Quote Originally Posted by Sjoasja View Post
In my coursebook ( princeton course ) it says that 'e' and 'я' are reduced to 'schwa' (a sound that we don't have in Dutch, I believe, but from my understanding it's just saying 'yuh' with a very relaxed mouth and almost no breath).
Actually, Dutch has the schwa. Consider the Dutch word de /də/, or the verb ending -en /-ən/ in kennen or springen. Perhaps it will help you pronounce the reduced vowel - or schwa - correctly in Russian, as it is the same sound, which is found in your native language.