I’d like to list some little details that can help you create a more realistic YoI fic about Russia if that’s your intention:
1. Smileys: Russian style
Victor:
Hi Yuuri)))) What do you want for dinner?)
Otabek:
I can’t come to your place today
Yuri:
(((((
No eyes in Russian smileys! Only round brackets attached to the last word (if there is one). Yeah, we use usual smileys and Japanese emoji as well, but ‘)))’ adds that authentic Russian flavor.
23:10 Mila:
хД
When we’re too lazy to switch to Latin letters to type ‘xD’, we use Russian x and Russian d (д/Д), but this smiley feels like the emotion is somewhat suppressed to me. This is a recent tendency.
2. Kilometers, centimeters and kilograms (in the characters’ speech at least) instead of miles, inches and pounds (both Russians and the Japanese don’t get these xDDD Well, Yuuri might get them. A little xD)
3. Russian skaters prefer Instagram & VK (Vkontakte) to Facebook (meh).
4. Russian fan debates happen on VK. There’s a big figure skating group
ФИГУРНОЕ КАТАНИЕ ❤ LOVE (and lots of smaller ones, including groups dedicated to specific skaters), and sometimes the comment section under certain posts in this community is like an erupting volcano with hundreds of comments. Usually moderators delete offensive ones and have to turn the comment section off from time to time to give everybody the time to cool down. That’s why the comments there are mostly positive. But when it comes to comments on sports.ru, this is a real trash container, comments are unfiltered, there’s a lot of aggression and so on. No one’s hiding their emotions. Worse than YouTube comments.
5. Everybody uses Skype these days, but Victor must remember ICQ times. Everybody had an ICQ number back then! So in a realistic fic about his youth where he’s 11~18 years old (2000s), there’s a high probability he’d use ICQ to communicate with friends. Maybe even AIM with foreign friends.
6. Netflix? What Netflix? It’s very limited in Russia and few have even heard of it (not to mention, it appeared here only 2 years ago, in 2016, the year when YOI was released!). And even after 2 years in Russia, it’s still extremely unpopular for now. It is no secret that Russians massively download stuff or watch anything online for free (even if it’s against the law). Yo-ho-ho. Welcome to the dark side called Rutracker (illegal torrents). I swear every schoolgirl knows how to use utorrent, frigate, and proxies. And even if Victor doesn’t really do it, Yuri P. does, oh, he does. Yuuri’s jaw would drop at the amount of stuff you could find on those torrents in any language. I’m not promoting piracy, but it would be more realistic for a Russian character to watch something online or download it (in English or Russian) or even buy a DVD than watch Netflix???
7. Men don’t get circumcised in Russia without a serious reason. It’s usually done either for religious reasons (Islam, Judaism) OR because of a serious illness. In Russia, if a man is not Jewish or Muslim and is healthy, it’s highly improbable he’s circumcised. It’s not popular here at all. So every time I encounter Victor’s cut you-know-what in a fic, something inside me goes huh???? What?????????? Why??????? Was he ill?????? O_o
I’ve read that it’s kind of common in America, but if you’re writing about a Russian Victor, it’s very strange for him to be like that without an explanation.
8. Avoid inserting swear-words that fall into the “Russian mat” category when you write adults. Yuri – ok; young Victor – maybe; older Victor – in very specific situations & only if you know how to pull it off; Yakov or Lilia – NO plz. Just no. You might spoil everything with this.
9. It’s true that there are hundreds of Russian vodka brands, one fancier than the other, and they are extra creative with bottles and design, but it’s not the only thing that Russians drink! Most young people I know don’t even like it. Beer is much more popular xD
9. Do you know the most popular Russian joke about Piter (St. Petersburg)? BAD WEATHER! You can’t go to Piter and not whine about its cold winds, rain, and grey sky and lack of sun, short Piter’s summer and impossible snow slush in autumn, winter, and spring. Russian ‘50 shades of gray’ is Piter :D Good weather is LUCK xD
Just look at some Piter pics and memes:
Oh how our clothes, shoes, and cars ‘love’ this wet gray mess!
“Spring, summer, autumn, winter.”
“This is Piter, babe.”
“A true St.Petersburger distinguishes up to one thousand shades of gray.”
“The Bible says that it was raining for 40 days and 40 nights. They called it the Flood. In Piter we call it SUMMER.”
“The unusual yellow sphere in the sky that scared people in St. Petersburg so much turned out to be the rare natural phenomenon called 'the sun’.”
“You don’t need a color printer to print a photo from Piter.”
Inserting a joke or two about that in a fic might be fun and soooo dear to us :D IMHO, this bad weather is very well compensated by the amount of amazing places you can go to from Piter! Like Karelia (it’s a lot like Finland with thousands of lakes), lake Ladoga, Vyborg, and some nice places near the Gulf of Finland. My personal fave is Repino!
Сгустки людей полуголых на улицах:
меня воротит от них, прохожу быстро, зажмурившись.
Во дворе пьяные мужики с оголенными торсами,
и их визгливые женщины, в матершине сравнимые с матросами.
В маршрутках воняет дешевым, ядреным парфюмом,
вечерами по телевизорам гонят очередной плоский юмор,
народ обленился думать. Проще вдыхать пары алкоголя,
чем слушать Шопена и отличать звуки флейты от звуков гобоя.
Проще жить не вникая в глобальное происходящее.
Проще не замечать ничего вокруг и всю жизнь пялиться в ящики
искусственной жизни. Проще придумывать жизнь,
ничего не вкладывая, не имея ни цели ни средства. Проще сходить в магазин,
купить бутылку водки. Дурное наследство.
Не иметь ничего за душой, ни мозга ни сердца.
Мечтать о дорогой машине, Прое*ывая богатства своего внутреннего королевства,
Довести до ума сумасшедший мир - вот совершенство,
а все остальное рудиментарный смысл жизни из юности человечества.
