I have a theory that I use to explain why Russian speakers find it difficult to start speaking in English. It seems easier in other countries. But ours – they stumble. And they are afraid to start speaking.
The theory is as follows. In Russia, a person with a strong accent is often a native of the former republics, almost always from a different, lower level of life, often uneducated, with whom most language learners do not really intersect in the business environment, and if they intersect somewhere in life, there is a perception of this person as “foreign” – “not from our social circle”. Friendly ties do not really form, and talking about cooperation or partnership often doesn’t even come up. Just because there are simply few migrants in “decent jobs” here. Very few.
As a result, if a Russian-speaking person encounters in a work setting someone with an accent, in 99% of cases, they automatically assume – “it must be some educated European or American learning Russian”. Because there’s this ridiculous stereotype that a Russian citizen cannot speak with an accent and make mistakes in connecting words. There are no such examples. If there are accents and speech errors – it must be an expat. And if without an accent – then our own, “Russian”. When facing a European or American learning our native language, all mistakes are forgiven. Eventually, they are simply not noticed. But if “our own” person starts stressing the wrong syllable in the word “call” or in the word “cakes”, speaks incorrectly “on Wednesdays”, confuses put on/wear, writes “during 1 month”, omits commas, or makes similar mistakes, both feel discomfort – both the one who erred and the one who noticed. Migrants from countries where Russian is “a second language” or “not even a second language” seldom come here for high-, no, not high-, even mid-paying positions.
Now let’s shift to the States and look at the same situation through the eyes of an American. Around him – half the people speak English somehow, yet they are part of his professional circle, and this is how they have lived since childhood. If an American meets someone with an accent who makes gross errors in written and oral language, it doesn’t bother him as much as it does “ours”, because such people – are half the population. And this half – is part of his “immediate circle”. They are colleagues, they are partners, they are his bosses or subordinates.
In Europe, the situation is similar – open borders mix people. Germans, French, Romanians, Scandinavians – all in one team.
The theory is actually that when we make mistakes in an English sentence, we “stumble”, because we think that the listener thinks the worst of us, because that’s how we ourselves react to others’ mistakes in our native language. This leads to the “fear of speaking English incorrectly” among Russians. Forgot an article! Mixed up the tense! Now they’ll think I’m an uneducated log!
But an American or European hears all these mistakes, ignores half of these inaccuracies, and considers all this flawed speech as almost “the norm”. Yes, he will listen more attentively, and even then feels discomfort, but it’s a different kind of discomfort. His brain simply works overtime to extract meaning from your speech, full of errors.
That’s my theory.
P.S. My English is fluent, but I constantly make mistakes. Going to finish watching Birdman in the original language. Maybe I’ll enjoy it that way.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 