Something has been plaguing me for quite some time about what exactly is "Russian", and what isn't. I have not known (and thus not asked) how to word this, and i still don't, so i will just try my best. I will show some examples of what i mean, and explain why i am, at the least confused. Then, it's up to the russians to decide.
What is a "Russian" ? There are many people at my school/ in my neighborhood who are from ukraine, maldovia, kazakhstan,beloruss, you name it... And they all just consider themselves "russian". There is this one girl i know who is from estonia, (a country which i hear, only 40% percent of speaks russian) and she considers herself "Russian". Now, is she russian only because she can speak it... and she was born in a country where people speak it ? Even if she has no real slavic blood in her? What about people in kazakhstan, who are probly from chinses or kazakh decent, but grow up speaking russian and living in a former USSR country. Are they "russian" ? What about, for example, the people in Русский размер. They even say "We live in peter, but check our passports, we are from kazakhstan".
I have also met many russians who say "No outsiders can ever become russian because of our history, it's just too great and too confusing". Well, that's cool, but how many russians were alive 100 years ago or 200 years ago to see this ? How many russians even fully understand their own history ?
So is it fair to say no foriegner can be american because they will just never understand what out forfathers went through to beat the evil king of england.
Maybe it's being slavic that is "russian" ? So, in this case people in former yugoslavia are russians too ? people in kosovo, serbia, etc. Hell, i even bet there are some slavs in northern greece. Also, poland, they are slavic, but they speak polish.
The ESL teacher in my school is from kazakhstan, but you would never ever know she speaks russian by looking at her. Im sure people that hear her speaking russian think she is chinese or something (To most uneducated americans, every asain is "Chinese".) So, she has 2 or 3 kids, who i am sure look just as asain as she does, they are 3 or 4 (Born in america) but grow up speaking russian. Does that make them russian ?
I ask because, it just seems (to me) anyways, that there is no real definition of somebody that is "russian".
So, i have come to the conclusion that
If people who wern't even born in russia, and you are not slavic, but you grew up in a russian speaking country, and prefer the title "russian" to anything else, you can be russian. Could this apply to people from the west too ? Why not ? Plenty of people speak russian in america. If was offered a job in russia, and was speaking russian, and grew up (since i was 14 anyways) speaking russian, in a russian speaking (yes, america is now somewhat russian speaking) country, would it be acceptable to tell people that i am "russian" ? I mean, look at my passport :), i was not born in russia ! but, neither is The "russian" ESL teacher at my school, or the wanna be estonian down the street, or any of the members of the group "Русский размер" yes, the Russian size. But hey, nobody seems to have a problem with that and calling them "russian".
So what's the big deal ?
