Why is no one proud to speak Russian?

Open Forum in English
21

Hi! =)) I’m from Moscow, Russia with my native being Russian.

Your ideas really made me give it quite a consideration, actually! :wink:

I guess, I managed to come to the point for you to start an explanation.
No one here, in this thread, have ever mentioned there had been NO business in this country EVER SINCE 1917 ! Of course, I’m talking about legit private business.
I think, the mere mention of this fact alone may become a real starting point for your understanding of the reasons for the strange conduct you described.

My feeling is, that fact alone explains a whole lot for you.

Surely, sometimes there are also practical reasons for us, Russians, to speak English to each other. I had a talk on the Internet with a guy from Moscow who is in another country now and, hence, has no Russian speaking environment at all. Why should I bother him speaking Russian, if all he uses now is English? :wink: We surely speak English with each other, as it’s rather unnatural for him now to speak Russian, although it’s his native language! :wink:

As for the Russian language itself in its linguistic aspect, not only do I use Russain as my communications means, it’s my production tool as well, if I may call it this way! =))) Being an interpreter and translation editor, I have to know Russian much much better than an average Russian-speaking native. That’s what I’m paid for, after all ! :wink:

Ah, it’s just now that I’ve read the last but one paragraph in your post; why, it’s only natural for me to speak Russian, both oral and written! =))) I’m talking about all our adjective and noun cases and verb conjugation paradigms! :wink: No problem! I’m always there to help! :wink:

22

Well, I’d rather restrain from saying I’m proud of, say, speaking English! =))) I may be proud of the persons, but not of either subjects or objects! :wink: To me saying like “I’m proud of speaking Hebrew, for example”, is like saying, “I know that I’m a genius, and those who don’t, they need good therapy!” =)))) The truth is, in this case, it’s rather me who needs good therapy! =)))))

23

My life observation is, if you need to know the type of individual you are faced with, just pay a very close attention at his/her first two-three sentences he/she says when you meet for the first time in your life! =))) Believe me, this is exactly what the person REALLY is! =))) And he/she will remain this no matter how long you then know each other! =)))

If a person is very open right from the first sentence, no doubt, this is what he/she actually is and remain throughout your whole span of time! =))) The opposite is, unfortunately, also true…

24

I can assure you that I am usually happy to meet Brits, most of whom are sober and particularly good natured.

25

I had another problem, for me it was more difficult when I tried to find someone who speaks english. Finding Russian who are willing to help it was no problem for me:) try Interpals:) LingQ gave me a lot of words and confidence etc. but interlocutors I found on this side Interpals :wink: And dont forget also people from Belarus, Kazakhstan etc are speaking Russian;) And from my experience are much more open then people from Great Britain, America etc. for me is just stereotype that Russian are cold. And I also must be honest I also find people from Great Britain, America who are willing to help but it was quite more difficult:) And from my experience they are proud when are speaking Russian:)
I hope this is gonna to help you in someway:)

26

Hi! =))

I’m from Moscow, Russia.

Exactly! =))) Strangely enough, I clean forgotten about Russian-speakers in, actually, all of the former 15 FSU Republics! =))) And yet, I got many friends in Belarus, and also Kazakhstan, who do speak Russian, and, believe it or not, are really very friendly and nice to communicate with! =))

27

Yeah, I shouldn’t have said “no proud to speak it” but rather, not as outspoken that they speak it to others. I met a guy from Ukraine and we were chatting a bit and he seemed friendly but he hesitated and seemed more stand offish when I asked him if he spoke Russian.

28

In my experience, the ones that come to the USA are more quick to speak English because it’s just more convenient. Convenience = easier. After all, the mindset for many of the native Russian speakers is “why are you speaking Russian to me? Wouldn’t it just be easier to speak English?”

To us, it’s frustrating because we are trying to learn that target language. However, it’s come to my attention that only a handful of the population actually want to learn a new language for ‘fun’ as many of us here are doing. Because, many people don’t choose an activity like that for fun. It’s usually “well, I was born here and this is my language” end of story. And amongst the handful of people, only a small fraction choose Russian. I hope one day Russian gets some more positive attention and won’t be as shrouded in mystery.

29

Oh, that’s a very sensitive issue for the Ukrainians nowadays! Due to well-known and obvious reasons…

30

It will, now doubt! =))) But, er, not at the present moment, I guess ! :wink: As I wrote here, a friend of mine moved from Moscow, and we both prefer to speak English on the Internet, although Russian is a native language for both of us; we still didn’t say a single word in Russian with him! :wink: And we even didn’t discuss the reasons with him, as both of us know that each of us surely understands these reasons, hence, no need to discuss obvious matters! =)))

31

That’s not true at all. Some people are reserved and will only open up when they know you better. Others just won’t and there are those who are very open at first encounter. You can’t figure out a person from three sentences.

32

Hi ! =))) Well, it’s that I’m talking about the type of mentality most often encountered in Russia, not in other countries! :wink:

33

I cant say I’ve had the same experience as you. Every single Russian person I’ve have meet, or Russian speaking person has been quite happy to speak Russian with me, even with my limited Russian. Also having just spent two weeks in Russia, I can say that almost every single person I met, was friendly and talkative with me. It has changed my view of Russia. Truth be told, the only scary thing about Russia, is the roads, I have never seen such bad driving and disregard for road laws lol. I should probably add that I am a very social person, in my job I sometimes meet hundreds of different people every week. I think I come across well face to face. Not everyone is like that.

34

Hi ! =))) I presume, it may be partially due to a rapid change of the situation we’re now in ! =))) You surely understand, everybody feels this uncertain change, maybe even subconsciously, regardless of what the media would say! :wink: It might, to some extent, also contribute to this change of attitude! :wink: I mean, towards more friendliness and openness! =)))

But the truth is, you’re right, not only are you a very social person, you’re very friendly and easygoing one as well ! =))) Even the self-presentation text about various types of seagulls says it all; I really enjoyed just merely reading it ! =)))

35

Well, let’s be systematic about this. :slight_smile: I’d say, there are two cases:

  1. You are a beginner

In this case, you want somebody who can tolerate your taking a lot of time formulating your thoughts and making lots of mistakes - which is, honestly, quite boring to listen to. I’d say, there are three kinds of people who will listen to you:

a) a person whose language skills in English are similar to your skills in Russian - this way you will be mutually helping each other;
b) a person who likes you for some personal reasons - your Russian friend, girlfriend, coworker who values your help in other matters, etc.;
c) a person who is in a situation where they can’t run away from you - like, eating in a dining hall (this happened to me quite often in my grad school, when students from the Department of Slavic Languages practiced their Russian talking to me - that is, they were talking, and I was mostly eating, trying to look not-too-bored :)).

  1. You are fluent

In this case, nothing prevents you from speaking Russian to the person who speaks English, even if they keep speaking English. They can’t force you to not speak Russian, and most of the value for you comes from your speaking to them, not your listening to them (in most cases, you can listen to more interesting and varied stuff on the Internet anyway). Or, if you REALLY want them to speak Russian to you, just tell them and explain to them that you want to practice. If they tell you that they can’t do it because they have fits of shame and disgust every time they speak their native language, they have some mental issues, so you probably don’t want to speak to them anyway. :slight_smile:

Hope that was helpful. :slight_smile:
-Sergei

P.S. If you want to check what is offensive to Russians and what is not, just replace “Russian” with “American” (or whatever group of people you most identify with) and see whether you would be offended if a foreign guy said it to you. There are some cultural differences, but I can honestly say that in all the cases in which I was really offended, the person who talked to me would definitely be offended if I said something like that to them about their country, ethnicity or culture.