Weird stresses

[noser.livejournal.com]

I've been listening to the news lately, and it looks like the only way a native English speaker can pronounce the surname "Шарапова" is Sharapova. I've even seen a headline "Sharapova the Supernova". Those guys must've been pretty sure about the pronunciation :)

Is there something that makes English speakers think the stress is on the "o"? Maybe, an association with a known word like Casanova or something?

Another one I could never understand is "babushka". What gives?

P.S. And they think that Maria's father's name is "Yuri Sharapova". Гы-гы-гы :)))))

Upd. To make this entry useful for beginners in Russian: The right stresses and spellings are Sharapova, babushka, Yuri Sharapov :)

Comments

[skripka.livejournal.com]

I studied enough Russian that I went right to Sharapova (which I now hope is right...eek). But with babushka, I had to stop and think. Mainly because when I was growing up, I heard it accented on the second syllable.

Stresses were always my weakness in Russian, though. *sigh*