Thread: Pimsleur - Level 1

I have a queston regarding the pronunciation of часо́в and часа́.
Why in Pimsleur I hear it as чисо́в and чиса́?
Even in google translate it seems to change from часа́ when the word is alone by itself, but it changes to чиса́ when I add the numbers.
Other resources like https://www.russianforfree.com/phrasebook-tell-time.php it always sounds like часа́.

So what am I missing? what is going on?

Originally Posted by pyc

I have a queston regarding the pronunciation of часо́в and часа́.
Why in Pimsleur I hear it as чисо́в and чиса́?
Even in google translate it seems to change from часа́ when the word is alone by itself, but it changes to чиса́ when I add the numbers.
Other resources like https://www.russianforfree.com/phrasebook-tell-time.php it always sounds like часа́.

So what am I missing? what is going on?

Unstressed syllables are just that... unstressed syllables, they don't get nearly as much effort from the speaker as the stressed ones do. In other words, they get mushed or in more technical terms "reduced." That's why it sounds like "чи" instead of "ча", /ча'са/ is just too much work it's not to say that all unstressed "а" get reduced like that, it's just that "ч", being a very soft consonant, absorbs the reduced vowel so much as to effectively sound like "чи." Unstressed "а" would sound a lot like "а" after hard consonants, just not that open and with less effort.

Other notable examples of vowel reduction are:

о -> а

Окно -> /ак'но/

е -> и

Берег - /'берик/

And regarding that link you posted. Now that I'm listening to it, it's clear the speaker there puts a lot of extra effort into sounding as coherent as she can possibly be, so that's why she "overpronounces" each and every syllable, besides she's basically spelling out each and every word syllable by syllable, I guess that's a beginner oriented video so she must be. We absolutely don't talk like that in real life though.

Thanks a lot.
Btw, in pimsleur they give the example, I want to eat as
Я хочу поесть

But in the Michel Thomas the teacher says:
Я хочу есть

Is it indistinct for the Russian speaker, or is it there some nuance between these?
Thanks a lot!

PS: I found the like button,haha