Her Accent

[jb]

While I don't disagree that when a RW speaks English she sounds more sexy to the western ear, who could deny that?  The mechanics of the accent, any accent, are merely a product of tongue position within the mouth, either high or low against the lower teeth and lower jaw movement while making different sounds.  These are traits learned early when a child learns the mother language and are habits hard to break as we get older.  This is the reason the orientals (Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans) have such a hard time saying a "R" and a "L" sound in English, it just doesn't exist in the native language, and when they attempt to duplicate that noise in English the tongue automatically goes to the wrong place against the lower jaw.  Some languages are more guttural than the so-called Romance Languages, German comes to mind, with sounds created farther back in the throat than we are used to making, but with practice most English speakers can learn to make most of those sounds adequately, however, most English speakers will never speak Russian without a funny accent.

Don't worry too much, guys,,, your woman will probably never lose her cute accent when she speaks English.  If you listen closely as she speaks Russian she will sound like a totally different person than she does when speaking English.

[Todd]

I think that my wife gets the comment about her accent being sexy at least once a day if not more.
Besides being exotic, it might have something to do with movies growing up.  The Russians/Eastern Europeans were always the villians, but the hero would manage to somehow seduce the sexy Russian heroine with a conscience.  I can think of several movies that fit that bill.

What will be interesting to me is how the generation growing up after 1989 in the US will view the accent.  

Interestingly, for American women, the accent that is the most sexy is generally considered to be an English accent.

[Lily]

In less modern times, "sexy" roles in operas were usually written for the lower voices of contraltos and mezzo-sopranos (as in Bizet's Carmen, you won't deny that she is a sexy woman ).

yes lower and deeper voices are sexier, but we talk about the national accent, and it does not necessarily mean this. A squeaky, high frequency female voice can have a Russian accent too...

[Lily]

What will be interesting to me is how the generation growing up after 1989 in the US will view the accent.  
 

why after 1989?

[jb]

A squeaky, high frequency female voice

Is like fingernails scraping down a chalkboard...  (shudder)

[SANDRO43]

Interestingly, for American women, the accent that is the most sexy is generally considered to be an English accent.

Yes, quite interesting , for decades the evil roles in Hollywood movies were played almost exclusively by British actors.

[SANDRO43]

A squeaky, high frequency female voice can have a Russian accent too...

Yes, but I doubt THAT would be considered sexy .

[Lily]

Then, I suppose, the point is not in Russian accent but in the melodiousness and pleasant tone of the particular woman's voice .

[SANDRO43]

... a product of tongue position within the mouth, either high or low against the lower teeth and lower jaw movement while making different sounds.

Actually, the lower part of our mouth is not as much involved in speech as is its upper part (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulation):

Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical

[Rvrwind]

Whatever, already told my wife she loses her accent she either stays in Russia till she gets it back or I trade her in on a new model that still has the accent!!!

[SANDRO43]

Then, I suppose, the point is not in Russian accent but in the melodiousness and pleasant tone of the particular woman's voice.

No Lily, were it so, WM's comments would be about a sexy voice (which any other woman can have: for instance, here in Italy, I noticed that many women from Emilia Romagna exhibit that), not a peculiarly sexy Russian accent. Just in my opinion, that is mostly attributable to your huskier Os.

[jb]

Actually, the lower part of our mouth is not as much involved in speech as is its upper part

Ah haaaaaa,,, that explains why I can't sing, my upper jaw is not movable like the Europeans, only my lower jaw is hinged to move as I speak.

[Gator]

Men have always talked about the sexy Russian accent, and I never understood the attraction.  Many RW speak gently and elegantly, something that I like.  Yet, a few have high-pitched voices which are grating. 

My Cossack girlfriend has a husky voice, which evidently is appreciated by the Russians because she earns part of her living from making radio commercials.  Because she does not speak English, I can not tell about her accent.    For certain I love her passionate, indecipherable Russian phrases.

My favorite accents in women are:

1.   French (woke up one morning to this and wanted to stay forever)
2.   Italian (it’s the accent in combination with the animation and gesticulation)
3.   Swedish (not so sexy as soothing and playful)
4.   Old Southern coastal towns (Charleston and Savannah years ago because TV seems to be eliminating it today)
5.   German (in most women I dislike it, yet one Marlene Dietrich film and I was hooked)

[SANDRO43]

Ah haaaaaa,,, that explains why I can't sing, my upper jaw is not movable like the Europeans, only my lower jaw is hinged to move as I speak.

JB, if you cannot sing, there may be reasons other than a non-mobile upper jaw which, incidentally, we also happen to possess here in Europe : my choirmaster maintains that anybody can sing, the problem with people who consider themselves off-key is usually in their untrained hearing, not in their sound-producing equipment . And, considering my own personal experience, I tend to believe he is right.

Our mouth is a resonant cavity operating much like those in aerophones, i.e. musical instruments (such as winds, brass, organs, etc.) which produce sound by vibrating a flow of air through them, with the difference that ours consists mostly of soft tissue, rather than solid wood or metal, and, most importantly, its internal shape is modifiable with our tongue. This, and directing the flow of our breath towards particular areas within it (places of articulation), allows us to produce the different notes (vowels and consonants) of our music (speech).

You can speak even while keeping your lower jaw perfectly still (you would not sound quite your usual sweet self, but still intelligible, though ).

[viking]

why after 1989?

Just a guess on my part, but I think that was the year the 486 processor was introduced, not to mention the first PC server. The internet?

[jb]

Nah,,, all that and I'm half color blind too.  There's no hope for me and singin'.

[Gator]

JB,

I recall that Russians would blame your inability on a big bear who stepped on your ear when you were a baby.

I am also a bad singer.  It does make people laugh, and that is worth something.

[Todd]

1989...fall of the Berlin Wall.  Although, it is also the year that I started playing computer games. 

[SANDRO43]

Nah,,, all that and I'm half color blind too. 

No great problem there, musical scores are still printed in black-and-white, fortunately .

[Lily]

Watch and listen to a Russian woman speaking love for her man in English

[JR]

Then, I suppose, the point is not in Russian accent but in the melodiousness and pleasant tone of the particular woman's voice .

Russian women were the beautiful, sexy and unobtainable villainess that James Bond always conquered in the movies. So we relate to that as sexy and worth the chase.

[Jalapeno]

I also think accents of RW are interesting and cute, especially certain words. I also noticed they have a hard time pronouncing "th" as a sound. They only pronounce the t. Anyone else notice this?

[SANDRO43]

I also think accents of RW are interesting and cute, especially certain words. I also noticed they have a hard time pronouncing "th" as a sound. They only pronounce the t. Anyone else notice this?

Almost anybody has difficulties in uttering sounds not native to their own language . The English -TH- sound is alien to Russian, to most Latin languages (except Castilian Spanish), and even to a cognate language like German - and is often replaced by -Z-.

Not difficult for Arabs, who even have 2 different letters in their alphabet to differentiate th-in from th-is.

[UTRO]

My wife is definitely a 'Husky Ruskie' and speaks better English then I does   

[RussianWind]

Almost anybody has difficulties in uttering sounds not native to their own language . The English -TH- sound is alien to Russian, to most Latin languages (except Castilian Spanish), and even to a cognate language like German - and is often replaced by -Z-.

Not difficult for Arabs, who even have 2 different letters in their alphabet to differentiate th-in from th-is.

I hate strong Russian accent as well as Arabian. They don't have problems with th but they have problems with some other letters brrrr

I find Asian and Indian accents funny.