Culture Clash

Living in a foreign country, especially one with a different language, presents many challenges.  Some challenges are fairly simple, as in "how do I order what I want in a restaurant?"  Such challenges can be resolved with the help of a pocket dictionary and copious amounts of sign language.  Other challenges are more a matter of differing mindsets, a dispute over concepts that one culture may hold dear that another cannot even conceive.

As with any language, there are words in English that do not translate literally into Russian; in fact there are probably many more, I simply have yet to discover them.  Here are but a few examples:

Sorry: Probably the most notorious and amusing of these, "sorry" has no direct translation into Russian.  The Russian language simply does not have a word with which one can apologize - at least not in the manner with which Americans are accustomed.  There is a word for "excuse me" (извините), but it also seems to be somewhat inadequate.  "Excuse me, I just accidentally knocked your book off the table," or "excuse me, I just hit you with my car" (not that I've actually run anybody over.  Side note on Saint Petersburg traffic: it's insane.  Russian drivers pilot their vehicles with equal levels of enthusiasm and incompetence, and think nothing of plowing full speed ahead when a pedestrian is in their way.  Whereas in the United States vehicles MUST yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, drivers in Russia regard pedestrians the same way you would an insect on your windshield).

Privacy: The word does not translate into Russian, and in fact the entire concept of privacy does not exist in the Russian culture.  This is really not all that surprising considering the character of historical Russian governments, but it is still a bit jarring.  Americans hold their privacy dear, and are deeply offended if somebody reads their diaries, or asks them an intimate personal question.  The latter is normal here; Russians are quite frank and often talk far more openly about themselves than Americans do, not holding many, if any secrets back.  People talk openly about themselves, about their problems, and about their relationships, and fully expect you to let them into your life as well.

Efficiency: This one's a bit strange, considering that one would think of a country that was once based on communist principles to pride itself on efficiency, but the opposite is true.  An example: the metro station that I use to get to and from class has six doors for passengers to enter (and six separate doors for exit).  In the afternoons, during my commute home, only one of the six doors is opened with roughly 300 people trying to squeeze through it.  The other five doors are inexplicably locked.  Not fire-locked, as in you can push them open from the inside, but locked with deadbolts.  The first time I saw the mob outside the building I stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before plunging in; the only way to get to the door is to just let yourself go limp and be carried with the crowd into the building (when in doubt about anything in Russia, just let yourself go limp.  That goes emotionally as well as physically).  Despite the absurdity of the situation there is never a whisper of complaint from the crowd.  People just accept the fact that there is only one door and move on from there.  If a similar situation were to happen in New York, the MTA would receive approximately 40 million phone calls (though there's a decent chance 95% would be from the same three people), congressmen would get involved, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would host the "Rally in the Doorway" and many ulcers would burst.  Russians just go with the flow, efficiency be damned.

Challenge: Challenges are very much at the root of the American mindset.  From birth we are challenged to be the best we can be, challenged to do better, challenged to challenge authority, challenged to challenge others to challenges.  Americans are taught never to be content with the status-quo, but to constantly strive to improve ourselves, our own lives, and most importantly, the lives of our children.  These motives exist in Russia, but the concept of a "challenge" does not.  My host parents recently spent two weeks in Portugal, a country in which I vacationed several years ago.  I described it to my host mother as a lovely place, but "gravitationally challenged (i.e. lots and lots of hills).  My host mother, who speaks excellent English, simply did not understand.  She understood the "gravitational" part of the sentence, but "challenge" was literally lost in translation.

Have fun: Sorry, no long, world class analysis of this one.  I just really hope "The Princess Bride" with Russian dubbing is on TV at some point while I am here because I am eager to hear how they translate Billy Crystal's line as Miracle Max: "Have fun storming the castle, kids!"

There are many ways in wish American and Russian culture clash, and I will write more about this in the months to come.  In the meantime, I won't bother apologizing to someone if I violate their privacy.