Thread: What to do to speak like a native speaker?

If your Russian accent is strong, reducing it is an important thing to do, imho.
It does not sound particularly pleasant, and many ppl (especially older folks who lived through a Cold War, and are now in a position to give you job interviews and stuff) tend to be suspicious towards such speakers (unlike certain other accents, like British/Australian for example which has an inverse effect). Of course this is not universal, but it is still common enough.
On the other hand, a _slight_ accent is usually OK and some people will find it cute.

In addition to songs, I'd mention audiobooks - some of them are read very professionally, and it makes a _huge_ difference when you are trying to imitate or learn new sounds. George Guidall (e.g. American Gods by Neil Gaiman here, a great book btw) was particularly good in my opinion.
And yes, a "language coach" may help a lot - but only if she is good at it and knows what she is doing, and speaks very clearly.

A random native speaker is not going to help too much. Although if your accent is really strong she may still help, at least by locating things that you need to work on. But at some point people without training will not be able to do this anymore. They'd just be able to tell you that something is not right, but not exactly what, because some issues are rather obscure.

I'd like to (what's the word..) (oh right! echo) Anatoli's advice about singing. In another life this process helped me greatly to learn German, British, (some italian) and even English.

The "key" identifiers with accent are for one the beautiful russian R.
You will have to lose this, or rather it is a big chunk of a starting point if you do. (I believe telling someone to "lose their R" is sacralidge!)

Also, I understand your wanting to speak as a native would speak. Their are enough of us on here who are like that too. (only the other way around).


Personally,
I believe that russians who sound more english get higher paid jobs than those that don't (america).

But I still appreciate hearing the russian accent on the english language--

They are the same sound ...with a difference.
The difference is that yours is "complex"

(help here appreciated-also with "L"(I think))

You have to learn to not ...use your tounge to carry on the sound.

Even if you sound to yourself like a bleating sheep for a while, try this, and you will sound native with alot of practice.
sheesh! a tough explaination--anybody?

I think the Russian r is pretty in an accent.

Why is there so much space under my signature?

I'm not too worried about my accent. It's not very strong (at least I have no problems with R and TH). And I have nobody to TALK with in English anyway. But I'm not so sure about my grammar.
I know I make mistakes, but nobody corrects 'em.
What do you think about my grammar and vocabulary, analyzing my posts. What should I pay attention to?

Originally Posted by TriggerHappyJack

Why is there so much space under my signature?

I think maybe because of the length of your last signature. Try deleting this one and saving profile. Then go back in and repost it.

huh??? I dunno....

Originally Posted by mariashara

but nobody corrects 'em.
What do you think about my grammar and vocabulary, analyzing my posts. What should I pay attention to?

I have problems with translating religious text in English, but it's something like that:

правильно: but it's something like this:

--------------------------------
Once one guy asked me to translate russian word, which sounded to him like "bibizi". It turned out to be "priblizitel'no"
правильно: ...to translate a russian word...
----------------------------------------------------
Russian surname of the same origin is Klimov. And it's common enough.
правильно: A Russian surname..
правильно: The Russian surname..
(depending on context)
----------------------------------
Word запонимал doesn't exist, though it sounds like some form of понимать.

правильно: The word запонимал doesn't exist, ...
----------------------------------

You should pay attention to placing "the" and "a" (are these articles? I don't even know) with the subject of the sentence particularly.

They are very small mistakes. You ARE very good otherwise.

Thanks a lot!!! I'll work on my articles.

Originally Posted by mariashara

I'm not too worried about my accent. It's not very strong (at least I have no problems with R and TH). And I have nobody to TALK with in English anyway. But I'm not so sure about my grammar.
I know I make mistakes, but nobody corrects 'em.

Mariashara, I am happy to speak with you sometime on skype chat?
We could find something to chatter about?

The download page is : http://www.skype.com/products/skype/win ... oload=true

If this doesn't work, just search the internet or google keyword "skype"
If you do not want to or are too shy I will not be offended.

I did notice a problem with Skype in that my computer would freeze after about 15 minutes of conversation. I am saying so ahead of time...just in case. I think it is my "low memory" computer; but I did notice that Skype put out a new version to fix "bugs" so...maybe it was that. But, I can't tell yet, because my speaking partner is not back from their family vacation for me to try the new program. But, the sound quality is MUCH better than on ICQ, and is in real time, opposed to "your turn/my turn" time.

I learn alot from this person this way. We speak on Skype and simultaneously type out errors or ask for clarification via ICQ. It is very great because it helps me to move forward. Send an email if you would like to try this sometime. I think it would be great to also speak with a female russian because it could help me too with my own female voice within the russian language.

Bye!

And your welcome for the article help! I don't usually post on the same threads as you I guess, or I've missed the conversations, so.. maybe those people that do will answer your "please correct my mistakes" signature more often. Or maybe, it is that your mistakes are very small and people either miss them, (I think the English tend to "lose" their articles when communicating with Russians as a side-effect), or maybe more closely, people may have a tendency (english) to NOT correct somebody who isn't making GLARING DETRIMENTAL ERRORS. It is something a few of us could unlearn-myself included. I am glad you have your signature as being one that reassures others to do something, or reminding others to remember something for you that is important to you-such as-correct me please. It is ALWAYS a good thing to respect others when they ask for a simple help such as this. That is what the forum is for, right?

That's a great opportunity for me. Thank you. But you are right, I feel shy a bit, so I need some time to get used to the thought.
Feeling shy is a common problem of those, who studied English in Soviet public schools, as I did. Teachers terrorized us for every mistake, so we learned better keep silent than to say something wrong.
I'll be glad, if you mail me. And I will not be offended, if you don't.
mariashara@ukr.net

Originally Posted by mariashara

Teachers terrorized us for every mistake, so we learned better keep silent than to say something wrong.

cool...

правельно: ...so we learned that is better to keep silent than to say something wrong.

правильно: ...so we learned "to better keep silent," than to say something wrong. *

*(I think this is the one you may have been saying, and it is very close to my own speech, only, I added the punctuation to indicate quickly to the reader that you are describing (to better keep silent) as a thing in and of itself so that they do not need to read it twice. (dare I say the phrase to an outsider is in and of itself: a noun; a thing; a concept pre-packaged and handed to another for their understanding of the 'thing that is: to better keep silent'). My high-school aged child says that it is grammatically correct, but we are not English teachers.


Both are as correct as we possibly know how.
Disclaimer: correct me if I am wrong.

Originally Posted by DagothWarez

Originally Posted by Vesh

Явлинский ИМХО вполне нормально говорит по-русски.

Я имел в виду его английский. Довелось слушать его перлы по BBC, принеприятнейшие впечатление.

Yavlinsky's English is not too bad for a politician. Mind you, he is not a linguist. If more Russian politicians could speak English as well as him, it would be better.

Originally Posted by mariashara

Teachers terrorized us for every mistake, so we learned better keep silent than to say something wrong.

Not very good conditions to learn under.

Well, I'm not Ms Perfect English, but as a native speaker I would be happy to look at anything emailed to me -- life stories, filthy poetry, whatever you've got -- and make corrections and suggestions about written and spoken English.

I am in no way terrifying and I won't laugh at you (at least you'll never see me laughing at you ) If interested, just PM me so I can give you a faster email address than the one here. Maybe someday I'll get some similar help with my Russian (I'm a bit shy too.)

Originally Posted by DDT

Originally Posted by mariashara

Teachers terrorized us for every mistake, so we learned better keep silent than to say something wrong.

Not very good conditions to learn under.

It is better to make a mistake and learn from that mistake, than to keep silent and learn nothing.

Given the option, I'd vote for intonation. It's no rocket science but people tend to overlook it. I've heard many people with perfect Russian pronunciation (much better than that of most native speakers including myself) who were nevertheless easily identified as non-natives only because their intonations were wrong.

Originally Posted by Doldonius

...It's no rocket science but people tend to overlook it...

If only Russian was as easy as rocket science... sigh...

Originally Posted by kwatts59

It is better to make a mistake and learn from that mistake, than to keep silent and learn nothing.

My guess is that in the land of Victorious Proletariat it was the main task of the schools, to never let nobody learn no nothing...

Originally Posted by Doldonius

Originally Posted by kwatts59

It is better to make a mistake and learn from that mistake, than to keep silent and learn nothing.

My guess is that in the land of Victorious Proletariat it was the main task of the schools, to never let nobody learn no nothing...

What does your remark mean, Doldonius? Does it help you if you slander your country and what does it have to do with the topic in question?

i think loosing the accent is the first thing..