Thread: Do Russians like American accents in spoken Russian?

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!

Originally Posted by it-ogo

American speaking Russian is quite rare phenomenon. American speaking grammatically correct Russian is very-very rare phenomenon. So I can say more or less what is heavy American accent in Russian but have no idea what is light American accent.

Can you really tell that the accent is "American" as opposed to just "foreign"?

Originally Posted by Ann

Can you really tell that the accent is "American" as opposed to just "foreign"?

Well, I definitely can distinguish it from, let us say, Chinese accent. (Unless, maybe, both of them are used simultaneously. ) Or some others.

Originally Posted by Ann

Can you really tell that the accent is "American" as opposed to just "foreign"?

Maybe not specifically American, but I'd say it's pretty easy to recognize an accent as English. The language has a rather atypical collection of sounds. For example, could you find that many examples of languages that have the same R,T,D, "er" sounds? Any, among popular languages, please . And that pounding rhythm typical of English speech, but foreign for Russian or, say, Japanese.