Roleplaying In the Big Red

Names Possibly the biggest source of mistakes, some of them particularly stupid, are the Russian names. Too often I see a woman with a family name "Tereshkov" or a man with a family name "Petrovich" in an American work. These are completely wrong. Russian naming is a rather complicated business, much more arcane than English or even Japanese names are. Each Russian name comes in three parts - Given name, Father's name, Last name. Due to peculiarities of Russian grammar, however, you can't just twist them around as you see fit. Given names are names given to children at birth, like in any other country. Most Russian given names are gender-specific; those that aren't, suffer a grammar correction when converting between genders. As a rule of thumb (the actual rules are much more complex, consult your local linguist for details) gender correction works like this: If a man's given name ends with a consonant, a woman's given name would get "-a" appended ("Alexandr" -> "Alexandra"). Backwards process is similar. Some names, which are common for men and women, have special forms for male and female gender. ("Vasily" - "Vasilisa", respectively) Father's name is a special case most nations do not use - the name of the person's father suffers a special grammar correction and becomes a person's "Father's name". This grammar correction depends on whether the person is male ("Petr" -> "Petrovich") or female ("Petr" -> "Petrovna"). Frequently you can get away with just adding "-ovich" or "-ovna" to the end, though rare exceptions exist. Last names are also subject to Russian grammar. Names of foreign descent aren't and are the same for men and women. ("Rabinovich" will always stay "Rabinovich" - it's a Hebrew last name. In fact, most of the last names thought of as Russian in the West are in fact not Russian. "Vitte", "Kapitsa", "Landau" and many other famous names aren't.) Russian names suffer a gender correction identical to the one applied to given names. Generally, if a name ends in "-ko" (these are Ukrainian) or in any vowel, they are not subject to alteration. If a name ends in "-vich", double-check! You likely mistook it for a father's name. If you are sure you did not, then it's a name belonging to a family of Hebrews who lived in Russia and may or may not be useful for your purposes. Say, a sample complete (male) name would be "Vasily Alexandrovich Stakhanov". If it were a woman, she'd write her name as "Vasilisa Alexandrovna Stakhanova". If only the initials for the name were required, it would be "V.A. Stakhanov" and "V.A. Stakhanova" respectively. Get the basic idea? :) Generally, it's easy to tell from a last name with initials whether the person is male or female, a complete name which does not betray the person's gender immediately is almost impossible. Unless you are sure what you're doing, if you want to create a Russian name by mix-and-matching of components taken from different people, you have to be sure you don't mess between genders, and don't mistake a father's name for a last name. Generally, you address your superiors and people you respect with first name and father's name, in that order ("Vasily Alexandrovich, could you please sign this?"), your friends and peers on first name or nickname basis ("Vasily, long time no see!"), and your closer friends by first name, frequently transformed into an affectionate, unofficial form. ("Vasya!") If you are in command of a large group of people, you address them by last names. ("Stakhanov, you're assigned to the shaft number three!"). Nicknames used in close-knit groups can be created in a variety of ways common for most cultures, but a father's name is often used as one. ("Petrovich" seems by far the father's name most frequently used in such a capability) As a side note, "Tovarisch"/"Comrade" is not a valid form of address between anyone other than hardline communists, which largely means "people over 60" - the rest of the population sometimes may actually take this as an insult. "Citizen", while being a politically neutral form, didn't take root as well, and usually "man", "woman" and "girl" are used as forms of address. "Gospodin"/"Mister" is only used in official speech, where it is usually omitted wherever language permits, as many people still think this word to be too awkward - taken alone, the word "Gospodin" means "ruler" or "master". Shopping Despite what you may have heard, the ONLY thing you can't get around Russia is roleplaying materials, and with advent of Magic: the Gathering, which you will be unable to hide from in less than a year, (I found some in a toy shop which sold only DUPLO toys before!) this is changing as well. This includes pirated software and videotapes which you can still buy openly despite more and more frequent crackdowns. Big supermarkets are not the way Russians buy things, however - it's either large, mostly open-air markets which rent out space to different traders, or small boxy kiosks of different shapes and sizes you can see on every street, usually cluttered more densely around transportation centres like bus stops and subways. Most prices tend to bob up and down with the dollar exchange rate, prices for electronics and other expensive items are frequently expressed in "u.e.", "conventional units" which is a taboo name for US dollars. (Some local regulations prohibit the use of prices expressed in foreign currency in trade. Wholesale traders usually don't care and put out price lists in USD anyway.) However, there's another inherent problem with buying things. As sociological research shows, at the moment, the people who would classify themselves as middle class and would be classified as such by objective criteria (like education, profession, etc.) do not have the income typically associated with middle class at all, being much closer to the poverty line. In the end, if you have a problem buying something in Russia, it's usually because you can't spare the money. Alcohol and Age Despite some Western writers making it look like Russia is a nation of complete drunkards, it is not completely true. It is true that an average adult consumes alcohol at least once every two weeks, but it is not always vodka. Computer professionals almost entirely exist on beer, for example, frequently amassing collections of empty bottles which are nothing short of incredible. In fact, while you often see people drinking beer alone on the street as they walk by, vodka is valued more for the conversation of slightly drunk people it provides, it is more of a ritual than a party. It is almost always done by three people, who share a single 0.5 litre bottle, while beer is usually consumed by people from separate 0.5 litre bottles. You rarely can spend a day without meeting a severely drunk person on the street, but unless you frequent places where people suffering from alcoholism congregate, you are unlikely to meet more than one. Which brings us to the question of age. According to Russian law, the age of majority is 16. This is the age which allows you to get a driver's license, be employed full-time, buy alcohol or beer, buy cigarettes, etc. Movies only have two categories between them - "after 16" and "general viewing", no other distinctions or ratings exist, and lately, due to the general decline of movie theatres, these tend to be ignored entirely as well. For signing of some contracts and voting, the legal age is 18. Entertainment Balalaikas and matryshkas are a common export, however, an average Russian has little to no knowledge of such things. TV is dominated by American movies and Brazilian soaps, of varying degrees of quality. You can expect to see some 15 channels of TV in Moscow, with several different district-wide cable channels, but towards the East past the Ural mountains you may find 2 channels at best. Paid cable channels never took root anywhere, as they failed to generate enough revenue. As I mentioned before, movie theatres have suffered a great decline with the increase in privately owned VCRs. Most movie theatres in Moscow have closed down and, for some bizarre reason, chose to become furniture shops in preference to any other use of such buildings. New movie theatres have opened which show movies soon after their American release, however, these are rather scarce. Movies on TV are traditionally dubbed into Russian with the characteristic technique of Russian dub voices being overlaid straight over the original soundtrack with English voices intact. Russia is also the country that happens to have the most books printed per capita. A Russian's home is always full of books, which frequently overflow from shelves to tables, stacks on the floor, and other unlikely places - books have always been very cheap in Russia compared to most other countries, an average popular book costs some 20-30 roubles (less than $1). You can expect a wide range of popular and specialist literature sold like any other merchandise, in kiosks, newsstands and large markets.

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