[quote=Оля]
Quote Originally Posted by "сэи":3kl1mvod
But I can't remember an Italian r which is like Portuguese (I only studied Italian for a year though). And Spanish, close, but maybe a little softer.
I'd say that Spanish "r" is like Italian "r". Maybe there is a difference, but very slight. I'd never think that this sound can have something in common with Russian "х". More likely that Russian х is like Spanish j in "trabajo".

Quote Originally Posted by сэи
Wow. Why do they put the "a" like "э"?? That's not at all how it sounds...
Maybe it's a typo... That quoting is from an electronic version of the manual.[/quote:3kl1mvod]

It's the same reason why English A is often transliterated as Э in Russian.

Basically neither Russian A and Э are the same as the A in Amor. Russian A is too open. People pay too much attention to the way the letters look though and think. Oh, it's A in Portugues so it must be A in Russian too.

If we take the English example:

How to write the word 'Man' in Russian.

Ман or Мэн?

If a Russian said Ман it would be like marn (rhymes with barn)
Мэн sounds closer to the English word 'Man' than 'Ман' does.

Basically the English short A in Man, Pan, Tan, Can etc. is NOT a stressed Russian A.