Tag Archives: pronunciation
Loanwords Frequently Mispronounced in Russian Posted by Maria on Mar 16, 2015
Once Russian learners whose first language is a Romance or Germanic one get past the “this language is like nothing I know” stage, they may start noticing that Russian has acquired and assimilated scores of loanwords. Many navigation terms come from Dutch (киль — keel); art, from French (бале́т — ballet) and Italian (пиани́но —…
Take Your Pronunciation to the Next Level – Part I Posted by Maria on Jul 21, 2014
Does anyone here find Russian pronunciation challenging? Perhaps you are learning Russian abroad and don’t get to hear native speakers very often. Or maybe, despite hearing them, you just can’t grasp how they produce the sounds of Russian and cannot quite repeat them. Let’s hope that’s not the case. But whatever your accent in Russian…
Unexpected Discoveries After Moving to Moscow (Part 2) Posted by Maria on Jun 16, 2014
This post is continued from last week’s post. Read the beginning here. 3. Being Moscow-born matters One of the things you will sometimes hear said with pride around Moscow is “Я коренной москвич/Я коренная москвичка” (I’m a native Muscovite: male/female). Коренной comes from the word корень (root). In other words, “My roots are here.” Interestingly…