There are also misunderstandings about monetary terms between Russians and Americans:

For example, you go into the jewelry store and your Russian fiancé picks out a ring. You tell her that it is expensive. You mean that it is overpriced, or that it is more than you can afford.

She thinks you mean that that you cannot afford to buy her a ring and that she is not going to get a wedding ring. Russians think in black and white, not shades of gray.

She starts to cry and you cannot understand why. After you calm her down, you laboriously explain to her what your budget is for a ring. She still thinks you are a miser, but you make the purchase.

This may be the end of it or it may not.

Some Russians Have Kitschy Taste. I know one acquaintance that has purchased a wedding ring for his wife five times because he keeps imposing a budget on his wife.

He went to Fast Eddie’s Discount Wedding Rings first. His fiancé buys the biggest, gaudiest ring she can find for the money, but she doesn’t like it because she keeps comparing it to my wife’s wedding ring.

His fiancé buys the biggest diamond even though it is of poor quality. My wife has excellent taste. I explained to my wife when buying a wedding ring about diamond quality. I told her about quality versus size.

She picked a beautifully designed ring and a stone that was good quality and a reasonable size for the money. It was a little more than I wanted to pay, but it made my wife happy.

Her friend has somewhat kitschy taste. Big and gaudy is better in her mind. Yet when she keeps comparing it to my wife’s ring, she is unhappy.

She keeps pressing her husband to trade up. Eventually, she will get the ring she always wanted. But it will end up costing more in the long run than if he had just bought the right ring in the first place.

Do not buy a wedding or engagement ring in Russia. The choice is much better in western countries. Russians don’t have a tradition of engagement rings so she isn’t expecting one.

Wedding rings in Russia are simple gold bands. They do not have diamond wedding rings as a rule.

Buy her a wedding ring when she gets to America. Let her help pick it out so she is happy with it. Work within your budget, but…

Don’t go cheap because she will see what other women are wearing as soon as she finds her way around.

The general feeling that Russians have about westerners is that they are cheap. This is because they are always talking about money. Don’t reinforce her pre-conceived notions by being cheap.

When Russians hear a foreigner complaining about expenses all the time, they think he is greedy.