Where Russians Go Wrong in Spoken English. Words and Phrases in the Context of Two Cultures

WHERE RUSSIANS GO WRONG 
IN SPOKEN ENGLISH
Words and Phrases in the Context 
of Two Cultures
by 
Lynn Visson
Moscow • “R.Valent” 
2021

УДК 81’255=161.1=03.111 
ББК 81.2 англ. – 923
В53
L. Visson
Where Russians Go Wrong in Spoken English. Words and Phrases in the
Context of Two Cultures. 3-е
изд. стереотип.
– М.: Р.Валент.
2021. – 132 с. 
ISBN 978-5-93439-611-5
Английское издание пособия «Русские проблемы в английской речи (слова и
фразы в контексте двух культур)» – одновременно учебник и путеводитель по
современному устному английскому языку. Издание предназначается для тех, кто
уже начал говорить по-английски, но подчас выражает свои мысли и чувства
ошибочно или неадекватно. В нем читатель, стремящийся к более глубокому
изучению связей между языком и культурой, откроет для себя много нового и
интересного. 
Почему возникают такие ошибки и неточности и как их устранить, автор
объясняет путем сравнения культуры США и России, а следовательно, и того
контекста, который стоит за грамматическими конструкциями двух языков и их
ключевыми словами, за фразами, отражающими нормы этикета и поведения, за
отношением русских и американцев ко времени, за разговорами за столом, за
жестами и телодвижениями.
Пособие написано Lynn Visson – автором учебника и практикумов по
синхронному переводу с русского языка на английский, многократно
переиздававшихся в нашей стране. Непременным условием для овладения
материалом, изложенным в настоящей публикации, является знание базового
словаря и грамматики английского языка.
16+
УДК 81’255=161.1=03.111 
ББК 81.2 англ. – 923
Воспроизведение, распространение и доведение до всеобщего сведения данного
произведения (полностью или частично) любым способом, в том числе путем перевода в
электронные файлы и открытия доступа к таким файлам через информационнотелекоммуникационные сети и каналы связи, без договора с правообладателем
запрещается и преследуется в соответствии с 4 -й частью Гражданского Кодекса РФ и
Законом №149-ФЗ «Об информации, информационных-технологиях и о защите
информации» с учетом изменений, внесенных в него Законом №364-ФЗ.
ISBN 978-5-93439-611-5
© L. Visson, 2002, 2013 
© Издательство «Р.Валент», 2013–2021

Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction: Language and Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. Think Positive! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Think Negative! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4. Think Active or Passive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5. Etiquette and Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6. The Time Is Out of Joint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7. The Art of Eating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8. English – a Linguistic Headache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9. Nonverbal Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3

Preface
“What mean?” The problems faced by English-speaking Russians
have been part of my life as long as I can remember. Though both my
Russian émigré parents spoke English very well, their pet errors were
ingrained in their speech for life. Born in St. Petersburg, my mother
spoke four languages fluently, and her English was remarkably free
from most of the common grammatical errors made by Russians. Yet to
the end of her 97 years she would come out with “What mean?” as a
rendering of «Что значит?» followed by the word or expression she
needed: “What mean, ‘expatiate’?” My equally quadrilingual and
highly educated father was from Kiev, and his excellent English was
also frequently studded with such “Russianisms” as “the soul hurts” or
“not possible.”
“Russian English” remained in my life well after I had left my
parents’ home. For 35 years I spoke Russian at home with my
Muscovite husband, Boris Rabbot, whose literary, flawless Russian
never failed to astound our émigré friends. Although after he emigrated
in 1976 he never went back to his native country, Boris preserved the
purity of his native language until his death in 2011. His great
sensitivity, his refined politeness and courtesy, however, were
frequently not in evidence when he had to express himself in English.
“No, it is not allowed” or “It is not necessary to do this” sounded jarring
to his American counterparts. And he was no exception. Over and over
I heard highly educated and sensitive Russian émigrés sound abrasive
or rude, affected or snobbish, when they were in fact anything but that.
The reverse was also true, for due to their linguistic and cultural gaps
many of my American academic colleagues and students, to their
dismay, unwittingly but deeply offended the feelings of Soviet
acquaintances with utterances that savaged the Russian language.
That is what inspired me to write this book. During my ten years of
teaching Russian in American universities, decades of working with
Russians in the US and with Americans in Russia, and twenty-five years
as a simultaneous interpreter at the United Nations, I became
increasingly concerned by such linguistic-cultural misunderstandings.
Speakers tended to assume that many expressions and idioms in their
native language would work in literal translation, occasionally with
disastrous results. Americans speaking Russian in the USSR during
both the Soviet and the post-perestroika period frequently wound up in
5

Preface
awkward situations, and the same held true for Russian visitors,
delegates, tourists or émigrés speaking English in the US.
It is my hope that this book will help students of Russian and
English, teachers, translators and interpreters, business people and
tourists, émigrés, and all those who daily find themselves obliged to
use both Russian and English to avoid such errors. These kinds of
linguistic-cultural flubs are also highly disruptive to the spouses in
Russian-American marriages, as I often saw while interviewing couples
for Wedded Strangers: The Challenges of Russian-American Marriages
(New York: Hippocrene Books, 2001). This book is a revised and
updated version of Русские проблемы в английской речи: Cлова и
фразы в контексте двух культур, published in several editions by
R.Valent. 
I consulted with Boris on almost every example in this book,
checking with him on the original forms of the expressions distorted
by Russian native speakers when speaking English. Like so many of
my other books, this is a joint one. It is to his memory that this book is
dedicated. 
6

1. Introduction: 
Language and Culture
Language has a setting... language
does not exist apart from culture.1
Why does an educated and sophisticated visiting Russian professor
often sound strange or rude when speaking English to his American
friends? And why does an American businessman attempting to
cultivate good relationships with his Russian colleagues sound
aggressive or dismissive when speaking their language? All too
frequently, the causes of miscommunication between speakers of
various languages are not phonetic, lexical, grammatical or syntactic
mistakes, but rather a failure to understand the culture in which the
language is embedded.2
Does a native Russian speaker see the world the same way as an
American native speaker of English? Does “Right away!” mean the
same thing as «сейчас», and is “Come over for a cup of tea” the
equivalent of «Заходите на чашку чая»? In the US “right away”
usually means “within the next few minutes,” while for a Russian this
may indicate a period ranging from “in five minutes” to “within half an
hour.” For a Russian that “cup of tea” means a hot drink accompanied
by a wide variety of cakes, cookies, and various snacks, while for an
American this phrase means just that – a cup of tea, with, perhaps, a
lonely cookie for company. 
Our languages are vital to forming our cultures and yet are also their
products. Dozens of hotly debated theories and heavy tomes have
supported or contested these assertions, for the simple question, “What
is culture?” has been the subject of endless argument among linguists,
anthropologists and historians. Since there is universal agreement that
culture is passed on from one person to another and is accepted by a
group, it cannot and does not exist in a vacuum.3 The idea that language
and culture are interdependent, determine, and impact on one other is
not, however, universally accepted.4 Today, the theory that language is
a product of a specific culture, rather than a universal alphabet of
semantic concepts pre-imprinted on the mind, is known as the
Sapir–Whorf hypothesis.5 Named after the German-born American
anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir (1884–1939), and the
American linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941), this theory posits
that language is a decisive factor in forming our views of the world
7

Where Russians Go Wrong in Spoken English
because it provides speakers with a set of elements, including grammar,
which predispose them to perceive their environment in certain
patterns. 
For Whorf the structure of a language, which is a product of a
speaker’s culture, is decisive for his mentality. “Language... is not
merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself
the shaper of ideas,” he wrote, “the program and guide for the
individual’s mental activity, for his analysis of impressions...”6 Sapir
agreed that perception of the world is determined by language, in turn
the product of the speaker’s culture. Grammar and vocabulary, which
vary from language to language, impact the patterns of thought and
perception on which we build our concepts of reality. 
In any language, many of the words used to describe the life and
phenomena of a country or culture have no precise equivalents in other
tongues. Convinced that language could only be understood within a
cultural context, Sapir posited that “no two languages are ever
sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same reality.
The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not
merely the same world with different labels.”7
The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is diametrically opposed to the wellknown American linguist Noam Chomsky’s theory that language is
“innate and preprogrammed,” generated in each individual by universal
principles. “Human beings,” Sapir asserted, “are very much at the
mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of
expression for their society...”8 Vocabulary, Sapir emphasized, is highly
dependent on culture. “It goes without saying,” he wrote, “that the mere
content of language is intimately related to culture. A society that has
no knowledge of theosophy need have no name for it; aborigines that
had never seen or heard of a horse were compelled to invent or borrow
a word for the animal when they made its acquaintance.”9 He explicitly
linked the development of language content to culture: “Vocabulary is
a very sensitive index of the culture of a people and changes of the
meaning, loss of old words, the creation and borrowing of new ones
are all dependent on the history of culture itself.”10
Living in today’s global village, and acquiring increasing linguistic
and cultural sophistication, many people are acutely aware of the
differences between their own and foreign linguistic-cultural
environments. What does an individual then do? Does he try to adapt
to a new language and culture, or does he retreat into linguistic-cultural
8

1. Introduction. Language and Culture
isolationism? Or does he attempt to force his knowledge and perception
of his own language into the Procrustean bed of another tongue, forever
speaking “Russianized English” or “Anglicized Russian?” That option
leads straight down the road to linguistic and cultural misunderstanding. 
A sophisticated language speaker, however, may be well aware of
the real differences existing between the world-views of various
languages and deliberately adapt to them when switching from one
tongue to another. This book is trying to convey this kind of heightened
awareness of such differences between Russian and English.
The eminent Russian linguist V.N. Komissarov emphasized that
similar words and expressions seem very different to various
individuals because of the distinctions imposed by their various
languages.11 For example, the word «дом» does not conjure up the
same image for Russian and English speakers. In English the word can
mean either “house” – a physical unit, edifice, dwelling or building
serving as living quarters – or “home,” a place of residence, as well as
the social unit formed by a family living together.12 It has been argued
that only proper names, geographic, scientific and technical terms, days
of the week, months and numerals have full lexical correspondence –
i.e., mean exactly the same things to everyone, regardless of language.
But «воскресенье» in Russian refers to the resurrection of Christ, while
“Sunday” in English is associated with the sun. Though «два» and
“two” are absolute equivalents, a “two-bedroom apartment” means
different things in Russian and English. In America a “two-bedroom”
apartment in fact has three or more rooms, including a living room, a
kitchen, and perhaps a terrace, while in Russian it means exactly what
it says – an apartment consisting of two rooms.13
The American anthropologist Edward Hall commented that “no two
languages are alike… Some are so dissimilar… that they force the
speaker into two different versions of reality.”14 The nature of a
language and its speakers’ shared assumptions mold their views of both
their own group’s culture and of the outside world. 
Vital to understanding linguistic and cultural differences are the
“key words”15 of a given language and culture. What words, concepts
and values does a society favor? Which does it disdain or discard? Try
to find accurate English translations for «тоска», «душа» or
«духовность», or Russian equivalents for the English words “privacy,”
“equality,” and “committed.”16 The Russian word «тоска» in the
expression «тоска по родине» can be rendered as “homesickness,” and
9

Where Russians Go Wrong in Spoken English
«она тоскует по маме» – as “She misses her mother.” In other
contexts, however, «тоска» may point to “yearning,” “longing” or
“anguish.” This blend of nostalgia, yearning, longing, anguish, misery,
melancholy, depression or boredom incarnates a complex of gloomy
sentiments with which a good many “positive-thinking” Americans do
not easily identify. 
In the US an entire book has been written on the elusive,
incomprehensible concept – a key one for Russian culture – of the
Russian soul, «душа», a word that pops up in dozens of Russian
idioms.17 If translated literally, these Russian expressions with “soul”
will sound quite odd and only reinforce the American stereotype of
Russians as irrational, Dostoevskian characters. In English equivalent
expressions the word “soul” is often replaced by “heart” (“heartfelt
sympathy,” “from the bottom of my heart”):
Со всей душой, от души
With all my heart
Душа нараспашку
To wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve
В глубине души чувствую... In my heart/at heart (I feel that...)
Брать за душу
To touch someone to the heart, 
to tug at someone’s heartstrings
In talking about people, Americans tend to emphasize “intelligence”
and “mind” more than “heart” or “soul.” The common Russian notion
of a «задушевная беседа» (a “heart-to heart” talk) can seem strange to
Americans, who live in a culture which prefers restraint and moderation
in relationships.18
Many common English and Russian words and innocent-looking
phrases would seem to have exact equivalents in translation. But “He
is my friend” and «Он мой друг» in fact mean very different things in
Russia and the US, for the assumptions underlying the Russian and
English words for “friend” and “friendship” are worlds apart. 
Does the Russian expression «она поправилась» mean something
good or bad? The idea that “she’s looking better” (the root of the word
is the positive notion «прав»), also means “she’s put on weight,” which
is nearly always a bad thing in America. Asking at length about
someone’s health may be welcomed in one culture and avoided in
another. What on earth does «он сухой человек» (literally, “He’s a dry
person”) mean to an American? That someone looks like a dried-out
10