# Forum Learning Russian Language Pronunciation, Speech & Accent  Famous names once and for all

## miloserdie

Let's lay these names to rest.  
Юлия Тимошенко
Геннадий Зюганов
Михаил Горбачёв
Михаил Ходорковский
Фёдор Емельяненко
Лев Давидович Троцкий 
Александр Бородин
Пётр Ильич Чайковский
Фёдор Достоевский
Михаил Ломоносов
Лев Николаевич Толстой
Владимир Набоков
Дмитрий Шостакович
Станислав Маркелов

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## miloserdie

I'm tired of arguing with Americans about native pronunciation of these people. So let's hear it.

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## Seraph

Владимир Наумович Вапник

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## Throbert McGee

> Let's lay these names to rest.

 What's the question here? Are you wondering mainly about syllable stress? 
As a general rule, I think, surnames ending in -овский or -евский are stressed on the -ов-/-ев syllable, while those ending in -ой are ending-stressed (but not necessarily the final syllable -- the feminine of Толстой is Толстая, for instance). And the vowel ё is always stressed -- hence, Горбачёв. 
Also, of course, the letter *в* is always pronounced like *ф* when it's the final letter in a word, while unstressed *о* is reduced to *а* or "schwa". So old Splotchy's surname is said гəр-ба-ЧОФ, but his wife (Раиса) was гəр-ба-ЧО-ва. 
Many (not all) masculine given names have different stress in their native and anglicized forms -- often with the stress shifted one syllable to the left in English. Thus, Ivan but Иван; Mikhail but Михаил; Vladimir but Владимир; Boris but Борис.  
With those general guidelines aside, most or all of these people can be found on English-wikipedia along with the stress-marked Russian spelling and IPA pronunciation of their names. So if you look up Nabokov, for instance, you'll find:  *Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков*, pronounced [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nɐˈbokəf] 
(Hmm, for some reason the vowel-stress marks got shifted onto the consonants! No worries, though -- they display correctly in the wiki article, and the Nabokov entry even has an audio recording of a native Russian speaker pronouncing the name, though not all of the articles necessarily do.)

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## Doomer

As Throbert pointed out all(most) of the names of the above can be found on wiki, with pronunciation and transcription
However the hardest part is not to find/listen to the pronunciation but understanding and pronouncing it
For example: my name will be written in Russian as Артём. But for native English-speaker this name is basically impossible to pronounce, mostly because of two things:
1. There is no ё sound in English. I had to write my name either as Artyom or as Artem. Both are incorrect
2. Stress goes on letter ё but for English speakers it's weird and unnatural 
So if I write my name as Artyom it will be pronounce something like Артиом
If I write as Artem it will be Артэм
Even if I pronounce my name to English speakers - most of them can't repeat it and some who can forget it in a day  ::  
So unless all names of the above will be written in Cyrillic all the time, I don't think it will be a way to force people to pronounce them correctly

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## Marcus

> What's the question here? Are you wondering mainly about syllable stress? 
> As a general rule, I think, surnames ending in -овский or -евский are stressed on the -ов-/-ев syllable, while those ending in -ой are ending-stressed (but not necessarily the final syllable -- the feminine of Толстой is Толстая, for instance). And the vowel ё is always stressed -- hence, Горбачёв. 
> Also, of course, the letter *в* is always pronounced like *ф* when it's the final letter in a word, while unstressed *о* is reduced to *а* or "schwa". So old Splotchy's surname is said гəр-ба-ЧОФ, but his wife (Раиса) was гəр-ба-ЧО-ва. 
> Many (not all) masculine given names have different stress in their native and anglicized forms -- often with the stress shifted one syllable to the left in English. Thus, Ivan but Иван; Mikhail but Михаил; Vladimir but Владимир; Boris but Борис.

 I wonder why the stress shift happens. Is it difficult to pronounce those words with the stress on the correct syllable? But how do you manage to pronounce begin, for example? Germanic languages tend to have the stress on the first root syllable, but how could the word "machine" survive with the second syllable stressed?

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## Marcus

Скачать имена.wav с WebFile.RU
That's my pronunciation of all these names.

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## LXNDR

> but how could the word "machine" survive with the second syllable stressed?

 maybe cause it's French? CH pronounced as SH isn't typical English phonetics, just a guess

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## Hanna

> There is no ё sound in English. I had to write my name either as Artyom or as Artem. Both are incorrect

 Hmmm how interesting! Which did you settle for in the end? It's one of my favourite Russian names, it has a cool sound to it. Of course you could just make people call you "Art" which I think is a nickname for Arthur. In Scandinavia and Germany, the spelling is always Artjom. Assuming the person uses a rolling r, you get exactly the same pronunciation as in Russian.  
I got tired of people abusing my name in English and simply adopted an English nickname. English people liked using the nickname, so it wored fine.  
When I was travelling in some Russian speaking countries recently I was irritated that they routinely transcribed my name into Cyrillic letters as if it was an English name. So I got to hear the incorrect version of my name in English, pronunced with a Russian accent - that is too much. If I ever go to Russia for any extended period i will insist on the transliteration that I decide!

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## Marcus

> In Scandinavia and Germany, the spelling is always Artjom. Assuming the person uses a rolling r, you get exactly the same pronunciation as in Russian.

 It is unlikely. The t is different in Germanic languages and a soft "t" won't be easy to pronounce for them. Than [j] is an extra sound here.  

> When I was travelling in some Russian speaking countries recently I was irritated that they routinely transcribed my name into Cyrillic letters as if it was an English name. So I got to hear the incorrect version of my name in English, pronunced with a Russian accent - that is too much. If I ever go to Russia for any extended period i will insist on the transliteration that I decide!

 They started your name with дж? In books normal transliterations of Scandinavian names are used.
It's interesting that Russians use letters  ю, ё for sounds [y], [œ].

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## Dmitry Khomichuk

In Belarussian Hanna/Anna is Ганна.

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## Doomer

> Hmmm how interesting! Which did you settle for in the end?

 I stopped on Artem and I don't care how others pronounce it anymore  ::   

> Of course you could just make people call you "Art"

 Yeah, people tried to do that but I think I'm not that big of a masterpiece to be called "art"  ::

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## Hanna

> It is unlikely. The t is different in Germanic languages and a soft "t" won't be easy to pronounce for them. Than [j] is an extra sound hear.

 You are a perfectionist! It is as close as you can get without being Russian.
I bet you I could pronounce the name "Артём" without you hearing that I am not Russian. There is absolutely no difficulty with any of those letters.
I realise of course that most Germans use the throaty R, and therefore would not pronounce it correctly, but other than that my point holds up. A Finnish person could pronounce it absolutely fine too.    

> They started your name with дж? In books normal transliterations of Scandinavian names are used. It's interesting that Russians use letters  ю, ё for sounds [y], [œ].

 No, my name is Johanna, so it's the first letter that is pronounced differently. 
I had a think about it a few years back and decided that I prefer the spelling *Юханна*.
But I noticed that some German women who have the same name, transliterate it as *Йоганна*.
I think I prefer the x sound rather than the g sound as a replacement for "h".  *Which option looks better to you, as native speakers of Russian, in writing?* 
By the way, how true is it that "Russians can't say "H"  CAN you say it, or is it really hard?  
When I am back in the UK and pick up my Russian studies again, I'll post something of me reading in Russian. ::    

> In Belarussian Hanna/Anna is Ганна.

 Yeah, I heard that and that's pretty! 
I think in Ukraine they have this name tool, right?

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## Marcus

> You are a perfectionist! It is as close as you can get without being Russian.
> I bet you I could pronounce the name "Артём" without you hearing that I am not Russian. There is absolutely no difficulty with any of those letters.

 Could you make a recording please?
If there was no difficulty with soft consonants, foreigners would pronounce them correctly. Yet Germans have big problems with them. The problem is that Russian has phonemic distinction between a soft consonant and a consonant plus [j]. 
Russians clearly hear the difference between:
hard t + o (то)
soft t + o (тё)
hard t + j + o (тъё)
soft t + j + o (тьё)  

> No, my name is Johanna, so it's the first letter that is pronounced differently.

 How did those people in Belorussia transliterate your name?  

> But I noticed that some German women who have the same name, transliterate it as Йоганна.
> I think I prefer the x sound rather than the g sound as a replacement for "h". 
> Which option looks better to you, as native speakers of Russian, in writing?

 The variant with г came from Ukrainian language, for a nothern Russian х is the closest sound, that's why they usually use x now, sometimes two variants coexist.   

> By the way, how true is it that "Russians can't say "H" CAN you say it, or is it really hard?

 It is more than true. We do not hear the difference between our x and [h]. I can pronounce it now, but I still sometimes can't distinguish between them. 
However voicing is well heard by Russians. So, a voiced h will be completely different for a Russian from an unvoiced one.

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## Hanna

> Could you make a recording please?

 No, because I don't have a microphone handy and I can't be fussed with it right now.  I'll a recording of Russian in the autumn though when I start my Russian studies again.    

> How did those people in Belorussia transliterate your name?

 They translated it Джоанна which would have been absolutely fine if I had been British or American with the name "Joanne or Joanna". I don't mind massively being called that in the UK. 
But there is no difficulty with pronouncing my actual name, in Russian. The Jo bit is exactly like Ю, and if you go a bit easy on the x it sounds like a Swedish h.  
For English people it is not easy at all, it sounds really wrong, so it's ok that they pronounce it in the way that is familiar to them. It's the mispronounciation that is annoying.  
I think that both Belarus and Ukraine have the letter "h" in their languages, at least in the spoken form. They can say it.  
Many people in Belarus actually replaced x or g with h when speaking Russian. We talked about it here before - apparently Alexander Lukashenko to some extent speaks in this way. 
I was not keen on this dialact because it made it much harder for me to understand what they were saying. The Belarussians were funny in that although everyone loved the Belarussian language, very few could actually speak it, you could just sence its influence in the dialect and see it on signs. A bit like Irish which I know you like, Marcus.

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## Doomer

> By the way, how true is it that "Russians can't say "H"  CAN you say it, or is it really hard?

 Per my understanding English "H" sound is pronounced "in a mouth" but Russian "Х" sound comes partially as throat sound
Russians probably can say English "H" but only if concentrate on it very hard.
The root of this problem is there is no difference in Russian language between English "H" and Russian "Х" thus most of the Russians don't even know they speak "H" incorrectly
For example it's "known" that Russian accent consists of: over-accented "r" sounds, incorrect using of "a" sound when the "æ" or "ə" or "ʌ" sound supposed to be used, incorrect using of "s" or "z" sounds when the "θ" or "ð" sounds supposed to be used, muting of voiced consonants at the end and the beginning of words (God becomes Got  ::  and Zebra becomes Sebra), incorrect using of "v" sound when the "w" sound supposed to be used and "famous" stretching of vowels when they supposed to sound short
Heavy Russian accent will also include changes of "e" sound to actual Russian "Е" pronunciation, thus "very" becomes "vyery", replacement of letter "U" with "ju" sound to actual Russian "У" with "u" sound in the middle of some words 
I don't think the "H" sound is among the "truly Russian accent" sounds  ::  I would probably put it along with "l" sound - replaced by Russian "Л" (curve your tongue more to the back when you speak it, it supposed to sound harder and deeper than the "l") 
IMHO

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## Doomer

> *Which option looks better to you, as native speakers of Russian, in writing?*

 I like Ханна more  ::

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## Anixx

If I was in Germany I would write it as "Artöm".

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## Anixx

> Zebra becomes Sebra

 I doubt. This word is pronounced with clear "z" in Russian. I cannot imagine a reasoning that can make a Russian to pronounce it with "s".   

> replacement of letter "U" with "ju" sound to actual Russian "У" with "u" sound in the middle of some words

 Is not it pronounced as "yu" in some words in English like in "fusion"?

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## Doomer

> I doubt. This word is pronounced with clear "z" in Russian. I cannot imagine a reasoning that can make a Russian to pronounce it with "s".

 Russians pronounced it with "з" not "z", try to say зибра an you'll notice that "з" sound transforms to "сз"   

> Is not it pronounced as "yu" in some words in English like in "fusion"?

 fusion - ['f*ju*ːʒ(ə)n] with heavy Russian accent could become foosion ['f*u*ːʒ(ə)n]

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## Anixx

> Russians pronounced it with "з" not "z", try to say зибра an you'll notice that "з" sound transforms to "сз"

 I do not see anything even close to that.    

> fusion - ['fjuːʒ(ə)n] with heavy Russian accent could become foosion ['fuːʒ(ə)n]

 I doubt. Why? Russian can transliterate the word as "фьюжен" - quite close to the English original.

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## Marcus

> Per my understanding English "H" sound is pronounced "in a mouth" but Russian "Х" sound comes partially as throat sound
> Russians probably can say English "H" but only if concentrate on it very hard.
> The root of this problem is there is no difference in Russian language between English "H" and Russian "Х" thus most of the Russians don't even know they speak "H" incorrectly
> For example it's "known" that Russian accent consists of: over-accented "r" sounds, incorrect using of "a" sound when the "æ" or "ə" or "ʌ" sound supposed to be used, incorrect using of "s" or "z" sounds when the "θ" or "ð" sounds supposed to be used, muting of voiced consonants at the end and the beginning of words (God becomes Got  and Zebra becomes Sebra), incorrect using of "v" sound when the "w" sound supposed to be used and "famous" stretching of vowels when they supposed to sound short
> Heavy Russian accent will also include changes of "e" sound to actual Russian "Е" pronunciation, thus "very" becomes "vyery", replacement of letter "U" with "ju" sound to actual Russian "У" with "u" sound in the middle of some words 
> I don't think the "H" sound is among the "truly Russian accent" sounds  I would probably put it along with "l" sound - replaced by Russian "Л" (curve your tongue more to the back when you speak it, it supposed to sound harder and deeper than the "l") 
> IMHO

  In fact, Russian x is pronounced with a help of the back part of the tongue raised to the velar, while the English sound does not involve the tongue.
I don't know what you mean, saying about zebra pronounced sebra. I think Russians usually say men instead of man, fool instead of full, sheep instead of ship (that's what uou mentioned probably). I'm not sure about overpronounced "r". Don't Americans always pronounce the hard L? One more thing: lack of aspiration of p, t, k.

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## Doomer

> I do not see anything even close to that.

 Good for you, but I do   

> I doubt. Why? Russian can transliterate the word as "фьюжен" - quite close to the English original.

 you can be doubtful but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to some people. I was saying about heavy accent and I heard some  ::

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## Doomer

> I don't know what you mean, saying about zebra pronounced sebra.

 I picked this up from native English speakers, they were claiming that we have it
I tried to think about it and I have to say that it is partially true  

> I'm not sure about overpronounced "r".

 Maybe the word isn't good. But you gotta agree that Russian "Р" is not the same as English "R". Americans compare it to Spanish "R"  

> Don't Americans always pronounce the hard L?

 It's probably better to ask them  ::

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## Throbert McGee

> Don't Americans always pronounce the hard L?

 I was taught to pronounce the Russian "hard L" as a little bit more dentalized than the English "L" (which is theoretically "alveolar"), but it's quite possible that I dentalize the hard L too much when trying to speak Russian. However, to my ears, the difference between "alveolar" and "dental" is more subtle than "hard" vs. "soft." But it's possible that a Russian with very good ears might think that Americans don't make the "hard L" hard enough?

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## Throbert McGee

One thing I can never decide when introducing myself to Russians in speech -- should I say *Меня зовут Robert* (i.e., with the normal English pronunciation of my name) or *Меня зовут Роберт* (with the Russified pronunciation)? And what if I'm introducing a friend with an unusual name that doesn't have a "standard" Russian version like Роберт? My last name is a problem, too, because in English the "c" is silent (in contrast to names like "McDonald" or "MacLeod") and it's closer to Мги than Макги (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

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## Seraph

> ... Don't Americans always pronounce the hard L? ..

 For 'lieu' I use soft l. Similar to French pronunciation.

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## Throbert McGee

> So if I write my name as Artyom it will be pronounce something like Артиом
> If I write as Artem it will be Артэм

 It's a good thing your name isn't Семён -- who knows what they might call you!!   ::

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## Anixx

> Good for you, but I do

 This is nonsense.   

> you can be doubtful but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to some people. I was saying about heavy accent and I heard some

 This is possibly not knowing English reading rules rather than "accent".

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## Doomer

> This is nonsense.

 I can play this too - you are saying nonsense
Now what?   

> This is possibly not knowing English reading rules rather than "accent".

 So, following this logic any accent can be set to "not knowing English reading rules" because otherwise why would people say "a" sound when they supposed to say "æ" sound, it's right there in the book, just say it  ::

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## Doomer

> It's a good thing your name isn't Семён -- who knows what they might call you!!

 You are naughty guy  :: 
I would probably stick to Сеня then or just switch to Simon  ::

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## Doomer

> One thing I can never decide when introducing myself to Russians in speech -- should I say *Меня зовут Robert* (i.e., with the normal English pronunciation of my name) or *Меня зовут Роберт* (with the Russified pronunciation)? And what if I'm introducing a friend with an unusual name that doesn't have a "standard" Russian version like Роберт? My last name is a problem, too, because in English the "c" is silent (in contrast to names like "McDonald" or "MacLeod") and it's closer to Мги than Макги (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

 I think you should stick to the language rules thus say "Меня зовут Роберт"
Also to say "Меня зовут Robert" might be hard because you need to switch from one language to another and back, I find this particularly hard to do, especially in fast speech

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## Doomer

> My last name is a problem, too, because in English the "c" is silent (in contrast to names like "McDonald" or "MacLeod") and it's closer to Мги than Макги (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

 I don't think pronouncing Маги would be any problem to any Russian, however be ready for jokes  :: 
But generally if you write is as McGee Russians will say МакГи nobody would even think of possibility of different pronunciation. In fact I haven't even noticed the difference until you write about it, even after watching one particular McGee playing - Timothy McGee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## Anixx

> So, following this logic any accent can be set to "not knowing English reading rules" because otherwise why would people say "a" sound when they supposed to say "æ" sound, it's right there in the book, just say it

 Because they do not know how to pronounce ae

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## Боб Уайтман

> I was taught to pronounce the Russian "hard L" as a little bit more dentalized than the English "L" (which is theoretically "alveolar"), but it's quite possible that I dentalize the hard L too much when trying to speak Russian.

 That's correct, the tip of the tongue touches the inner surface of upper teeth when pronouncing the Russian hard "L".
I've never heard your pronunciation, but as to me, I doubt you can "dentalize it too much"  ::    

> However, to my ears, the difference between "alveolar" and "dental" is more subtle than "hard" vs. "soft."

 Agree.   

> But it's possible that a Russian with very good ears might think that Americans don't make the "hard L" hard enough?

 Yes. And one does not need to have "very good ears" for that. When I heard Russian pronunciation of some Americans, I always noticed their "L" sounded "semi-soft" to me when followed by a vowel. A word-final "L" is usually OK, but vowels somehow affect it more.
The reason for that is the Russian "hard L" is velarized which strengthens the contrast with its soft counterpart. And Russians sub-consciously hear it "soft" when it is not velarized. That's what happens to French, German, Spanish, Italian L's: they are neither palatalized nor velarized, which makes Russians perceive them as "soft". 
I've just tried to pronounce the velarized Russian "hard L" using the alveolar tongue position, and I'd say it is physically possible, but very difficult. It is hard to keep the correct "spoon-like" shape of the tongue of the velarized L with the alveolar tip position.

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## Боб Уайтман

> One thing I can never decide when introducing myself to Russians in speech -- should I say *Меня зовут Robert* (i.e., with the normal English pronunciation of my name) or *Меня зовут Роберт* (with the Russified pronunciation)? And what if I'm introducing a friend with an unusual name that doesn't have a "standard" Russian version like Роберт? My last name is a problem, too, because in English the "c" is silent (in contrast to names like "McDonald" or "MacLeod") and it's closer to Мги than Макги (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

 That is the common rule to localize the pronunciation of your name when introducing to foreigners in their language. It applies to any language I think.
When introducing myself to Americans, I say: "My name is Constantine" with the first syllable stressed, American "o" in "Con" and American "t"'s. 
If you pronounce "Меня зовут Robert" to Russians, you make their life harder:
1) they would most likely have difficulties with hearing it correctly unless they are fluent in English;
2) they would definitely have problems with repeating your name.
"Роберт" is a well-known name in Russia, we also have people with this name. But the American pronunication can make it even unrecognizable to the Russian ear: the American "o" sounds almost like Russian "а", and the American retroflex "er" sound is something competely alien and unpronounceable to Russians. If not to say that many Russians hear the American alveolar aspirated "t" as "ч". 
As for the "Mc" part, it is just a well-known tradition to Cyrillize it as "Мак". 
Don't worry  ::  If you had to introduce yourself to a Japanese, you would have to say "Watashi-no namae-wa Robaato desu". And in the case of Chinese, it would be something like "Wo jiao Luo-Bei".

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## Боб Уайтман

Originally Posted by *Marcus*  
I don't know what you mean, saying about zebra pronounced sebra.   

> I picked this up from native English speakers, they were claiming that we have it
> I tried to think about it and I have to say that it is partially true

 That surprizes me too. Rather than arguing pointlessly, I suggest that we find out the reason. 
Personally, I would hardly believe that the Russian word-initial "з" can ever sound as "s" to English-speakers. 
Here's my explanation:
Yes, we do devoice our word-final voiced consonants:
"коз" and "кос" do sound the same, as well as "без" and "бес", "паз" and "пас" etc. 
But as to the word-initial position, Russian voiced consonants are fully voiced, they involve an intense vocal chord activity, more intense than in English. So, it is more likely that a native Russian would hear English "zebra" as "sebra", "zone" as "sone", "zoo" as "soo". The reason is the English word-initial "z" has somewhat "a weaker voicing".
That's why the opposite cannot work: how can English-speakers hear a Russian saying "zebra" as "sebra"? 
I can think of two possible explanations:
1. Some native Russians, maybe, do not know how the English "zebra" has to be pronounced and they might think there is a "S" sound in it.
2. Another possibility is a Russian may try imitating a native English pronunciation of this word. The difference between English "S" and "Z" is subtler than in Russian. A Russian hearing an English-speaker pronouncing "zebra" may perceive it as "sebra" and then repeat what he hears.

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## Marcus

> One thing I can never decide when introducing myself to Russians in speech -- should I say *Меня зовут Robert* (i.e., with the normal English pronunciation of my name) or *Меня зовут Роберт* (with the Russified pronunciation)? And what if I'm introducing a friend with an unusual name that doesn't have a "standard" Russian version like Роберт? My last name is a problem, too, because in English the "c" is silent (in contrast to names like "McDonald" or "MacLeod") and it's closer to Мги than Макги (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

 Роберт is probably the closest Russian variant for Robert.
The English language usually ignores the pronunciation of loan-words in the languages they came from.

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## it-ogo

I believe that mixing different pronunciation patterns in one sentence (and even in one speech) is bad idea. If you speak Russian you should use Russian-adopted variants of proper names. Otherwise it is difficult to switch between patterns both for speaker and auditory.

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## Doomer

> Because they do not know how to pronounce ae

 Right, this called an accent

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## Anixx

> I can play this too - you are saying nonsense
> Now what?

 Russians have this word (zebra) in their language. They do not pronounce it "sebra".

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## Anixx

> Right, this called an accent

 Yes. And if someone says "fusion" without "y" sound, it is not accent, it is not knowing the rules.

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## LXNDR

> (but Макги was the Cyrillicized spelling used on my visa).

 did you have a say how your name should be transliterated into Russian on your Visa?

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## Doomer

> Russians have this word (zebra) in their language. They do not pronounce it "sebra".

 One more time
there is no word "zebra" in Russian language there is "зебра"
The word "zebra" however exists in English and it is not pronounced as "зебра" it is pronounced as "зибра". Also it doesn't mean that all original sounds in this word can be perfectly replaced with Russian language sounds
I don't know why argue about it at all, I already got that you don't agree, you want to convince me? Not gonna happen

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## Doomer

> Yes. And if someone says "fusion" without "y" sound, it is not accent, it is not knowing the rules.

 Or that someone might think he's saying it with "y" but actually he is not and that will be an accent

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## Doomer

> did you have a say how your name should be transliterated into Russian on your Visa?

 I don't think it is possible

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## Hanna

> did you have a say how your name should be transliterated into Russian on your Visa?

 This came up in another thread... Apparently all Russians nowadays are forced to transliterate their names in the English style. 
That's a pity, because the Russian names look much more stylish and interested when they are transliterated in the French or German style. Not sure exactly why.... perhaps because of all the glamorous people who fled the Russian revolution who still have surnames that are transliterated in this way.  
But it's funny how the same Russian name can look and feel SO different depending on how it is transliterated.  
It would be much more interesting for Russian people if they had a choice in this matter, I think.

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