If you not speak Russian - you can still communicate with your woman with sending SMS in Russian.
(Some maybe know and many not need because they speak Russian already.)
1. To translate from English to Russian I use Google:
http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=en|ru#
It is many translator pages but I like Google best. Always remember to try your translation - clip and paste the Russian and translate it back to English. Then you see you may need change your English or line setting some to get the right sentence.
2. To sen SMS to your woman's mobile I use SKYPE.
http://www.skype.com/
It is other possibilities here also - but I prefer skype.
If you not already got - download it - set up your woman with here mobile number in contacts - then just go on tools and send sms.
3. So what you do when she answer you in Russian?
You not have a Russian keyboard right? Well you have - on the web.
thenorwegian,
if you will use internet eng\ru translator, write simple frases.
computer translator not ideal, you will write very long phrases and translate it - your lady will not be able to understand it.
About sending SMS using Skype - you must have credit on your skype account.
this method comfortable only from your own computer.
If you will be in Internet cafe - you need know what cell operator did your lady use and use their website.
Ukraine cell operators offer posiblity to send free of charge sms from their websites
Sounds a bit convoluted to be worthwhile just to save a bit of money in texts.
If she's going to have to use skye to send free txts back then she might as well be using it to chat with you.
I use the same method of sending sms to my girl! I translate it in google and then reverse translate it back into my language to make sure it sounds correct. Then I simply copy and paste it in Skype and send... she loves it, and she always emails me back quickly. She emails me because I don't use my cell phone much, only when I travel.
isn't it just easier to use a mobile to send sms and chat over skype? you can always just write in russian using latin characters anyway. but sure... writing in cyrillic is more fun once you have learned the alphabet i guess.
on the one hand your girl will definately find it 'cute' that you are trying to write things in russian and she will really like it, *but* there's no way that what you write will be all that close to how it should be. every word seems to have umpteen variations depending on gender/context/multiplicity/etc... it's going to take me years to get used to russian!
personally i still get confused when at first glance you're not sure if the text on something is in russian, ukrainian or english! like i'll see a word that is in english and *then* notice that pesky 'bl'! or you think it's russian until you see the ukrainian 'i' in there...
still... better to try than to just give up i guess!
I can tell you an easier way!!!!
Go to the MTC web site (Or MTS)
Find picture messaging, and send them for FREE!!! The only catch being that the recipient receives an ad along with the lovey dovey pic! You can click on the "English" button at the top of the page, and you will get a translation for "fixed" messages in Russian, just count them down to find the one you like, return to "Russian" and send one, or you can use a translator like altavista and cut and paste your own translated (or English) messages.
I have sent dozens of them, all completely free!!
http://sms.mts.ru/?_openstat=aG9tZTtpY29ucztzbXM7Y3VzdA==