asthfghl: (You may kiss me now!)
Asthfghl ([personal profile] asthfghl) wrote in [community profile] talkpolitics2021-11-19 09:45 pm
Entry tags:

Friday off-topic. Mincing Russian words

Yeah, we all know about Faux Cyrillic. It's silly and it's fun. We've also heard of the funny Russian accent, Russians are so funny trying to speak English, with their soft accent and their proneness to skip the "the" article. But what about the other way around, English-speaking people trying to pronounce Russian words and names and basically slaughtering them?

Here's a look into the most common Russian words that ended up like minced meat after being pronounced in English. To anyone remotely familiar with Russian, the sound of these is like a bag of rusty iron nails being drawn through the back of your skull. Neither is Putin's name VLADemere, nor is Nikita's surname CRUST-choff. Sorry.

dewline: Text - "On the DEWLine" (Default)

[personal profile] dewline 2021-11-19 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Too many North American anglophones seem to have taken it to heart to believe in the doctrine of "mis-spell and mispronounce everything possible or die in agony". I say this, being one such person raised in that tradition.
Edited 2021-11-19 20:48 (UTC)
oportet: (Default)

[personal profile] oportet 2021-11-20 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I think if Fedor wanted to correct anyone they would probably listen - unless he just got tired of repeating himself.

I've never heard any announcer not pronounce it fay-door...