Thread: Speech archive

Is there an archive of Russian accents in Russian, similar to the GWU one with texts read by various native English and ESL speakers?

I'd like to be able to hear the difference between, say, a Maaskovite, someone from St. Petersburg, and a Georgian. Or a (stereotypical) Ukrainian, Estonian, and aristocratic Russian. Obviously not everyone from a place talks the same way. But there are general differences, and I'd like to pick up on some of the "extreme" accents that exist.

I've also wondered the same thing. Perhaps if no such archive exists, a few native Russians can record themselves parodying the extreme versions of such accents?

I've heard that the stereotypical Georgian accent pronounces all vowels clearly (where as in standard Russian not all vowels are pronounced clearly). Estonians are said to talk slow. In their language they actually have three phonemic vowel lengths...that may contribute to it.

I haven't heard these accents first-hand, though.

YOUTUBE is your friend.

Cacausian acents (Georgian, Armenian< Azerbaijanian, etc.) are very much alike.
Some typical features are distinctive "ч"/"ш" sounds (for example, "Ш" is soft - "хорошИй" instead of "хорошЫй"), intonation, unstressed vowels (for example, unstressed "o" is pronounced as very clear "a" - "дАрАгой" instead of "дорогой"), etc. Also often masculine forms of adjectives and verbs are used instead of feminine: "маленький девочка пошел в магазин".

Armenian actor with a strong accent (video from the Soviet movie "Mimino"):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2gCj1jbbti4

Fake Georgian accent (close to real one):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v1h8NnJVbf4

Tajik KVN team (the main guy speaks with accent, probably fake):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=W0L43kPPxdM

Baltic accents (and some others, like Finnish one) seem rather close. Distinct features - long vowels and intonation.

Урмас Отт (Estonian accent) anf Людмила Гурченко (slight Ukrainian accent - note "шо" instead of "что" and fricative "г"):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VDVYNDChJ3E

Диктор Рамазан Алибекович Рабаданов (из Дагестана?)

http://oper.ru/news/read.php?t=1051602680

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ErCDlvZaVOc

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Baltic accents (and some others, like Finnish one) seem rather close. Distinct features - long vowels ...

... and consonants.

Thank you! What about Russian regional accents (e.g. St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc.)?

Originally Posted by nishtyak

Russian regional accents (e.g. St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc.)?

Начинается.

Inhabitants of Moscow and St. Petersburg speak equal.

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by nishtyak

Russian regional accents (e.g. St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc.)?

Начинается.

Inhabitants of Moscow and St. Petersburg sound the same.