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Comment from: Shady_arc [Visitor]
In fact, the transcriptions that are used are a mixture of a phonetical approach, some transliteration and some tradition. That's why we have Вальтер Скотт and Джессика Уолтер, even though it's the same "Walter" in English. Keira Knightley only recently gained popularity, while Joan Collins became a known actress in Russia slightly earlier, in early 90s (when "Dynasty" was running on TV).

Double consonants are a well-known feature of English, more precisely, how they don't exist in that language :). Still, they are often copied from their spelling, even though Russian actually has double consonants. Mind the inconsistency of such pronunciations, though; "баннер" has only one "н" in pronunciation.

The vowels are a difficult matter, and the fact different dialects (namely, RP and GA) read them differently, doesn't make it any easier. While with or's , "er's and ar's Russian tries to be American and spell ор/ер/ар, when it comes to "O", we are usually more British :) in that Collins becomes "Колинз". That is, it becomes "О" even when in American pronunciation it is closer to Russian "А". "Joan" would probably be transcripted as "Джоун" nowadays. First, because Джон is already a well-known male name. Second, because the pronunciation is different.



06/02/11 @ 08:08
Comment from: Edgar [Visitor]
" That is, it becomes "О" even when in American pronunciation it is closer to Russian "А".Not quite true, Shady. Your statement about "O" and American "A"s applies mostly to mid-west and pacific coast English. Those of us who live in the Northeast, particularly in the Boston area are noted for our British "O"s. There are probably as many regional variations of speech in the US as there are in Russia.
06/03/11 @ 14:18
Comment from: Shady_arc [Visitor]
@Edgar: I spoke mostly of "General American" pronunciation. I know that many variations exist, yet as I have never been in any English-speaking country, ever, I don't pay close attention to the differences even when I hear them in films or games. Where actors often fake their accents anyway ^_^.
06/03/11 @ 15:06
Comment from: Shady_arc [Visitor]
And, no, there aren't AS MANY regional variations is US as in Russia. For the simple reason you have so many and we have so few, at least in large cities.

My mother was from a rural area, and still spoke the very generic Russian (or maybe her speech changed as she spent more and more years in our town away from her village). When her brother visited us a few times, I couldn't see any real difference. Yet there are lots and lots of people in Moscow who don't speak with "Moscow accent" the actors speak. Even some people in faraway regions do it much better, though at www.forvo.com I can clearly see the tendency among some people from there to speak vowels in a more relaxed and prolonged manner.

The reasons are, probably, as follows:
- Moscow/St.Petersburg accent is the one used on radio and TV, the one used in actor's training. This is the accent movies are generally dubbed in (unless you need something very specific, like "he is this old Chinese salesman with a funny accent"). Other pronunciations are mostly used for laughs or if the character is.. maybe from Caucasia, Ukraine, or has a distinct Asian look. You see, there are very few variations the people instantly recognize, such as Armenian, Ukranian, Georgian, generic "jewish" or Kazakh.
- many people try to get closer to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities. As a result, these cities themselves have a non-uniform pronunciation. One my Kazakh friend wasn't born here but she spoke Russian with a flawless Moscow accent, to the point you can SEE she is probably not from Russia, but you cannot HEAR it on the phone or in audio interview.

As for the actors, it is an interesting story... I heard they are actually trained to speak like that. If only you pay attention, you will notice this training in the older Russian movies and cartoons (for example, they pronounce маленький as "маленькай" and "дождь" as if it were "дощ", though this was already obsolete even then). It was farther from actual speech back then (because late 19th-early 20th century pronunciation was used as a model). Nowadays the pronunciation is almost the same as the real one :) Well, at least in dubbing and movies. I heard, it is still a bit more traditional in theatres.
06/03/11 @ 15:51
Comment from: Edgar [Visitor]
06/07/11 @ 17:53
Comment from: Don [Member] Email
06/08/11 @ 01:45

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