Why Russians Don't Smile (2018) | Slow Listening Practice

Привет, друзья! Today I want to share with you my thoughts why Russians don't (or never) smile and why Russians are so serious. It is just my own opinion and thinking and cannot be 100% truth.

I consider a few following ideas:

1. The weather in Russia
2. Historical aspects
3. Russian Orthodox Church
4. Economic factor

This video has Russian and English captions and I hope can help improve your listening skill.

More slow Russian listening videos for your practice:

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Good luck! До встречи :)

[RussianWithMax]

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I really appreciate it, it means a lot!

[pietrolauria]

Having the subtitles translated into Russian English at the same time is the best thing you could do. Thank you so much

[Елена-швэ]

My two cents: from my experience with Russian people, in Russia and abroad, I noticed that they do not make much of an effort to put on a facade. Unlike here in the US, where it’s all smiles and fake pleasantries. It is not my intent to offend anyone and there are a lot of things I like about America. I just find Russian people more authentic.

[math-with-afshin]

Thanks dear Max, you answered a lot of my questions, i am very happy for your noticeable progress on your channel, you are one of the bests teachers of Russian on YouTube , Your fan from Kiev. All of the bests.

[cristhchannel]

Thank you much for the Subtitles.. Both in Russian and English!!!

[Ana_MF]

New suscriber here. Well, the weather certainly has to do something with it. I'm from southamerica and most foreigners think people are really happy and friendly here... Yet, a smile doesn't necessarily make a good person or a good friend... It's means nothing but a superficial first impression. Your videos are really useful. Спасибо большое!

[ozkancengiz]

As a person who lived and worked in Russia quite long, I can comment on my own experience that it is just not a common culture here which locals are also not very happy about. Yes, nobody expects fake smiles but anyone definetly deserve a good level of service in restaurants, shopping, leasures etc. That's the missing piece in Russia. Otherwise, they wouldn't love Turkey so much because of the service they miss to receive. (Yep, I am Turkish)

[hieratics]

Very interesting, and thanks for the double subtitles!

[andres]

my impression is Americans go to the other extreme, they are always smiling and you don't know why

[QuizmasterLaw]

Strangers don't smile. But among friends or even co-workers Russians have a fantastic sense of humor and laugh and smile readily. Really!
Keep in mind most of your interactions with Russians are likely seen through the lenses of war or at least of government. And yeah, it's cold, and there were wars, they are STRANGERS do you know them? Nope! Do they know You? Not yet! Maybe never!
Russian's aren't fake or superficial.
This video is excellent.

[aruzlean]

I'm a bit confusing now because i granfather lived and worked in russian in his youthful and he always praise russians as polite, kind and outgoing people thanks Max for grest contents

[emmanuelrodriguezsilva]

Привет Маx. I found your channel recently and let me tell you that you have stunning videos. Specially this one, for begginers - like me - is really usfull to watch videos with subtitles. And makes easy to understand if you speak lower. Спасиб большое

[heidiloesti]

Actually, I didn't think Russians were not smiling. My impression (or rather prejudice) was that Russians have to be very tough in order to be able to survive in Russian society. So I liked the Russian language, but I didn't feel like visiting Russia. Your videos have made a big change for me; it's a pleasant surprise to find such a kind, open-minded, sincere Russian in your videos. And of course I'm very happy to understand your Russian :) From now on in my mind your kindness will be connected with the Russian language :)

[fancynancylucille]

Because Max sure does break the stereotype for me - he's so damned

[erickgudin]

большое спасибо макс, тобой подкаст очень полезное

[avivarosenthal]

I'm from California, the opposite of Russia in many ways. We have a lot of Russians here in the North, though, and it doesn't bother me a bit that they don't smile all the time; they seem happy enough in a genuine way, and are quite kind and friendly, often more so than we are--and in ways that matter.

[madebyroots-venezuela]

I don’t know why didn’t watch this video in 2018.. but for any reason I just found it now (2020) спасибо большое за видео и подкасты, Макс! 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[fancynancylucille]

As a student coming to the language because of the amazing literature, I think it is precisely because the stories are so dark and highlight the problematic nature of human psychology in the most natural ways, that I like them. I expect the people to be shadowed, and when I watch the movies, I see that their actors seem to have much more pain and wear and tear on their faces. That makes them very interesting! I recognize that it is my own "identification" with misfortune that keeps me attracted to this literature, but really, it seems that there are no better writers on the planet!

[chadandrews]

Я слышал что русские люди которые живут в Америке думают что это странно когда незнакомые люди улыбаются им. Я понимаю. Иногда мне тоже странно. Я был в Киеве в 2016 году. Люди там были дружелюбными. A generalization is that Americans can be more superficially friendly and Russian people can seem less friendly at first, but be more deeply friendly in the long run. (saying that in Russian is beyond my skill level )

[annatoth]

Привет Макс! I really like your channel. I have been learning russian for not a long time and your videos are super useful for me. I just met with one Russian person, first she seemed to be strick and unfriendly but as I got to know her better I realized that it’s absolutely not true, and she has a very good soul. I am from Hungary and I think Hungarian people are simular to Russian people: we smile when it comes from heart.