The ladies I'm going out to meet have various language levels shown on their fiance.com profiles. I was wondering how accurate these are, and what that means in the real world. For instance, miss Dneprorudnoye is level 0, so I'm guessing interpreter needed (or just get REALLY good at charades). But the others are either 3, 4 or 6. I'm wondering if I'll need an interpreter for all of them, or will be able to get by with a phrasebook and giggles.
I don't use fiance.com myself, but many websites have some kind of language rating system. In every case I've seen, these are self-assessed, and they can vary a lot: some women are modest, and speak much better than they rate themselves; others who claim to speak English fairly well have a difficult time.
Probably, the ratings are most reliable at the extremes: if she says she is fluent, or says she has no English at all, that is probably the truth of it.
I'm guessing that (A) this will be your first time Over There, and (B) you don't speak a word of Russian or Ukrainian.
I can tell you from my own experience, I met a Natalya (when I had been studying Russian for more than 2 years) whose English was better than my Russian, but not tons. We were able to have some depth of dialog, but it was slow and halting, with lots of references to my pocket dictionary (which I was really glad to have brought). I don't remember her self-assessment, but this is someone who probably knows a couple of thousand words of English.
Probably, you will do yourself a big favor by getting on the phone or internet chat with the women who DO speak some English. You can get a better feeling for communication.
Most of the women I've met in the FSU have very good English: two teach English in schools (their English is really perfect, practically without accent), two others have made extended visits to America, etc. For me, dialog is really important to understand whether this is someone I would want to spend my life with.
we do not test them:) zero means zero. you need to make phone calls with interpreter on the line.
English level:
1 - 3 - she knows just a few words in English
4 - 5 - elementary level, able to compose some sentences
6 - 7 - she can speak and read with a dictionnary, but experiences considerable difficulties
8 - 9 - she can read and speak the language enough to be understood
10 - she speaks English fluently