I was also afraid to write addresses in Chinese until I read how @Kanerva writes them by hand, and I tried, too, and the postcard was delivered really fast! (and I enjoyed copying Chinese characters)
Russian handwriting is much easier than it seems. After primary school we all develop individual handwriting which is usually a bizarre mix of cursive&printed letters, and no one cares about “correct” writing. For example, sometimes I write the letter “T” in one word both like “m” (cursive) and like minimized “T” (printed). Most of Cyrillic letters look exactly like Latin letters (some are minimized or maximized or mirrored) and the rest are rather simple geometric shapes. I think no one would object if the address will be in printed script instead of cursive - printed is easier to read
I wrote my address for Postcrossing with the country name on the last line (I don’t remember whether it was suggested by the example when I filled my profile or I wrote at first like it’s suggested by UPU and it was corrected later by the administration). For inner mail I don’t write the country name.
In practice our post is quite liberal about writing addresses. The postal code fastens the delivery (it’s the code of the local post office which depends on the city, street and sometimes also house No.) but if it’s omitted the post will add it (not a significant delay). If the address doesn’t fit on the card, the long line (ul., d., korp., kv.) can be split into two. Sometimes I write instead of, for example, “d.12, korp.3, kv.456” simple “12-3-456” (kinda unofficial writing but always delivered okay). Also if there are not enough lines for the address you can write the postal code&city on the same line.
Usually the country name is the last line for international mail, only Russia wants the postcode on the last line. The postcode is either on a separate line above the country name or on the same line as the destination city/town depending on the country.
For the Greek Post Office it is probably helpful to write the country in Greek letters and in latin letters (in case the post is misdirected to another country).
Usually the address provided by the postcrosser is in the correct format, but you can always check the specific required address format at the website of the Universal Postal Union as mentioned above, there is a pull-down list of all the countries that are members of the UPU: https://upu.int/en/Postal-Solutions/Programmes-Services/Addressing-Solutions#scroll-nav__5
Here’s a link to Russian Post rules for writing addresses (in Russian): https://www.pochta.ru/support/post-rules/write-address
I’m not sure whether the postal code is processed by machine if it’s handwritten not in the special postal code grid (example on the link above) printed on some postcards/envelopes.
(Btw, the full name (including patronym) is obligatory only for registered mail. If you write to Postcrosser who provided only username, it’s fine for postcards.)
In Russian the standard record of the full name is: last name, first name, patronymic.
In English we often write in Western style: first name, last name. I think, it depends on whichever style a person prefers/is used to.
Edit: Western style is also common in the media now.
I’ve noticed that in U.S. media, Russian names are Westernized by default. For Chinese and Korean names, the trend in the past ~10 years seems to be maintaining the “native” sequence of family name then given name.
Tennis is the best example: Always Maria Sharapova or Marat Safin. Never Sharapova Maria or Safin Marat. But Li Na and Na Li (when she was active) were used interchangeably.
@Oo_Hawkwind_oO, you don’t need to add a suffix to Russian names written in English. In Russian language the dative case answers the question “To whom?” (“Кому?”), so when you write to Иванов Иван Иванович, it transforms into Иванову Ивану Ивановичу. Case inflection for different names is different (Иванова Екатерина Ивановна -> Ивановой Екатерине Ивановне), depending on gender and postfix (word ending). Some family names (some foreign) are not inflected (it’s a tricky grammar thing in paperwork ).
@valdavid, I rarely watch the news, but I seem to remember that we also keep the original sequence for Asian names.
@yarrow, I’m just curious because in German names are exactly the same in the nominatve and the dative case. Angela Merkel schreibt Wladimir Putin einen Brief (Angela Merkel is writing a letter to Vladimir Putin), Wladimir Putin schreibt Angela Merkel einen Brief (Vladimir Putin is writing a letter to Angela Merkel).
@Oo_Hawkwind_oO, oh, that’s quite interesting. Does German have a fixed word order in sentences?
In Russian, these sentences will be “Angela Merkel pishet pis’mo Vladimiru Putinu” and “Vladimir Putin pishet pis’mo Angele Merkel”. But Russian has rather free word order (okay, if we try hard enough we could turn it into Yoda speech), so we can also say “Vladimiru Putinu pishet pis’mo Angela Merkel” and “Angele Merkel pishet pis’mo Vladimir Putin”. Changing word order may help place emphasis in a sentence. And the differences between the nominative and the dative cases preserve the meaning of the sentence.
(Some words doesn’t change in the dative case and it may cause ambiguity: “Mat’ vidit doch’” (“Mother sees daughter”, there are no articles in Russian) - without context it is unclear who sees whom.)
(I hope this doesn’t count as talking politics )
@helent, yes, any of the commas. For example, ul. Streetname, d. 111, kv. 222
or ul. Streetname, d. 111, kv. 222
Recently I received a postcard with printed address, and I saw an attempt to write my address under the sticker (a bit semitransparent), but only the street fit into the line. I was embarrassed by my long address )
@yarrow, no, we don’t have a fixed word order in German. Every German sentence consists of sentence components (subject, perdicate, object …). You are free to rearrange the sentence components but not all results are considered good German. Sometimes it reads like Yoda speech or the meaning changes or the sentence isn’t clear anymore.
Turn your attention to “to”! That is, how the grammatical inflections ar made in English and in German. But there are many languages, where no prefixes are used for the inflection but the word endings.
If I print out the address using Chinese characters on a label and am mailing from an English-speaking country, do I need to also put the English address for the postal workers here? I know this seems like a silly question, and as long as P.R. China is written in English, I think it will be fine. I think having the address written both ways will make it too crowded and potentially confusing. But just wanted to confirm! Thank you.
(and I enjoyed copying Chinese characters)
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Thank you.