Places on the internet that can help
Russian-American romancers
work it all out
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!: We are auctioning off my wife's old Pimsleur English for Speakers of Russian: Comprehensive Course, Part One on eBay in order to get a few bucks to move on to Part Two. If you are looking for a thoughtful and useful gift at a bargain price for your Russian or FSU wife, or a loved one waiting out her K-1 processing over there, please click here. There's NO better language course than Pimsleur's. And now back to our regular program...
Resources about Russia, Russian, Russians & "Russification":
PLEASE START HERE at Vadim Maslov's "Russification" pages. Here you'll find all of the tips & tricks, freebie fonts & software needed to make whatever the hell rig you're running also run in Russian too. You some kinda weirdo die-hard Commodore-64 fan? No problem. Vadim's got everybody covered here.
A Russian to English or English to Russian SENTENCE translator! That's right. Not just words...Sentences! You can run whole paragraphs, short pages even, through this fellow. So what if it ain't perfect each and every time? Who cares if maybe you're talking about "pursuing higher English classes" and the program spits out something about "British aristocracy and fox hunting?", or you're trying to say, "I race home each evening hoping to find one of your letters in the box", and it produces the Russian equivalent of "Whenever the darkness grows, I enter an olympic event to exhume your eye chart"? Hey, what's perfect? But if you've got something on your mind at 3 A.M, and those alien words don't spring forth so..."Horrorshow"...then this freebie program really does help, especially if you can keep it simple. And it is free, after all. Naturally, you'll need to have "Russified" your computer to be able to read and type the Russian Windows Cyrillic "WIN1251" fonts needed to use this translator. Please see preceding link. PLEASE NOTE: For several weeks this link was real "iffy", returning nothing but error messages. The site now seems to have been redesigned and is better than ever ~1/30/2000
Need something translated BY A HUMAN and delivered to Russia in a rush? Then drop an email to the wonderful Marianna through her page here, and she'll fix you right up. Reasonable rates. Accurate translations. Rapidest delivery. Marianna lived in the States for several years and specializes in translating correspondence between American men and Russian women, so she knows whereof you speak.
Maybe the wife's interested in exploring the Russian net? Well, here is a nice comprehensive Russian Search Engine called "Rambler". Hey! Convinced yet that you really gotta have those Cyrillic fonts and a keyboard switcher on tap? 'Cause that's my last word on the subject.
The Mother of all Russian Links Pages. It's a monster, alright. If some guy even mentions borscht on his webpage it's listed here. It's a little spartan in appearance, and it's vast, but still, it's straightforward and nicely classified...a good jumping off point for just surfing around.
Here's a nice little page of ESL links to some of the better internet resources for English Learners.
Got a little polyglot on the way?...So is your lady curious about what's going on? Well, grab those saltines and ginger ale and settle on down, because here's the day-by-day lowdown on pregnancy in Russian, complete with fetal photos and a due date reckoning program. (PLEASE NOTE: This link is a little shaky...Here today, gone tomorrow...then back the day after)
Links for Immigration and Other Information:
The RUSSIAN-WOMEN-L Page. "RWL" really is THE list to subscribe to when you're first starting to look for info and tips...say if you're at the thinking-of-applying-for-a-Fiance-Visa phase, or earlier. But be advised that it is also an EXTREMELY active list, with over 100 messages per day common, as are the frequent pointless mindnumbing flame wars that can make it a chore to glean the useful bits from the pointless dreck. Still, if worse comes to worst, and your delete button's wearing as thin as your patience, you can always just set your listserv subscription to either "digest" or "nomail" and still have access to the week-by-week or keyword-searchable RWL Archives through the above link, often a very useful resource, while still being able to post replies or other messages as a "subscriber" when need be.
Need some Immigration forms in the middle of the night? You can download and print ANYTHING you need right here in standard "PDF" document format from the "Immigration Forms Center" run by the private law offices of Siskind Susser and Haas. Also includes a link to download the free Adobe Acrobat "PDF" reader and browser plug-in. Of course, you can always just call the INS Forms-by-Phone request line at 1-800-870-3676, too. It just takes a little longer...But then you do get to have yourself that BIG laugh when you realize that because they sent you the "E" form instead of the "I" form, that you've just spent a half hour justifying "import" of your fiance as experimental poultry...
"La Migra"...The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Every Russian-American couple's very favorite agency of the U.S. Government, right? Frankly, their pointlesss timewaster of a website, rather like their whole catankerous agency, just pretty much sucks, but here's the link anyhow. Go see for yourself. Truth is, you're probably much better off getting your solid info and useful scuttlebutt, like this item here, from the great immigration website run by the private law firm of Siskind Susser and Haas, the same folks who run the Immigration Forms Center linked above. They also offer a keyword-searchable archive of their monthly "Immigration Bulletins" and other documents. Definitely check out Siskind et al. first if you need facts. I've personally never gotten anything but bullshit, blue surprise increase of fee notices and silence from the INS Gnomery. If you REALLY need something from the INS, you'll want to get your Congressperson in the loop: Clicking here will get you your own Congressional Rep's email address by just banging in your zipcode.
All about the K-1 Fiance Visa and After... From the folks at the alt.visa.us.marriage-based Newsgroup on Usenet, here's a nice concise FAQ with pretty much everything you need to know about Marriage and Immigration to the USA from anywhere. If you still have questions, or want to get some idea of a timeline for the many steps between the K-1 (Fiancee Visa) to Naturalization, with handy downloadable forms and examples of all the various INS notifications along the way, you could do no better than to check out Jay's excellent K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Guide. Jay's tips on the Warsaw U.S. Consulate will prove particularly helpful for anyone whose intended is Ukrainian, since, unlike Russians, they will have to get their K-1 stuff done in Warsaw...a considerable logistical headache that Jay will help relieve.
And what about CANADA, Ey? Well, here's one great page concerning immigration to the Great White North, and here's another. This second site even offers a "Canadian Immigration FAQ" in Russian in your choice of Russian KOI-8 HTML format that you can display right there in your browser, or as a "zipped" Microsoft Word document file which you can download from this page, where you'll also find a nice selection of downloadable "PDF-format" Canadian immigration forms. Thanx and a tip of the hat to Soulmate's Dave Green for these great tips.
Speaking of 'Soulmates', here's a handy link to the Soulmates Members Page. Non-members please be advised that one requires a password to get access. If you're interested in joining Soulmates, a select and "flame-free" internet mailing list for Russian-North American couples who are actually married or affianced, then please email the list administrator.
Links, links and then MORE links The "Links" page of the Foreign Women Megasite is quite extensive. Most of the links here have to do with "dating" or "mail order brides", but if you dig around you'll also find interesting sites like Wayan Vota's Random Russia Experiences, which feature "The life and times of an American expatriate living and working in Moscow, Russia." It's a guaranteed "good read" and provides honest and useful insight into a wide range of topics pertaining to life in post-Soviet Russia.
RWL Links is a well-arranged and extensive compendium of useful resources. Links to everything from Agencies to Weather resources. If you once found something useful out there and forgot to bookmark it, chances are you'll see it here.
Here's a nice little fuss-free out-of-the-way "Chat Nook" for my friends around the planet to use. Requires absolutely no special setup, software or even registration. Simply choose an unusual ONEword user name, and...Presto! You're chatting! I haven't tested this "Chat Nook" internationally yet with folks with exotic Cyrillic-based computers, even in English, so if anyone does, please let me know how it goes.
It's Victor Vadim Connelly! Born on December 6th and already multi-lingual, he can pierce one's eardrums with equal fluency in either Russian or English. See a slideshow!
NEW! How to get free Russian TV in the USA! ZZZAAAPPPPP!!! Sorry, but as of February 2000 it looks like the free Russian TV party is over for now. That old SBS-5 satellite has been decommissioned, WMNB's Russian programming is apparently now roadkill (bought up and shut down), and all the tricks described on my earlier page that was beloved by hundreds no longer works, so I've pulled the plug on it for the time being. If I learn of any new tricks I'll be sure to lob them up though. In the meantime, you might check out Edward Sazonov's Russian TV in America Page.
Books you really MUST read:
Here are the titles you'll really want to get your hands on if you are at all serious about making a well informed go of an intercultural marriage, particularly with a Russian. Until recently, I worked eight years as an Interlibrary Loan librarian, so I have been able to thoroughly abuse my office in order to review dozens of books on the topic of Intercultural Marriage...pretty much everything one could ever possibly lay one's hands on. In the end, I can recommend the following gems without reservation. If you wish, you can purchase them right now from Amazon Books by simply clicking the desired title.
PLEASE NOTE: If you could find it in your heart to return to this very page (which will remain running in the background) from the Amazon.com site to click each individual item that you would like to purchase DIRECTLY FROM THE LIST BELOW that would be very kind. Otherwise I do not receive a full commission for the referral from Amazon Books. It will not cost you even a penny more to do this, but it'll help keep wee Victor V. in Huggies and Zweiback cookies.
Wedded Strangers: The Challenges of Russian-American Marriages by Lynn Visson
(NEW! Order the Russian language version of Wedded Strangers for your lady directly from the author for only $10, plus $2.50 shipping and handling in the USA! For more details please contact the author: lynnvisson@aol.com)
Whatever its argued shortcomings, this book still remains THE premier and definitive study of Russian-American marriages past and present. Anyone who's serious about a Russian-American marriage can think of this title as enjoyable 'Required Reading'. According to Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1998: "Visson, herself married to a Russian, has interviewed some 100 of these cross-cultural couples and researched the lives of couples in the earlier part of this century in an effort to understand the strange mutual attraction between people whose countries were usually antagonists. While rational explanations can only partly answer questions about romance (though at different times Russians and Americans have decidedly held romantic notions of each other), extensive interviews offer a sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious window onto the daily challenges of these marriages."
Intercultural Marriage: Promises & Pitfalls by Dugan Romano
Here is your invaluable primer on intercultural sensitivity in the marital trenches, whatever those cultures involved may be. Although not primarily concerned with Russian-American marriages as such, Romano's faultless work "examines the impact of cultural differences on marriage and offers practical guidelines on how to deal with the complexities and problems involved. Romano suggests that the joys of an intercultural marriage often result as much from overcoming the obstacles and confronting the challenges as from the adventure of crossing cultures".
Russian I: Pimsleur Comprehensive Russian Language Course
. Subscribers to Russian-Women-L will no doubt have heard of the "Pimsleur Tapes" Russian language course. It really is THE most painless and natural Conversational Russian course you are going to find out there. Well, this is the most current COMPREHENSIVE course, not to be confused with the tiny 8 cassette TRIAL course, or older versions of the Comprehensive Course still being sold here and there that will have you calling everyone "Comrade" and generally stumbling around in an annoying Soviet-era linguistic hangover. The Comprehensive Course on sale via the above link for only $236 may seem a little pricey, sure, but there are 32 cassettes. Do the math. When in doubt, you can always check out the little Trial Basic Course for only $23.96. Its eight cassettes should give you just enough to work on for the flight over there, help you find Red Square once you've arrived, and give you a general idea of how the real Comprehensive Course works. Those who wish to really polish up their Russian using the Comprehensive Course will find the intermediate and advanced units right here: Russian II: Pimsleur Comprehensive Russian Language Course and Russian III: Pimsleur Comprehensive Russian Language Course.
Dermo! : The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used. Are you ready to really surprise the lady with your linguistic prowess? Well, this book is just the ticket. For anyone looking to communicate effectively and impressively in Russian, Dermo! provides the essential vocabulary and anecdotes on such subjects as sex, politics, business, and literature. A humorous guide to everyday Russian, Dermo! is replete with words, idioms, and phrases, including vulgarisms, never used in literary classics but always heard on Russia's streets. Do be advised that the use of a few of the more piquant vulgarisms in this book to strangers in a Moscow bar might quickly lead to a shallow grave outside of town (But if you just don't give a shit, you badass you, then you might also want to snag a copy of the Dictionary of Russian Oscenities).
TriplePlay Plus! English Here's something for HER. My Tania and her friends at the English school really love this computer program, so we have it at home now. Here's a review: "Winner of both the Newsweek Editors' Choice and Home PC Editor's Choice Awards, this unique multimedia immersion method starts you speaking English right away! The program teaches more than 1,000 vocabulary words and phrases, with over 30 games like Concentration, Bingo and Jigsaw Puzzles. Easy-to-use menu and game interfaces let you explore three skill levels and join in conversations with onscreen characters. Instead of drills and memorization, TriplePlay Plus! uses full-color interactive multimedia to engage, entertain and teach. The focus is on everyday topics: people, food, clothing, home and office, activities, places, transportation, numbers. The mix of fun and challenge will keep the entire family playing, practicing and learning. The exclusive, patented speech recognition technology rewards correct pronunciation with instant feedback. Record/playback lets you hear yourself side-by-side with native speakers. Plus, the main menu screen features an express link to Language Connect(TM) for travel and cultural resources on the World Wide Web.
English for Russian Speakers: Pimsleur Comprehensive Language Course [UNABRIDGED]
. Also for HER. Here's the one we've all been waiting for: a comprehensive "Pimsleur Tapes" course in English especially for speakers of Russian. There's really no better way for her to wait out that K-1 visa processing over there, and to get some insight into how we do things over here, than this course. Like the Russian course for speakers of English recommended above, when in doubt she can always check out the little Trial Basic Course for only $23.96.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?...
ruprechtwilco@oocities.com
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