Thread: Do these russians have an accent?

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This is a rap troupe from Brighton Beach, the heavily Russian area of New York city. They're either natives of English or they've been here since they were children, because their English is without accent (it's easy to tell they speak without an accent in real life too).

Does their Russian contain any hint of an accent?

Here's what they're saying in English:

Hey, yo, welcome to the nation where friends don't last
You gotta watch your back before you get stabbed in it fast
Surrounded by criminals in the land of opportunity
We keep it moving here in the Russian community
Nothing but cutthroats, theives, and crooks
Seems like we're the only dudes who speak the truth
...You better show my the money like Jerry Maguire
(...I was too lazy to do the remainder)

No accent. Their Russian is good.

They have no accent. Really.

Originally Posted by Scrabus

They have no accent. Really.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

No accent. Their Russian is good.

Guess it just proves my comments right in that other thread (that I can't find)
about how Russian kids in America don't have accents. Go me.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

No accent. Their Russian is good.

Guess it just proves my comments right in that other thread (that I can't find)
about how Russian kids in America don't have accents. Go me.

They do have accents more often than not. The fact that these particular kids don't have one (go them) doesn't prove your point.

lol find a Russian kid who does. I bet the ratio is somewhere like 80% don't have accents to a 10% who may have either slight accents or limited vocabulary and 10% who have accents.

Just because you learn another language doesn't mean your first language just goes all to hell, especially if you speak it at home every day.

Why is everyone on this forum always so hesitant to give me credit?

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Why is everyone on this forum always so hesitant to give me credit?

Why it's always have to be about YOU?
My personal opinion has nothing to do with you. It's based on TV interviews with 'Russian' Americans I've seen, on Russians who lived abroad for 5-15 years I've met (ok, just 3 of them, but all three had accents, it was awful) and on other people's comments and opinions you can find throughout the Web.
Most of them agree that only about 20-30% of Russians living abroad since early age don't have accents. I have no idea how I can find you one. I think your chances to succeed are better.

I wish there were any statistics on the matter, it would be interesting. Without it there's no chance to say for sure who's right, but what I know now is that a foreigner of Russian descent without an accent is often percieved as a miracle: "У него даже нет акцента!"

While "Russians' with accent don't surprise anybody, they get only cursory mention. Here are a few exerpts from various articles:

Софья Васильева. Сибирячка с американским акцентом.
...НЕСМОТРЯ на заметный акцент, юная актриса считает себя русской. Родилась Соня в американском штате Миннесота. Ее родители, ученые из Новосибирска, покинули Россию в начале 90-х ...

http://enisei.aif.ru/issues/446/15_01?print

.... (поразительно, но даже русские люди, поучившись в русских же протестантских семинариях, начинают говорить по русски с американским акцентом).

http://pokrova.orthodoxy.ru/library/kur ... ant-22.htm

Михаил Смолянский с женой и маленькой дочерью приехал в США в 1976 г. [...] ..."Мы, как русская семья, знаем, что эмигрантам трудно найти работу и трудно находиться среди американцев", - говорит Юлия с акцентом: русский для нее уже не вполне родной язык.

http://www.businesspress.ru/newspaper/a ... 31196.html

Russian descent without an accent is often percieved as a miracle: "У него даже нет акцента!"

I've heard this about me before :P

Why it's always have to be about YOU?

Well not just ME but a lot of the time ME. Often I say things and people just overlook or dismiss them here and then someone else will say the exact same thing and people are like OMG THATS SO COOL GUY! its just annoying.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

... then someone else will say the exact same thing and people are like OMG THATS SO COOL GUY!

Yeah, that must be annoying. Сочувствую.

Мне далеко идти не надо. Племяннику было четыре года, когда он сюда приехал. Говорит по-русски с сильным акцентом. Я перехожу на английский, чтобы он меня понял. Его сестре было семь, её русский лучше, но всё равно с акцентом. Дома они в детстве говорили по-русски.

кстати возвращаясь к топику
у них не акцент, у них говор если считать относительно Москвы

By the way I determined the Russian intonation even when they spoke English. I quickly determined that their native language is Russian even withount any Russian word. Cant imagine how their English could sound "native" if even for me, native Russian speaker their Russian accent is evident.