MovieChat Forums > Salt (2010) Discussion > No such Russian name

No such Russian name

posted 14 years ago by dragon_beauty
107 replies | jump to latest

This mistake is made in a lot of movies with Russian characters in it, over and over again. Often, if not always, the last names or even the first are completely unrealistic since they are simply incorrect and do not exist in Russian culture. I am Russian by birth, and I would know.

For instance, "Chenkov" is a male name. All Russian female last names that has a "v" towards the end have an "a", so the correct character's name would be "Chenkova".

I know, you would ask me, "So, who cares?" I do. And Russian viewers do. I can only imagine the reaction of russian audiences in Moscow movie theaters. "That's wrong", there would be shouts.

And mistakes like that are abundunt. And not just about names. And I am really tired of that, and irritated. And willing to work as a consultant on movies concerning Russian characters. :)

[–] dagaul101 14 years ago

I suppose it is symptomous of a badly researched script if the local speakers of the language can see glaring mistakesSource:Salt Moviehttp://moviereviews.noskram.com/2011/05/movie-reviews-salt

[–] Jerodast 14 years ago

I'm sure you're right and they were wrong, but there's a whole goofs section for little details like that! Which includes your goof. If you added it, kudos, but more to the point why post here? You just end up with a pissing contest about who knows Russian better or some BS, when it's already on record with IMDB.

[–] exatera 14 years ago

My first thought when I saw the title of this thread was that you would say that there is no such name as "Chenkov". I mean, seriously, have you ever heard a last name like that before this movie? (I am from Russia also.)

My karma ran over your dogma.

[–] magnidude 13 years ago

8 pages worth of posting and nobody picked the other goof? When Orlov introduces himself, Olbrychski says the name in the right patronimic form: "Oleg Vassilyevich Orlov" (which means "Oleg, son of Vassily, Orlov"). Then it shows on a CIA screen as "Oleg Vassily Orlov" (as if the guy had two first names) and then some CIA guy even reads it aloud as just that: "Oleg Vassily".

I mean, how hard could it be to get your main bad guy's freakin' name right, when you spend over 110 mln dollars on your film?

like a soul without a mind in a body without a heart

[–] Zlomov 9 years ago

Chenkov is soununds like just part of surname, not full. There should be something before Chenkov. Like Porechenkov, Ogurechenkov, Barsuchenkov etc.
Chenkov(a) for russian ear sounds like Ndrson instead Anderson, Sanderson, Manderson etc..

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SpiltPersonality 13 years ago

Firstly I admit I didn't really know the grammatical rules you're talking about here - and am not particularly bothered by it due to ignorance, but understand your point.

Secondly the thing I find interesting about this is that there are fictional writers (JRR Tolkien for example) who go to great effort to create a foreign language just so the audience can immerse themselves in realism, yet these writers don't even have to bother with that level of creativity... they just have to go to some local babushka (i notice the 'a' at the end :) ) and ask HER if the name is accurate.

Hell, with the way the ex-soviet union was mixed up you could possibly be giving a 'Russian' a Georgian name, which would create a whole new back-story!!!

Really, it's not hard, and since it's not hard it just smells of laziness.

SpiltPersonality

[–] cineastral 13 years ago

Daniel Olbrychski (Orlov) is Polish. He could have easily told the filmmakers the errors in naming because Polish names that follow similar rules.

[–] dragon_beauty 13 years ago

Exactly! So, why did not he? The whole thing is just laziness. The filmmakers do not care about "little" mistakes like that that might offend a "small" percentage of the audience.

[–] craftynative009 13 years ago

Obviously, they didn't want to use any of the money from their huge budget on hiring someone to research a lot of points in this movie. I can imagine how you feel. This same criticism about her name was posted by someone else and now when I watch this movie, I wince when I see her Russian name incorrectly spoken or displayed. It's a shame that so many movies are taken the audience as fools.

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration."--Claude Monet

[–] dragon_beauty 13 years ago

My point exactly. And it's not like such things are a big secret, it's just a matter of research and checking your facts. But the executives do not care about a small percentage of the audience that would notice. We do, though, and the percentage is not as small as they think.

[–] LusitanWanderer 13 years ago

I noticed that but then I saw all of her colleagues an they were all men, so I thought that she was raised as a flawless tough agent as the others (male).
I figured that they didnt want her to feel any different, she was like the rest of the children and all of them had to be perfect.

It would be possible that the americans involved didnt know about the 'adapting the name to the gender of the child' but Liev and some of the remaining cast (eastern european) wouldnt leave it be (I think).
I mean, I am far away from Eastern Europe and even I know that.

La jeunesse sait ce qu'elle ne veut pas avant de savoir ce qu'elle veut