# Forum Other Languages English for Russians - Изучаем английский язык Practice your English  my attempt of speaking in English

## Оля

Here's my attempt of speaking in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrwGaXWkjk 
Don't pay attention to the picture - I just attached the audio track to some video file so that youtube could recognize the file as a video. 
So, guys, what do you say about me speaking English?  :: 
My especial question is: how would you characterize the accent you hear in the track? _Does it sound Russian_?

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## rockzmom

> Here's my attempt of speaking in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrwGaXWkjk 
> Don't pay attention to the picture - I just attached the audio track to some video file so that youtube could recognize the file as a video. 
> So, guys, what do you say about me speaking English? 
> My especial question is: how would you characterize the accent you hear in the track? _Does it sound Russian_?

 I am VERY impressed!! I had to listen to it only twice to understand all of your words. The first time I had trouble with the "Sherlock Holmes," yet when I listened to it again, it was clear as a bell to me. 
As for how you sound, there are some letters and words that come across "Russian" sounding or just not "American" sounding. Such as: "love" "was" "world" "as a lover" "spoke" 
On the whole though, if you were to be in the States and ask someone for directions or have a conversation, you would do fantastically. You would be understood and be able to get your point across just fine. I NEVER again want to hear/see you say you can't speak ENGLISH missy!!!

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## Оля

> I NEVER again want to hear/see you say you can't speak ENGLISH missy!!!

 He he.  ::  To "speak" and to read some text from a book after a lot of training (and yet making a native to hear it *twice* to understand all the words   ::  ) is not the same thing.   ::   
But, to be honest, I assume that the words you mentioned ("love", "world") could sound just British. Well, at least I HOPE so.   ::

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## alexB

It’d be great if any or all of you our native English speaking friends showed us how that monologue should sound in a genuine native speaking fashion.   ::

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## Оля

> It’d be great if any or all of you our native English speaking friends showed us how that monologue should sound in a genuine native speaking fashion.

 I also think that some more comments from other native speakers would be great, but it seems that... Well, like always.   ::   This forum section is too "far".   ::

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## rockzmom

> It’d be great if any or all of you our native English speaking friends showed us how that monologue should sound in a genuine native speaking fashion.

 I will accept that challenge; however, I may not be able to do it until Monday! 
Olya, will you be a dear and post the script for me so that I don't have to transcribe it? 
Also, Olya... I had older daughter listen to you... She said that you have a beautiful voice and that you speak better English than some people she has heard who have been here 20 years!!!    ::

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## Lynn

Sounds quite good, Оля.  I'll leave the vowels for the British members to comment on, but otherwise the most noticeable accent (по-моему) is on the Rs, as in "reasoning and observing" and "world," for example. But the Rs in "sneer" and "particularly" are spot-on!   

> My especial question is: how would you characterize the accent you hear in the track? _Does it sound Russian_?

 You don't sound strongly Russian to me. Knowing that you are, though, my guess would be that you're perhaps somewhere east of European Russia... but it's a pretty wild and uneducated guess so I hope I'm not too embarrassingly wrong.    

> It’d be great if any or all of you our native English speaking friends showed us how that monologue should sound in a genuine native speaking fashion.

 I don't know how "genuine" my American English is for Arthur Conan Doyle, but here you go. Hopefully a Brit will step up and give us a proper rendition!  
Once natural speed, once slower and more articulated:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/tdvhnu...al%20speed.wav  http://www.mediafire.com/file/m2jjmi...a%20slower.wav

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## sperk

> So, guys, what do you say about me speaking English? 
> My especial question is: how would you characterize the accent you hear in the track? _Does it sound Russian_?

 I would never have guessed that you're Russian with that British accent. Sorry, I don't have the technology (a microphone and recording software) to do recordings.

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## Оля

> I would never have guessed that you're Russian with that British accent.

 Thank you.   ::   
Since it's practically impossible to find a British English speaker on our forum, I asked a Brit on another site. He told me that I sound like a French who has been living in England for a long time.   ::   
I also wonder if I could trick Americans telling them I'm from England.  :"":

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## scotcher

I agree with your friend. I understood everything you said, but you sound French. I think it's your intonation as much as your pronunciation.

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## alexB

> I don't know how "genuine" my American English is for Arthur Conan Doyle, but here you go. Hopefully a Brit will step up and give us a proper rendition!  
> Once natural speed, once slower and more articulated:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/tdvhnu...al%20speed.wav  http://www.mediafire.com/file/m2jjmi...a%20slower.wav

 I’m not sure about what the real problem is but my download manager says that there’re no requested files at the server.
Maybe it’s that usual thing where Russia is shunned by the outside world and all those bears habitually roaming the Red Square make western servers suspicious of us as to not letting us have our share of their precious secret packed files?  ::

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## Lynn

> I’m not sure about what the real problem is but my download manager says that there’re no requested files at the server.
> Maybe it’s that usual thing where Russia is shunned by the outside world and all those bears habitually roaming the Red Square make western servers suspicious of us as to not letting us have our share of their precious secret packed files?

 Oy, I checked again and it downloaded okay for me so, yeah, it's probably the bears.  
Does this work?
natural speed: http://rcpt.yousendit.com/732532795/fbd ... 820fa63637
slowly: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/732533137/37 ... 6b31e589e0 
If that doesn't work, maybe we should try microfiche like in a Cold War spy novel...

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## Lynn

It's been pointed out to me that the yousendit links aren't working either, at least in Russia, so one more attempt:  http://ifolder.ru/13753511  http://ifolder.ru/13753501

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## translationsnmru

Hmm the mediafire links worked just fine for me. I guess the bears in my part of Moscow aren't quite as as scary as those in other places.

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## Lampada

> Hmm the mediafire links worked just fine for me. I guess the bears in my part of Moscow aren't quite as as scary as those in other places.

 It does not work for me:  "The page cannot be found "

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## alexB

> Does this work?

 No glitches on yousendit and ifolder, all worked fine, keep the microfiche up your sleeve for a more special occasion then. Thanks for your trouble.
Once more I have mistaken someone on this forum for a person of the opposite sex, in case yours is female, that is.  ::

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## translationsnmru

> Originally Posted by translationsnmru  Hmm the mediafire links worked just fine for me. I guess the bears in my part of Moscow aren't quite as as scary as those in other places.   It does not work for me:  "The page cannot be found "

 You must have brought your personal bears with you to the USA!   ::

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## Hanna

I just saw this now...  *You sound charming!* 
Well done!  
Sure, you've got an accent, but it's not ugly. 
I can tell that it's a Slavic accent, but that's all. 
You definitely have a pleasant voice. The more you practice the better you'll get.   *
Your intonation is exceptionally good I think.*  _One of the biggest problems that the Russian speaking people on Livemocha seemed to have was that they emphasised the wrong word in the sentence when they read in English. I don't know why, but it can make sentences sound very strange. You do not make this common mistake._  
I did not hear any words that you pronounce wrongly.  
You sound a little bit like the Russian woman who reads the "Michel Thomas Advanced Russian" course. She is speaking both Russian and English in the recording, and she speaks English with a British/Russian accent. Her voice including the accent is very pleasant.  You can listen to her here: http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/pro...BK_MICH_000062 
Eventually I am sure you will sound just as good!    _PS - If you're ever desperate for a British English female recording, pm me with the text. I sound English with a standard accent (people ususally do not notice that I am not English). Only trouble is where to upload the recording to... It'd have to be Rapidshare or something...  _

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## Winifred

I've drifted away, for awhile, but will try to attend more to my Russian. 
Oля, I must agree with Johanna and rocksmom, you sound charming and your accent is very light.  
Trying to put my finger on exactly where it is, I think that, primarily, you still have a Russian "XO/ O;" it's fuller than an English or American one  (I've always liked the sound, actually), as in "whole" and "love," "would." Your mouth and cheeks should be fairly flat, don't hold air in your cheeks at all.  
The accent is extremely light, though, and in America you would be thought mysteriously exotic.

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## Оля

Thank you all for your opinions. Actually I hear now that I pronounced the word "spoke" very very badly. It's even surprising because usually I can pronounce that word and that sound very very well.   ::

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## Hanna

You just need to stick with it now...  Your written English is already very good, so it's time you start tackling spoken English (since you "admitted" earlier that you have neglected it... ) When I get better at Russian, perhaps we could chat on Skype..  
Anyway, one way to practice is to select an interesting text and then listen to it being read by a native speaker. Then you just read it back in the exact same way, or as close as you can...  
The other thing for you to decide is whether you want to speak with a British or American accent. They are quite different as you know, so it's an important decision. You should settle for one or the other. Within British English there are lots of different accents. One good way of learning about the UK and getting a good British accent is to listen to BBC Radio 4 which is available on the BBC website.   _Here is an example of a conversation (interview) between an English and an American woman. Both are clearly very well educated and this (plus their backgrounds) affects their accents. They are talking about the book "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" which is based on a real story and was recently turned into a film with Keira Knightley. I haven't seen this film but I have heard it's one of the best British films of lately._  
[video:3gwd1sdr]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woQ12Z7Jv_Q[/video:3gwd1sdr] 
[video:3gwd1sdr]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9Zzfy5rQY[/video:3gwd1sdr]

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## Оля

> The other thing for you to decide is whether you want to speak with a British or American accent. They are quite different as you know, so it's an important decision.

 Well, of course, I definitely want to speak with a British accent. I thought it was clear from my clip.  :: 
To be honest, I just can't stand the American pronunciation (sorry, Americans   ::  ). But I can parody it, and people say I do it well.   ::

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## Lampada

> Well, of course, I definitely want to speak with a British accent. I thought it was clear from my clip. 
> To be honest, I just can't stand the American pronunciation (sorry, Americans   ). But I can parody it, and people say I do it well.

 Правильный выбор, хотя, боюсь, ты англичанам всё равно не угодишь своим произношением.  А американцы к любому акценту относятся дружелюбно и даже с симпатией.

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## Hanna

GOOD CHOICE! (Yes, I kind of guessed that, but you never know... ) 
That's what I learnt to speak, and what's more, for various reasons I learnt the "recieved pronounciation" English.  The trouble now is that many people think that I am an extremely posh English person when I speak. I was pretty shocked when I realised that, and I actually tried to get some of my accent back, since I am not in fact English, or even very posh!   
The English have terrible hangups about accents. Posh people look down on working class people (who speak differently). And the working class people consider the middle and upper class people to be arrogant snobs...  This is beginning to change a little bit, but it's still a very real issue. As soon as somebody opens their mouth other British people can immediately tell what the speaker's social background is...  
(I guess that you don't have this problem (anymore) in Russia, thanks to Lenin, lol !! Or? Is there any form of "accent snobbery" in Russian?)   
Foreigners are excluded from this British accent snobbery and prejudice. So it's actually good to have a faint accent.  That Russian woman I mentioned earlier for example -- British people would love her accent and assume she was very sophisticated and intelligent (which she probably is...)

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## translationsnmru

> The English have terrible hangups about accents. Posh people look down on working class people (who speak differently). And the working class people consider the middle and upper class people to be arrogant snobs...  This is beginning to change a little bit, but it's still a very real issue. As soon as somebody opens their mouth other British people can immediately tell what the speaker's social background is...

 "An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him.
The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him"
"My Fair Lady", 1964  :: .

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## Hanna

_@translationsmru: Awesome that you can quote Shaw like that! It's kind of true though although they are beginning to realise that the situation as it is is wrong and actually bad for the country. Princes William and Harry for instance are trying not to speak "Queens English" (to everyones amusement).  But the importance of accent is one of the main reasons parents pay for private schools - to make sure the kids get the right accent._  
I would recommend people who are interested in having a British accent to watch British films and listen to British audio books or BBC Radio 4.   _I am sure some British person reading this is thinking "Oh that will make them sound like snobs... " (or something like that). But before you write a response to complain about this, consider the alternatives! It's better for the ESL learner to sound sophisticated than like a yob, right? But by all means, if anybody wants a British working class accent - just emulate the accent in the soap operas "East Enders" or "Coronation Street"._  
There are two UK specific torrent trackers which has only British media, but lots and lots of it. The sites are http://www.thebox.bz (everything that is, erm.... not really paid for...) and http://www.uknova.com/wsgi/torrent (TV programs and radio recordings, completely legal) 
[video:27yyi2xe]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_-tplx5Fu0[/video:27yyi2xe]
[video:27yyi2xe]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGlNykQ_AU[/video:27yyi2xe]

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## Оля

> боюсь, ты англичанам всё равно не угодишь своим произношением.

 А я к ним вряд ли когда-нибудь попаду.  ::     

> (I guess that you don't have this problem (anymore) in Russia, thanks to Lenin, lol !! Or?

 You're right, we haven't.
Well, some times some people can sound uneducated... Or just drunk.   ::  
But we don't have any classes, or any other evident social differences.

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## translationsnmru

> [i]*@translationsmru:* Awesome that you can quote Shaw like that!

 I wasn't actually quoting Shaw. Those lines were written by whoever wrote the book for the Broadway musical on which the 1964 film (the one with Audrey Hepburn) was based  :: .

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## E-learner

With the Russian language, you are posh if you know what is the gender of the word "кофе", where is the stress in the word "звонит" and you know the difference between "одевать" и "надевать".

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## paulb

Just a word about accents and pronunciation in general. 
There are two different things one could strive for in this area. First is general competence in the sense of being able to speak without being misunderstood. There are a variety of issues at this level, including things like being able to correctly distinguish the vowel sounds in "sheep" and "ship" or "sat" and "set". Difficulties in this area of speaking can lead to misunderstandings. Rhythm, stress, and intonation are also parts of speaking which can lead to misunderstandings (e.g. the intonation of questions is very different in Russian vs English). 
The second level one might want to strive for is to speak just like a native, i.e. no noticeable accent. There are a variety of reasons someone might wish to pursue this, but for most learners it really is not and should not be important. Having an accent just tells people you are not a native speaker, which is true. If you can speak without grammatical errors and without badly mispronouncing words, those who are listening to you will not generally be bothered by an accent. 
If you would like additional feedback on your particular speech, it might be good to provide a more spontaneous speech sample, like a short interview or reading aloud (without practicing) an entry from an English journal you write in.

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## bitpicker

> With the Russian language, you are posh if you know what is the gender of the word "кофе", where is the stress in the word "звонит" and you know the difference between "одевать" и "надевать".

 I'm two thirds posh in Russian, apparently, but what is the exact difference between"одевать" and "надевать", if I may ask?   ::  Might as well go all the way. 
I have been told, by the way, that you're posh if you know the actual first person singular present tense form of пылесосить.
Robin

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## Оля

> I'm two thirds posh in Russian, apparently, but what is the exact difference between"одевать" and "надевать", if I may ask?

 одевать = to dress _someone_, to clothe _someone_ (you can't одевать a coat)
надевать = to put _something_ (some clothes) on someone or on oneself (you can't надевать a kid) 
I am posh.  ::

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## Zaya

> I'm two thirds posh in Russian, apparently, but what is the exact difference between"одевать" and "надевать", if I may ask?

 There is a difference in using. "Одеть" means "to dress," "to clothe," and many natives use this verb instead of "to put on," which is grammatically wrong. You cannot "одеть джинсы," if you don't mean that you dress the jeans, of course.  ::  
Oh, I don't seem to be good at explaining such things. )) There is a mnemonic rule - Надеть одежду, одеть Надежду. And a humorous verse. (: 
Я забрался с Надей в душ. 
Тут явился Надин муж. 
То ли мне одеть Надежду, 
То ли мне надеть одежду?

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## Hanna

> With the Russian language, you are posh if you know what is the gender of the word "кофе", where is the stress in the word "звонит" and you know the difference between "одевать" и "надевать".

 Hah! I'm posh too!!  _
Isn't the rule that words which end in O or E is neuter?_   "коф*е*" 
Hm... tricky!!!   ::     

> [quote:2xfi2cvd]  Johanna wroteI guess that you don't have this problem (anymore) in Russia, thanks to Lenin, lol !! Or?

 You're right, we haven't.
Well, some times some people can sound uneducated... Or just drunk.  :: 
But we don't have any classes, or any other evident social differences.
[/quote:2xfi2cvd] 
Good for you! I did not know the meaning of real snobbery until I came to England, it's really pretty disgusting the way some people genuinely believe that they are better than others.  Although it doesn't help that there are some very uncultured people in England and they don't exactly help themselves.   
It was really interesting to hear that Russia which is so big (+ ex USSR) don't have much dialect differences either. In most of Europe you can hear a difference in how people speak after only a couple of hours on a train.. I'd really like to find out more about the situation with this in Russia... 
North England "chav" accent.... a parody, but LOTS of ppl speak exactly like this... 
(Chav is somebody who is working class and wears expensive sneakers and certain brand clothes... )
[video:2xfi2cvd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNACBKwi-As[/video:2xfi2cvd] 
The Queen's Christmas address to the Commonwealth 2008
[video:2xfi2cvd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjzT23Q8NfY[/video:2xfi2cvd] 
Queen's Christmas address in 1957!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s
[video:2xfi2cvd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s[/video:2xfi2cvd]

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## bitpicker

> Originally Posted by bitpicker  I'm two thirds posh in Russian, apparently, but what is the exact difference between"одевать" and "надевать", if I may ask?   одевать = to dress _someone_, to clothe _someone_ (you can't одевать a coat)
> надевать = to put _something_ (some clothes) on someone or on oneself (you can't надевать a kid)

 Thanks, Оля, what a simple and lucid explanation. I wonder why the dictionaries just say 'to dress' for both. 
Robin

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## Zaya

> I wonder why the dictionaries just say 'to dress' for both.

 That's interesting. Could you say in which dictionaries "надевать" is translated as "to dress"?  ::

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## bitpicker

Well, most of my dictionaries are German, so the actual translation is a German word; in the case of PONS, 'anziehen' in both cases, which could mean to dress oneself as well as dress someone else.The Oxford Russian dictionary sends you to одеть from одевать, which says 'to dress (in), to clothe (in)' - no indication whether it refers to oneself or someone else or both. Then надеть says 'to put on clothes', which is slightly more clearly geared towards oneself. The (small) Langenscheidt I have has a combined entry одевать(ся) - (sich) anziehen, which at least has the reflexive part in brackets in both languages. But надевать is still just 'to dress'. 
The English dictionary at multilex@mail.ru also differentiates in that it gives 'to dress' and 'to put on' respectively, whereas the German dictionaries again fail to disambiguate, although that would be easy. 
Robin

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## Zaya

Thank you for the answer.  

> The (small) Langenscheidt I have has a combined entry одевать(ся) - (sich) anziehen, which at least has the reflexive part in brackets in both languages. But надевать is still just 'to dress'.

 Do you mean "is still just 'anziehen'"?  ::  It's a Russian-German dictionary, isn't it?

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## E-learner

> I have been told, by the way, that you're posh if you know the actual first person singular present tense form of пылесосить.

 I have no idea which form is "correct". I find this verb awkward to start with and I would prefer to avoid using it at all. However, being confronted with the necessity of using it, I would use "пылесошу". Or, if I wanted to make a joke out of it - "пылесосю". I find that the latter sounds amusing. 
Sometimes people amuse themselves by deliberately using incorrect forms that, however, have some logic behind them. For example:
[s:2lyezqv4]бежу[/s:2lyezqv4] (after бежать) - бегу
[s:2lyezqv4]бегиш[/s:2lyezqv4] (after бегу, бегать) - бежишь 
[s:2lyezqv4]сидю[/s:2lyezqv4] (after сидеть)  - сижу 
[s:2lyezqv4]летю[/s:2lyezqv4] (after лететь) - лечу

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## bitpicker

> Thank you for the answer.    
> 			
> 				The (small) Langenscheidt I have has a combined entry одевать(ся) - (sich) anziehen, which at least has the reflexive part in brackets in both languages. But надевать is still just 'to dress'.
> 			
> 		  Do you mean "is still just 'anziehen'"?  It's a Russian-German dictionary, isn't it?

 Yes, exactly.

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## bitpicker

> Originally Posted by bitpicker  I have been told, by the way, that you're posh if you know the actual first person singular present tense form of пылесосить.   I have no idea which form is "correct". I find this verb awkward to start with and I would prefer to avoid using it at all. However, being confronted with the necessity of using it, I would use "пылесошу". Or, if I wanted to make a joke out of it - "пылесосю".

 Technically, of course, the form which you use and which the other person in a conversation understands and does not think is awkward, is correct. But if you consult dictionaries, grammars, teachers of Russian, you will find that this verb is held to be one of a list of verbs which _do not have_ a correct first person singular. According to such sources, the first person singular is, I kid you not, 'я убираю / работаю пылесосом'.  
But apart from the (native) Russian language teacher who informed me of that I have yet to find a single native speaker of Russian who actually knows that. Each and every person I have asked that question has answered like you have, and I think who, if not the native speakers as a whole, should decide what is correct and what is not?   ::   
Robin

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## translationsnmru

> Queen's Christmas address in 1957!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s
> [video:13jd3xrm]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s[/video:13jd3xrm]

 Wow! The Queen is adorable in this clip. If she hadn't been born a royalty, she could have become a movie star - she's got that in her!

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