When travelers visit Russia for the first time, they are bound to experience culture shock. Russian culture shock is a result of tourists being unfamiliar with Russian culture and customs. When visitors tour Russia, they will very likely experience what almost every Russian tourist experiences to some degree. While some tourists experience extreme discomfort from culture shock, other tourists feel only slightly culture shocked.
Signs of Culture Shock in Russia
- Feeling anxious or nervous.
- Having the feeling that coming to Russia was a mistake.
- Homesickness.
What Causes Russian Culture Shock?
There are many different reasons why people will experience culture shock in Russia, but the main reason is probably the language. The Russian language has Cyrillic letters, which make some of the letters familiar to English-speakers, but some of them not familiar at all.
Travelers who are visiting Russia all of a sudden see and hear nothing but the Russian language, which can be jarring. The Russian language may sound particularly harsh to English-speakers, since it uses many guttural sounds.
Another factor in Russia culture shock is the different customs. Russians don't generally smile at strangers, and may come off as being aloof.
The clothes that Russians wear are also a little different. In the winter, men wear big furry hats that may not have been seen by tourists outside of movies.
Finally, westerners may not find everything they expected to find when visiting Russia. Outside of the big cities, there are still some traces of old communism. Tourists may not find a particular brand of toothpaste they want, for instance. Others may be shocked to find there is no diet soda served at certain restaurants.
How to Deal With Russian Culture Shock
People generally deal with culture shock in one of three ways: they either embrace the culture completely as a defense mechanism, reject the culture completely as being "backward" or they combine these two extremes and strive for cross-cultural communication. Travelers to Russia should aim for a balance.
The best way to prepare for culture shock in Russia is to realize there's no escaping it and recognize the symptoms. It's important to remember that everyone visiting Russia will, at some time or another, feel stressed out from the new surroundings. It's a perfectly natural, normal reaction to being in a different country. Travelers can be patient with themselves and try to learn as much of the Russian language as possible to try to ease some of the symptoms of culture shock in Russia.
Read more about Russian culture at Russian Culture and Etiquette.
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