(no subject)

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

I have problems with certain sounds in certain positions, such as the letter ж, and hard L's, it's difficult for me to pronounce it. But I also make mistakes that I am not aware of, and that is why I need your help. Please listen and comment in order to help me to improve my pronounciation!

A friend of mine helped me twice, but I can't torture her with the same text a million times...

Up date:
Thanks evebody for really reall useful comments! I have tried to consider them all, but it is a lot to keep in mind... And somethings is just simply hard o do, even if I understand in theory. Like the little word ПЯТЬ for example. I don't know if i am doing it better or worse now. When I try to take away my "Piyat'" and say "p'at'," I end up saying a very reduced A like an Э almost. And the L in далёкие and валяются. It's like wachting professional ice skating, I see how it is done and you can explain I hundred times how to do it, I end up on my butt anyway :-(. This is my last try at this kusochek, then I will read something else, or it might end up doing more harm than good ;-).

Comments

[shota-kitten.livejournal.com]

it's quite good, I can understand all the words without any difficulties, but you have that strange accent that all foreigners speaking russian have. )

the main mistake - you say нельзЙА instead of нел'з'а. in all such words there is not ЙА but soft consonant and then just А

And, yes, you have problems with consonants - you confuse soft and hard ones, better to say, you try to pronounce them correctly, but it doesn't sound correct.

Your russian is like Chinese, it's too soft. But in fact it should be like Japanese.

It seems that speaking Russian is difficult to you, physically. Try to relax your jaw.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

thank you! So i will try to relax my jaw - that means articulate less, but on the same time make hard consonants harder. I will try my best, thank you! I will never get rid of the accent of course, but I want to speak in a way that doesn't "rezat' ushi". :-)

[etanila.livejournal.com]

I actually thought that you are getting rid of the accent to be a spy or something. :-) Yes, you are that good. I've heard some soft/hard consonants struggle/confusion like "пйять", "обИгрывает", "сколко", "Ванка", but I'm not sure I would tell that you are not a native speaker right away. I wish my English pronounciation was as good as yours in Russian. :-)

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You are the second person to comment how I pronounce the word p'at'. I thougt i corrected it, but I have to try harder! No, I am not going to be a spy, i just really enjoy pronounciation - it is like dancing of the mouth....:-)))) It's a sport!

[icamel.livejournal.com]

По-мужичьи -- stress should be at first и

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[alex-mashin.livejournal.com]

"Крикли́вая" not "кри́кливая". "По-мужи́чьи" not "по-му́жичьи". "Стиснув" not "зтизнув".
"Обыгрывает" is pronounced "обыгрывает" not "обигрывает", no matter how spelt.
You seem to have difficulty with some of your palatalised consonants followed by vowels. They sound hard and  the following vowels split into diftongs starting with i, which they should not.
Your stressed vowels are too long.
However many, if not most, of the words are pronounced correctly.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Very useful comments!
Stisnuv is a problem because of zuby.... I try so hard to say "stisnuv" instead of "stisnuf", an end up saying "ztiznuv" :-(.

[nic102.livejournal.com]

Stisnuv is a problem because of zuby.... I try so hard to say "stisnuv" instead of "stisnuf"

That's strange. It's actually much easier to say "stisnuv zuby" than "stisnuf zuby". That v-z can be pronounced almost in one movement of upper teeth and tongue, whereis to say "stisnuf zuby" you need to make more complex movements. For me it's easy to say either "stinsuv zuby" or "stinsuf suby". Maybe your Russian friend can teach you how to make that "vzzzz" sound?

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

:-) yeah I guess it is a hang up in the brain. Now i tried to say just stisnuf zuby, and i ended up saying stisnuv zuby!

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Hi!
I made a ten seconds recording, it would be great if you could listen!
Can you hear the difference I am trying to make? Wich one is best?
http://audioboo.fm/boos/514891-vowels

[alex-mashin.livejournal.com]

2 is better but somewhat strained.

However, you can hear rather long stressed vowels and over-reduced pre-stressed ones in native Moscovites' speach, which is not the norm. This is often parodied.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!!
In Swedish we have two A sounds, one dark and long (like in persian), one short and light. I have to find the middle way...

(I have a moscovite friend who almost reduces her stressed vowel... Sometimes I think, she says prosto almost like PrAstA, when she speaks fast.)

[scolar.livejournal.com]

In general, I'd be happy if my English were half as good as your Russian. I hear some [minor] problems, but again, most of the people from non-Slavic x-USSR countries have much more heavy accent, even if they are exposed to Russian from their early childhood.

1. "ё", "я" after "л": you pronounce "далёкий" as "далиокий" and "валяются" as "валиаются" (with pretty short "и", though).
2. You tend to double "к": "далёккий". I don't know where are you from, but this is quite typical for people from Baltic countries.
3. Wrong stress in "крикливая", "мужичьи"
4. "ы" is little bit soft, close to "и", but acceptable.
5. At 1:42 you pronounce "хочешь" as "хочш" and "ч" sounds too hard.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you, very useful comment! I will record a shorter part of the story, and really concentrate. 3 minutes is very long ;-)

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

One more try. Is it better or worse?

one more try...

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

http://audioboo.fm/boos/514870-5th-try

The demanding student...

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

You know what would be relly helpfull? If someone could record him or her self reading the same text... here it is:

ДАЛЕКИЕ ЗИМНИЕ ВЕЧЕРА
Под Москвой идут тяжелые бои...

А на окраине далекой сибирской деревеньки крикливая ребятня с раннего утра режется в бабки. Сумки с книжками валяются в стороне.

Обыгрывает всех знаменитый Мишка Босовило - коренастый малый в огромной шапке. Его биток, как маленький снаряд, вырывает с кона сразу штук по пять бабок. Мишка играет спокойно, уверенно. Прежде чем бить по кону, он снимает с правой руки рукавицу, сморкается по мужичьи на дорогу, прищуривает левый глаз... прицеливается... Все, затаив дыхание, горестно следят за ним. Мишка делает шаг... второй...- р-р-раз! - срезал. У Мишки есть бабушка, а бабушка, говорят, того... поколдовывает. У ребятишек подозрение, что Мишкин биток заколдован.

Ванька Колокольников проигрался к обеду в пух и прах. Под конец, когда у него осталась одна бабка, он хотел словчить: заспорил с Гришкой Коноваловым, что сейчас его, Ванькина, очередь бить. Гришка стал доказывать свое.

- А по сопатке хошь? - спросил Ванька.

- Да ты же за Петькой бьешь-то?!

- Нет, ты по сопатке хошь? - Когда Ваньке нечего говорить, он всегда так спрашивает.

Их разняли.

Последнюю бабку Ванька выставил с болью, стиснув зубы. И проиграл. Потом стоял в сторонке злой и мрачный.

- Мишка, хошь "Барыню" оторву? - предложил он Мишке.

- За сколько? - спросил Мишка.

- За пять штук.

- Даю три.

- Четыре.

- Три.

- Ладно, пупырь, давай три. Скупердяй ты, Мишка!.. Я таких сроду не видывал. Как тебя еще земля держит?

- Ничего, держит,- спокойно сказал Мишка.- Не хочешь - не надо. Сам же напрашиваешься.

Образовали круг. Ванька подбоченился и пошел. В трудные моменты жизни, когда нужно растрогать человеческие сердца или отвести от себя карающую руку, Ванька пляшет "Барыню". И как пляшет! Взрослые говорят про него, что он, чертенок, "от хвоста грудинку отрывает".

Ванька пошел трясогузкой, смешно подкидывая зад. Помахивал над головой воображаемым платочком и бабьим голоском вскрикивал: "Ух! Ух! Ух ты!" Под конец Ванька становился на руки и шел, сколько мог, на руках. Все смеялись.

Прошелся Ванька по кругу раз пять, остановился

- Давай! - Мишка бросил на снег две бабки. Ванька опешил.

- Мы же за три договаривались!

- Хватит.

Ванька передвинул шапку козырьком на затылок и медленно пошел на Мишку. Тот изготовился. Ванька неожиданно дал ему головой в живот. Мишка упал. Заварилась веселая потасовка. Половина была на Ванькиной стороне, другие - за Мишку. Образовали кучу малу.

Re: The demanding student...

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

Bad quality, but still.
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vJi69UdBArfDsVxq1

Re: The demanding student...

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!! It was useful!

[kys.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of an expert, but I hope that something in here might actually happen to be useful. I think that the consonants in your speech are a little to stressed sometimes, especially the 'p' ("п") sound. And the vowels are a little too relaxed. In a natural Russian speech the stress on vowels is almost always a little stronger than the stress on consonants.

And one more thing. I don't know if it will be actually helpful or not, but one of my friends have found a funny way to get a grip on -я syllables. She didn't try to use them in speech straight away, but we actually practiced it as emotive sounds a lot. Stuff like 'мяя' or 'няя', or even children speech (коНЯЯЯшка), when said a lot, kind of conditions the mouth to get to other -я syllables easier.

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

thank you!

[o-rus.livejournal.com]

I think you sound very natural, not as a native speaker of course, but it is fine. Especially when you were just speaking and not reading. And the most important thing is that it's definitely understandable.
I don't know how you can improve your pronunciation with your current level of Russian (you must be fluent). Repeating the dialogues from the textbooks is very boring. Perhaps, you could try to imitate the native speakers (take short extracts from some films for example).
Anyway, congratulations on your level!

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[vovanium.livejournal.com]

It seems you soft consonants should be softer, and hard should be harder. But I think it is just a matter of experience.
My advice: there are soft/hard pairs of words, like пат and пять, мат and мать and мять, тест and тесть. Ensure you pronounce them definitely different, but with the same rhythm, e.g. пять should not appear with two vowels "ia" instead of single "a".

[olydiagron.livejournal.com]

thank you!