English Pronunciation for Russian Speakers

It was very interesting to find out how russians generally sound for foreigners. You are the second person I see for the last 3 weeks, who says that russians speak loud or rude, whatever it is (the first one was an american). We usually don’t notice that. I used to think that the japanese, the chinese and koreans speak quite rough. Now I start thinking I was wrong))). Thank you for the opportunity to look at ourselves in a mirror. Вам тоже удачи.

Cam

It is always interesting to know how people sees out performance in the foreign language.
To tell the truth, we are not always aware(conscious)of that (how we pronounce) English, for example).

Regino

Hi Benjamin, how’ve you been?

Contrasting sounds is a good technique to improve pronunciation.

In this lesson you clearly showed the point of articulation of some consonants at initial position which was really great.

It helps a lot to pronounce consonants correctly.

Thanks a million for this pronunciation lesson.

Bye for now.

Regino

I think you shouldn’t worry about that. Every nation sounds somehow. The Russian language itself sounds soft and nice. You have got even a letter called ‘soft sign’ in your alphabet ;-)

hiubhp

That’s exactly what I thought russian sounds like. In fact I love russian, english and a couple of other languages, none of them seem rude or even loud to me. So I’m just surprised and wandering why))).

Cam

* wondering*

Cam

When I arrived to the USA I was really surprised that Americans speak so loud, emotionally and quickly even at public places, for example on the bus. So I can’t agree that Russian is a loud language. I think it depends on person who speaks :)

MrBinWin

I agree with you, the way things are said or pronounced depends on who is speaking and what level is his education. I wouldn’t define Russian language as loud and rude even if I don’t speak Russian but I often hear it through music (lyrics). If I had to add something, I would say German a little bit more difficult for ears but only when it is spoken. Listen to a Schubert lieder (and all the sung classical German music) and you get delighted by the softness of words.
Furthermore, there are lots of spelling and pronunciation differences between British and American English such as “direct“, the vowel “i“ being a long vowel in BE and a short one in AE.
What I always do is checking the phoneme of each word I am not sure of and trying to memorize it.

patple13

I agree too. And very much surprised by what you’ve said about German lieders, I’m gonna listen to it soon.

Cam

Thank you for your lesson.I ‘m not Rassian but I got the benefit too.

pavanut2

Very good!!! It´s a very important for speak English.

Thanks!!!!

chavieira

I’m not a Russian but like pronunciation lessons. Thank you, Benjamin :)

Happy04

Hi everyone! I totally agree with you Benjamin on the tone of our questions, we really ignore it and sometimes pronounce them just like any other affirmative phrases. For the consonants, maybe vocalized and unvoiced TH sounds are really difficult but only when there are some other confusing sounds in there, in words like FURTHERMORE, NEVERTHELESS, etc… But thanks for this great lesson! You’re hilarious :)

ludmilaz

Oh, totally agree with you! Furthermore, nevertheless are so difficult to pronounce.

inspiramentum

These words are difficult for us to pronounce but it’s just Further+more and never+the+less. We have much more complex vocabulary in Russian. I think Здравствуйте is harder word than Furthermore :)

MrBinWin

you’re right :)

Anastasia

. None of the pronunciation sounds here in focus, is a problem to Portuguese pupils, except the “th”, e.g. thirsty, thirteen, fifth, smooth. When a Portuguese say this words, you will know immediately.

Jorge Pedroso

Hi, everyone. I would like to ask – Are there any opportunity to make flipping one lesson after another in the chronological order?

Khanaphi

Thank you for this video.But where is the quiz?

papyan

Oh, thank you so much for this great lesson for russian speakers! You’re adorable!

alice824

Thank you for this useful lesson, Benjamin.

inspiramentum

Thanks for the lesson. But I really doubt that any Russians could have any problems with pronounciation “T” and “D” sounds, cause we also have both of these sounds and separate letter for each one (“Т” and “Д”).

Carnage

This is a source of the problem. We believe that English ‘T’ and ‘D’ are the same as Russian’s ones. However, it is not true. Using Russian sounds make Russian pronunciation so recognizable.

ssmirnov

British accent is awesome! ^_^ Thank you for the lesson, really `th` and `ng` sounds are the most difficult for me.

triada

thank you my teacher . um from Yemen but it was helpful 4 me. have a nice time

ibrahim1435

Thank you very much.I learn alot.I would like to explain how pronounce Field.In English two
Vowel letters. We pronounce the first one for example pain, main ext.

khalidse10

thank you so much!!!

anastasiad

Very nice

Kazu

I’m ukrainian and in my country many people use russian,and this lesson will be so useful for ukrainian too. Thank you, Benjamin, I really liked lesson because Russian speakers people make a lot of mistakes in pronunciation. Спасибо, удачи Вам всем :)

Anastasia

Very nice…thank you very much for this losses.

rashidict

In Russian language falling intonation of question shows that the person who asks is calm,
and rising intonation of question shows
that the questioner will rush to the right or left depending on the answer …. or something like that.
In English Yes/No questions being pronounced falling intonation sound rude.

proverbial horse

Thank you Benjamin. Nobody likes Russians.

Gagarin

this is a very bold statement, carefree.
I hope you don’t mean it:)

spiridolga

In French we say “more stupid, you die“…………

patple13

For me as a Russian speaker the hardest thing to pronounce would be the w-v consonant pairs.. ((

spiridolga

THANK YOU BENJAMIN! YOU FORGOT ALSO(for russian nationality): (cAn,thAt);(wERE/hER). THANK YOU.

KATRIN777

Thank you!

Alexander0071

Benjamin, thanks ever so much )
But, a question.. Why do you call ‘l’ sound dark?
They say, there should a ‘clear’ one before vowels and in all your examples it IS before a vowel

Dark one occurs generally at the end of words… like
wiLL
sheLL

Tanks

cherryteacher

Thank you for this lesson,Benjamin.
I like your lesson.

waanii

thank u benjamin for ur short tips

hpdtc

Thank you for this lesson, I am a Chinese speaker and we also have many pronciation problems even though some Chinese speaker can speak english very frequently but others still will know that must be Chinese ! I suppose there are more tone marks in Chinese language than english! So could you do a lesson for Chinese speaker if possible? I would be appreciate. Many thanks

Sunnyxue

There are no tone marks in English at all! So yes, you could say there’s more in Chinese. I’ll add your request to the list of future lessons and we’ll see which teacher picks it!

engVid Moderator

Cool lesson,Thanks Benjamin

TH is a problem to me! Thanks for this lesson!

KakaBr

and for me too…

Edinho

Very nice lesson Benjamin.Thanks!

margarita rosa torres

very useful lesson and I like your way of teaching pronunciation. Thanks Ben

Silvi@

Are u Russian?

prcmurthy

I have found it interesting. But actually the English vowels seem much more challenging for me. I cannot notice difference between “æ” and “e”. There are the same problems with long and short vowels.

chokonu

I’m not Russian but the lesson was very helpful and interesting for me ! thx a lot

Taina28

Thx for the lesson! I had no idea what falling intonation in questions sounds rude. Will try to fix the problem now.

magen-ta@yandex.ru

I’m a Russian speaker! In my opinion, the biggest problem is that we don’t hear a big difference in these sounds. The original problem is hearing, but not a pronunciation. So, we have to hear more carefully!

alexforever82

Very helpful. I have been living in the USA and I had English classes for 4 years and nobody corrected me. Thank you very much, great teacher.

larysa6165

Maybe your teacher thinks that correct your pronunciation isn’t polite. If people understand what you said, no problem.

vasil

Thank you so much Benjamin. I really like your lesson.

kristinejone

where is the quiz benjamin?

medguert

good)) and can you make a video like this for armenian speakers) thanks in advance))))

arpine1997arpine

OMG! I loved your coat! :)
It’s bloody gorgeous! o.O

Petter93

thanks, Benjamin. Pronunciation needs more practise and correction.

astapik

Thank you, Benjamin. I think there are no problems with T and D sounds.

But when I’d listening to you I wonder how you pronounce vowels. British pronounciation of vowel sounds is the hardest thing for me.

Also it’s very hard for me (as I’m Russian) to always put the emphasis up in questions.

limiter

I would like to notice that between Russia and Germany there is Poland. We are not the smallest country in Europe ;)

icek

Thanks from Russian speaker for this lesson. I always forget about intonation in questions because we don’t use it in Russian language we just knew it was a question. Your lesson is very helpful.

Valentinkanz

thank you sir it was very helpful lesson

Tazzeen

Thanks a lot for the lesson)))

alexa.flower

Thank you for the lesson but I didn’t get how to pronounce R… (((

XavierMoren

Thanks a lot!

kskotenko

All the time I am notice prononsiation of russian people…….anyway if you want to learn Foreign language your tongue must udapt,,,good luck everyone!

HannaGanna

This lesson is very useful! Thank you a lot!

irinag160197

Hi Benjamin! I have a problem pronouncing letter “L” in some words, depending on it position in a word. Sometimes it sounds like “V”. It was found a long ago by my teacher who recorded my speech, however, I still have this problem. It often cause misunderstanding during a conversation. Benjamin, what do you think I can do? are you planning to have a lesson for “L” pronunciation? Thank you! Miron (mteshler@gmail.com)

Matesha

Yes, even when I met the compatriots away from Russia, and someone said: Hi! (just one word), I immediately knew he was Russian. Because we often pronounce H like KH (not exactly «KH», but in English is not the corresponding letter).

Tanya S

This lesson is very important for all students that want improve your pronunciation. Thanks, by all staff of engvid.com

Ronaldo Correa

Thank you, Benjamin! Your lessons are always very usefull and interesting! Good luck to you and all the best!

Huvy

Maybe, the most difficult is to produce the sound of”th”. For brazilian speakers it’s difficult because we confuse with “T” and “D” sounds. Thanks for this lesson Benjamin!

Isaias Menezes Silva

Thanks, that helped a lot. Guys, here’s the best explanation about the “th” sounds I found so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5LO0hHGfQg Sorry about the external link.

ivolkov

Thanks you! แต่ English listening rarely out

tuey 0959121603

Thank you Benjamin! This lesson was very useful for my pronunciation, again, thanks a lot!

nazlicankarpuz

Thank you for the lesson of phonetics. We really have different sounds and intonations. But it also depends on a person’s manner to speak :)

larisa.gnezdilova

Thank you, this lesson was very helpful for me.

Oliver

thank you for the lesson, nevertheless, every time i hear the way someone´s speaking i can´t realize the diferences of his/her words. what can i do to notice these differences?

CART

this is good for me to learn english

DMZAMY

It’s time to face the music for russian speakers …
as they say, there are many Englishes nowadays including Chinese, Russian, Indian ect. In my opinion, “Russian English” is the worst one. and it’s not just about pronunciation. it’s about attitude. Once you start off learning a new language, you should, literally speaking, forget about your own language. By this I mean you should’t make any references or even worse, comparisons with your own language grammar, pronunciation etc. It doesn’t work. You have to learn it as a child if you want to succed. Last but not least, superiority feelings towards other cultures and languages will definately result in your failure.