News Aug 28, 2008 at 4:00 am

Mentors Help Portland's Evangelical Russian Teens Conquer English, YouTube, and Borat

Comments

1
In my work I have had to deal with many Russian customers, it seems the numbers are growing in Portland for some reason and a good majority are younger. Which is fine, this is a refugee country apparently. However I wish more "mentors" would teach some common manners, I find a good amount of Russian people plain rude and ignorant. If you do not enjoy living in this country and attempting to be a civilized human, go find another country, please!
2
Russian Christians? I notice this article overlooks that the majority of Russians have already been Christian for the past 1100 years. I am a convert to Russian Orthodox Christianity (Russia's native denomination that predates evangelicalism by 1000 years) and know dozens and dozens of Russians immigrants. None of them have the "integration problems" implied in this article.
3
That's exactly why organizations like ROSS exist. People can misinterpret behaviors as "rude" if they don't know about Eastern European culture. I'm sure plenty of Russian-speakers think that American culture is "rude" at times.

As for the comment about Russian evangelical Christians, yes, the common religion of their home country is Orthodoxy, but keep in mind that nearly 90% of recent immigrants are Evangelical Christians. The reason this article does not talk about Russian Orthodoxy is that they simply aren't the majority, and in general don't need as much help integrating because they immigrate for different reasons, often for marriage to an American citizen.

Be careful of quick judgments. That is exactly what we're trying to avoid here. Thanks.
4
"I find a good amount of Russian people plain rude and ignorant. If you do not enjoy living in this country and attempting to be a civilized human, go find another country, please!"--happydump

Perhaps it is you that is ignorant; it is not Russians or any particular group of immigrants that is particularly "rude and ignorant", but it is the inherent strife in the life of an immigrant acclimating to another culture's law, language, and life, that can cause frustration. Whether it is fair or ignorant or rude is indisputable; do not take it personally and make stereotyped accusations, do something productive by helping someone who looks like he or she might be having a bad day.
5
I have grown in "liberal" society and I don't really understand why would anyone want to be introduced to it. If you want to go to nightclubs and have sex then do but don't encourage others to do things they may not be ready to or will regret later on. And one more thing, if these were "non-white" this kind of cultural interference would be considered insensitive and even racist. Maybe its YOU who should be more openminded and not just them.
6
In my work I have had to deal with many Russian customers, it seems the numbers are growing in Portland for some reason and a good majority are younger. Which is fine, this is a refugee country apparently. However I wish more "mentors" would teach some common manners, I find a good amount of Russian people plain rude and ignorant. If you do not enjoy living in this country and attempting to be a civilized human, go find another country, please! --happydump

LOL! That's one of the most ignorant statements I've read in a while. Way to stop ignorance with insult, assumption, and stereotype. Yeah, that will teach 'em!
The only way to stop ignorance is to teach people by example and you just sound angry and belligerent.
First, you make the assumption that Russians are refuges. Secondly, you say that we are a refuge country, like its a bad thing. Is it such a bad thing if we were a refuge country helping other members of the human race from unjust persecutions? Thirdly there are rude people anywhere you go, any country has their fair share of mean and rude people, and you generalize it to being the Russian people are rude. Fourthly, if you want to claim you are not ignorant, take the time to learn about the people and the culture about which you speak.

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