The Wife's English gets better while yours gets worse

[myrddin]

Wow, you guys are coming from a totally different planet! :-)

I personally hate Russian accent, broken English or when somebody struggles expressing themselves.

Ah, but those are three different things!   

I can't believe that this sexiness can be one of the reasons some of you are looking for a wife in Russia/Ukraine...

I wouldn't say it's a reason, but it's a definite bonus!


One UW told me my American accent in Russian was sexy... but she hesitated and I'm not sure I believed her in the first place. 

[SANDRO43]

Can you imagine how weird our RWD Forum would sound if we had vocal rather than textual posts .

[2tallbill]

Wow, you guys are coming from a totally different planet! :-)

I personally hate Russian accent, broken English or when somebody struggles expressing themselves. Maybe because my profession is partially fighting with it or maybe because i am too impatient some times. I don't think my husband(s) suffered any transfusion, on the contrary I picked up more things and they didn't loose anything.  You guys watched James Bond too much, didn't you?  I can't believe that this sexiness can be one of the reasons some of you are looking for a wife in Russia/Ukraine...

Anastassia, you have no accent that I can detect. (So no James Bond movie career for you).
You do however have children. I am sure that you have adopted at least a couple of their
words into your lexicon. I think men tend to do this as well with their ladies.

On the accent thing I know several women who go gaga over men with various accents
like French for example.

Udachi !


Bill

[AnastassiaAsh]

You are an interpreter, of course you strive for perfection. But look at it this way: if your husband had a sexy French or Italian accent would you want it to go away?

JollyRats, it's really hard for me to imagine marrying a French or an Italian guy, but if I was an Italian interpreter I would probably want to find and marry an Italian guy who would speak clear accentless Italian. Accents in general don't attract me. I don't look at it this way.

You do however have children. I am sure that you have adopted at least a couple of their words into your lexicon. I think men tend to do this as well with their ladies.

I have a son who was born here, so American English is his mothertongue, what ever words I take from him are part of the English language. But I know what you mean. Very interesting angle to look at it.

[Mila]

I am glad for your wife and it is good her English gets better and better. I think you got used to expressing yourself in a simple way for her to understand you better, but the only way out is to try to speak normal(proper English). Just try to remember that there is no need speaking simple English and you will change the way you speak. To my mind, it is not about your knowledge of the language, it is about your habit of expressing yourself.
This topic reminds me some of our Russian/Ukrainian teachers at schools, who teach English to the children and everything they knew before they forgot very fast. Unfortunately, but sometimes it is true, sometimes not, depends on person.
What about accents, most of my clients say that they love to listen to Russian/Ukrainian women speaking English with Russian accent, they really love it. They say it is like listening to the beautiful song Also, i have noticed that some people can get rid of accent while they live in English speaking country and some not. It depends! But in any case, i see nothing wrong about that, it is people's nature sometimes and it even sounds sexy...

[possum]

It appears that most Russians retain their accents for years after they move to an English speaking country, if not for the rest of their lives.. And then there are those who lose their accents pretty quickly but continue to use structures and phrases that are idiomatically incorrect.. Very seldom will you come across a person from Eastern Europe who can speak proper English without a trace of a foreign accent..

[Missouri-Hunter]

While I really enjoy the Russian ladies' accents, this thread has made me start wondering how I'd sound to them if I try learning Russian or Ukrainian. 

[tfcrew]

Wow, you guys are coming from a totally different planet! 

Some of the respondents are not married...or is as exposed to the foreign life.
Someone earlier made a Russian accent look more like Count Dracula!
'I vant you'
Yikes.

Everyone has an accent.
New Englanders might have a JFK sound.
Minnesotians might sound Swedish.
I have a Texas drawl and there is not enough money in my bank account to get rid of it.

[kryten41]

While I really enjoy the Russian ladies' accents, this thread has made me start wondering how I'd sound to them if I try learning Russian or Ukrainian. 

I think it depends in part on how you learn.  As an American, I obviously cannot know how you would sound to a Russian, but I believe if you learn from a book, you will speak Russian or Ukrainian with your native accent, but if you learn from an audio source spoken by someone with a Russian accent, you will speak Russian with more of a Russian accent.  It is the upside to the "I am a parrot" effect of audio CD's.

[kievstar]

Your going to sound different.  Just like foreigners who speak English sound different.  But you rarely hear someone in Ukraine think Americans have a good accent when speaking Russian.  Where as RW tend to have sexy American English.

[Missouri-Hunter]

I never figured it would be good; I just wondered if I'd do it well enough. 

[Aloe]

I never figured it would be good; I just wondered if I'd do it well enough. 

i like american accent in russian, its very cute No matter how many CD's you listen to, its very hard for english (and many other languages) speaking people to learn to pronounce soft consonant sounds. Which is too bad really, cuz nobody can ever pronounce my name correctly, short or long. Ah well   For example word Polka (the dance), in russian the L is soft, and if you dont make it soft you will say "shelf" instead of the dance name. Luckily you probably wont ever need to say the dance name

[Missouri-Hunter]

    yeah, dancing isn't my thing. I've never been able to roll my "R"s, so how bad is that? Would people still know what I'm trying to say? I also think that once I'm ready to actively pursue this I'll probably look mostly in Ukraine, so is that what I should try to learn rather than Russian?

[Aloe]

   yeah, dancing isn't my thing. I've never been able to roll my "R"s, so how bad is that? Would people still know what I'm trying to say? I also think that once I'm ready to actively pursue this I'll probably look mostly in Ukraine, so is that what I should try to learn rather than Russian?

im sure they will, and its very nice that you actually try to learn a local language, that gives you a few points in everybodys eyes

[remiel6]

as a technical point. Although everyone has an accent of some kind. There is what is called "American Standard." It is a stage accent that is used in film and television and also taught to foriengers when they try to break into american film. Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are good examples. In many of thier films they shed their accent altogether. In fact when I lived in australia most of the aussies could not tell the difference between me and my friend. I am from Minnesota and she was from Tennessee. We always found this funny. That being said, I also rather like the russian accent 

[Chris59]

I wouldn't say that my attraction to RW/UW is based on their accents, but I do agree, it is a huge bonus.

That reminds me of the original Addams Family TV series, when "Gomez" used to kiss up and down his wife "Morticia's" arm, every time he heard her speaking French. He would say that her French is driving him wild!


Also, I was born in Tennessee, but raised in South Florida from the time I was a small child. I never retained any trace of a Tennessee accent. In fact, many people mistake me for being a Northerner, because I have what I would guess is the "American Standard" accent that someone spoke of earlier. What's funny is, every time I return to Tennessee to visit relatives, I practically need an interpreter to understand to them.

[Kuna]

Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are good examples. In many of thier films they shed their accent altogether.

They did???     Have to disagree...  to us Aussies they've both got American accents in almost all of their movies!   

[kryten41]

With regard to the original post, I'm surprised your English didn't get more precise.  Since I started communicating with someone whose first language isn't English, I've become much more aware of the imprecision with which I speak.  Being from the South, I say things like "I'm fixing to go to the store".  Literally this means I am repairing a "to go to the store", and is utter nonsense.  I would think precision, not shorter words, would be more helpful, as Russian speakers are no strangers to multisyllabic words.  Lately I have been discovering how bad my English really is.