Baron, we all have our way of finding a women...your way, my way, many other ways.
For you, your 'intro' letter is fine, it is something I would not prefer to do. All my 'short intro' letters are completely personal, that to me would catch a girls eye because a great many intro letters ARE 'canned' letters. To give you an example, the invitation letters sent here on fiance site. The longer ones I don't even bother reading, sometimes a shorter one may have something that catches my eye like a word and I read it...of course the pic would have to look nice to me.
It reminds me of a friend who was in the HR dept. He did much of the hiring. As he went through resumes, anything longer than 2 pages he threw away and only skimmed through front page.
I had the feeling if you didn't catch the girl in first sentence if not first word, why would she go on. I liked to start each letter with a greeting in russian and a word or two in russian in first sentence. Just my way though.
Do you think every girl you sent your 'intro letter' to knew it was same that every girl got?
I am sure you told them this or did you assume they knew this?
baron: No offense taken on my part. I'm here for advice and willing to evaluate all opinions. No,$100. is not out of my budget but it isn't the way I would prefer to manage. I am very serious, but I take my time with every decision that I have the ability to set a timetable for, and one that has such a long result-horizon I think SHOULD be evaluated very carefully.
No one knows all and while the comment was ostensibly "aimed" at Martin, you also aim it at me by implication. Yes, your advice is solid in its way and I acknowledge the "edge" a professional translation affords. My point was only that I would rather have a mistake or two that software might make but noticing something very personal from her profile to talk about in an intro because any human being is more impressed when you talk about something that's about THEM than relate it to something about YOURSELF. The problem with a pre-made professional translation is that it doesn't allow for noticing HER with your initial contact. Can it still catch her eye? YES! Is it a great way to show her you're serious by having it come through without some bizarre mis-translation? YES! But for me, it's worth it to not have that advantage in order to pursue showing her that I paid attention to her profile and noticed some things that intrigue me about her.
No, I will not "blend in nicely", but thank you for the dig. You're quite right about making a 1st impression and there are many ways to do so, as beemer states in his reply to your post. Besides, there might not BE any faults. Perhaps the software will get it right. I appreciate your giving your experience and advice but would ask that you leave the heavy sarcasm at the door, please-and-thank-you?
I learnt a trick a number of years ago, I picked it up from advice on a forum, that to translate by one of these free online translators, such as babelfish, then what one does it translate it from English to Russian, copy and paste the Russian translation and translate it, for one's own benefit, back in to English again.
By doing that one is doubling any translation discrepancies, if it still conveys the message one is trying to say then one is on a winner, if it doesn't then one tweeks the word(s) that are not translating appropriately and one tries again.
Martin, I have no fight with you. You just got my dander up by your statements that these newbies could construe as the only way to do it. As beems mentions, there is no one right way.
What some of you are also forgetting, it can be forgiven, is that my long intro letter was NOT the first correspondence that I had with each of the ladies I wrote to. Remember that when I used Elenas Models, I and sometimes the ladies sent each other an Expression of Interest. When they got mine, they looked at my profile and my photos. So the first thing they saw of me was my profile photos and my medium sized profile.
Then to each I sent a short pre-intro letter which is probably the same as you folks do. The third thing from my was my longer intro letter.
So now think of it, I did follow your pattern Martin!!!
No beems I didn't mention it was a canned letter. I did change some parts of it but one can tell that it is canned. Never again though did I send a canned letter. I assumed they knew this and none wrote back in deference to it.
No problem SOCO. From my statements in this post I guess I did so the same as you and others plan and have done; I sent a person short note out first and then the long letter. And in my first short note, I translated that myself. One trick in using the software is to translate it into Russian and then translate that back into English. You'll quickly see where you have to say something differently or use different words.
You are correct in talking about them as is relates to yourself. I am sure you will do fine.
Russianmeetingplace forums has less sniping than goes on here and VisaJourney, THE site for all things US Immigration related has a great Russian regional forum populated by folks who are in the process or have gone through it; they are the most helpful and knowledgeable.
Finally one of the best translation software, based on my research, is Promt. The newest version is costly but the next to the last version, ver 7, can be picked up cheap on eBay.
How mant letters do you receive where your name is mentioned, at the top, in the "Dear So and So' and is not mentioned in the letter again, we all know darn well that, in the first letter(s), it is a pre-written letter with just a change of name at the top.
So, if one's intro letter is to be pre-written then drop her name into the text of the letter once or twice further down the letter, if one is mentioning her city then don't refer to it as "your city", refer to it by name and store this intro letter in Microsoft Word whilst highlighting in yellow those words (names) that need to be personalised before copying and pasting it for it's next transmission.
I was talking to a Ukrainian friend not so long ago, I didn't mention it earlier because I've only just remembered it, her English is 'so so' whilst not being good and in this conversation, referring to her letter writing with men, her precise words were, and I had to laugh, that she couldn't believe how so many men could talk so much drivel. :)
My long intro letter had the same. Her name mentioned many times and her city also and if she has a particular hobby or something I would drop that in also.
As I said before, none ever came back with negativity upon reading it; only high praises. Worked for me.
SOCO here's two more sites that you should check out; they come highly recommended by an honest person who is now living with his RW. He used them and had good luck meeting real ladies.
Good call baron!!!
I got site from a guy here about a year ago and met my current girl rather quickly there. I thought she was a scammer because she had 2 profiles with different birth dates but agency she used made mistake. By the way, she was never had a profile on agency site, merely used agency for translations only.
Lots of abuse there too but site can kicks girls off quickly if there is a problem with them. Don't know if it is the same name anymore. Last time I got a message months ago it was:
http://free-dating-agency.com
Just checked...both sites are the same.
This brings something to mind now. I have seen recently many girls joining/using translation clubs instead of internet cafes. Girls would have to pay fees for translation......which would lead to guys paying fees and hence...the chance for being used/abused!!!!
Coolbeans! Thank you, baron, beemer, and Martin. By the time everything else is in line I should be able to at least speak conversational Russian. Still leaning towards Rosetta Stone, but am not quite done exploring my options there. Now that I think of it, the military offers several courses for free, I'll have to check but I can't imagine that Russian would not be on the list...
I use Rosetta Stone also. It's not bad. I also use Lingosoft programs. The best is Alla, when we Skype; I teach her better English and she teaches me some Russian.
Here's a good link with basic information; go to the bottom of the page:
http://www.foreignbride101.com/blog.html
If you PM me with your email, I'll send you a couple of ebooks that I purchased early in my search a year ago.
I'm a very slow learner, but I have learned enough Russian to be useful in various practical situations, and I can now write an SMS to a Russian girl looking up at most one word from my dictionary...
What are the chances that the one topicid would be exactly twice the other?
A lot of guys here seem to think that learning the language isn't so important to marriage success, and maybe they're right. But I love being able to read the signs and newspaper headlines, asking and answering questions on the street, and being able to give compliments in her own language. I encourage you to go for it!
durak, thanks for the link (and the blog site too, baron!). I agree that learning the language should not be "optional" when seeking a foreign bride of any nation. To me, learning everything I can about her language, culture, and specific region where she is from is simple respect and honoring her. I know many American men who have married foreign women and know only the barest rudiments of the language - i.e. how to ask to get laid. I also know some that, in my opinion, "do it right" by knowing the language reasonably well if not fluent, the customs and courtesies, and at least some of the local history of her village/city.
I like to consider myself slightly ahead of the game in that international news/politics has always interested me and I know where most countries are in relation to others and in many cases how their borders interact. To put it a different way, when you do not concern yourself with these things, then you are essentially skimming the surface with her and simply will never know the cool stuff that's there, but "untranslated". For some, as long as they "get what they want" that doesn't matter. For me it is the very core of a relationship and I WANT it! (chuckle)
My friend is writing to a Russian woman and has been for a month. I did some research and her picture is used in visa/passport scams. I tried telling him, but he would not listen. He got an email yesterday from her and it was showing how much it would cost. 690 Rubles (approx $2200)
1. A passport valid for three months after the expiration of the visa.
2. Old (canceled) passports. Which she does not have.
3. A copy of all pages of the Russian internal passport.
4. 2 color photos on white background, size 3.5h4.5 see face should occupy 70-80 of the photos.
5. Questionnaire for visa.
6. Application for a visa, signed in A48. Printed on one sheet with two sides.
7. Letter from the employer on company letterhead with the address, her position, salary and length of time working in the organization. This certificate must be signed by an authorized person, certified by a circular seal of the company.
She said it would take 10 days to do this. Now she has not asked for money for help. He just got another email but no mention of money. She said that the price was almost her salary per month.
Is this the real person or a more elaborate scam?
Just to make things clear, this is not about me. I am on one of the more expensive dating sites. Any help would be appreciated.