Are the Russians really that calm, cold, and next-to-emotionless...?

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Yulia

I'm Russian, and yes, Russians act rather cold and mean at first, BUT we are very caring and loving, and protective to the people that we know.
Here's the thing - most Americans act nice, and smile even if they don't like someone, sort of 2-faced (don't get offended please, this is what I noticed by being here for almost 10 years)
Russians are the opposite - they will never smile and make friends if they don't like someone, they will show their real emotions from the 1st sight.
With Americans you gotta think, "So does he/she like me, or just being nice?", right?
With Russians if he/she is nice, then it's cool, if we don't like you, we're mean:)
Living in Russia is tough, so most people act tough to survive in that kind of environment, but they're soft and warm, and caring on the inside.
Russians are very generous to friends and family. I know that during the Soviet times Russians, living in Russia were raised into stereotypical, offensive, and mean kids, they taught kids to be bad and to tease from the books, day cares, and schools. I came to Russia at age 6, and I suffered a lot of criticism and teasing. But recently they made a lot of changes to how they raise kids, revised all books, made teachers nicer to kids, and just did a lot of changes, but some of the older Russians are still that mean. Not because they are evil people, but just because they were taught to be mean, all the credit to uncle Stalin.....
So this stereotype doesn't exist, it's not true, at least not anymore:)

Dream Web Designs

Being married to a Ukrainian (about the same culture as Russian) and living in Ukraine 3 years I can sum it up this way:

Russians are not overly friendly to strangers but very warm and close to people they get to know.

Americans may view friends as even someone in the gym they work out with, maybe not even knowing their name. Calling any acquaintance a friend seems strange to Russians. Russians may find the American habit of putting on a smile to everyone you meet and saying "How are you?" even though you don't want to know as superficial. Americans may view Russians as cold but this is mainly on the outside. Russians are emotional also and foreigners may confuse being emotional with rudeness.

Dmitry

"Russian mentality is not based on common sense,It has nothing to do with common sense. Our thinking is not orderly, logical. In Western culture, European culture maybe, emotion is considered to be on a lower level than reason. But in Russia, no. It is bad to be rational, to be smart, clever, intelligent and so on. And to be emotional, warm, lovable, maybe spiritual, in the full meaning of that word -- that is good." (writer Tatyana Tolstaya.)

The whole world knows the game called "Russian roulette" вЂ“ which exemplifies our extreme nature.

Mimi

I'd described the major difference between americans and Russians(ukrainian) this way:

Americans are really nice to the other people, strangers
that they don't know, but very often (not always, though) could act like rude jerks to their friends or relatives.
Russian - are just the opposite way - they could be cold and unfriendly to strangers, but as it comes to people who are close - they are
really warm and generous.

Why so cynical?

I'm Russian, and personally, I think all that is stereotypes. I don't think you can generalise a whole nation that is shared between 2 continents as being all friendly or all cold. We vary from person to person, and we're not all the same.

Personally, I'm very friendly, sincere genuine and open with others. :-)

As people above pointed out though, we think the American smile plastered across the face regardless of your mood and your relations with the person...we think it's just fake and artificial. So we don't tend to do that a lot. We don't smile unless we're happy :]

Ambivalent can haz Arc Light!

Hmm. I've never heard that stereotype!! It doesn't seem to operate in the UK. The feeling I have gained about Russians from Russian music, novels and poetry, as well as the small personal contact I've had, would be more that Russians are intense, with powerful emotions expressed in controlled ways. I can't see Chekhov, Tolstoy, Eisenstein, Shostakovich or any others as being 'cold'!!

007

We don't really show our emotions unless we are with close friends or family. Of course there are exeptions....

Keith B

Mostly what you speak of is cultural. Russians are very reserved (especially in public). They do not generally show emotion or affection very much. But in private they are more open. Part of it comes from the soviet era. There are many differences in the younger generations than the older. One good example is the way young Russian women dress compared to their parents. Very sexy and feminine. But Russians are good and warm people. You don't often see smiles but they are there. My wife is Russian and she noticed how much I smiled. She now smiles often and likes it.
Also remember that Russia was very isolated for a long time. There is much we can learn from them and they from us.

KrisTINA S

I do not know what you're talking about. I'm young and I'm married to a Russian man. The Russian people I have been around have been warm loving family that do a lot for each other. They're very thoughtful and giving people.
mother in law is missing a sense of humor and never smiles, but that's just 1 person. She's uptight and anxious. Her brain is on overdrive all the time. other than that Russians are great people.

Wildie...x

Whenever I travel to Russia to visit family, everyone around is rather cold and aggressive, compared to Spain where I live. I think the behaviour's due to quite hard life and when the atmosphere where you live is tense and not too joyful, you fall into the same environment.

Cossak

If motherland is cold people which live there must be hot to not die from frost)))...Finland too locates in north,but russians call them "hottest finnish dudes"

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