The cluster

The main features of Russian accent in English

We made a cluster “Features of Russian accent in English” to show the main mistakes that the Russians often make in the pronunciation of English sounds. In the picture you can see three knights on horsebacks. They are Horsemen of the Apocalypse. There only three of them because they represent intonation, consonants and vowels – the things that cause a lot difficulties for Russian people.

First, the major difficulties are vowel sounds. The Russians do not usually pronounce open vowels as wide as they should be. That’s why “trap” sound sounds more Russian “э” and “lot” becomes Russian “o” (кот). In Russian language there is no difference between short and long (lax and tense) vowels. Because of this feature Russian people pronounce “fleece” and “kit” in the same way.  Also, the sound “goose” is not identical to Russian «у»: we should not protrude our lips when we pronounce English one. The sound “nurse” should be long and we should spread the lips.  In the pronunciation of diphthongs the second element (I) is longer than Russian «й».

Secondly, Russian people have some problems with consonants. Sounds such as “p”,”t”,”k” should be aspirated and pronounced more energetically. We should distinguish «v» and «w» sounds: when we make the second sound, we should round our lips. The sound “h” has to be aspirated. The main mistake is the strong pronunciation. The sounds θ and ð are dental that’s why we should put the tip of our tongue between the teeth.

The third problem is intonation. Usually Russian people speak with mid-level tone that’s why we make mistakes in questions. In the “yes/no questions” have rising tone, “wh-questions” are falling. In English rising tone is gradual, not sudden. Falling tone should not be abrupt.