2

As a freelancer I recently got in contact with a russian agency on LinkedIn. This person used the 'russian-style smile face' ) quite a lot.

In order to sympathize with this person I was tempted to use it too. Would it be okay to use it as a non-russian-speaking person, or does it seem unauthentic?

2
  • 3
    Some Russians use smileys that contain only brackets ). Another part of Russians uses a colon with brackets :). IMHO the second option will be better for you. You will be clear and almost authentic at the same time ;)
    – Elena
    Apr 11, 2020 at 15:35
  • 5
    The thing with :) is that : is on the ж key in Russian keyboard, which makes :) being used by Russians noticeably less frequent than the rest of the world. If anything, you may notice Russians sometimes use =) when you'd expect a :). That also warrants why a simple ) is used instead of a :). As you can see, this way to write a smiley is originated in Russian typing and caused by saving time switching between English and Russian characters. I guess that as a primarily English/German (?) keyboard user switching from :) to ) is not really something that's expected from you.
    – DK.
    Apr 14, 2020 at 1:16

1 Answer 1

7

I'm failing to see how this is about Russian language but rather about common sense and etiquette. Basically someone chatting with you used emoticons and that's completely fine to use emoticons in turn. It's not that like this person will be like: "How dare you!".

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.