This article was written by Elena, Vancouver
To Translate or not to Translate?
On our website
www.Unona.net you have the option to send your messages with Translation And Forwarding or without it. You can also receive messages from the ladies flagged as “Translated”, meaning that they have been processed by Unona Translation and Forwarding service, or without any flag, meaning that the ladies sent them to your directly.
We get a lot of questions about the Translation Service, so we thought it would be helpful for everyone to see the answers to the following frequently asked questions.
I received a message from a lady marked “Translated”. I do not want any translation as the lady stated in her profile that her English is good.
Usually students in Ukraine start to study foreign languages (most likely English) from the fifth grade. After a person has studied a language for several years, they could state that their English is good. In fact it means that she might read your letter written in English, she might use a dictionary to understand the content, but it would be difficult for her to write a reply in English. She would have to use primitive sentences and to simplify the content of her letter. And it will work only if a lady has access to the Internet and can send a message to you. If not, she would try to use our Forwarding service.
What exactly does “forwarding service” mean?
This means that our translator receives your letter scheduled for Translation and Forwarding and contacts a lady on her regular phone or cell phone right away to read her your letter. We usually need to call the ladies repeatedly until we are able to get in touch with them. Most people in Ukraine do not have computers, but almost everyone has a cell phone. This is the best way, and often the only way, to ensure that your lady gets your letter in the shortest possible time.
The same thing works the other way around: when a lady wants to send a reply to your letter, she calls to the office and dictates her reply. Just a few years ago, the ladies would come to our offices to receive their letters and to bring replies. But the times change and everyone is busier now. To help you communicate quicker, we do forwarding on the phone.
I do not want Translation; I just need Forwarding.
When a lady calls to our office to dictate a reply, even if she wanted to dictate a reply in English (which never happens), the time for our translators to type a message in English, translating from Russian on the fly, would be the same as to type it in any other language. If she brings a letter in English with mistakes, we correct the mistakes anyway. That is why we cannot separate one service and we have only “Translation and Forwarding” with one standard fee of 4 credits.
I sent a letter to a girl without translation and now she doesn’t reply.
Unfortunately she might not even know that there is a letter from you. Although there are many Internet cafes in Kiev, Odessa and Kherson, and many people have computers at home or at work, for most of the ladies it is still difficult to deal with computers and we have to train them on how to use basic programs, how to use our website, how to Chat Live etc.
If you sent your letter without Translation and Forwarding, a lady will get notification to her email address and she would open the letter only when she gets to a computer. If you send a message with Translation and Forwarding, your letter will be translated within few hours and we will call the lady on her cell phone to dictate your letter to her.
I started to communicate with my lady directly and the quality of her letters became more poor, why is that?
But of course it would. Now that you communicate directly, the lady’s ability to express her thoughts are limited by her English vocabulary, whereas when you used the Translation and Forwarding service she could write her message in her native language and express her thoughts freely, which would be translated later by the service.
Is it worth of using Translation and Forwarding service?
Would you buy a house without a professional inspection? Would you diagnose your illness using Internet resources?
The alternative is free online computer translation programs. To get an idea of the value of a professional translation, we encourage you to try using automated computer translation programs. Try the following using a program like Babelfish or Google translator: translate a part of your letter into Russian, and then copy and paste this for translation back into English. The result most likely would be quite poor. Not only is the content usually lost or distorted, but you would not be able to communicate your feelings in the way you mean them. The worst thing could be is that you miscommunicate important information. Once I interpreted a conversation of a couple (after he proposed and she accepted the proposal) and a gentleman was explaining that he is not an architect, but he works for an architect. Of course we all want to save, this is one place where the savings are poor.
So should I use Translation and Forwarding or not?
This is a question everybody would answer for himself and together with a lady. In our service we use a graph to classify our members, it might be useful for you too:
- The lady’s English is good enough for reading your letters and writing replies by herself. She has free access to Internet: Then sending a message without translation could be enough. You might want to keep both channels open (direct and through the Unona service for urgent messages)
- The lady has access to the Internet (she has a computer at work, at home, etc.) but her English is only OK and she might read the messages in English by herself but can’t reply: Then you might want to send your messages without translation, but have her replies translated.
- A lady understands some English and does not have access to the Internet: Then you might want to rely more on our Translation and Forwarding service. You might want to send simple messages without translation sometimes, but still the lady needs forwarding.
- A lady has poor English and does not have Internet access: You want to use Translation and Forwarding service regularly.
Initially we planned our new website to cater to the ladies who use their own computers and speak good English or need translation. Reality showed that these both features combined together are hard to find (only about 5%) and most of the ladies are relieved to be able to use the help of our translators.
How can I save at Unona?
- If you are in a long-term relationship or if you are serious about your search, please do not purchase the silver plan (5 credits for $10 or $2 per 1 credit). Instead we recommend purchasing a gold plan (100 credits for $100 or $1 per 1 credit) where you would enjoy a 50% discount.
- If you are really attracted to a lady, have a Live Chat with her earlier in your relationship. If her English is not very good, order interpreter’s support for only $19.95 per hour. 6 credits and $19.95 will save you a good deal in translation fees if you feel the relationship does not have any future. This way you will focus your efforts (and money) on the right lady instead.
Looking down the road, communicating and speaking the same language is essential to develop a harmonic relationship, so we encourage you to study a language (Russian for you and English for the lady) will benefit both of you. Meanwhile at Unona we give you different options for communicating with the ladies. We encourage you to contact us at any time to help you make the right choice. Good luck!