at should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the

If she does not speak English, you can usually arrange through the local marriage agency to have a translator on the call. This may cost you ten to twenty dollars per hour, but at least you will be able to converse with each other.

Other resources are local universities that have university students who are studying English. Usually their services can be arranged fairly inexpensively.

I used translation services from the marriage agencies a few times with widely varying results. One of the worst was an agency in Polatsk, Belarus. This was, hands down, the worst marriage agency I ever encountered. It was the agency run by Olga Narkevich.

The young girl who did the translating was an English student. She did her best, but she could barely speak English. She could only remember about five to ten words at a time before she had to do a data dump and translate.

Sometimes this was in the middle of a sentence and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get anything but the simplest concepts translated.

The basic message got through, but a conversation that should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the

ies that have university students who are studying English. Usually their services can be arranged fairly inexpensively.

I used translation services from the marriage agencies a few times with widely varying results. One of the worst was an agency in Polatsk, Belarus. This was, hands down, the worst marriage agency I ever encountered. It was the agency run by Olga Narkevich.

The young girl who did the translating was an English student. She did her best, but she could barely speak English. She could only remember about five to ten words at a time before she had to do a data dump and translate.

Sometimes this was in the middle of a sentence and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get anything but the simplest concepts translated.

The basic message got through, but a conversation that should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the

. This was, hands down, the worst marriage agency I ever encountered. It was the agency run by Olga Narkevich.

The young girl who did the translating was an English student. She did her best, but she could barely speak English. She could only remember about five to ten words at a time before she had to do a data dump and translate.

Sometimes this was in the middle of a sentence and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get anything but the simplest concepts translated.

The basic message got through, but a conversation that should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the

en words at a time before she had to do a data dump and translate.

Sometimes this was in the middle of a sentence and it was difficult, if not impossible, to get anything but the simplest concepts translated.

The basic message got through, but a conversation that should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the

at should have taken fifteen minutes took over two hours. On top of that, the phone connection was so bad, we were both screaming at each other on the phone to be heard.

The telephone system in the CIS countries is about fifty years behind the telephone system in the West. I have noticed that in the winter, particularly, the quality of the phone lines suffer dramatically. This is probably due to the extreme cold.

I found myself feeling more and more upset by the act of screaming into the phone, even though no words were said to make me angry. My frustration with the slow pace of the translation added to that feeling. When I hung up, I was drenched in sweat and ornery enough to take on a biker gang.

To understand why I ranked this marriage agency as the worst that I encountered, you need to hear the rest of the story.

At first, my telephone conversations took place between a Russian woman who was a client of Olga’s and myself. At some point in the translated conversation, it was obvious that Olga had inserted herself.

I was peppered with questions about my income and other personal questions. In addition, pressure was being applied for me to use their service in Belarus at what I thought was a ridiculous usurious rate.

For example, the translator asked if I would like to come to Polatsk to meet the woman who I