English Pronunciation for Russian Speakers

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Areas of Difficulty for Russian Speakers
Consonants:

I.   /t/

Pronounce the /t/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Be sure to aspirate it in word-initial position and in consonant clusters. Do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Tackle        tangle               tango               tickle                trace
Between    automatic         fleeting instigate           litigate
Want          lint                   flint                  stunt                mart
Stand         strand              start                 stride               stake 

II.  /d/

Pronounce the /d/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Do not aspirate this sound in word-initial position and in consonant clusters, and do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of your tongue. Make sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge.

Dollar        dealer               denigrate          dissuade          diligent
Murder      harder              glider               adult                bladder
Stride         crowd              broad               scrod               greed
                              Strand        blind                bland               blonde             scald                       

III.  /v/

Pronounce the /v/ sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Make sure that your upper teeth touch the lower lip as you pronounce this sound.

Veal           veer     vain     vile      vine     video   virtue   Venice
River         liver     laver    lover    rover    sever    fever    gravely
Leave         grieve  sieve    five      alive     cleave brave   believe

IV.     /s/ vs. /th/
Make the distinction between these sounds in the following minimal pairs:

Sigh            sink                 sin                   sick                  sank
Thigh          think                thin                  thick                thank

V. /th/
Pronounce this sound in word-initial, medial, and final position. Be sure that the tip of your tongue makes contact with the upper teeth.

These          them                their                 then                 those
Weather      lather               rather               breather           smother
Bathe          clothe               scathe              breathe             lathe

VI. /s/ vs. /z/
Russian speakers of English often devoice the /z/ in English and pronounce it as /s/.  Practice contrasting /s/ and /z/ using the following minimal pairs:

Sue/zoo     seal/zeal           sink/zinc          sip/zip              sing/zing
Bus/buzz   muscle/muzzle             brace/braise                 grace/graze                       

VII.  /ch/

Pronounce this sound in the following words. Avoid touching the upper teeth with the tip of your tongue. Instead, try to raise the blade of your tongue and make contact with the alveolar ridge.

Situation                actual               habitual            perpetual
Mutual                   natural             fracture            saturate 

V. /r/

Practice the English /r/ in different word positions, and avoid pronouncing it as a trill.

Rumble      wrangle           restitution        result       rack         rash
Scaring      leering             luring               purring     peering    sneering
Scar           star                  fire                   banter      gander     smuggler 

Vowels:
I. /^/
Russian speakers often tend to lengthen this vowel. As a result, their pronunciation of this vowel sounds like that of the long vowel /a:/. This mispronunciation confuses native speakers of English. Pronounce this vowel in the first syllable without opening your mouth wide.

Country    culture             customer          another            other
Nurture     further             brother             mother             hurdle

II. /e/ vs. /@/
Make the distinction between the two vowels in the following minimal pairs:    

Met           med     led       fed       said      bed      lend     send
Mat           mad     lad       fad       sad       bad      land     sand

III. /^/ vs. /a:/
Make the distinction between the mid vowel and the low vowel in the following minimal pairs:

                              Herd          hurt      bird      curd     curt      burn     firm     worm
                              Hard          heart    bard     card     cart      barn     farm     warm
                       
IV. /o/ vs. / /
Distinguish between these vowels as you pronounce the following minimal pairs:

Robe          lobe     boat     coat      note     flows   code     node
Rob           lob       bought caught  naught floss    cod      nod

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