What might be a good way to learn Russian, plus a business opportunity in FSU

[Larry]

An online language school has been criticised - for employing scantily-clad glamour models to teach people Chinese.

SexyMandarin.com, whose motto is 'Learning Mandarin in an unconventional way', has become a runaway hit.

Would-be teachers are asked to submit a full-body photo, as well as any relevant modelling or teaching experience.

The course's latest lesson, called Mirror, is conducted by two lingerie-wearing models who discuss their body shapes and diets.

Other lessons feature models making pillow talk in bed, sucking fruit and cleaning a black London cab with foamy sponges.

Kaoru Kikuchi, the University of Nottingham architecture graduate behind the site, said the project aimed to make Mandarin more accessible.

"If you go the textbook way with all these Chinese characters it just makes you intimidated," said the Toyko-born model and designer.

Mick Gleissner, the Hong Kong-based filmmaker who produces the videos, said he hoped to inspire foreigners facing "the Herculean task of learning Chinese."

"Chinese is intimidating. You look at the characters, the strange melody of sounds. And then you watch a video like this and it's kind of ridiculous but it's also fun," said Gleissner, originally from Germany.

But Annie Chan, chairwoman of Hong Kong's Association for the Advancement of Feminism, complained that the website "exoticised" Chinese women.

And Sue-Mei Thompson, executive director of Hong Kong's Women's Foundation, said her group was "vehemently opposed to gender stereotyping, especially anything that objectifies women as sex objects".

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Language_school_with_a_difference

There is a video at the link.  Netiquette compelled me to post a link to the story.  But I urge all of you not even to visit the site, and if you do visit the site I hope you will not look at the video.  It will undoubtedly corrupt you and I don't want that on my conscience.

In light of the recent thread discussing whether the power of the state should be unsheathed to punish employers who hire employees based on appearance, that blight on civilization that goes by the name of Lookism, I should point out that this employer apparently does not hire ugly women.

I posted this story partly because it seems as if it might be a good business model for Russian language instruction. Those of you who are in FSU could perhaps recruit very attractive FSUW and have them provide Russian language instruction.  I know a number of guys here who pay for women to give them Russian lessons over skype.  They might be interested in trying lessons from a FSU hottie.

Shakey, do you think you could find some suitable teachers in Moscow?

[Bill]

Larry with regards to the comments, from the website and from members, about the use of sexy women to do business, most of the comments are simply garbage.  I don't hear too many women calling for Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen to coverup while she's working and wearing barely there fashions and bringing in $50 million a year.  Americans are simply becoming more prudish as time passes. 

I was in Germany when Janet Jackson had her wardrobe malfunction and the American press and politicians went ballistic over the event.  Most of the press in Europe were laughing at America over its prudish stand on such a minor incident. America has serious problems with drugs and crime yet somehow politicians and some press are trying to say  the accidental exposure of a female nipple is going to lead us to hell?     

[anotheropus]

I posted this story partly because it seems as if it might be a good business model for Russian language instruction. Those of you who are in FSU could perhaps recruit very attractive FSUW and have them provide Russian language instruction.  I know a number of guys here who pay for women to give them Russian lessons over skype.  They might be interested in trying lessons from a FSU hottie.

Hello my friends,

Please to forgive me for this post... but I felt the need to move the ball forward.

I've known some beautiful RU speaking girlfriends and I've had this idea for a long time also! My wife is a lovely Ukrainian lady and I've told her about this idea [she's a lady and she dislikes the idea--so I know it will work for men!].

An online Russian language learning site with live and video lessons given by hot FSU ladies, in various states of dress and undress, could make more money than the agency sites! I know I spent (a whole lotta) money on video chats in the beginning so I could practice speaking with hot looking FSU ladies. It was good experience and learning (albeit sans sexy costumes or bikinis).

I have neither the time nor the desire to enter into a venture like this but I think it would fly (maybe soar).

     [A domain name I'd offer up to a decent bid for this: SpeakLikeARussian.com]

If we're brutally honest the reasons we looked at the dating sites were varied but we all share a central theme. Men are visual. We all have our aesthetic preferences and agency sites provide the ability to dial in the ranges we like for height to weight ratio (thank God FSU ladies like to walk so much), birth signs, hair color and length, eyes, her age and her age tolerances, interests, clothing and bikini styles, etc.

The point is if all men would be honest (OMG I think I'll create poll--and I think more than 10 years of dating agency server logs would prove this), we all LOVED the ability to dial in pretty faces in the height and weight ratios we liked.

     [ironically some of the ladies I dated didn't fall into my preferred height:weight aesthetic--I just liked the ladies ]

If this post is offensive to you, I'm not sorry for the post, I'm sorry you find it offensive. You don't need to make negative comments (already know your opinion) there's a much better way to resolve your dislike of this content. Look at the upper right of your browser window. Typically you'll see some icon that looks like this [X] ... you see it? Okay, go ahead and click it once. There, and as Ed Norton's character Jack said when he was playing his alter character Brian (in The Score), "Okay, Okay. Bye bye... bye bye.

Thank you for indulging my thoughts my friends,

Christopher

Ps If you don't have a sense of humor then nothing is funny.

[mendeleyev]

Hello good Christopher,

I do have a sense of humour and that is why I'm taking the time to respond.

If this post is offensive to you, I'm not sorry for the post, I'm sorry you find it offensive.

Nope, not at all. Typical, but not offensive. If it was offensive I've have used my moderator status to nuke it out of existence 10 minutes ago. 

You don't need to make negative comments (already know your opinion) there's a much better way to resolve your dislike of this content. Look at the upper right of your browser window. Typically you'll see some icon that looks like this [X] ... you see it? Okay, go ahead and click it once. There, and as Ed Norton's character Jack said when he was playing his alter character Brian (in The Score), "Okay, Okay. Bye bye... bye bye.

I have no clue who is Ed Norton or Jack or Brian. Neither do I need to to look up at the upper right of my browser window for an icon.

Fact is, I moderate the language section and you are playing in my sandbox. I am the "Tsar" and that means Caesar (King/Ruler) in Russian. See, you learned about a Russian word and my clothes are still on. Here is what you need to know: I'm usually fairly easy going but when somebody poops in the sand I get irritable. When I get irritated weather patterns change, stock markets crash, droughts scorch Africa, cruise ships run aground off the coast of France and hurricanes destroy the Eastern seaboard.

That being said, you are welcome in the language section but I will decide however who plays and who doesn't. Forget about that icon you mentioned earlier.

Meantime, lets look at your business proposal:

First, there is already an attempt (Too Hot for Words) and most ladies don't get much better looking when unclad than Marina.

http://hotforwords.com/2010/06/14/lets-get-acquainted-in-russian/
and
http://hotforwords.rt.com/

Last I heard a lot of guys drop by her site and that sells a lot of ads for Marina. As for how many of those bozos actually learn even the alphabet much less how to say their own name in Russian, let's just leave it at a lot of guys drop by her site and that sells a lot of ads for Marina.

Second, if Russian were the sort of language where you could learn the alphabet and memorize 500 nouns and then be halfway fluent, I'd pose in a bikini and entice your wives/girlfriends to pay for the lessons. As you progress, Russian demands concentration and attention to detail, and not the kind of details about nipple sizes, etc.

Unfortunately the kind of men who would pay to see half naked 25 year olds (and they'd never get past the alphabet or counting past five) are not interested in making a long-term investment in learning her language. They're pissed of that they can't fly her over for a week instead of them having to make a trip to her country. They're into "arm candy" and expect her to make all the transitions and adjustments. Learn her language, who are you kidding?!

Online courses like the one offered by Moscow State University DO have several attractive instructors. They're not undressed but some of them are easy on the eyes and fun to talk to. (http://www.mgu-russian.com/programms/en)

Trust me in that it's not for a lack of naked women that is keeping guys from advancing past learning hello/thank you/please/you are welcome/goodbye/where is the toilet/how much is that beer phrases.

You say men are visual. I say we're not. We don't remember what dress she wore yesterday nor can we recall the colour of eyes of her little niece we met two days ago. Men are self-centered and we're turned on by the IMMEDIATE sight of something sexual, but other than short term we're not at all visual.

Christopher, I have a beautiful Russian wife. She has taught me a lot of Russian language and I will let you in on a little secret: When a wife or girlfriend is in a state of becoming "less dressed" the last thing on my mind is how to identify the Russian case system. The only "case" I want at such a time is the case with my condoms!

Please allow me to illustrate:
Reflexive verbs are formed by adding “ся” or “сь”.

Now when we wish to conjugate the verb:
Add “сь” when the verb ends in a vowel.
Add “ся” when it does not end in a vowel.

Like this:
Одеваться - To dress oneself.
Она одевается - She dresses herself.

Do you really think a guy is concentrating on how to conjugate anything other than getting his lady out of her panties? In fact, the last thing he wants to hear from a lady is "honey, before we get too involved in this panting and heavy breathing, we need to work on making sure that your adjectives agree with the nouns you've been learning." Hell no, we'll do grammar later.

What discourages me (and I get irritable when discouraged) is a hunch that you're not bothered to research the list of learning resources we've compiled other than the one time you promoted your friend's site back in 2011. (Another little secret: some have very hot gals.)

So, here is your assignment.
Go thru the list of resources at http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=4177.msg52213#msg52213

- List any which don't have a red star but should have. Defend your proposal.

- List any missing resources that we should add.

- Give me TWO of these existing resources that you will tackle and complete the first major section in the next 90 days (cause if you're not going to dig in a work at it yourself then you have no hope in attracting investors and future customers in a course you design yourself).

 

[JayH]

Do you really think a guy is concentrating on how to conjugate anything other than getting his lady out of her panties? In fact, the last thing he wants to hear from a lady is "honey, before we get too involved in this panting and heavy breathing, we need to work on making sure that your adjectives agree with the nouns you've been learning." Hell no, we'll do grammar later.

Many years ago I had a French girlfriend who insisted my French improve everyday-- she incentivized me!
I learnt to make love in French before I could order breakfast!

ps   she went on to work a linguist at Strasbourg -- she spoke 10 languages fluently.Even funnier was she could do Australian accented english after about 10 minutes and people thought she was Australian.

[Larry]

she went on to work a linguist at Strasbourg -- she spoke 10 languages fluently.Even funnier was she could do Australian accented english after about 10 minutes and people thought she was Australian.

Wow. She was a cunning linguist.

[mendeleyev]

Jay, my wife taught me a lot about refining my Russian via music. That led to a thread in this section about learning Russian via music. Have you read it?

There is also an excellent thread on learning Russian via reading signs. You may wish to check it out also.

I understand where your lady was coming from (pun intended) as we love in the language of the heart. Our love language is the native language we first learned. That is why I began years ago to make love to Mrs M in Russian--because it was/is her heart's first love language.

Now about incentives, they are rewards. You were rewarded AFTER your performance, not before. In the previous "business proposal" there is reward but WITHOUT performance. If you've ever owned a business or employed people, you know that generally that is a losing proposition. When my wife places art in a gallery, the gallery is paid a commission upon transacting a sale, not on the promise or hope of a sale. When I record a commercial or news report with my voice I receive payment upon completion, not on the hope that I'll get around to it sometime.

The idea of scantily clad females teaching Russian is fine, but the idea would be more sound if viewing the females were tied into passing a test showing advancement of language skill. Just like your girlfriend, the reward should come AFTER the student has proven worthy. That is what your girlfriend did. Your gal proved much smarter than these business proposals we've seen so far. 

[JayH]

You write beautifully,funny and intelligent. I am reading you here and elsewhere and very gratefull for your contribution.It is meaningfull and extaordinarily helpfull.
It makes the forum worthwhile.

[AvHdB]

In fact it is these sort of threads that make RUA both valuable and enjoyable!

[mendeleyev]

You write beautifully,funny and intelligent. I am reading you here and elsewhere and very gratefull for your contribution.It is meaningfull and extaordinarily helpfull.
It makes the forum worthwhile.

In fact it is these sort of threads that make RUA both valuable and enjoyable!

Thanks, Gentlemen!

[patagonie]

Do you really think a guy is concentrating on how to conjugate anything other than getting his lady out of her panties? In fact, the last thing he wants to hear from a lady is "honey, before we get too involved in this panting and heavy breathing, we need to work on making sure that your adjectives agree with the nouns you've been learning." Hell no, we'll do grammar later.

Many years ago I had a French girlfriend who insisted my French improve everyday-- she incentivized me!
I learnt to make love in French before I could order breakfast!

ps   she went on to work a linguist at Strasbourg -- she spoke 10 languages fluently.Even funnier was she could do Australian accented english after about 10 minutes and people thought she was Australian.

Your girl was amazing, but told me what she learnt you in french, so i can control to be sure she didn't joke you 

[JayH]

Your girl was amazing, but told me what she learnt you in french, so i can control to be sure she didn't joke you 

It was  a lot of fun and I learnt very fast .
I should have said earlier --apart from all the languages she was fluent in-she had 3 variations of English.She spoke  international english without discernable accent-- but she also did perfect French accented English.Her ability to copy my accent was incredible as she did it 10 minutes after we met-- you can imagine how much laughing was happening.She was so good at it that when Australians first met her they were convinced she was Australian.Needless to say-- I loved her( full stop) French accented English which she could exaggerate in the most beautifull way.
     Something for AV-- she also taught me to swear  and abuse in French and I got quite good at it!!And in what international sport might that be some use AV?

[AvHdB]

Your girl was amazing, but told me what she learnt you in french, so i can control to be sure she didn't joke you 

It was  a lot of fun and I learnt very fast .
I should have said earlier --apart from all the languages she was fluent in-she had 3 variations of English.She spoke  international english without discernable accent-- but she also did perfect French accented English.Her ability to copy my accent was incredible as she did it 10 minutes after we met-- you can imagine how much laughing was happening.She was so good at it that when Australians first met her they were convinced she was Australian.Needless to say-- I loved her( full stop) French accented English which she could exaggerate in the most beautifull way.
     Something for AV-- she also taught me to swear  and abuse in French and I got quite good at it!!And in what international sport might that be some use AV?

When I was growing up we would sail with my father and brother only. The Dutch I learned is what I could not use and half the time did not understand.

I have always felt or sensed the Italian language is best for swearing you can go the entire day get an aerobic workout and not repeat the same word twice.

[JayH]

 The Dutch I learned is what I could not use and half the time did not understand.

I have always felt or sensed the Italian language is best for swearing you can go the entire day get an aerobic workout and not repeat the same word twice.

I can also use  Italian and German as well as French-- but I only understand English if it is directed at me!!

[RichyRich]

Beautiful women teaching foreign language!

I shall say right now that it works somewhat, I only know German because the woman that taught me was beautiful and the way she went about things was wonderful... I failed French because my teacher was an old wrinkly woman whom I disliked (also I had an alleged alcohol problem ).

If I met a beautiful Russian that could teach me Russian, I would be fluent within 6 months guaranteed

[el_guero]

Richy,

I will bet you your 'Rich' on that one ....

[el_guero]

Please allow me to illustrate:
Reflexive verbs are formed by adding “ся” or “сь”.

Now when we wish to conjugate the verb:
Add “сь” when the verb ends in a vowel.
Add “ся” when it does not end in a vowel.

Like this:
Одеваться - To dress oneself.
Она одевается - She dresses herself.

Mendy,

Was I the only one actually reading this thread to learn some poruski?

Wayne
PS, you did not illustrate what you discussed ....

[el_guero]

PSS

I have a great question for you on grammar.  But, I gotta figure out how much Russian grammar I actually understand, before I can make it into a sensible question ....

 

[RichyRich]

Richy,

I will bet you your 'Rich' on that one ....

What?

[mendeleyev]

El Guero:

I have a great question for you on grammar.  But, I gotta figure out how much Russian grammar I actually understand, before I can make it into a sensible question ....

Wayne, probably best to ask in the grammar section as that way the ladies can also answer. 

[big_gee]

I love this link this link because I have just enrolled for Russian lessons here in Perth with a young Russian woman who is an ... oh I would say "8" ... on any ones scale.
I know I will be very attentive at all my lessons just to hear and look at Ksenia while she reveals her native language to me. I mentioned my mission into Russia and the FSU countries in search of love and I detected a raised eyebrow. I will be sure to ask her honest and open opinion on the subject at tomorrows lesson.
For the record she is approximately 25 to 28 years old, from Ekaterinaburg and  married to a mining guy (nationality unknown to me at this time) and moved to Perth from Hong Kong 11 months ago.
Oh and the owner of several degrees and speaker of 5 languages.
 

[mendeleyev]

BG, good luck with the lessons!