Thread: Do Russians like American accents in spoken Russian?

i have an American friend who has to speak Russian very often... When we hear him speaking with someone Russian on the phone, we can barely hold laughter. The thing is if an American is not trained to develop Russian pronunciation s/he will have a thick accent. In my opinion, they found funny. In the same way, Russians speaking English also sound funny if not trained how to pronounce English sounds and develop rhythm, intonation, etc.

Originally Posted by alexsms

i have an American friend who has to speak Russian very often... When we hear him speaking with someone Russian on the phone, we can barely hold laughter. The thing is if an American is not trained to develop Russian pronunciation s/he will have a thick accent. In my opinion, they found funny. In the same way, Russians speaking English also sound funny if not trained how to pronounce English sounds and develop rhythm, intonation, etc.

This applies with every accent of course. It's especially funny when things are seriously mispronounced or with different pronunciation mean something different. One example is the word писать (when "a" isn't stressed, its meaning changes to "urinate"). I remember during Russian class one of the students said (with a heavy Vietnamese accent) said: "я писаю на бумагу сейчас" and of course he meant to say "I am writing on paper" and the teacher understood that, but she herself is Russian, so she has been used to "пишу" since early childhood. She cracked up laughing, and tried to hold it back, but just couldn't do it. The moral of the story is be careful with foreign languages and pronunciation cause sometimes it means something very different. I am talking mostly to tourists but this applies to everyone. This is not new advice but it goes good with this story. BE CAREFUL KIDS

Я была́ о́чень впечатлена от посо́ла, и честно я могла́ понима́ть его́ лу́чше чем носи́телем языка́. Он говори́т ме́дленный и я́сно. как должно.

Originally Posted by Valda

Я была́ о́чень впечатлена послом, и, честно говоря, я смогла понять (or поняла) его́ лу́чше чем носи́телей языка́. Он говори́т ме́дленно и я́сно. Как должно.

Это всегда так. Говорить на неродном языке гораздо проще с теми, для кого этот язык тоже неродной. Международный английский я понимаю гораздо лучше, чем американский, или британский. Не говоря уже об австралийском.

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Не говоря уже об австралийском.

Australian pronunciation can really be awful (sorry to any of you Australian users!). As an American, sometimes I can't even understand them. It's not so much the way they pronounce their sounds, it's the way they completely omit so many of them in speech. Of course, there's reduction in every language, but Australians really take it to a whole new level.

По-мо́ему э́то зави́сит к хоро́шему произноше́нию (enunciation), и не обяза́тельно к ме́сту рожде́нию.

Спаси́бо для погребко́в

Originally Posted by Valda

По-мо́ему э́то зави́сит к хоро́шему произноше́нию (enunciation), и не обяза́тельно к ме́сту рожде́нию.

Спаси́бо для погребко́в

По-мо́ему,э́то зави́сит от хоро́шего произноше́ния, и необяза́тельно от ме́ста рожде́ния.

I think everybody is pleasantly surprised to hear native English speakers master a foreign language, including their own. It is well known that native English speakers don't usually have the same motivation to learn a foreign language. As a result only those who are genuinely interested and motivated even get as far as a half decent level of fluency... It is different for people who more or less have to learn English as a foreign language. It would probably be quite a novelty in Russia, to hear an American speak good Russian! Or an English person. I know an American who lives in London now, but lived in Moscow for 3 years before moving there. He only learnt a few words of Russian during this period, and said it was "impossible". He worked in banking and I suppose he was able to get by in English at work. I have noticed that American and British accents sound quite different in Swedish and in French. The British accent is less characteristic and could be mistaken for something else unless the person isn't very obviously British. The American accent is much more obvious since American English has some rather unique sounds that makes it stand out. But there are exceptions - I once heard an American speak beautiful French with only a very faint accent - obviously he'd made a big effort. Americans are usually outgoing and and friendly, so accent or no accent - that helps to make a positive impression!