casually browsing through our site and referring to suggested links throughout our site.
What would be regarded as acceptable age differences?
Russian customs in age difference is dissimilar to that of Western cultures. Westerners may interpret a 15 to 20 year age difference as a little out of the norm or even unacceptable. Not so with Russian women. Even if you are in your early forties, many Russian women in their twenties would see this as perfectly acceptable.
Generally, most Russian women prefer their prospective male partners to be older. This can be up to twenty years in difference of age. If you are in your fifties, don't be discouraged. You have a realistic chance of finding a lady in her latish thirties or early forties.
Russian women look at their male partners (husbands) as protectors and care-givers. Women do not want their men to be father-figures though, and as Russian women highly value family traditions, they will honor and respect their husbands as partners, and not see them as "senior" to themselves.
It is perfectly normal, acceptable and quite appropriate for a Russian woman to marry a man fifteen to twenty years older. However, generally speaking, the majority of Russian women would ideally prefer someone at least the same age and up to at least ten years older, however many will be quite content to marry a man fifteen years and even up to twenty years older. Others may prefer to find a man who is not the same age, but a minimum of three to five years older. Russian women will have no concerns in settling for an older man as they appreciate stability and maturity in a relationship.
Why would ladies want to find a Western man?
There would be many reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is stability. Areas of stability that Russian women seek is NOT necessarily financial stability alone, but include psychological, emotional and health related stability issues. Generally speaking, Russian women do not have access to all basic facilities that other nations or cultures may take for granted. Life in Russia is not easy. But this does NOT mean that she only wants to find a western man to "escape" these hardships. Not at all. Most women regard stability of a loving relationship higher than anything else. Many Russian women have lost hope of finding a suitable Russian man for themselves, and reasons for this are also many. One reason is that women outnumber men in Russia, so many start to look abroad.
Nevertheless, Russian women do appreciate a secure home and a stable life as far as simply just living and leading a normal life. Russian women are used to hardships, and yes, they do seek a life of improved living conditions, but this does NOT mean that she will be seeking financial wealth. She will not be thinking in terms of making up for all the things she has missed out on. She will simply appreciate and honor a more decent life-style. However, even if western societies were identical to those of Russian living conditions, she would still be looking for a foreign partner anyway. This is because she just cannot find her soul mate here in Russia.
Russian women are attracted to the idea of close-knit families where men will spend time with their family, and as Western culture holds this value in esteem, this draws attention of Russian women to actively seek their loved one abroad. Russian women appreciate the value of family unity. Many describe one of their desires in being to be content in a "cozy home". This does not necessarily mean materialistic desires, but family unity and warmth. Because of some extreme hardships in Russia, many Russian men turn to alcohol, and basically the resulting affects contribute to many Russian women looking outside of Russia. Russian men are no "worse" than others, it is just that many Russian men have different interpretations and concepts of family and so-forth. It is also very difficult for Russian women to find decent employment, and some may have to live on the equivalent of one hundred dollars a month. They have fewer career opportunities, and generally find the going fairly tough. Again, please note that Russian women do not seek Western men to "escape" this as a sole purpose. They genuinely do desire a happy family life, and part of this does include an improved life-style in terms of BASIC needs, but she will prioritize love, affection, dedication, security and all the ingredients that go into a happy, loving and contented relationship and family life.
Generally speaking, Russian men may be quite nice, but unfortunately the traditions of family life are not. And for even this reason alone, apart from the many others, this is why Russian women are looking abroad for their future husbands.
Are Russian ladies really prepared to leave Russia?
Yes, many have made a firm and concrete decision to leave their native country. Russian women who have their profiles on our site are serious about a committed relationship to a man in a different country. As Russian women put such high value on family bonding (a general family life), they are quite prepared to leave Russia in an endeavor to create a new family life above all else, including leaving what they may have in their native country. In Russian culture, "creating a family" does not necessarily mean having more children. Most Russian women will have family such as their parents to leave behind, but they have thoroughly considered all options, opportunities, advantages and disadvantages in leaving Russia, and remain quite firm with their decision and are very unlikely to suddenly change their thinking and decision.
Apart from leaving any family members she may have, there may be very little else to leave behind. It is very common for a divorced woman with a daughter to live in a one-room unit or apartment. Motor vehicles are more-or-less a luxury, public transport is difficult, she can usually only afford the very basics in grocery shopping, and generally most of the basic necessities in life are only just met, and by no means comfortably met. It is only normal for any human being to strive to achieve a normal life, but again, it is non-materialistic things that Russian women strive for the most. And a large part of this is finding a suitable foreign man in a loving relationship.
Are there any other things I should know about cultural differences?
The previous points have only covered some very basic, yet important information. You may find as you develop your communication with ladies and go on to develop a relationship with any particular lady, that through your various means of communication, you will quickly pick up and learn some more basic information relevant to cultural differences.
There are many sources of valuable information throughout our entire web site where you will see links and referrals to information on cultural differences and Russian culture in general. You will find plenty of insightful information here on Russian women. You will find information and tips on writing your first letter, sending photos, things to avoid, how to minimize misunderstandings and plenty more in relation to content about cultural differences.
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