Why foreigners love and hate the Russian language. Typical Russian or what do foreigners think about Russians? Facts about learning Russian by foreigners

Representatives of a more “distant” foreign country for Russians have already unsubscribed here, but now I want to talk about foreigners “closer”. So Belarus.

In general, it is worth saying that in Belarus a large number of people speak Russian, almost three-quarters of the population, if I'm not mistaken. It is understandable - the country was part of the USSR, plus decades of Russification. Because of this, and in general because of a significant share of Soviet people", appropriately educated, many people treat Russian as their native language (although the question about the native language is usually answered - Belarusian). Regardless of the language of communication, almost any Belarusian is a Belarusian-Russian bilingual, therefore, Russian is perceived naturally, and it is difficult to say about any particular perception.

There is another view in Belarus. It is represented mainly by the Belarusian-speaking opposition, the intelligentsia. The perception of the Russian language is negative, it is usually called rude, artificial. But here, most likely, the main role is played by the attitude of these people to Russian Federation, its policy, certain moments of the Belarusian-Russian history (historical memory).

Now personally subjective perception. Being fluent in both Belarusian and Russian, it is rather difficult for me to hear one of them with "the ears of a foreigner". But if I am internally "tuned" to Belarusian, then Russian words and forms sound somehow strange. I can't tell if it's beautiful or ugly, rude or melodious. It's just kind of weird, unnatural. It is, in principle, logical. This is the answer if the author meant by "perception" how foreigners hear the Russian language.

If this refers to the attitude towards the Russian language, then, again, there are two opposite camps in Belarus. One, huge, including the majority of the population - neutral, this group of people is generally characterized by such a Belarusian national trait as "pamyarkounasts" (I don't know the Russian equivalent) in all views. As mentioned earlier, they have an attitude towards Russian natural.

There is also a second camp, not numerous, but relatively influential. In it, the attitude towards Russian varies from slight disdain to hatred of the "language of the occupiers." It was formed by the nationalist intelligentsia, especially ardent activists of the “Drugoga Belarusian Adradzhennya” (the unofficial name for the wave of interest in the national language and culture), mostly the opposition, and part of the bohemia. Among the "ordinary people" is found infrequently, rather singularly. Representatives of the camp strongly associate Russian with something alien, forcibly instilled, so they can react with irritation, refusal to speak Russian, although they speak it (by speaking Russian, they somehow "change" their principles, their ideals, " surrender" under the pressure of the Russian). Very rarely come across inadequate, reacting with insults. But in general, one should not be afraid of some large forms of hostility. I also note that the largest concentration of this camp falls on the capital - Minsk, where active young people from all over the country come together. This is the answer, if by "perception" is meant an attitude.

P.S. I apologize for the wordiness. I apologize if I misunderstood the question. All of the above are subjective observations / conclusions and do not claim to be absolute truth. The author does not pursue political and propaganda goals. The answer is an attempt to describe the perception of the Russian language in Belarus as accurately, impartially and accessible to the Russian audience as possible.

Thank you for your attention.

"Write lost" - having heard this phrase in the Russian language class, a foreigner can safely write down "missing" in his workbook! And who's to say he's wrong?
For this and many other reasons, acquaintance with the "great and mighty" for foreigners is often associated with great stress and difficulties due to its diversity and complexity. At a minimum, if we take some letters and sounds in the Russian language, then many immigrants from other countries have not pronounced them even once in their entire conscious life. And if it comes to constructions in sentences and the meanings of words, then that's it - write it down!

Foreigners often complain about the complexity of the Russian language, comparing it with "one big chaos", without noticing its diversity and multifunctionality. And the very sounds of Russian speech completely confuse some foreign guests. The very case when the "unexplored" and complex is seriously frightening, like a paranormal phenomenon!

When you don't know what to say, say the first thing that comes to mind. A resident of Italy, apparently, decided to follow this simple advice:

But still there are those who find their own charm and melody in the "great and mighty". Still, because in the case of the same Spanish words are pronounced at the speed of automatic bursts.

Stereotypes often play their role in the opinion about the Russian language. A set of associations consisting of the surnames of Russian politicians, Russian coldness, cruelty and totalitarianism, you can’t call it anything other than stereotypical:

It is interesting to know the opinion of a Russian person about how our language is perceived by foreigners.

“How deeply you sympathize with the Russians when you come across their real life, and not with the propaganda pretense of their power.” George F. Kennan, Diplomat “Russians are often very unpredictable. I think it's because of the terribly cold winters. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what is happening to them. On those days when the temperature dropped to minus thirty degrees, I knew in advance that I would witness anomalous behavior. I have often observed how this or that woman, for no apparent reason ...

1. 1. “Despondency, general dullness, the perfect sameness of people penetrate into us too. We are infected with a habit that we notice in every Russian we meet: to live at half strength, saving precious energy, and learn to endure, endure, endure.
      Pamela Travers, author of Mary Poppins
   2. “Realizing the superiority of the civilization of alien peoples and envying it, being in the feeling of the mistakes of their own civilization, but not wanting or not being able to correct them, they seek to hide their shortcomings under the guise of contempt for the stranger, humiliating him in every possible way.”
      George Macartney, British politician

1. “I can compare Russians to a young horse who does not know his own strength and allows a small child to control himself and behave on a bridle, despite all his great strength; but if this horse were conscious of it, then neither a child nor an adult would have coped with it.
   Richard Chancellor, English navigator
2. “If it is possible to attribute spiritual inclinations to the influence of the climate of the homeland and the constant slave state, then, of course, the Moskhi, mainly for these reasons, are rude and cowardly.”
   Jacob Reitenfels, traveler and diplomat

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Every day more and more people on the planet decide to master the “great and mighty”. Everyone has different reasons: some want to know the meaning of the popular word “grandmother”, others dream of a grandiose trip around Russia and personal communication with local residents, and others will be captivated by culture, and the language becomes one of the keys to understanding the mysterious Russian soul. Having gone through all the horrors of learning the alphabet and cases, foreigners shared their experiences and impressions, and we have collected all the most interesting in one article.

Grammar

• A nightmare for a foreigner is to make a sentence with the word "go". One has only to imagine a lot of variants of declensions and cognate words, as you immediately want to stay at home and not go anywhere.
• The most common question among people who have begun to learn Russian is how to find out which subject is lying and which is standing? And to prove that it is impossible to understand this rule, they give a well-known example: there is a glass on the table and a fork lies. You can stick a fork into the table and then it will stand. Conclusion: there are vertical objects, and horizontal ones lie. But the plate and pan are on the table. But if you put a plate in a pan, then it will lie. Nothing is clear with dishes, but what about animals? If a cat climbs on the table, then she will sit on her ass, but the bird will sit, despite the fact that she is standing on her feet. In Russian, a bird will stand on the table only if you make a stuffed animal out of it. It turns out that only animals can sit? No, for example, the boot has no priests and it is not alive, but it still sits on the leg.
• What surprised me most in Russian was that you need to say forty, not fourty.

strange letters

• I saw a solid sign when I studied the alphabet, and then I didn’t see it in words for about a year and I forgot about it. And when the professor saw how confused I was when I discovered this letter, he said: “When studying Russian, be prepared to be constantly surprised.”
• I don't understand how you can make the "oo" sound. For example, in the words "messages" or "Pacific".
• Once, at a lecture, I told a teacher from Britain that we have two letters in the alphabet that do not have a sound (ь and ъ). But she was more shocked when I added that they are pronounced when reading.
• My Spanish friend's enthusiasm to learn Russian is shattered by attempts to reproduce Y. He says that the mechanism for making this sound is beyond his understanding.

sound

• The Russian language is similar to many languages ​​that were included in the entries backwards.
• As an American woman with whom I lived said, “Russian is very similar to Chinese. Probably because you are borderline. What I hear is more like the sounds made by a sick bird: “Cherek schik chik th th thrbyg.”

A British friend (English teacher) said that this is not the first time he notices such a thing: Russians understand only if a foreigner speaks “angry Russian” (“evil Russian”), if you say it in a calm and soft tone, then you will not be understood .

Once in a hostel in Germany, a friend and I were learning phrases in Klingon (a made-up language). We did not notice how the Germans entered the next room, and when we, red with shame, asked if our wild cries had scared them too much, they replied that everything was fine, they thought that we had been talking in Russian all this time.

The funniest "word" for the British turned out to be "because", and one day they asked for an explanation of the meaning of this word. It turned out that "because" they heard as one word "patamushta" and they thought that it was something like a shamanic curse or summoning a spirit from the underworld.

My young man from Germany said: "Russian is almost the same as the language of the minions."

An Austrian friend asked everyone who speaks Russian to say: "Nizhny Novgorod." He considered this combination of sounds a work of art.

Features of Russian people

), so then it turns out that one name has many more options: Svetlana, Svetik, Svetulya.

It always surprises me that Russians cannot just wish good luck and always add something, for example: “Have a good rest, good weather and good luck!”

To figure out a Russian in a crowd of foreigners, I approached people with the words: “Hi! I'm Chris" ("Hi! I'm Chris").

As the Canadian answered: “Hi! Do I know you?” (“Hi! Do we know each other?”)

As the Italian answered: “Whata can I help you with a?” ("Can I help you?")

As the Russian answered: “Hello. And what? ("Hi. So what?")

Have you been in funny situations when communicating with foreigners?

If Paustovsky is to be believed, then we have been given possession of the richest, most accurate, powerful and truly magical Russian language. We often hear that the Russian language is difficult for foreigners because of the huge number of rules and grammatical subtleties.

Spelling problems are not alien to Russian-speaking people, are they? Have you ever wondered how native Russian sounds to foreigners? German sounds like a screaming Hitler in propaganda speeches, Chinese and Vietnamese are more like the purr of a feline family, English is more like chewing speech with swallowing "r", Polish is more like the hiss of a friendly snake, and French and Italian are more like a violin making beautiful music. Take the patience test and find out how sweet our great and mighty one is to the overseas ear!

Australia:
Brutality and masculinity do not occupy the Russian language! I think that's how real macho people talk!

Czech:
Russian speech is “female speech”. Very similar to Polish, similar intonations, smooth sound, soft pronunciation.

Great Britain:
Do you know how walruses growl? Have you heard the melodies of Brahms? The Russian language is somewhere between these two sounds.

Ireland:
Russian speech reminds me of any other language in the world, recorded on tape and played backwards. True, when I began to study Russian speech and became interested in Slavic studies, I no longer felt that way.

Mongolia:
The Russian language can be completely different, and it's always about the speaker and what he said. Competent Russian speech sometimes resembles the conversations of angels in paradise! The Russian language is like clay from which you can mold a masterpiece.

New Zealand:
It's as if someone keeps talking with a mouth full of saliva without bothering to cough up.

Netherlands:
If the cat is closed in a room on the floor of which balls are scattered, then the squeak and squeal emitted by it would fully characterize Russian speech.

USA:
The Russian language is an inexplicable mixture of French with the sound "zh", German rough sounds and Spanish with a softened "r".

Italy:
The Russian language sounds very erotic and flirting. When I hear "PACHIMA" from Russian girls, it's incredibly sweet notes.

Corsica:
A very emotional language, in which feelings and passions boil. Russians put a lot into intonation, which is impossible not to notice.

Germany:
A collection of sounds unpleasant to the ear that exist in a kind of linguistic chaos - this is all the Russian language. I know only a couple of words, everything else is an unpleasant mess.

Great Britain:
When sandpaper is scraped over a rough surface, peeling off a thin layer of varnish, it resembles Russian speech. The provincials, on the other hand, scrape with sandpaper on a rough surface and without varnish at all.

Israel:
The old bus, which roars on every rise, is very similar to the Russian language. Just imagine "Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes." And so it gets louder.

France:
My grandmother's old radio, which is full of unnecessary crackles, squeaks and rustles, sounds more pleasant than Russian speech.

Mexico:
When someone speaks Russian, it seems to me that he is angry. While always.

Surprised? Still recovering from culture shock? Don't be upset! There is an opinion that German is for war, French is for love, English is for diplomats, Spanish is for duelists, Italian is for family scandals. In every joke, as you know, there is a share of a joke. How do they sound to you foreign languages? Maybe familiar foreigners shared their impressions about the sound of the Russian language? Feel free to read in the comments!

Give yourself a few more smiles by refreshing your memory. Let it be from your lips that the Russian language sounds so that a good Mongol who hears it will certainly think that angels speak like that!