Russian → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 17 of them from Russian. The other 26 are the work — and 21 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: labiodental → dental
English: think · written "th"
Tongue between the teeth, no voice.
Your /f/ is the one in фильм (film).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: this · written "th (function words, between vowels)"
the, this, that, they, mother, breathe.
Your /v/ is the one in вода́ (water).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: ship · written "sh", "ti (-tion)", "ci", "ssi"
Your /s/ is the one in сон (sleep).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: measure · written "s (measure)", "si (vision)", "ge (beige)"
Your /z/ is the one in зуб (tooth).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: church · written "ch", "tch", "tu (nature)"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in цена́ (price).
the move: open → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /a/ is the one in мать (mother).
the move: longer
English: see · written "ee", "ea", "e_e", "ie"
Your /i/ is the one in и́мя (name).
the move: longer
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /u/ is the one in рука́ (hand).
the move: close, but not identical
English: water · written "w", "wh", "u (queen)"
Your /j/ is the one in я (I).
the move: open → open-mid
English: bed · written "e", "ea (bread)"
Your /a/ is the one in мать (mother).
the move: near-open → open-mid, longer
English: bird · written "er", "ir", "ur", "ear (earth)"
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Your /ɐ/ is the one in вода́ (water).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar, voiced
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in цена́ (price).
the move: plosive → nasal
English: sing · written "ng", "n before k"
Your /ɡ/ is the one in год (year).
the move: trill → approximant
English: red · written "r", "rr", "wr"
Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American.
Your /r/ is the one in рука́ (hand, arm).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /e/ is the one in ме́сто (place).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /a/ is the one in мать (mother).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /a/ is the one in мать (mother).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: home · written "o_e", "oa", "ow", "o (final)"
American: /oʊ/.
Your /ə/ is the one in хорошо́ (good).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: near · written "ear", "eer", "ere (here)"
American: /ɪr/.
Your /ɪ/ is the one in зима́ (winter).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: hair · written "air", "are (care)", "ear (bear)"
American: /ɛr/.
Your /e/ is the one in ме́сто (place).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Russian sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
house
Closest thing you own: — but labiodental → glottal.
law
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open-mid, longer.
car
Closest thing you own: — but near-open → open, central → back, longer.
hot
American: /ɑ/.
Closest thing you own: — but near-open → open, central → back, rounded.
boy
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → open-mid.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Russian | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Stress-timed, heavily reduced | Stress-timed |
| Stress | Contrastive, and NOT written. За́мок is a castle and замо́к is a lock. Worse, it moves within a word’s own declension — рука́ but ру́ку, окно́ but о́кна — so knowing the word is not the same as knowing where to hit it. Dictionaries mark it; native writing does not. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
What you have that English doesn't
29 sounds with no job in English. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Russian has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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