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Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian
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Jul 17, 6:43 PM
#1
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Mar 2023
5
Sometimes in anime we'll see a character speak english and most of the time it just sounds off or awkward. Since I don't speak Russian at all I was wondering if anybody knew whether or not the Russian speaking in this show was actually fluent or bad.
Jul 17, 7:00 PM
#2
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Apr 2024
30
idk know russian but the accent felt waaaay too off for me
Jul 17, 7:04 PM
#3
Online
Mar 2023
13
don't know much russian but it sounds quite awkward to me in the show
Jul 17, 7:08 PM
#4
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Jun 2022
126
monceeef said:
idk know russian but the accent felt waaaay too off for me

They basically speaking russian with japanese accent
Jul 17, 7:10 PM
#5
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Oct 2022
13
russian here

the words, their order and even idioms are totally correct, but her accent is kinda thick, so i sometimes don't understand what she said immediately
Jul 17, 7:13 PM
#6
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Feb 2024
2
I understand the russian, but you could tell she has an accent, and sometimes I don't get what she's saying without captions.
Jul 17, 7:16 PM
#7
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Mar 2008
2
Stylistically, everything is correct, but the accent is very strong. Without subtitles, sometimes it’s not at all clear what she’s saying. Russian is my native language.
Jul 17, 8:07 PM
#8
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Jan 2024
51
there's another thread on this from after the 1st or 2nd episode was released. I believe the general consensus was that some of the Russian is understandable and some of it isn't so I would say probably not
Jul 17, 8:29 PM
#9
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Jul 2018
564074
it’s all correct just with a very strong accent
Jul 17, 8:45 PM
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Jul 2022
18
I don't speak Russian but I know a lot of Russians enough to know how it's supposed to sound like. It does sound like how they usually speak English in anime except it's Russian. Apparently though the seiyuu did actually study Russian at college, so she does speak it and it isn't just her trying to say lines she doesn't understand.
Jul 17, 9:15 PM
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Jan 2022
1
Native speaker here, grammar and other things are fine, but accent is so “japanese” that I sometimes don’t understand what is she talking about
Jul 17, 9:39 PM
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Jun 2022
218
For the most part, they are doing well with the Russian, the only thing that turned out to be average was the Russian of those junior school students from Alya’s past. But I can’t blame the people who voiced them, because it’s not their native language.

I'm a Russian by the way.
Jul 17, 11:07 PM
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May 2023
7
As I have mentioned on a previous post, Alya’s Russian is good, but she still has a really thick accent (about half of it is actually pronounced in a way I understood right away).
However, outside of her, the other characters’ Russian is not only severely mispronounced, some of it is also just wrong, both grammatically and in translation.
So, all in all, approximately the same quality as English in anime is on average.
Jul 17, 11:24 PM
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Oct 2022
24
мирращка
Jul 17, 11:35 PM

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Jan 2013
6351
Not a chance, it sounds pretty damn rough.
If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that.
Jul 17, 11:51 PM
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Apr 2023
14
Grammatically yes, everything is correct but because of the accent sometimes I didn't understand what they said. And their accent is so funny I can't take them seriously
Jul 17, 11:55 PM

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Mar 2024
336
Is the Russian actually good?

no.

The accent is very strong and especially in the Vladivostok flashback.

I dont blame the authors and voice actors for bad pronunciation since its not their native language after all, im just saying facts.

For me its not a problem at all, this anime is really fun to watch and i like how the russian moments are made here.

For example, in third episode authors created a very realistic classroom in a russian school (russian text on the board, classroom layout with closets behind the desks and double desks). And the text in the notebook is correct and accurate and also its good handwriting, that shows that Alya is a студентка, комсомолка, спортсменка и просто красавица good student.
Jul 17, 11:55 PM
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Oct 2022
681
I believe yes. I do not speak Russian, nor I know that language, but the accent was pretty cool, like I was expected to be.

Russian speakers or natives should confirm.
Jul 18, 12:03 AM
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Nov 2014
140
It’s horrible. Almost impossible to understand what she says on spot, so I have to read subtitles or think what actual word should be there instead of that gibberish
Jul 18, 1:09 AM

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Nov 2019
2212
No, but it's not only due to the thick accent, I think, speaking from my limited knowledge of watching Russian movies.

There has been more effort put into making them sound cute and I feel the va would have been even better off speaking in her natural voice.

Which is why I wonder if Jenya Davidyuk would have performed better, but she's not as popular as Sumire. Maybe she will be voicing one of the legit Russian girls in the show.
"All truth is meaningless. In the end, 'meaning' comes from the mind of each individual human. Even when there is a single truth, it can mean different things to different individuals. The truth has no meaning in itself!" - Erika Furudo
Jul 18, 1:12 AM
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Nov 2020
442
https://youtu.be/IlFCObblhQU?si=y6UZK2-_L4ONd4w1

In my opinion she does a better job as Nonna (black hair girl) in Girls Und Panzer, it’s most likely because Nonna is designed based off her so she is being herself.
Jul 18, 2:02 AM
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Aug 2023
7
As a native Russian speaker, I sometimes have to rewind the show because I couldn't understand what she said due to her strong Japanese accent. I'm convinced the voice actor's native language is not Russian, or they do it on purpose. Some sentences are pronounced better, but generally, if you don't pay close attention, you'd still think she's speaking Japanese because of the accent. (⁠─⁠.⁠─⁠|⁠|⁠)

I still like the anime tho (⁠´⁠∩⁠。⁠•⁠ ⁠ᵕ⁠ ⁠•⁠。⁠∩⁠`⁠)
Jul 18, 2:04 AM
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Aug 2023
7
OtakuKun1 said:
I believe yes. I do not speak Russian, nor I know that language, but the accent was pretty cool, like I was expected to be.

Russian speakers or natives should confirm.

Sorry but we don't confirm hence the accent is literally Japanese (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠;⁠)
Jul 18, 3:10 AM
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Jun 2023
257
Why is this thread even here 😂 not something you need to start one for imo.
Jul 18, 12:04 PM
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Oct 2023
6
BlueFlame3174 said:
Sometimes in anime we'll see a character speak english and most of the time it just sounds off or awkward. Since I don't speak Russian at all I was wondering if anybody knew whether or not the Russian speaking in this show was actually fluent or bad.

Way better than in most Hollywood movies, where I as a native speaker barely can understand them, but there is a noticeable accent
Jul 18, 1:52 PM
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Feb 2021
19
I don't speak russian.

The russian in the beginning of the 3rd episode was excruciating to listen to.

Alya's russian doesn't hurt my ears as much, but it sounds a bit weird sometimes
Runescape42Jul 18, 2:09 PM
Jul 18, 4:30 PM
Online
May 2024
8
i do have a russian friend, and i remember him saying "there's definitely an accent, but it's not bad" for at least alisa's russian. didn't ask the other ones tho, and i'm afraid he gon say sum shi if i keep asking him...
Jul 19, 3:00 AM
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Dec 2018
1262
What is fun with people online it's that you sometime think it's been years they haven't seen a human being.

To summarize what has been said hundreds of times already about Sumipe's Russian we got
Correct grammar, correct idioms, correct word order but a strong Japanese accent making her sometimes impossible to understand.

Let's see now how human beings actually speak foreign languages at intermediate level.
Correct grammar, correct idioms, correct word order but a strong accent coming from their mother tongue making them someimes impossible to understand.

Congratulations, Sumipe's Russian is at intermediate level *clap clap clap*

No please would you stop shaming people on accents ? I mean as a language learner myself having a hard time pronouncing English or Dutch I can say that's the worse thing native speakers can do... Also would you think about the needs of Roshidere?

Alya is a cute half Japanese Russian girl speaking in an anime aimed at Japanese men. Do you guys really think cuteness is culturaly neutral? Of course Sumipe will speak in a way that's pretty japanised. Japanese people wouldn't understand Alya's dere is cute if she was saying these lines in a way that align to Russian standards of cuteness / feminity. In Japan cuteness in speech comes from intonation (they try to make a childish intonation when they speak) so of course the intonation wouldn't sound Russian since it's expected to sound like a Japanese girl...

So please stop with these nonsensical threads about Sumipe's Russian aiming solely at bashing (sometimes even from non-natives or speakers of Russian that who would be better looking at themselves) when we already know her Russian is off because she is at intermediate level and asked to sound like a cute Japanese girl.
Jul 19, 4:53 AM
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Jul 2020
16
(Read by syllables without using grammar to better understand what I mean)
Basikaruri, notoo too muchu difurent furomu ze Engerisu inu ze anime. Yesu, itsu a bitu woruse bicose ze gurammoru isu more comupiricatedu inu Rusyan, batu oberaru oru, itsu funni.
Jul 20, 4:00 AM
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Oct 2022
172
monceeef said:
idk know russian but the accent felt waaaay too off for me

What?? 🤦🏻‍♂️ if you don’t speak Russian then where does this comment even come from? Don’t you think this is “waaaay” of base? Geez…
Jul 20, 5:29 AM
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Nov 2015
7
Another native Russian here. I'd say the language is pretty good. There's quite a strong accent but 99% of speech is easy to understand. Russian school and city from the beginning of the 3rd episode was the weakest part in this regard: there were a couple of noticeable mistakes and overall it was very stiff.
Anyway, I love the show, Sumire's doing a great job here.
Jul 20, 10:33 AM
Baka himejoshi

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May 2020
165
Okay, guys. There is this long Russian joke that I'm going to tell you. You, Russian-speaking people, know it for sure. And probably you'll know what I mean long before you finish reading my message. Anyway, the joke goes as follows.

In a kindergarten, children suddenly start swearing like pirates. They use all the forbidden words like it's nothing. The administration, in an attempt to find the cause of this, finally tracks down two electricians who happened to mend some wiring, and the swearing problem started right after their visit. They are summoned to the administration of the kindergarten, and the director asks them:

"Did you swear in front of the children?"

"No, of course not. They're children! how dare you!" one of them responds.

"And there wasn't even the slightest reason for you to start swearing?" the director keeps on pressuring them.

"Well..." one of them says. "My colleague here happened to drip some molten tin on my head."

"And what did you say to him?" the director continues.

"I told him, my kind sir, can you possibly be so kind as to notice you happen to be dripping molted tin on my head?"

=The joke ends here=

Now, to the point. Yeah, grammatically, it's very correct. The pronunciation is awful. But what I would like to point out is that I can hardly imagine any Russian speaker use the words that Alya uses. I can't say it's a mistake. But it's pretty much like in the joke above.
Days without rants: 68
Jul 20, 11:50 AM
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Aug 2016
144
Besides rough pronunciation and accent, I would say some grammar and lines itself isn't always correct or natural, even if she was sounding perfectly it would be still noticeable. I guess there would be less attention to this topic if the series didn't not involve so much Russian and made so many characters that suppose to be good at it, mainly Alya. And frankly, Russian aspect isn't explored much in the series anyway and is very surface level, the most authentic Russian thing is actually a flashback classroom in a russian school.
Jul 20, 6:13 PM
Offline
Nov 2015
7
Reply to JennyAysgarth
Okay, guys. There is this long Russian joke that I'm going to tell you. You, Russian-speaking people, know it for sure. And probably you'll know what I mean long before you finish reading my message. Anyway, the joke goes as follows.

In a kindergarten, children suddenly start swearing like pirates. They use all the forbidden words like it's nothing. The administration, in an attempt to find the cause of this, finally tracks down two electricians who happened to mend some wiring, and the swearing problem started right after their visit. They are summoned to the administration of the kindergarten, and the director asks them:

"Did you swear in front of the children?"

"No, of course not. They're children! how dare you!" one of them responds.

"And there wasn't even the slightest reason for you to start swearing?" the director keeps on pressuring them.

"Well..." one of them says. "My colleague here happened to drip some molten tin on my head."

"And what did you say to him?" the director continues.

"I told him, my kind sir, can you possibly be so kind as to notice you happen to be dripping molted tin on my head?"

=The joke ends here=

Now, to the point. Yeah, grammatically, it's very correct. The pronunciation is awful. But what I would like to point out is that I can hardly imagine any Russian speaker use the words that Alya uses. I can't say it's a mistake. But it's pretty much like in the joke above.
JennyAysgarth said:
The pronunciation is awful

You're way too harsh here. Yes, the pronunciation is nowhere near native speaker level but it is clearly understandable and the accent could be worse. So I'd say it's just mid.

JennyAysgarth said:
I can hardly imagine any Russian speaker use the words that Alya uses

I agree in most cases (but not all), especially "обрати на меня внимание" could be easily replaced with "посмотри на меня" which sounds way more natural. However, we don't know how much time Alya spent in Russia and Japan so maybe she just lost some skills after all these years.
Jul 21, 7:18 PM
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Dec 2018
1
DragyG said:

Correct grammar, correct idioms, correct word order but a strong Japanese accent making her sometimes impossible to understand. [...]
Congratulations, Sumipe's Russian is at intermediate level *clap clap clap*
No please would you stop shaming people on accents?

The question was if the Russian speaking in this anime was good, not if the VAs managed to sound Russian. If even (some) native speakers can't understand what she's saying because of her "accent" (actually, it's the pronunciation), then it can't be very good and it's not shaming to point that out; it's just answering the question. Does not mean the VA or writers did a bad job.
DragyG said:

[...] of course the intonation wouldn't sound Russian since it's expected to sound like a Japanese girl...

Except, the intonation does not really matter, since Russian is not a tonal language. At worst, it sounds a bit funny.

As a non-native but advanced Russian speaker, I think Sumire did a good job overall, but her pronunciation is a bit "all over the place" – sometimes good, almost native-like, sometimes so far off that you have to read the subtitles and guess based on that what she might be saying or at least rewind a few times to get it. It does not help that some of the phrasing is unnatural (i.e. not how a Russian speaker would say it). Still, the grammar seems fine, which is commendable.

I'm sure with guidance from a Russian speaker and some retakes they could have fixed the less comprehensible lines, but clearly, it wasn't a focus (understandably so, since the primary audience isn't expected to know Russian anyway).
Jul 21, 10:34 PM

Offline
Jul 2023
98
skelash said:
russian here

the words, their order and even idioms are totally correct, but her accent is kinda thick, so i sometimes don't understand what she said immediately

Oh, so it’s basically like how anime characters speak in Engrish, and whether you understand it or not is just based on your interpretation skills. I kind of get the picture now.
Sep 1, 5:03 PM
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Feb 2020
1
There are some parts where the Russian is ok. And others where it's really bad. I wouldn't say it's good though. However, in the English dub, Alya's Russian is WAAAAAY better; pretty much perfect. The funny thing is that the English dub still uses the Russian from the Japanese actors' performances for all the other parts; this makes some scenes even more awkward. This is still one of my favorite new anime and have a lot of respect for the cast for trying to speak Russian (Which is a notoriously difficult language).
Sep 1, 8:01 PM
Offline
Apr 2024
269
Reply to DragyG
What is fun with people online it's that you sometime think it's been years they haven't seen a human being.

To summarize what has been said hundreds of times already about Sumipe's Russian we got
Correct grammar, correct idioms, correct word order but a strong Japanese accent making her sometimes impossible to understand.

Let's see now how human beings actually speak foreign languages at intermediate level.
Correct grammar, correct idioms, correct word order but a strong accent coming from their mother tongue making them someimes impossible to understand.

Congratulations, Sumipe's Russian is at intermediate level *clap clap clap*

No please would you stop shaming people on accents ? I mean as a language learner myself having a hard time pronouncing English or Dutch I can say that's the worse thing native speakers can do... Also would you think about the needs of Roshidere?

Alya is a cute half Japanese Russian girl speaking in an anime aimed at Japanese men. Do you guys really think cuteness is culturaly neutral? Of course Sumipe will speak in a way that's pretty japanised. Japanese people wouldn't understand Alya's dere is cute if she was saying these lines in a way that align to Russian standards of cuteness / feminity. In Japan cuteness in speech comes from intonation (they try to make a childish intonation when they speak) so of course the intonation wouldn't sound Russian since it's expected to sound like a Japanese girl...

So please stop with these nonsensical threads about Sumipe's Russian aiming solely at bashing (sometimes even from non-natives or speakers of Russian that who would be better looking at themselves) when we already know her Russian is off because she is at intermediate level and asked to sound like a cute Japanese girl.
@DragyG Oh god this may be the most thing I've read on MAL, which is really saying something, since it's fucking MAL.
Average MAL user's media literacy:
Marinate1016 said:
Not reading allat cause I don’t care. Tensura peak. Have a good one tho
Sep 12, 9:28 AM
Original Denjin

Offline
Nov 2008
280
Reply to ChickenBiscuitt
I understand the russian, but you could tell she has an accent, and sometimes I don't get what she's saying without captions.
@ChickenBiscuitt Yeah, that's what I figured and I don't even speak Russian myself. And it would make sense for her to have an accent considering the fact that she's half-Japanese and has been living in Japan for quite a number of years now.

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