It is interesting to note that Russian culture has its own version of idiomatic expressions that actually often have a matching version in English. The Speech Improvement Now American English Pronunciation Software therefore offers a section for idiomatic expressions to best help you comprehend the meaning of these sayings. Here are a few examples. “Арте́льный горшо́к гу́ще кипи́т.” Literal translation: An artel’s pot boils denser. English version: With a helper a thousand things are possible; Working as a team produces better results. An artel means a cooperative of workers or producers. Working as a team with us here at Speech Improvement Now will help you achieve the goal of clear effective speech, because an artel’s pot boils denser! “Без труда́ не вы́тащишь и ры́бку из пруда́.” Literal translation: Without effort, you can’t even pull a fish out of the pond. English version: No pain, no gain. Without trying and practicing every day, even when you
Read more →In my American English Pronunciation Software Program for Slavic speakers I teach how to pronounce vowels and consonants in their own categories so that each person can experience a great deal of practice for each sound. As a practical shortcut I put together words and word pairs that people frequently ask me: “What is the difference between these two words? Because they sound the same to me!” For example, if you mix up the vowels /I/ and /i/(pronounced “ee”) you will end up saying “sh*t” for “sheet” which, needless to say, will not go over well in a business meeting. Here are a few other /I/ and /i/ pairs that people frequently mix up: ship and sheep kiss and keys tin and teen lid and lead Additionally, Slavic speakers frequently mix up the /eh/ and /ae/ sounds as in “said” pronounced “sehd” – which sounds like they are saying
Read more →