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Do most Russian women know English?
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Posted by: Bill_2007

I've stumbled across info on the web that ranges from they're taught some English in school to most don't know the language at all. Can someone clarify this?

Posted by: Khashyar

I would say that most Russian women do NOT know English well enough to speak it in conversation.

I think that Russians study a variety of languages in school, including English, French and German.

I think that it would be more accurate to say that some Russian women know English, but if a Russian person is interested in moving to a new country, they probably will be pretty motivated to learn the language of that country.

Khashyar

Posted by: I/O

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill_2007

I've stumbled across info on the web that ranges from they're taught some English in school to most don't know the language at all. Can someone clarify this?

A small percentage know English well enough to communicate. By and large the answer is no.

Posted by: sidney

Many learn a second language in school but quickly lose it if not used regularly. Some of my wife's friends that were good at it during school were no longer able to communicate a few years later.
Sid

Posted by: Bill_2007

Thanks for the help. I'm starting to learn Russian, so that should help things. I have Read Write Russian and Before You Know It in my computer. I figured how to change the language with the keyboard and type Cyrillic(that's not useful to me yet). And I found a young lady in Houston area that tutors at her house for a reasonable hourly fee-I go there for the first time on Saturday. I know it will take time to learn Russian, but I'm not ready to search for her yet. I have to save some $$$, learn the language, and do lots of research on this.

Posted by: davidg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill_2007

I've stumbled across info on the web that ranges from they're taught some English in school to most don't know the language at all. Can someone clarify this?

No!

Posted by: Manchester

There is only a small percentage of women who consider their future abroad. Those women will be often quite motivated for their future and will learn English as if they end up in UK or the States it is totally necessary and if they end up elsewhere English is often a common denominator. Other women learn it only when theyhave found a man.

My wife is 30, she just told me that she had to learn a language in School, it was to be either French, German or English, she chose English, then she had a further obligatory language course in college and a further obligatory language course in University. However, the teachers (she knows now) often left a lot to be desired and when I met her her English still remained a 2/5, however, our relationship gave her the motivation to work on the foundation she had and now, only a couple of years later, her English is maybe 4.5/5, I expect she will be totally fluent within the year including slang and sarcasm.

Most of her friends have basic English, a few have fluent English, it is the luck of the draw how good their actual tuition was!

It is funny, she still makes tense mistakes for example but the way they learn she can buy and sell me as to what is a noun, and adverb, present perfect tense and all the construction of English she learned very well like an Oxford Professor, but in speech is it easy to make mistakes - but it still leaves her well able to be understood everywhere.

Posted by: scotch

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill_2007

I've stumbled across info on the web that ranges from they're taught some English in school to most don't know the language at all. Can someone clarify this?

Based on my experience (very limited) I would agree with the above posters and say that only a small percentage of Russian women know English well enough to communicate.

But it depends on the location and age-group.

For example, St.Petersburg has a reputation for having the highest concentration of Russians who understand English, because of the tourist industry there.

Moscow a bit less so, because it is more of a Russian business district.

But even in these two big cities, outside of the tourist areas it is fair to say the majority do not know much English at all, or at least are not willing to try and speak it. In the smaller cities there is even less English comprehension, and when you speak English in the street or on the trolleybus some people will turn around to look at the foreigner (fantastic if you're an attention seeker!

)

Also, lots of young Russians know English quite well, especially those between 14 and 19. More and more advertising is being done in English and young Russians seem motivated to learn English as it is generally regarded as a pretty cool thing to know. When I was offered an English teaching job I was taken on a tour of the university where I was introduced to a class of 5 year olds learning English! They were so cute and the teacher made them all introduce themselves to me in English

I also noticed that the vast majority (nearly all) of students above the age of 24 were female .. hmmm I wonder why?

So .. in about 6 years I predict it will be a whole different ballgame when the English speaking Russians start to become marrying age.

scotch

Posted by: Stas

The thing is that most Russian women learn English at school, but it doesn't mean they can communicate in the language. The school program is mostly about translating from English to Russian and learning texts by heart, it's still like in the Soviet times, when the state didn't seem to be motivated to enable people to talk to foreigners! Therefore some girls might have had good marks at school English lessons, but they won't really talk to you in English - not because they have forgotten it since their school years, but because they never could.
Those who do speak are mostly:
- women wno have lived or studied abroad;
- university studebts/graduates with qualifications in languages;
- those who studied the language at private language schools with communication-oriented courses, where they sometimes can talk to foreign students who learn Russian (like at Extra Class, www.learnrussian.ru), learn practical linguistic skills and overcome the fear of real communication with native English speakers.
Moreover, many Russian women don't really feel they need to speak English - unlike Thailand etc., Russia is a big country, and its economy doesn't fully depent on tourism - suffice to mention export of oil, gas, and arms