Abstract

The communicative behavior of people is one of the main concerns of linguistics, which is an established branch of knowledge in the context of intercultural communication. This research paper aims to examine some important features of the communicative behavior of the Russian and Pakistani societies. Interviews were conducted with survey participants who were well aware of Russian and Pakistani norms, culture, and languages. The methodological principle of the contrast of the description of communicative behaviors of both communities was followed, which allowed the most reliable identification and description of both similar and dissimilar signs of the communicative behaviors. A set of norms and cultural specifics are also identified, which are very important to follow in each culture. Understanding the communicative behavior of both cultures helps improve communication competence and reduces aggression and conflict during communication among native speakers of both languages, especially students studying in exchange programs in both countries.

Key Words

Communicative Behavior, Communication Competence, Language, Pakistan, Russian, Urdu

Introduction

The history of languages and learning languages dates back thousands of years. Initially, languages were spoken, then they took the shape of written form. Every language is a basic system of communication where its sounds, words, or phrases depict subject matter, actions and ideas. Andreeva states that communication is a complex process characterized by three parts: communicative (exchange of information), interactive (interaction in the process of joint activity) and perceptive (perception and understanding of another person) (Andreeva 2007: 98-99). At the present stage, when the human language is, first of all, demanded functionally, the study of the communicative behavior of people got impetus, which is now an established branch of knowledge and intercultural communication. To study effective intercultural communications, a deep knowledge of the culture and traditions of the country is required. Assimilation of specific features of thinking and national communication of its representatives is necessary for establishing a relationship for socio-cultural structures, which are the basis of linguistic structures (Kambaralieva 2018: 230-234).

Anthropocentric studies conducted by Karaulov have introduced the term "Linguistic Personality" for the first time, which has gained more and more attention from researchers (Karaulov 1989). At the same time, a linguistic personality is considered "a type of full-fledged representation of the personality, containing psychic, social, ethical, and other components refracted through its language, its discourse ."In this regard, the question of how to form skills of formulating a "Linguistic Personality" in a Pakistani and Russian audience seems relevant.

The set of specific features of people's communication describes communicative behavior. The individual, participating in the processes of intercultural interactions, acts in communicative situations as the sender or recipient of linguistic, verbal and non-verbal messages. The degree of his participation in these processes depends on communicative behavior and communicative consciousness. The concept of "communicative behavior" was first proposed by Sternin (Sternin 1989).

Review of Literature

Communication among the participants of any multicultural environment may apply special methods of language communication, which differ from conventional ones for interacting within the same society or culture. Individual expertise and experience of each participant in communication, his psychological characteristics, and peculiarities determine the process of information exchange. The connotation and understanding, which is understood in the message, depends on the speaker's psychology, understanding of inner emotional state, attitude to the transmitted information, his or her social status, and cultural or religious background (Wenden 1987: 103-109). 

Language is the tool of communication through which messages are effectively transmitted to the listeners or participants of the communication. "Familiar ease and fluency with which we sail from one idea to the next in our first language are constantly shattered by some gap in our knowledge of a second language," and this results in a communication barrier. The attempts to overcome these gaps, which can be in the form of a word, a structure, a phrase, a gesture, a tense marker or an idiom are described as communication strategies (Bialystok 1990: 23-26). 

As per Sternin, the problem of the relationship between people was considered in scientific views and concepts, which in their content are composed of three areas: the theory of speech activity, the theory of speech acts, and the theory of communicative behavior (Sternin 1989). Under communicative behavior, Prokhorov and Sternin understand the set of norms and traditions of communication of the people based on groups such as social, age, gender, profession, religion, culture etc., as well as an individual. Communicative behavior (verbal and non-verbal accompanying it) of a person or group of persons in the process of communication is regulated by the norms and traditions of communication of a given society, their cultures or sometimes as a religion of local norms of the society or community (Prokhorov and Sternin 2007).

The development of communicative and anthropocentric linguistics has contributed to an increase in interest in understanding the national, regional and local specifics and the identity of the people. Sternin describes that the communicative behavior of the people may be characterized as normative or non-normative. Sternin describes three norms of communicative behavior: general cultural, situational, and individual norms (Sternin 2000).

Broad cultural norms of communicative behavior may be characterized by the nationwide psychology and cultures and generally hold accepted rules of speech, manners, protocol, customs and etiquette that may be used in any particular situation. That may generally be not dependent on age, gender, social status, or regional association. Examples of common cultural norms may include behaving, greeting and farewell, meeting with relatives, friends, guests and acquaintances, apologizing, writing messages, congratulations, compliments, gifts, thanks and gratitude, wishes, empathy and condolence in a particular situation. Situational norms depend on a specific linguistic situation. They are specific to any nation or region or religion: for instance, communication of the younger generation to the older generation in any Islamic country is much more vertical than in any European country. Similarly, communication between women and men in European communities is much more horizontal as compared to any Muslim community. The same is true in the case of greetings to the older generation in Muslim culture and society as compared to European one which is more horizontal. 

Individual norms of communicative behavior may reflect the individual behavior and culture and communicative experience of an individual and may represent a personal reflection of cultural and situational communicative norms, as mentioned by Sternin (Sternin 1989). Gazizov describes that the behavior is specific to the national attitude and mentality and it is considered as very much part of national culture, as determined by national communication norms, systems and rules. During the construct of communicative behavior, the following components can be of significant importance:

i. The national mentality of communicants of a particular nationality;

ii. Explicit characteristics of communication, trained by the national character of participants of communication and demonstrated in a particular group of people in all communicative situations regardless of the subject matter of communication;

iii. Verbal actions and communicative behavior, including a set of norms, rules and traditions of verbal communication in certain communication conditions and expressed in ethnic stereotypes;

iv. Non-verbal communicative behavior, including facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and physical contact during communication;

v. national social symbolism is the everyday actions and behavior of people participating in the communicative process. (Gazizov 2009)

Taking into account this complexity of the communication process, Andronkina writes that "teaching communication cannot be reduced simply to the building skills and competencies of foreign language speech activity, which means knowledge of linguistic code" (Andronkina 2019). In particular, Shchukin speaks of the need for students to familiarize themselves with the features of intercultural communication and develop students' interest in the culture, lifestyle and traditions of native speakers (Shchukin 2003). It is highlighted with great emphasis that the students and learners of any foreign language must know the accepted rules of behavior in the country in which the language is being studied. Students and learners are necessarily required to know the tactics of verbal and non-verbal behavior in various situations of intercultural communication, cultural traditions that determine the norm of society, etiquette, etc., which ultimately will provide the spiritual, moral and educational basis for students who must respect other nations and countries and their respective norms and cultures. This will lead to the ability to behave in accordance with the rules of conduct in a particular society, on the one hand, and in achieving students' communicative goals, on the other.

After the realization by the aforementioned researcher that the culture of every linguistic community is reflected in the language and behavior, there is a paradigm shift in the process of learning languages. Therefore, learning a language is a socio-cultural phenomenon that transforms the cultural behavior of learners in order to build mutual understanding in situations of intercultural communication. 

To teach or learn Russian as a foreign language (RFL) in Pakistan, it is necessary to focus on the main features of communication between two nations. It is also required to identify national characteristics of intercultural communication in the process of interaction between teachers and students. 

Since every nation has a unique structure of behavioral patterns; therefore, acquaintance with this particular pattern is much more required while learning a language. On the other hand, inappropriate use of these patterns may cause an uncomfortable situation while dealing with native speakers, which ultimately will lead to hostility among people of two cultures. As a result, many students begin to loathe the language and its speakers. Another reason for teaching communicative behavior to students is to help them avoid culture shock that appears due to differences between two cultures and behavioral patterns. Therefore, it is the teacher's responsibility to introduce the peculiarities of Russian communicative behavior to the students to eliminate or mitigate the culture shocks.

To avoid culture shock, it is also important to inform students about the main models of communicative behavior that is proposed by Prokhorov and Sternin, which may be explained as "the behavior of an individual or group of people in the process of communication, regulated by the norms and traditions of communication of that society." (Prokhorov and Sternin 2002). Sternin rightly points out that the forms of behavior accepted in "culture A" do not coincide with the behavioral norms of "culture B"; therefore, for a foreigner who finds himself in a different culture, mastering new standards of behavior is a task comparable to mastering a new language ."(Sternin 1990: 38-44).

It seems that productive teaching is also important, i.e., training in the practical use of rules of communicative conduct in the studied language, when speech etiquette and communicative taboos that are appropriated in particular standard, first of all, communicative situations are productively mastered while speaking. For this reason, role-playing games that form communication skills based on typical situations should be included in the practice of teaching a foreign language. It will allow visualizing various behavioral and socio-cultural stereotypes of the behavior of native speakers. Gette highlights the need to teach communicative behavior along with other aspects of teaching and learning any foreign language. Gette states that communicative behavior is an important aspect of language learning as others, such as reading, writing, speaking, listening and translating (Gette 2001).

Methodology

There is good reason to assert that the process of teaching a foreign language should include the study of the communicative behavior of a particular linguistic and cultural community, in our case, Russian and Pakistani. Sternin and Sternina describe the need to include the basics of foreign language communicative behavior as a component of national culture and the essential aspect of teaching a foreign language in the educational process. They emphasize that "students learn it predominantly receptively – in the form of a message of information, the knowledge of which allows one to correctly interpret the communicative behavior of another person" (Sternin and Sternina 2003).

The concepts of norm and normative have cultural and religious contents, and to determine the universal and specific signs of the communicative behavior of the Russian and Pakistani people, it is necessary to follow the methodological principles of the contrast of the description, which allows for the most reliable identification and description of both common and dissimilar signs of the communicative behavior of the compared peoples, and also allows identifying several forms of manifestation of the national specifics of the communicative behavior of a particular communicative culture. Research is of qualitative nature. Snowball methods, being the non-probabilistic method, were used for sampling. It was desired to carefully judge the samples keeping in view their knowledge about the subject, years of experience living, working or studying in Russia, along with the knowledge and information regarding the norms and culture of Pakistani as well as Russian societies. Data were collected from 10 selected respondents through extensive interviews, who were very much well aware of the Russian and Pakistani cultures. The age of the participants of the survey varied from 34 to 50 (M=42.3, SD=5.06). Mother tongues of study participants were Urdu and Russian and they were from different social strata. Out of the 10 selected study samples, 50% were male and 50% were female (5 males and 5 females). The detail of the study participants is given in table 1.




 

Table 1. Demographic detail of selected study participants

S. No	Name of Study Participant	Gender	Age	Profession / Nationality / Mother tongue	Experience of studying and/or Living and working in Russia and Pakistan	Current Location	Mode of Interview
1	Tahir Mehmood	Male	48	Drilling Engineer / American / Urdu	20 years	Pittsburg, USA	Skype
2	Zahid Sohail	Male	47	Aviation Engineer / Russian / Urdu	More than 20 years	Moscow, Russia	Skype
3	Fouzia Zahid	Female	39	Housewife / Russian / Russian	More than 20 years	Moscow, Russia	Skype
4	Salman Farooq	Male	45	Chemical Engineer / Russian / Urdu	15- 20 years	Moscow, Russia	Skype
5	Marina Korygina	Female	40	Doctor / Russian / Russian	15 years	Krasnodar, Russia	Skype
6	Sakina Salman	Female	38	Engineer / Russian / Russian	15 years	Moscow, Russia	Skype
7	Muhammad Imran	Male	46	Doctor / Pakistani / Urdu	10-25 years	Lahore, Pakistan	Face to Face
8	Tayyab Khan Kakr	Male	48	Social and political activist / Pakistan / Urdu	15 years	Lahore, Pakistan	Face to Face
9	Maria Bezvanova	Female	38	Consultant / Russian / Russian	More than 20 years	Pittsburg, USA	Skype
10	Sher Hassan	Male	34	Doctor / Pakistani / Urdu	upto 10 years	Moscow, Russia	Skype

 




A limitation was established for this study to conduct the comparative analysis of the Russian language and Urdu language in terms of communicative behavior of situational norms as described by Sternin in the following framework for better understanding and communicating in both languages.

   i.            Dealing with guests

 ii.            Greetings

iii.            Entering home

iv.            Food and eating habits

 v.            Gifting

vi.            Special events and festivals

vii.            Communication

Results and Discussion

Dealing with Guests

It is considered necessary to separately consider the rules of behavior with invited guests as a component of hospitality in both countries. Hospitality is one of the main features of Pakistani culture. Guests are considered a blessing in Muslim dominating societies and cultures such as Pakistan. Therefore, guests are always served first. In Russia, guests and hosts sit together and eat together at the same table. In Russia, guests are considered a sign of happiness, though the concept is changing in both societies with passive industriousness. According to customs and traditions, there are some formal ways of receiving guests which are historically followed in both communities. Since Pakistan is a Muslim-dominated country, therefore, the customs and traditions regarding guests are driven by Islamic norms and customs though there is some regional (South Asian) influence on norms and culture is also reflected. According to the traditional customs of Russia, guests are welcomed by offering bread and salt. There is no specific tradition in Pakistan in this regard; however, guests are usually welcomed by offering flowers. While seeing off the guests, in Pakistan, hosts usually accompany guests to the main door or street. Usually, in Russian, especially in urban areas, guests inform to host about their visit beforehand. However, in Pakistan, there is no such condition but exceptions are there.

 

Greetings

Greetings have their religious value and significance in Muslim-dominated societies such as Pakistan. While greeting, one wishes peace and harmony in Pakistan as well as in the Islamic world. In Russia, while greeting, one wishes to be healthy. Therefore, greetings are very important to understand, compare and analyze. As described earlier, to say greetings is of religious value and significance; therefore, we find easily many people greeting each other on the streets and roads even they don't know each other, in contrast to the Russian norms and culture. Moreover, people greet more than once the same person if they meet more than once. However, the case is radically different in Russian society, as greetings are offered only once a day when a person meets the other person for the first time. To greet more than once is not considered appropriate. In Russia, the one who enters the room or house greets first. However, in Pakistan, the younger people greet first as a sign of respect and honor to the elders, followed by the regional and cultural norms. Whereas Islamic religion teaches to greet first who enters the room, particularly in Mosques and religious places. A detailed comparative analysis of the communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies regarding greetings is given in table 2.




 

Table 2. Comparison of communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies regarding greetings.

S. No	Russian  Society	Pakistani  Society
1.	While greeting, one wishes to be healthy	While greeting, one wishes peace and harmony
2.	Formal and informal greetings i.e. Privet (??????) or Zdravstvuyte (????????????)	1.1.1           Formal greetings Assalam o Aliekum          (?????? ?????)
3	While responding to the greeting, the respondent may greet likewise in the same words Privet (??????) or Zdravstvuyte (????????????), depending on the formal or informal relationship.	1.1.2           Greetings Assalam o Aliekum (?????? ?????) is responded in different words i.e. Waliekum Assalam (?????? ??????)
4.	Greetings are offered only once a day when you meet the other person for the first time.	Multiple greetings are acceptable in a day, even when meeting the same person several times in a day.
5.	While greetings, the age factor doesn't consider less important rather, the closeness of the relationship of the communicator does matter.	Age factor is considered important while greeting. The method of greeting is influenced and highly dependent on age factors and relationships.
6.	The one who enters the room greets first.	The younger people greet first as a sign of respect. However, in Pakistan, as per Islamic teaching, the person who enters firsts in the room greets first, particularly in Mosques or gatherings etc.
7.	While responding to a greeting, the respondent can react almost in the same manner and way by repeating greeting words.	In response to greetings, elderly people caress the forehead of younger. In some regions, while greeting, the younger touch the knees of the elder as a sign of respect.
8.	While greeting, shaking hands with men is common. Shaking hands to each other among women is not common. However, men can shake hands with females, but when men shake hands with women, the handshake is less firm.	While greeting, shaking hands between men is common. Shaking hands with women is also common. However, men and female cannot shake hands in ordinary society.
9.	Gender and cross-gender hugging is common while greeting, usually in very close relationships or meeting after a long time.	Gender hugging is common. However, cross-gender hugging is not allowed while greeting.
10.	Greeting the elders can be formal or informal, depending upon the closeness of the relationship.	Greeting elders is always formal.
11.	It is considered impolite to shake hands while wearing gloves, even if it is too cold. Gloves are to be removed before shaking hands.	Shaking hands can be done for greeting, even with wearing hand gloves.
12.	In Russia, greetings are not associated with secondary questions such as questions about health, job or other and may not be asked if interlocutor is not interested. But once it is asked, then listening to the answer is compulsory.	In Pakistan, after greetings, it is usually compulsory to ask a question about your health and other matters e.g. how are you? This question is usually associated with greetings and is not always required to be answered.

 




Entering Home

There are some fundamental differences in the communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies about entering homes. Homes are considered more private entities. Rules and norms are usually driven and governed by Russian house owners though some norms are driven by the society itself, especially in the urban centers. In contrast, in Pakistan, houses are considered more group entities due to the traditional family system. Therefore, group, cultural and social norms are dominating and applicable. In Pakistani culture, one says a greeting once enters the house for the first time or every time he/she enters. It has its religious background and significance. In Russia, shoes are necessarily put off regardless you are a house owner or guest while entering the home in a common Russian house. However, this is not the case in Pakistan. In both societies, if one visits the house for the first time, he or she should not come bare-handed and must come with gifts or sweets. A detailed analysis in this regard is given in table 3.




 

Table 3. Comparative analysis of communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies regarding communicative norms of entering the home.

S. No	Russian Society	Pakistani Society
1.	It is not necessary to say a greeting once entering the home in Russia.	To say greeting is a communicative norm while entering the home. It has religious significance and greetings are offered every time while entering the home.
2.	Shoes are necessarily put off while entering the home in a common Russian house. Special sleepers are offered for guests and relatives. Different shoes are used inside and outside the house.	Shoes are not necessarily put off while entering the home in a common Pakistani house. Same shoes are used for inside and outside the house.
3	Being a guest, you are asked to be comfortable and self-service is common. The guest and host eat together at one table.	Guests are preferably served first. The host may not take food with guests and usually eat later after the guests are properly fed.
4.	As a guest, as a sign of honor and respect, one feels at home.	As a guest, one has to be reserved and restricted.

 




Food and Eating Habits

Food habits and types of food are absolutely different in both cultures which represents their communicative behaviors. If we talk about the food, there are different norms of serving and eating foods in both countries. Russians, during lunch, take three courses of food necessarily include soup, a main course and a sweet drink called kompot (a special Russian drink made of fruit, sugar and water). Similarly, while hosting special lunches and dinners, they have three courses i.e. cold table, hot table and sweet table. The cold table includes salads, sandwiches and other snacks. The hot table is always meat and/or beef and/or fish, preferably served with potatoes, rice etc. The sweet table includes cakes, fruits and any other sweets served with tea, coffee or kompot. Contrary to aforementioned, in Pakistan there are not multiple courses of food specifically categorized like in Russia. However, different types of food (main course, sweets, salad) are usually offered when guests are being hosted or even in routine at home. A variety of food is not witnessed in Pakistani society. Most commonly, there may be two courses offered on special dinners or lunches in Pakistan. Russian people like to have variety in food. Many different types of food may be served in one course, counting from a minimum of three to tens. Usually, in Pakistan, people prefer spicy, fried food and soft drink and soda. While in Russia, people like baked or steamed food lesser spices and oil and soft drink and soda are not popular. Based on the religious concept, alcoholic drinks are prohibited in Pakistan while in Russia, they are usually on the table. Descriptive analysis is made in table 4.




 

 

Table 4. Comparative analysis of communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies regarding food habits.

S. No	Russian Society	Pakistani Society
1.	There are three courses of food for main lunch or dinner called "Cold Table," "Hot Table," and "Sweet Table."	There are two courses of food for lunch and dinner, usually normal food followed by a sweet dish.
2.	There is a wide variety of food at one event.	There is less variety of food at one event as extravagance (?????) is prohibited due to religious norms.
3.	Russians usually take a long time to sit at dining tables while taking food and discussing social, economic and political aspects in general. The illness and particular stomach diseases are not discussed at the table. It is considered impolite to leave the host's home just after finishing a meal or need to inform the host about it beforehand.	Pakistani people usually do not talk much at the dining table. This norm has a religious connection as talks and discussion while eating is prohibited in Islam. It is not considered impolite to leave the host's home just after finishing the meal and usually people do not mind much about it.
4.	Potato is the most liked vegetable presented on almost every important dinner or lunch with fish or meat.	Potato is considered a cheaper food item not served as the main food item. Usually, dishes made of meat, chicken or fish are offered on special event lunches or dinners.
5.	The main course includes cereals, pulses, and soups (specifically borshch). Meat, chicken or fish are not considered a symbol of status or respect but depend on the taste or liking of the individual.	Meat, chicken or fish is shown as a status symbol while hosting guests.
6.	Alcoholic drinks can be served to the guests at the dining table, usually at dinner.	Alcoholic drinks are prohibited as per religious guidelines and restrictions.
7.	Outcomes of personal meetings in which food is served do not depend on food but are based on friendly discussion and close conversation.	Outcomes of personal meetings in which food is offered sometimes depend on the quality and quantity of food.

 




Gifting

It is necessary to separately consider the manner, norms and etiquette of presenting gifts in both countries. Russian people feel pleasure in giving and taking gifts and there is a Russian proverb describing this custom i.e. "it is more pleasure to give gifts rather than to accept." If any guest is invited, it is almost considered compulsory for any common individual (male or female) of a Russian family to bring a gift with them for the host, especially on the first visit. Usually, in Russia, gifts are not wrapped; however, expensive gifts may be wrapped. In Pakistan, gifts are usually wrapped. There is also the concept of returning gifts i.e. if a person presents a gift to another person, then he or she also expects a gift of the almost same quality or quantity from the other side. In Russia, gifts are usually opened in the presence of guests who present them, whereas, in Pakistan, gifts are mostly wrapped and usually not opened in the presence of the guests. In Russia, watches, knives, scissors, forks and other sharp objects are not gifted. However, there is no such constraint in Pakistani society. Unlike in Pakistan, flowers are considered one of the most important and valuable gifts in Russia and they may be gifted in the situation of happiness as well as sorrow or mourning. A detailed analysis in this regard is given in table 5. 




 

Table 5. Comparative analysis of communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani societies while gifting to each other.

S. No	Russian Society	Pakistani Society
1.	Common gifts are flowers, chocolate and wine. On marriages and birthdays, money can also be gifted. Money is directly gifted to the newly wedded brides and grooms and not their parents.	Common gifts are cake, special sweets in different varieties called Mithai (??????) and flowers. In marriages, money is usually gifted (in envelopes) to the parents of newly wedded brides and grooms.
2.	Gifts are usually not wrapped when they are presented in Russian societies but expensive gifts may be packed and properly wrapped. Once gifts are presented to the children, they are usually opened in the absence of guests, however; gifts presented to the adults may be opened in the presence of guests.	Gifts are mostly wrapped when presented and usually not opened in the presence of the guests. Gifts are demarked with names to whom they are to be presented. Separate gifts may be given by the same family to the addressee i.e. a separate gift from grandmother and grandfather etc.
3.	Eatable gifts are presented and they are opened in front of the guest and are served to the guests who gifted them.	Eatable gifts are usually not opened in front of the guests who presented them and are usually not offered to the guests and the person who gifted them.
4.	Watches are usually not gifted.	Watches can be gifted.
5.	Knives, scissors, forks and other sharp objects cannot be gifted.	Knives, scissors, forks and other sharp objects can be gifted.
6.	A handkerchief is not gifted as it is considered a sign of sorrow, grief and tears.	A handkerchief can also be gifted and it is considered a sign of cleanliness.
7.	Wallets are gifted but empty wallets are usually not gifted and some money can be placed in them.	An empty wallet can be gifted.
8.	Flowers are considered a very important and precious gift.	Flowers are not considered important and precious gifts.
9.	Flowers as a gift are considered both for sharing the joy as well as sorrow. Besides happy moments, flowers can be presented at the events of mourns, funerals or any other event of sorrow and grief. They are never presented in the hospitals to a sick person except at the birth of newborns.	Flowers are only considered a symbol of joy and happiness and hence cannot be presented in the events of mourns, funerals or any other sorrowful events. Flowers are also gifted to the invited guests to show respect and gratitude. They are also presented to the patients in hospitals, symbolically wishing patients to get well soon.
10.	Flowers are always gifted in odd numbers on normal occasions of joy. They are gifted in even numbers on funerals and remembering days of death and they are only placed on the graves at the graveyard and not at homes.	Flowers, usually in the form of bunches, are gifted regardless of their numbers at only occasions of happiness and joy. They cannot be gifted or presented during the deaths, mourning or on the occasions of grief.
11.	Gifts are not presented in advance to any event.	Gifts can be presented in advance to any event, for example, birthday or new year, Eid festivals etc.
12.	Traditionally, it is considered bad luck to present a pregnant woman with a baby gift until the baby is born. However, personal gifts can be given to the pregnant woman.	A gift for a baby can be given to a pregnant woman before the baby is born.

Special Events and Festivals

In Russia, birthdays and New Year are considered the most important events in the country, though there are many other festivals and events of national and religious importance. It is a mandatory and moral obligation to wish for a birthday and New Year. However, in Pakistan, "Eids" are considered the most important events and festivals in the country and are rigorously celebrated. Festivals of Eid have a religious connection. There are two most important festivals called Eid and both have their cultural and religious significance and demands. Other religious, cultural, and regional events and festivals are also celebrated in Pakistan. In Russia, at the national level, events and festivals such as the 9th of May are celebrated as Victory Day and the 9th of June every year as Russia Day. On a personal level, it is considered very important to gift on the eve of new years and birthdays regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or religion. On the contrary, gifts are usually given in Pakistan on birthdays of children or the teen ages only and not to the adults, though some exceptions are there. Money in the form of cash is also given as a gift in Pakistan. Whereas in Russia, it is money gifted only on birthdays and marriages and rest of the occasions, such as New Year, Women's day and etc., money is not gifted. In Russia, it is considered indecent and sometimes unacceptable to say a birthday or a New Year wishes in advance or beforehand to the event. 

Communication

Russians are usually very open-minded and friendly in nature. They communicate informally with close acquaintances; however, in Pakistan, communication is usually formal with close acquaintances and elderly relatives due to elements of respect which is more dominating than frankness during communication. In Islamic culture, it is unapproved and religiously and culturally unacceptable to talk in a higher tone of voice with their elderly relatives or family friends. The situation is not true in Russia. While starting communicating, Russians usually smile when they are genuinely pleased to meet someone. However, smiling while communicating in Pakistan, especially with the opposite sex, is not considered good and acceptable religiously and culturally. Whistling inside houses is frowned upon as it is superstitiously thought to herald poor financial performance. Usually, in Russian culture, while focusing, an index finger is not pointed. A full hand (five fingers) or chin can be used for pointing out something during communicating. In Pakistan, pointing can be made in communication with a single finger. In Russia, communicating while putting hands in their pockets is considered a sign of disrespect. In contrast, in Pakistan, it can be practiced. In both countries, communications can be made either in standing or sitting positions. Nevertheless, in Russia, if the matter is about a short discussion between two persons, one of the communicators can be in the standing position while the other is in a sitting position and this is usually not the case in Pakistan.  

While comparing eye contact during communication, a number of inconsistencies were found in Russian and Pakistani communicative behaviors. The same is true for smiling while communicating with each other. In Russia, eye contact is obligatory while communicating as it is considered a sign of sincerity, but it is not customary for a long time to look directly into the interlocutor's eyes. It is regarded as aggression or assertiveness from the participant of communication. Russian speech etiquette suggests that the interlocutors in the process of conversation should look at each other's faces without fixing their eyes. It is indecent for a more or less long time to look away, look at the floor, and turn away during a conversation since this is perceived as impolite, although for a short time, it can be done. In Pakistan, people try to avoid direct eye contact, especially between a man and a woman, and quite often (mainly in villages), one can observe how the interlocutors look away. In Pakistani culture, it is very difficult to say directly 'No' while Russians usually can say 'No' if they cannot help. It is considered wrong and unacceptable to talk to persons inside the room while standing on the door's threshold or at the doorstep in Russia, while in Pakistan, communications can be done with a person inside the room while standing on the threshold or doorstep.  




Conclusions and Recommendations

In this research, a comparative analysis of various aspects of communicative behaviors of Russian and Pakistani societies has been made in the context of the effective learning of the Russian language in Pakistan. Learning and understanding the aforementioned aspects of communicative behavior of Russian and Pakistani cultures will help tame and master Russian and Urdu languages in the absence of a learning environment. It has been observed that there are many important aspects discussed above which simply cannot be ignored while learning both languages as the meaning and understanding are sometimes opposite in both cultures and hence it is required to pay full attention to the aforementioned observations. As per analysis, in Pakistani culture, in communicative situations, a pronounced "vertical communicative behavior" was observed. However, in Russian culture, more "horizontal communicative behavior" was witnessed. For enhancing communication competence, the comparative analysis of communication behavior should be considered by the foreign language teachers and learners.

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