|
 |
What’s Russia like? | ||
Tags: Russia | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 1 of 110 04 March 2008 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm planning to take up Russian in the future, and am wondering what people here think of that massive place called Russia. Unfortunately, I tend to hear a lot about xenophobia and high crime-rates and the like (mass-generalising, I presume). Can anyone here who has been to or comes from Russia offer their point of view? What's the place really like?
Personally, I'm just fascinated by this place in general, and yet know so little about it. I'm hoping to start digging into the literature and investigating the music and history as soon as possible. Edited by Fränzi on 04 March 2008 at 10:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Taiga Diglot Groupie Australia Joined 6310 days ago 81 posts - 85 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Serbo-Croatian | Message 2 of 110 05 March 2008 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm about to ask the same question too !!
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6165 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 3 of 110 06 March 2008 at 2:25am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'd also like to chime in my interest. Particularly if anyone can compare Moscow and St. Petersburg with Vladivostok.
The FCO is the UK's main authority on foreign travel, but they are ultra-conservative and I tend not to take what they say too seriously (except for the "We advise against all travel to..." sections). What I can say, though, is that all of the Russians I've ever met have been really nice. Though I would like to hear the opinion of someone from there or someone who has been. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LN Groupie United States Joined 6272 days ago 39 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 110 06 March 2008 at 6:01am | IP Logged | |||||
As you already stated, Russia is a massive place and is very diverse. What to expect is very dependant on exactly where in Russia you are planning to be. I am certainly no expert, but I have spent 2 months there mostly in Moscow also including 3 weeks in St Peterburg. But I did this completely on my own, no travel agency, no tour guides, no interpeters. I rented apartments, shopped in the local markets for food I brought home and cooked myself, used the metro and my feet to get around basically lived like many of the people around me which was the way I had planned it. I am a female, and I can honestly say not even once did I ever feel unsafe. And only once did I even feel slightly apprehensive, when I had purchased a train ticket to go from Moscow to St Peterburg and realized the train left at midnight. I was a little concerned, a vision in my head of me standing all alone in the dark on some train platform in the middle of the night with all my most important possessions with me and who knows who could come along or what could happen (much like it would be at home if I had taken a train at that hour, but somehow it just always seems more threatening when one is in a foreign country). Turns out any such thoughts were completely unfounded. It was July, so all was still well lit, and there were plently of people around. I truly believe Moscow and St Peterburg are really no more dangerous than many other major cities and as it has been said time and again, a little common sense goes a long way towards staying out of trouble. One point though I would like to stress is that I understand when traveling to many major European cities it is possible to get by well enough in just English but I dont believe this is so in Russia. You dont have to be fluent in the Russian language, I certainly am not, but a working knowledge of the language really is crucial unless you have your own interpeter to arrange things for you. I have noticed from reading here that some complain while in a foreign country when one tries to use the local language the natives will often and insistantly switch to English. This will not happen in Russia, almost all communication whether oral or written will be in Russian. On the plus side though, the overwhelming majority of Russians are extremely patient and more than happy to help you to communicate. Well, these are a few of my general impressions anyway. As I said, 2 months certainly does not make me any sort of expert on the subject but if you have any questions I will try to answer them based on my own experience if possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dragonfly Triglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 6479 days ago 204 posts - 233 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, Mandarin | Message 5 of 110 08 March 2008 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
As you have already mentioned, Russia is immense, so it's very different in different regions. 183 nationalities live in Russia, each having its own culture. As for Moscow and Saint Petersburg, they are just average European countries. Beautiful architecture, good museums, expensive shops, beggars in the streets. To my mind, they are worth visiting. In most cases, the Russsians are obliging and helpful, but there are exceptions, of course. I would advise you against walking along some side-street deep at night, but I'm sure the criminal rate is not that high compared to, for example, some American cities. As for xenophobia, I've never seen its demonstration towards tourists from Europe or the USA, some people have an evil eye for those who come from Armenia, Georgia and alike, but it feels like there are as many of them as moscovites now.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arti Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 7012 days ago 130 posts - 165 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: French, Czech | Message 6 of 110 10 March 2008 at 9:22am | IP Logged | |||||
i hope you wanted to say cities? ;) To tell the truth such questions "what's Russia alike, how is it there?" seem to me quite strange, as if Russia is another planet. I guess there are so many sites with pics from Russia, many stories in blogs, etc. Being Russian, I travelled abroad and if to speak about high crime rates, then well, I'm not afraid of walking in Moscow at 4 a.m., but I was afraid to do this in Paris. Xenophobia? Looking at population in France, the first thing which came to my mind was - arabs and africans must have a lot of troubles here... Such things are everywhere. Of course there are many particularities in every country, like Moscow housing is very expensive (2d after London), or in Russia there are no bicycle roads, coz people don't ride bicycles, but major things are quite the same like everywhere. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 110 10 March 2008 at 10:26am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I think xenophobia in Russia exists mainly for non Caucasians. If you are black or Indian or Chinese you may find attitudes sometimes very hostile. But as a Western European people will treat you fairly. I know it's not fair, but that's the way it is.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dragonfly Triglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 6479 days ago 204 posts - 233 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, Mandarin | Message 8 of 110 12 March 2008 at 5:49am | IP Logged | |||||
Right. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
