Character differences between nationalities

[bugsy673]

Are there any discernable character differences between RW and UW.  If so what are they?

[msmoby_ru]

Are there any discernable character differences between RW and UW.  If so what are they?

Surely women's characters are a diverse as men's, irrespective of nationality?.. I *think* you mean cultural characteristics, may be?

If so, there are Ukrainian women who feel they are Russian / Ukrainian and their roots and or political outlooks might affect their preceptions of (say) America.

In general a woman who fees she is Ukrainian may have aspirations of Ukraine being closer to the west... membership of the EU and NATO...  whereas a Russian Ukrainian will be proud of her Russian language and roots and feel Ukraine should have closer ties with Moscow.

Within Russia the cultural / political differences are more homogeneous..

Knowledge of Soviet / Russian / Ukrainian history might help you understand  - but whilst it will impress a lady if you know something of their history / culture - *I* don't think you'll see so big a difference in a Russian lady and a Ukrainian lady speaking Russian.

Like all neighbours, there is always some "rivalry" .. I've heard Russians say that Ukrainians are devious and not to be trusted and vice-versa!

There's no hard and fast rules... but a tip ... it's best not to raise the subject of politics..

[Shadow]

Different views on politics are not differences in character.

What I have notices is that Russians are more interested in enjoying life, and less chasing wealth and perfection.

[msmoby_ru]

Different views on politics are not differences in character.

That might be why I pre-qualified my response by saying  - Surely women's characters are a diverse as men's, irrespective of nationality?.. I *think* you mean cultural characteristics, may be?

What I have notices is that Russians are more interested in enjoying life, and less chasing wealth and perfection.

Do you mean this in comparison with "Ukrainian" Ukrainians?! :-0  .. sorry, I didn't see this distinction. 

[Gator]

I dated both UW and RW, and I did not observe any character pattern distinguishing one from the other.

Two young RW who posted frequently at RWD in the past stated in no uncertain terms that UW were lower class than RW.  Personally, I feel that anyone subscribing to such a belief is lower class.

[Shadow]

Do you mean this in comparison with "Ukrainian" Ukrainians?! :-0  .. sorry, I didn't see this distinction. 

Actually there are no 'Russian' and 'Ukrainian' Ukrainians...they are all one people, regardless of their current political differences.
Regarding class, I fully agree with Gator that there is no difference in class.
The two women who posted here in the past were biased by their personal experience with 'immigrants'.

[msmoby_ru]

Actually there are no 'Russian' and 'Ukrainian' Ukrainians...they are all one people, regardless of their current political differences.
 

Shadow, they might hold Ukrainians passports..... but ... do they FEEL Ukrainian, do they want to speak Ukrainian? This is a "Russian Ukrainian" - and it is not my "label" but one of their own.. So who are you telling there is no such thing as "Russian Ukrainian"? ...  Try shouting that in Sevastopol or Donetsk

This article is quite helpful, and whilst it may be slightly anti-Russian govt. it talks about Ukrainians and their feelings about Russia
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-ukraine/russia_ukraine_3830.jsp


Now, is Gus Hiddink going to be a Dutchman or Russian, if Russia beats the Netherlands at football ?

[anjutka]

is this political thread ?or just trying to find out are there any character differences between nationalities?
My suggestion -don't start with politic, it will not help you to understand fsu people,even could create some barriers .Trust me.

[msmoby_ru]

is this political thread ?or just trying to find out are there any character differences between nationalities?
My suggestion -don't start with politic, it will not help you to understand fsu people,even could create some barriers .Trust me.

Hi Anjutka

I did say "There's no hard and fast rules... but a tip ... it's best not to raise the subject of politics.. " in an earlier post on this thread...

.. I meant it when visiting, but here (on -line ), or at my home, my FSU friends and I can "discuss" Kosovo, NATO membership of Ukraine, and the national bias of country's news channels ... this is healthy debate, and something, when they warm to it, that FSU people living OUTSIDE of the FSU soon warm too ;..

In fact I'd say the Ukrainains - of all persuasions are learning the rules, fast

[Shadow]

Shadow, they might hold Ukrainians passports..... but ... do they FEEL Ukrainian, do they want to speak Ukrainian? This is a "Russian Ukrainian" - and it is not my "label" but one of their own.. So who are you telling there is no such thing as "Russian Ukrainian"? ...  Try shouting that in Sevastopol or Donetsk

Once again these are political views. If you ask some Russians, Ukraine never even existed and their language is just a dialect. For others Ukrainians they have been repressed since the Russians defeated the Swedish army...
When the FSU split up, Ukraine was formed as independent country, and it was a Soviet republic before that. Regardless of their political views, all who live there are one nation.

Now, is Gus Hiddink going to be a Dutchman or Russian, if Russia beats the Netherlands at football ?

Guus Hiddink is called God in Korea, but in Russia he might get the label of Tsar...and be cut if the people find out he can not control Russia 








[/quote]

[Ooooops]

Are there any discernable character differences between RW and UW.  If so what are they?

Sure.  Ones think that borscht should have tomatoes in it and others absolutely opposed to it. 

[Wienerin]

Sure.  Ones think that borscht should have tomatoes in it and others absolutely opposed to it. 

Don't even start! I'm still bloody from the battle over the proper borsht and pelmeni/vareniki

On the whole, I'd rather think that character if individual, mentality and behaviour mostrly determined by upbringing and environment. Ukrainians from Kiev and Lvov will - in my experience, of course, differ more than Ukrainian from Kiev and Russian from N.Novgorod, while Russians from Moscow and St.Petersburg (or even from a blue collar suburb of SPb and natives of downtown Piter) may differ a lot more than Ukrainian and Russian families with similar backgrounds.

Even more - we have bosom friends from Samarkand (Uzbek and half uzbek-half Tartar), Tbilisi (OUR Georgians ) and Armenians from Yerevan and Baku. The cultural/environmental differences are there, but slight as compared to the common ground of values and interests.

BTW I with my Jewish-Russian-Estonian "blood" was first married to a Russian with some Polish roots, and second - to an Armenian with some Dagestan ancestry. I used to jokingly refer to my kids as the Third International - but all of us are "Pitertsy"

[msmoby_ru]

Once again these are political views. If you ask some Russians, Ukraine never even existed and their language is just a dialect. For others Ukrainians they have been repressed since the Russians defeated the Swedish army... 

Bloody Dutch "Cheese-eaters"  .. they send their armies into Ireland and now the top right hand corner thinks its British ( Thanks, William of Orange, BTW !) , and perhaps you could also tel the Flemish and Walloons that  they are one nation , in neighbouring Belgium !!!

Matey, many wars were / are about how people FEEL, irrespective of how some lines got drawn on a map

When the FSU split up, Ukraine was formed as independent country, and it was a Soviet republic before that. Regardless of their political views, all who live there are one nation.

see above.. there's "games" afoot, yet I'll wager.

Guus Hiddink is called God in Korea, but in Russia he might get the label of Tsar...and be cut if the people find out he can not control Russia 

Right at the minute, he even has my Mother-in-law in Siberia talking about football, as if Russians always knew they had a good team .... so he may well already have achieved God-like status

[Shadow]

Bloody Dutch "Cheese-eaters"  .. they send their armies into Ireland and now the top right hand corner thinks its British ( Thanks, William of Orange, BTW !) , and perhaps you could also tel the Flemish and Walloons that  they are one nation , in neighbouring Belgium !!!

Matey, many wars were / are about how people FEEL, irrespective of how some lines got drawn on a map

see above.. there's "games" afoot, yet I'll wager.

Ever wondered why it was the 'Orange revolution' in Kiev 
Answer: it was right after the Dutch got stuck with a lot of unsold merchandise because of the team doing bad... 

Local struggles are about how people feel... wars are for religion or resources...but  politics do not change the character of people.

[msmoby_ru]

Ever wondered why it was the 'Orange revolution' in Kiev 
Answer: it was right after the Dutch got stuck with a lot of unsold merchandise because of the team doing bad... 

Local struggles are about how people feel... wars are for religion or resources...but  politics do not change the character of people.

The characteristics of people come from their genes, but are influenced by local culture - local culture is influenced by ... many things - including POLITICS !

Still don't think this will influence a Ukrainian of any persuasion in relation to WM

[Misha]

Within Russia the cultural / political differences are more homogeneous..

I don't know about that. In Russia there are over 100 different ethnic groups (i.e. nationalities) in Russia with different languages, religious beliefs and ways of life (the reindeer herding indigenous peoples of northern Russia are as different as you can possibly get from the ethnic Russians of the large Russian cities). I don't see Russia as being that homogeneous.

[Blues Fairy]

Don't even start! I'm still bloody from the battle over the proper borsht

Can I start a battle over the proper spelling of borshch? 

[steviej]

My suggestion -don't start with politic, it will not help you to understand fsu people,even could create some barriers .Trust me.

Good point, Anjutka - I agree.

My experience, which includes about 10 visits covering areas in both Russia and Ukraine, is that the differences are more between those born and raised in the larger urban areas, and those born in the smaller cities or provincial areas. It is funny, though, about the animosity between Ukrainian women and Russian women. Not too many of them say good things about the other. I think that's just from certain historical rivalries and not much about cultural differences. What many of the marriage-minded men consider the very desirable traits of the FSU ladies are quite commonly found in both groups.

[msmoby_ru]

I don't know about that. In Russia there are over 100 different ethnic groups (i.e. nationalities) in Russia with different languages, religious beliefs and ways of life (the reindeer herding indigenous peoples of northern Russia are as different as you can possibly get from the ethnic Russians of the large Russian cities). I don't see Russia as being that homogeneous.

You are QUITE right - I ready must have my STUPID hat on today ..   

[myrddin]

Can I start a battle over the proper spelling of borshch? 

I'd bet that you can.  But wouldn't the proper[/] spelling be in Cyrillic? 

[SANDRO43]

Can I start a battle over the proper spelling of borshch? 

BF, the problem with properly transliterating борщ is that the щ sound does not exist in Western languages, so it's always an approximation which varies widely depending on the receiving languages (http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=6444.msg117311#msg117311);).

[Blues Fairy]

BF, the problem with properly transliterating борщ is that the щ sound does not exist in Western languages, so it's always an approximation which varies widely depending on the receiving languages

Whatever the approximation, it surely shouldn't end with a t.   

[Ooooops]

Whatever the approximation, it surely shouldn't end with a t.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht   

[Wienerin]

I'd bet that you can.  But wouldn't the proper[/] spelling be in Cyrillic? 

Not at all. The word itself - as well as the beet-soup itself - was brought to the USA by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who spoke Yiddish, Polish, German but were for the most part illiterate in English, at least initially. To enter into a discussion as to how should the English spelling look would be an exercise in futility.

A rather exhaustive article from Wikipedia gives all possible spellings (recipes too - and here is a real battleground for you! )  - I prefer the spelling that I used - "borsht" first because I indulged my laziness (why use an extra letter which doesn't comtribute anything to English pronunciation?), second because if I write in English why should I use German spelling? All ridiculous, of course

I don't know, how the "t" attached itself to the end - but  since it's there for at least 140 years already, so... Just to repeat myself - the word didn't come into English from Cyrillic language. And there's strong  evidence that first beets|borsht came from Germany to Poland, to Lithuania, to Ukraine and later Russia - note that borszcz in Poland doesn't necessarily mean beet soup.

[WmGO]

I dated both UW and RW, and I did not observe any character pattern distinguishing one from the other.

I would agree with that.