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ROSA MARIA PANTANO. Spaniard
Russian is very different from Spanish, there are a lot of unfamiliar sounds! I like it by ear, I find it melodic. But repeating it is absolutely impossible, I can’t reproduce a single word. The most striking thing about Russian is the alphabet, the funny letters.
NOEMA BOER. Dutch
Russian sounds like Portuguese to me – cool and cold.
IRINA SHASTINA
A Romanian friend of mine said that when we Russians talk, she only hears “louse-flea, louse-flea.” True, I don’t know if she understood the meaning of these words.
“The Russian language reminds me of old films about intelligence officers and spies”
MARIA LIVEN. Digital Producer
All my foreign acquaintances are frightened by its complexity. It's hard to explain why we have so many verb forms and adjective endings that have to change (my boyfriend still has a hard time understanding why I'm LOVED and he's LOVED). By the way, the sound “y” is also not easy for them (it looks like either “i” or “u”). A guy was trying to read a sign in a museum that said, “Please do not sign on the walls or windows,” but got stuck on the third word and gave up, saying there were too many letters! This is despite the fact that his native Dutch has words of 20–30 letters!
DARIA KISELEVA. Foreign language teacher, foreign trade specialist
I talked a lot with foreigners and asked everyone how Russian sounded to them. Many said that it was melodic, others said that it rustled and chirped. But what I liked most of all was the Irish woman’s review: as soon as I hear it, I remember old films about intelligence officers and spies, where “ bad Boys"were mostly Russian. That’s why Russian speech for me has the flavor of a spy novel.”
DMITRY MAKARCHUK
Somewhere I came across the opinion that for Americans, Russian speech sounds like a constant repetition of the words “cash transaction”. I asked Americans I knew more than once, they laughed and... agreed.
ANASTASIA ROGOZOVA. Student
A British friend (an English teacher) called Russian “angry Russian”. I went to his classes, and some other guys from Russia and I somehow persuaded him to say a few common phrases in Russian that he knew. He spoke, but we didn’t understand a word. Then he repeated it, but more aggressively, as if he was swearing at someone. Surprisingly, it became clearer. And then he said that this was not the first time he had noticed such a thing: Russians understand foreigners speaking Russian only if the foreigners speak “angry Russian.”
“An Austrian I know considers the name to be the most pleasant combination of sounds to hear” Nizhny Novgorod»
ELINA STEIN
Lived in Germany most own life. In Russia, everyone thinks that the German language sounds like falling typewriters filled with foil. So, the Germans think the same about the Russian language. To native German speakers, our language seems quite rough with all our hissing and growling sounds.
MEERI KHAN. Finka
What do I think about Russian? You cannot understand a word, there is not even an idea of when a sentence begins and ends. I can’t separate the words from each other: one big chaos. It's even difficult to determine whether they are talking about the weather or pancakes. It is very difficult to understand intonation, so if Russians whisper, it immediately adds up unpleasant feeling that they are discussing us. In Russian, I distinguish mainly the sounds “sh”, “x” and “r”.
ANNA DOBROVOLSKAYA. Youth human rights movement, coordinator
I can’t speak for all foreigners, but I had an Austrian friend who considered the name “Nizhny Novgorod” to be the most pleasant combination of sounds to hear. He said that this was just a work of art, and asked all Russian speakers to periodically repeat this phrase.
MASHA BORISOVA
I’m from Nizhny Novgorod, I live in Spain, during the entire period of my stay here not a single Spaniard was able to pronounce something closer to the original than “nishni novkorok” (with a pained expression “God, how do you pronounce that anyway?” ). In the end I got tired of it, now when they ask where I’m from, I answer: from “near-Moscow”.
ANNA SMIRNOVA
As the American woman with whom I lived said: “Russian is very similar to Chinese. That's probably why you are nearby. What I hear sounds like a sick bird. It sounds like this: chek-schik-chik, ch-ch-cht-chtrbyg.”
MASHA BORISOVA. Hispanist
When I spoke to my friend in Russian in the presence of a Spanish friend, it seemed to him that we were laughing at him and simply uttering a meaningless set of sounds. He can’t wrap his head around how it’s possible to have two “ws” and what’s the difference between them? I’m already used to being “Masha” here; no one can say “Masha”. A friend tried to learn Russian, but his enthusiasm was dashed by the letter “s”. He says the mechanism for making this sound is beyond his mind. At the same time, he, a French teacher, easily mastered French nasal vowels, which are also not found in Spanish. But the damned “s” is beyond his strength.
NATALYA PUZDYREVA. Sommelier & Wine Tourist
Argentinian friends said that they heard Russian as soft and melodic. They always try to repeat words. But they end up with a set of consonant letters - this, in their minds, characterizes Russian. However, I hear opposing opinions from Europeans. But the fact is that it is very complex and not at all clear language, - everyone agrees.
SIMON MATERRA. Italian
It's difficult to explain how I perceive Russian. When, for example, they speak Italian, it seems that people are singing. I can't think of such an analogy with Russian. But I know that Russians are crazy and the most strange people in the world! And sometimes in Russia it’s minus 30!
Read the original article on the TheQuestion service website.
Each of us perceives foreign speech in our own way, and each of us has our own associations associated with the sound of a particular language. But have you ever thought about how our native and familiar Russian language is perceived and associated with by foreigners? Here's what they say:..
Australia:
Russian sounds very brutal and masculine. This is the language of real machos.
(Will, financial analyst, Australia)
Czech Republic:
For me, Russian sounds exactly like Polish. The same intonation, the same “feminine” pronunciation, especially compared to Czech.
(Jakub, financial analyst, Czech Republic)
Great Britain:
For me, Russian speech is something between the roar of a walrus and the melody of Brahms.
(Abe, accountant, UK)
Ireland:
Before I started studying the Russian language, and some time after the start of Slavic lessons, the more it seemed to me like a recording of any other world language, run backwards.
(Gethin, scout, Ireland)
Mongolia:
The most amazing thing is that the Russian language can sound completely different: it all depends on the speaker and on what exactly is being said. In principle, if you wish, you can make the Russian language sound angelic. True true! Russian is plasticine, from which he can mold whatever he wants.
(Batyr, photographer, Mongolia)
New Zealand:
It’s as if someone hasn’t really cleared their throat, has taken a mouthful of saliva, and is trying to talk at the same time.
(Dean, retired, New Zealand)
Netherlands:
The Russian language is the sounds that a cat would make if you put it in a box full of marbles: squeaking, squealing and complete confusion.
(William-Jan, designer, Netherlands)
It always seemed to me that Russian is a mixture of Spanish with a rounded “r”, French with the addition of “zh” and German rough sounds.
(Jeremy, teacher, USA)
Italy:
It's like an invitation to desperate flirtation. And especially when Russian girls say their “PACHIMA?” in an incredibly sweet voice. Publish me please.
(Alessio, journalist, Italy)
Corsica:
IN highest degree emotional language— Russians put a lot of feeling and passion into intonation. Example: “Wow!”
(Chris, consultant, Corsica)
Germany:
The Russian language is a pair of familiar words lost in the complete linguistic chaos of sounds that are unpleasant to the ear.
(Albertina, infectious disease doctor, Germany)
Great Britain:
Like the sound of sandpaper scraping along a rough surface covered with a thin layer of varnish. And if we talk about provincials, then their Russian is scraping sandpaper on a rough surface without any varnishing at all.
(Mark, teacher, UK)
Israel:
It's like the roar of a bus stuck in a traffic jam. “Yes-yes-yessssss.” And so - on an increasing scale.
France:
The Russian language is like a very poorly adjusted radio receiver: full of unnecessary rustles, crackles and creaks.
(Maria, translator, France)
If you believe Paustovsky, then we have been given possession of the richest, most accurate, powerful and truly magical Russian language. We often hear that the Russian language is difficult for foreigners due to the huge number of rules and grammatical subtleties.
Spelling problems are not alien to Russian-speaking people, are they? Have you ever wondered what native Russian sounds like to foreigners? German sounds like Hitler breaking into a scream in his propaganda speeches, Chinese and Vietnamese are more reminiscent of the purring of a cat family, English is the speech of a chewer swallowing an “r”, Polish is the hissing of a friendly snake, and French and Italian are reminiscent of a violin making beautiful music. Take the patience test and find out how sweet our great and mighty one is to overseas ears!
Australia:
The Russian language is full of brutality and masculinity! I think this is how real macho men talk!
Czech Republic:
Russian speech - " female speech" Very similar to Polish, similar intonations, smooth sound, soft pronunciation.
Great Britain:
Do you know how walruses roar? Have you heard the melodies of Brahms? The Russian language is something between these two sounds.
Ireland:
Russian speech reminds me of any other language in the world, recorded on tape and played backwards. True, when I began to study Russian speech and became interested in Slavic studies, it no longer seemed that way to me.
Mongolia:
The Russian language can be completely different, and it’s always about the speaker and what he said. Competent Russian speech sometimes resembles the conversations of angels in heaven! The Russian language is like clay from which you can mold a masterpiece.
New Zealand:
It’s as if someone continues to talk with a mouth full of saliva, without bothering to cough up.
Netherlands:
If you close a cat in a room with balls scattered on the floor, then the squeaks and squeals it makes would fully characterize Russian speech.
USA:
The Russian language is an inexplicable mixture of French with the sound “zh”, German rough sounds and Spanish with a softened “r”.
Italy:
The Russian language sounds very erotic and flirtatious. When I hear “PACHIMA” from Russian girls, these are incredibly sweet notes.
Corsica:
A very emotional language in which feelings and passions boil. Russians invest a lot into intonation, which is impossible not to notice.
Germany:
A collection of sounds unpleasant to the ear that exist in a kind of linguistic chaos - this is all the Russian language. I only know a couple of words, everything else is an unpleasant mess.
Great Britain:
When sandpaper is scraped over a rough surface, removing a thin layer of varnish, it resembles Russian speech. Provincials use sandpaper to scrape rough surfaces without varnish at all.
Israel:
An old bus that roars at every incline is very similar to the Russian language. Just imagine “Yes-yes-yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss”. And so it gets louder.
France:
My grandmother’s old radio, which is full of unnecessary crackles, creaks and rustles, sounds more pleasant than Russian speech.
Mexico:
When someone speaks Russian, it seems to me that he is angry. And always.
Surprised? Still recovering from culture shock? Don't be upset! There is an opinion that German is for war, French is for love, English is for diplomats, Spanish is for duelists, Italian is for family scandals. Every joke, as you know, has some humor in it. How do they sound to you? foreign languages? Perhaps your foreign acquaintances shared their impressions of the sound of the Russian language? Feel free to be read in the comments!
Give yourself a few more smiles by refreshing your memory. Let the Russian language sound from your lips in such a way that the good Mongol who hears it will certainly think that this is what angels say!
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Every day everything more people on the planet they decide to master the “great and mighty”. The reasons are different for everyone: some want to know the meaning popular word“grandmother”, others dream of a grand trip across Russia and personal communication with local residents, while others are captivated by culture, and language becomes one of the keys to understanding the mysterious Russian soul. Having gone through all the horrors of learning the alphabet and cases, foreigners shared their experiences and impressions, and we collected all the most interesting things in one article.
Grammar
- It’s a nightmare for a foreigner to form a sentence with the word “go.” One has only to imagine the many variants of declensions and cognates, and one immediately wants to stay at home and not go out anywhere.
- The most common question among people who have begun to study Russian is how to find out which object is lying and which is standing? And to prove that this rule is impossible to understand, they cite famous example: There is a glass on the table and a fork. You can stick a fork into the table and then it will stand. Conclusion: vertical objects stand, but horizontal objects lie. But the plate and frying pan are on the table. But if you put a plate in a frying pan, it will lie flat. Nothing is clear about the dishes, but what about the animals? If a cat climbs onto the table, it will sit on its butt, but the bird will sit, despite the fact that it is standing. In Russian, a bird will stand on the table only if it is stuffed. It turns out that only animals can sit? No, for example, the boot does not have a butt and is not alive, but it still sits on the foot.
- What surprised me most about the Russian language is that you need to say forty, not fourty.
Strange letters
- I have seen solid sign, when I was studying the alphabet, and then I didn’t see it in words for about a year and I forgot about it. And when the professor saw how confused I was when I discovered this letter, he said: “When studying Russian, be prepared to be constantly surprised.”
- I don't understand how you can make the sound "oo". For example, in the words “messages” or “Pacific”.
- Once at a lecture, I told a teacher from Britain that in our alphabet there are two letters that do not have a sound (ь and ъ). But she was more shocked when I added that when reading they are pronounced.
- My Spanish friend’s enthusiasm to learn Russian is broken by attempts to reproduce Y. He says that the mechanism for making this sound is beyond his understanding.
Sound
- The Russian language is similar to many languages that are written backwards.
- As the American woman I lived with said, “Russian is very similar to Chinese. Probably because you are bordering. What I hear is more like the sounds made by a sick bird: “Cherek shchik chik cht chtrbyg.”
A British friend (an English teacher) said that this is not the first time he has noticed such a thing: Russians understand only if a foreigner speaks “angry Russian” (“angry Russian”), if you say it in a calm and soft tone, then they will not understand you .
Once, in a hostel in Germany, my friend and I were learning phrases in Klingon (a made-up language). We didn’t notice how the Germans entered the next room, and when we, red with shame, asked if our wild screams scared them too much, they answered that everything was fine, they thought that all this time we were talking in Russian.
The funniest “word” for the British turned out to be “because”, and one day they asked to explain the meaning of this word. It turned out that “because” they heard as one word “patamushta” and they thought that it was something like a shamanic curse or calling a spirit from the underworld.
My boyfriend from Germany said: “Russian is almost the same as the language of the minions.”
An Austrian friend asked everyone who speaks Russian to say: “Nizhny Novgorod.” He considered this combination of sounds a work of art.
Features of Russian people
- I thought for a long time about what the elephant on the board in the subway car means. I was told that this was a pun related to the Russian word written on the door: “don’t lean.”
) - half smile;
)) - a fairly ordinary smile, like :);
))) - laughs out loud;
)))) and more - you definitely wouldn’t want to meet such a person in real life.
If you hear Cuban dialect Spanish, but people don’t open their mouths, which means it’s Russian.
Russian names are difficult to remember. Not only do some translate them (Hope - Nadya or Light - Sveta), but then it turns out that one name has many more options: Svetlana, Svetik, Svetulya.
It always surprises me that Russians can’t just wish you good luck and always add something, for example: “Have a good holiday, good weather, and have a good trip!”
To spot a Russian in a crowd of foreigners, I approached people with the words: “Hi! “I’m Chris” (“Hello! I’m Chris”).
As the Canadian answered: “Hi! Do I know you?” (“Hello! Do we know each other?”)
As the Italian answered: “Whata can I helpa you with a?" ("Can I help you?")
As the Russian answered: “Hello. And what? (“Hello. So what?”)
Have you ever found yourself in funny situations when communicating with foreigners?
Unusual sound foreign speech most often the cause of culture shock. In China or Vietnam the sound local language, similar to “xiao-miao-liao”, may well drive us crazy. German speech in the style of “Rosenkleitz Rothenbertschmacher Steinblumenrichtenstadt” sometimes resembles Hitler’s election speech in timbre and intensity. But what does our Russian language, so native and understandable, sound like for foreigners?
Please find the answers below.
Australia:
Russian sounds very brutal and masculine. This is the language of real machos.
(Will, financial analyst, Australia)
Czech Republic:
For me, Russian sounds exactly like Polish. The same intonation, the same “feminine” pronunciation, especially compared to Czech.
(Jakub, financial analyst, Czech Republic)
Great Britain:
For me, Russian speech is something between the roar of a walrus and the melody of Brahms.
(Abe, accountant, UK)
Ireland:
Before I started studying the Russian language, and some time after the start of Slavic lessons, the more it seemed to me like a recording of any other world language, run backwards.
(Gethin, scout, Ireland)
Mongolia:
The most amazing thing is that the Russian language can sound completely different: it all depends on the speaker and on what exactly is being said. In principle, if you wish, you can make the Russian language sound angelic. True true! Russian is plasticine, from which you can mold whatever you want.
(Batyr, photographer, Mongolia)
New Zealand:
It’s as if someone hasn’t really cleared their throat, has taken a mouthful of saliva, and is trying to talk at the same time.
(Dean, retired, New Zealand)
Netherlands:
The Russian language is the sounds that a cat would make if you put it in a box full of marbles: squeaking, squealing and complete confusion.
(William-Jan, designer, Netherlands)
USA:
It always seemed to me that Russian is a mixture of Spanish with a rounded “r”, French with the addition of “zh” and German rough sounds.
(Jeremy, teacher, USA)
Italy:
It's like an invitation to desperate flirtation. And especially when Russian girls say their “PACHIMA?” in an incredibly sweet voice. Publish me please.
(Alessio, journalist, Italy)
Corsica:
A highly emotional language, Russians put a lot of feeling and passion into intonation. Example: “Wow!”
(Chris, consultant, Corsica)
Germany:
The Russian language is a pair of familiar words lost in the complete linguistic chaos of sounds that are unpleasant to the ear.
(Albertina, infectious disease doctor, Germany)
Great Britain:
Like the sound of sandpaper scraping along a rough surface covered with a thin layer of varnish. And if we talk about provincials, then their Russian is scraping sandpaper on a rough surface without any varnishing at all.
(Mark, teacher, UK)
Israel:
It's like the roar of a bus stuck in a traffic jam. “Yes-yes-yessssss.” And so - on an increasing basis.
France:
The Russian language is like a very poorly adjusted radio receiver: full of unnecessary rustles, crackles and creaks.
(Maria, translator, France)