A Russian Bride Guide

In our last issue we gave some ideas for communicating with Russian Women. Today is the 7th of March and the day before what is possibly the most important holiday for Russian Women all year. The 8th of March (Восьмое марта – pronounced Vosmoye Marta) for the entire world this day is known as International Womens Day but Russian Women see this as a special celebration. March 8th is a day when men all over Russia will shower the women in their lives with gifts, flowers and special wishes on this special day for them. Be sure to wish your Russian Woman a happy Vosmoye Marta on Monday and if possible be sure to send a gift of beautiful flowers to let her know how much you care. The equivalent of this holiday in the west would be St. Valentines Day so if you think of it in those terms I think you can get the idea. Happy Vosmoye Marta!!!

Communicating with Russian Women

While searching for a Russian Woman to begin communications with online you have several choices for making that communication possible. Perhaps you will try to communicate in English at first. Many women have a good understanding of English. This will have it’s limits however and you may need a way to communicate in Russian. Skype currently offers a single country plan for $5.95/mo. and a world unlimited plan for $12.95/mo. which include calls to St. Petersburg and Moscow. For all other calls to Russia the charge is $.048/min. which is quite reasonable. A 30 minute phone call will cost about $1.50. Skype also now offers mobile apps for certain smart phones so you can make international calls on your mobile phone. Vonage also offers similar services for $25-$35/mo. they have a package that will include most areas of Russia in the unlimited plan.

Русский Язык- Russian Language

Several services are available that will translate your emails to Russian and vice versa. While the many dating sites offer these services and some are built entirely around the concept of you paying for this service I would recommend finding an independent service outside of the dating website you found your Russian Woman on. This will eliminate any conflict of interest and can lessen the chances for being caught in a scam. There are also several services which offer to conduct a three way call with you and your Russian Woman which gives an added feature of having an outside opinion of your woman’s sincerety. I don’t have any particular such services to recommend but the translation of email should cost around $5-$8. Three way phone/translation services can run from $20-$35 per half hour depending on whether the cost of the call is included or not. Ususally you must have Skype in order to facilitate the call and get the lowest possible rates.

Eventually you will want to learn the native language of your Russian Woman. After all, you should be planning a trip to Russia eventually and you will at least want to have an idea how to read the language and know some basic phrases before you go. Who better to practice with than with your Russian sweetheart? For starters you will need to learn the cyrillic alphabet. It is a bit awkward at first but the Russian alphabet is not so different from ours once you get to know it. There are only about 4 or 5 characters that I would consider difficult. This site: Intro to Russian Alphabet offers a very good introduction to the alphabet and will help you pick up a few words in the process. You should definitely consider learning the alphabet before anything else. Once you have mastered the alphabet (which can take a few weeks) you can finally learn some words and phrases on other language sites and by writing to your Russian woman. There are several ways that you can get Russian characters on your computer. In Windows the following steps should get you there:

First: go to start menu->control panel->clock, language and region->change keyboards or other input methods

See the screenshot below and click on change keyboards button:

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This is our first issue of Free Russian Women Advice, a bi-monthly post offering a short bit of free advice when it comes to Russian Brides, Russian culture and how-to’ s having to do with dating Russian Women.

Russian Customs and Traditions:

Giving Flowers:

Gift giving is a very major custom in Russia. People will judge you not based on the value of your gift (although some may) but rather on whether you have the courtesy to give a gift at all. When it comes to flowers you should seriously consider giving flowers to your Russian Woman as well as to other adult ladies of her household such as mother, grandmother etc. When giving or sending flowers it is important to know that you always give an odd number of flowers as opposed to the common half-dozen or dozen roses given in the West. The reason for this is because even numbers of flowers are given at funerals. Definitely not the first impression that you want to make!

Kissing on the Cheek…

Since our last tradition finished with the topic of funerals, we will start from there. Never kiss someone on the forehead as this form of kiss is reserved for kissing the dead on the forehead at their funeral. Try to avoid this! It is Russian tradition to kiss three times alternating cheeks when greeting friends and relatives. This is not necessarily expected of strangers of course or those whom we just met but once you get to know someone in a familiar relationship it is acceptable.
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Russian Bride Forum

We are going to begin the process of writing a comprehensive Russian Women Guide. Please join our Russian Bride Forum and give some input on what questions you would like to see answered and what information would be most helpful to you in your Russian Bride Search. Many men seeking a Russian Wife may be aprehensive to seek the advice of other men. This is very understandable but no matter how much of a romeo you may think you are -Russian Women and more importantly, Russian Culture are both very different than what you are acustomed to. Try not to think of it as “love advice” but more like a cultural and language indoctrination. Before business men visit another country for their company it is perfectly normal for them to go through a week or two training course to get some basics on local customs, language basics, popular culture and etiquette. Joining our Russian Bride Forum will be no different. The best thing is that it is totally free! Where else can you get a free cultural, language and etiquette lesson.
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Why Russian Women?

The first question that so many people new to the subject will ask is:

“Why Russian women?”

As the former beer slogan says: “Why ask why?”

The answer is both simple and complicated.
1. Huge shortage of men in Russia= strong competition among women= remember that guy Darwin?
2. Russian women put the W back in Woman in a big way.
3. American culture has created a huge departure from gender roles since the 60′s.

So, what makes Russian Women so desirable and attractive?
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Russian Dating Agencies?

I will be dealing with this topic for the next few posts because unless you plan to just fly to Russia on your own and meet women on the street you are going to need to work with some sort of an agency or dating site to make contact with women in Russia.  At first glance the idea of choosing which agency to go with or what approach to take in beginning your search for a Russian Wife can be overwhelming. There are well over 300 websites claiming to offer services ranging from simple contact information to full fledged “romance tours”. Your investment in this search can range anywhere from a couple thousand dollars up to $50,000 or more. Finding the right mate in your own town can be difficult but taking your search overseas adds a possible language barrier, an ocean, new customs and different culture. These factors which make seeking a Russian Bride seem more challenging are also part of the allure. Armed with the right information and the right attitude a man can successfully complete his search without breaking the bank.
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