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Impoliteness I meet the opinion that Russians is not polite, that we tell in English roughly, too straight. It may be so, but it is not because the national traits, it's because the language. Some polite expressions in Russia sound impolitely after literal translation into English. For example "Do I open the window?" is polite enough in Russian, but it is not appropriate in English. And if I say in Russian "Would you mind opening the window?" literally it sounds too much polite, even old-fashioned. It's really mportant to know rules of polite speech in another languages not to be confused. But, to be honest, in this case it maybe also something from national traits - we used to express more straight.

Corrections · 8

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Impoliteness

I meet the opinion that Russians is are not polite, that we tell in English roughly, too straight that the things we say in English are too straight, or too blunt. It That may be so, but it is not because of the national traits, it's because of the language. Some polite expressions in Russia sound impolitely after literal translation when literally translated into English. For example, "Do I open the window?" is polite enough in Russian, but it is not appropriate in English. And if I say in Russian, "Would you mind opening the window?" literally, it sounds too much polite, even old-fashioned. It's really very important to know the rules of polite speech in another languages so as not to be confused. But, to be honest, in this case, maybe it is also something from to do with national traits - we are used to expressing ourselves in a more straight direct way.


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Impoliteness

I meet the opinion that Russians are impolite, that we speak English bluntly, too straight. Maybe so, but it is not because of a national trait, it's because if our language. Some polite expressions in Russia sound impolite after literal translation into English. For example "Do I open the window?" is polite enough in Russian, but it is inappropriate in English. And if I say in Russian "Would you mind opening the window?" literally it sounds much too polite, old-fashioned, even. It's really very important to know the rules of etiquette in another languages and not to be confused. But, to be honest, in this case maybe we also need to know something about their national traits - we are used to speaking straight.

Very well written!

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Melanie, I think the same way. It's amasing differences of languages, that may seem too blunt or too flowery (oh, I like this word!) for foreigners. And I suppose it may be connected with national traits, as for language reflects our way to think. I listened the book "Watching the English" - about cultural traits of Englishmen and after that I read the similar book about Japanese. As it seemed to me the resemblance is evident - in restraint of behaviour and "flowery" speech. And I thought may be it's becuase the isle - people have been living so close, in limited space for ages, and studied not to touch the borders of neigbors. Not the same in vast Russia - a lot of space let people not to bother about one's feeling. Or may be I'm wrong)
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Hey Maria, I agree with you, different languages express themselves in many different ways, but it does not mean they are rude or impolite. I am living in Indonesia, and in their language it is perfectly acceptable and appropriate to say literally "Want this food" or "Don't want this food". This isn't rude to them, it is just their language and how they express themselves. In England, we like to be more "flowery" with our words (why say 2 words when we can say 12!). "Please may I have" "I would like". Neither are wrong, they're just different. It's always good to learn what is appropriate and acceptable in the language you are learning and also with the people you speak with so as to avoid a misunderstanding. In the deaf community in Britain, as the language is based mainly on visual things, it's okay among some to say "Wow, you've got fat! What happened?" or "You know, the girl with the big front teeth", and it's not offensive to them, it's just what they see. I personally find the differences in cultures and languages fascinating, even if it does occasionally result in a few cringey moments!
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Cuture clash is pretty funny sometimes haha. I agree.

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