The problems one when learning Russian is the words correct pronunciation. Not only does the Russian language use an alphabet that is not familiar to many people (Cyrillic alphabet), but this language is spoken with a unique accent that includes hard and soft sounds. Let us share with you the Russian accent secrets and tell you about the how to acquire a Russian accent working methods.
Accent is several components built up. In addition, the first thing to pay attention to is how to pronounce the individual sounds correctly.
This sound correct pronunciation is often difficult even for native Russian speakers. They have to go to a specialist to get the [p] sound right. Foreigners have difficulties with it because the r sound is not at all similar in other languages.
So, how do you pronounce the [p] sound correctly?
You may not succeed at it the first time. Don’t be discouraged and keep practising.
The Russian language is more characterized by the [i] sound lengthening, especially when it is in a word middle. The transcription does not specify this lengthening, but if you compare it with English and other European languages, in Russian it sounds more like -ee than -i.
When learning Russian, especially if you’re just starting out, you might forget about two important signs in the Russian alphabet – the letters Ь and Ъ. The first is a soft sign; it is used to soften the preceding letter.
Compare: chalk [m’el] (hard) / chalk and shallow [m’el’] (soft) / sandbank.
The second is a hard sign, and it has a separating function in Russian before the vowels Е, Ё, Ю, Я. For example, drive up [pad’ekhat’] / to drive up, explain [aby’isn’it’] / to explain. If you don’t pronounce the hard sign, the words sound will change: [pad’ehat’] and [ab’isn’it’].
The good news is that almost all letters in Russian are pronounced as they are written. Unlike English, for example. However, there are sometimes exceptions in Russian too. For instance, vowel letters can produce other sounds in the unaspirated position. This happens most often with the letter “o”. Without stressing it should be pronounced as “a”.
For example, we write “молоко/milk” and read [малако́/malako].
In general, in Russian the -h sound in borrowed words is replaced by the -g sound. For example, in English, you would say hamburger, but in Russian, it would be “гамбургер”. The -h sound soft pronunciation is not typical for the Russian language, here you will often hear the -kh sound. Although in the Russian transcription, it would be pronounced as a single [x].
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One of the peculiarities of the Russian language is the large number of words with consonant combinations that are difficult to pronounce and go in a row. Take the word здравствуйте / hello, for example. This word has two sound combinations at once, which are difficult for foreigners to pronounce: “здр” and “вств”. Practise pronouncing these combinations separately at first, beginning with a slow pronunciation and then you can speak at a normal speed. When you can get these sounds right, you can move on to practising the whole word. The more often you pronounce difficult words, the easier it will be for you to speak as a whole.
The working second part on the Russian accent is practising correct intonation and accents in words.
The Russian language a peculiarity is that there are no specific rules for stressing words. You have to memorize them. Moreover, even if you think that you have understood the logic, and that some similar words will have the same stress, you can be sorely mistaken. Just learn them.
The easiest ways to remember the words accents:
Questions in Russian are a separate pleasure. For example, unlike many European languages, in Russian a question word order may not change at all, and one can only understand that it is a question by the individual word’s intonation and the emphasis nuances.
In English, you would simply say with an upward intonation towards the end of the sentence, and it would be clear that it is a question. In Russian, you would emphasise the word, for example: “Ты ХОЧЕШЬ пойти в парк? / Do you WANT to go to the park?” The intonation will be flat.
Finally, the accent work third part, which is no less important than the previous ones, is listening. Without it, it will be difficult to reproduce correctly the sounds and intonation adopted in Russian.
Listen carefully to how your interlocutors pronounce each sound. With their permission, you can record your conversations and go back to listening and practising the individual sounds in a quiet environment later.
Train what is known as listening comprehension. The more Russian speech you hear, the faster you will start to hear it correctly. Watch Russian films; listen to Russian language radio, Russian songs, various podcasts and instructional videos.
In addition, most importantly, don’t chase the perfect result. Your first task is to learn to speak in a way that native speakers can understand you. To do this, it is enough to train your Russian accent by practising regularly and developing all your language skills.
We hope you found this article useful. We are ready to help you learn Russian online with a native speaker. Classes are individually adapted to your wishes. Submit an application for a free trial lesson and we will find the most suitable Russian language course for you.
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