Originally Posted by Marcus
I don't know what you mean, saying about zebra pronounced sebra.

Quote Originally Posted by Doomer View Post
I picked this up from native English speakers, they were claiming that we have it
I tried to think about it and I have to say that it is partially true
That surprizes me too. Rather than arguing pointlessly, I suggest that we find out the reason.

Personally, I would hardly believe that the Russian word-initial "з" can ever sound as "s" to English-speakers.

Here's my explanation:
Yes, we do devoice our word-final voiced consonants:
"коз" and "кос" do sound the same, as well as "без" and "бес", "паз" and "пас" etc.

But as to the word-initial position, Russian voiced consonants are fully voiced, they involve an intense vocal chord activity, more intense than in English. So, it is more likely that a native Russian would hear English "zebra" as "sebra", "zone" as "sone", "zoo" as "soo". The reason is the English word-initial "z" has somewhat "a weaker voicing".
That's why the opposite cannot work: how can English-speakers hear a Russian saying "zebra" as "sebra"?

I can think of two possible explanations:
1. Some native Russians, maybe, do not know how the English "zebra" has to be pronounced and they might think there is a "S" sound in it.
2. Another possibility is a Russian may try imitating a native English pronunciation of this word. The difference between English "S" and "Z" is subtler than in Russian. A Russian hearing an English-speaker pronouncing "zebra" may perceive it as "sebra" and then repeat what he hears.