Accents between countries

[Skoob]

Do people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc. have similar accents or are there obvious differences?

Thanks

[Ste]

Do people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc. have similar accents or are there obvious differences?

Thanks

I think there are differences but much less than in UK.

Soviet Union attempted to harmonise the Russian tongue so the differences are small but they are there - for example my better half is from Urals and apparently Muscovites berate them for their over use of the -to (chto-to etc) participle in speech. But I can't hear it....

[Skoob]

My son was just watching a Sons of Anarchy rerun. I'm working on the computer and not paying attention. Every once in a while, Charlie Hunnam slips and speaks a word with his native accent. It's so obvious when he does it.

I was just wondering if it's similar in Russian speaking countries.

Thanks

[Volshe]

Do people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc. have similar accents or are there obvious differences?

Thanks

I think there are differences but much less than in UK.

I agree, but it's still BIG. We have аканье in the south and оканье in the north http://slovarfilologa.ru/130/

(for example malako, karova vs moloko, korova)

In some regions they do add - to (yсилительно-выделительная частица -то) literally everywhere (i am not used to it so it bothers me) http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map25.html



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To my ear Muscovite pronunciation is very different from St. Pete's, some linguists consider them to be different dialects all together: https://ru.wikipedia.org  Различия в речи москвичей и петербуржцев

The way Ukrainians speak Russian (even Russians from Ukraine) is quite distinct, both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, whereas with Belorussians i don't hear the difference (again, those i spoke to were either linguists from Belarus, or  professionals who've been living for years in Moscow, so it would be surprising if their speech would be too different from нормативный русский язык http://www.ido.rudn.ru/ffec/rlang/rl5.html vs жаргон & просторечие.)
 
ETA: we had several lecturers from Uzbekistan (native Russians), with their speech i didn't notice any difference from the normative Russian either.
As per Ukrainian speech, one of the main characteristics is that they say H where there is G in Russian ("Chronology of  H and the new G in Ukrainian", pdf in English http://www.ukrcenter.com/!FilesRepository/Literature%5C_Upload3/7dd9abd5-94d5-4da3-aafc-0898ac0cbf24.pdf )

[Mark CA]

whereas with Belorussians i don't hear the difference

Actually, there is a difference if you listen carefully. The Belorussian language does not have the letter "Щ" in their alphabet at all and the letter "Ч" is pronounced more like "TSH" and this affects even those ethnic Russians who don't speak the language. You can hear it when they say certain words ("ШУКА", "ШАСТЬЕ", "ТШЕРЕЗВЫТШАЙНЫЙ") etc. Don't ask me how I know this

[Isthmus]

My knowledge is second hand but I have been told that there is a distinct Ukrainian dialect amongst Russian speakers from UA. I have also been told that you can spot Russian speakers from Kazakhstan irrespective of whether they are ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Russians or the numerous minority ethnic groups in KZ whose primary language is Russian.

[Volshe]

whereas with Belorussians i don't hear the difference

Actually, there is a difference if you listen carefully. The Belorussian language does not have the letter "Щ" in their alphabet at all and the letter "Ч" is pronounced more like "TSH" and this affects even those ethnic Russians who don't speak the language. You can hear it when they say certain words ("ШУКА", "ШАСТЬЕ", "ТШЕРЕЗВЫТШАЙНЫЙ") etc. Don't ask me how I know this

Ok, i won't ask, but i believe you! 

My knowledge is second hand but I have been told that there is a distinct Ukrainian dialect amongst Russian speakers from UA. I have also been told that you can spot Russian speakers from Kazakhstan irrespective of whether they are ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Russians or the numerous minority ethnic groups in KZ whose primary language is Russian.

Ishtmus, you must be right, in fact peeps i met were linguists, uni lecturers, so they must have worked on their pronunciation. I had met a Russian lady from Ukraine not long ago and we were chatting all the way as the train was going from Brussels to Amsterdam (couple of hours); she was educated, albeit not in philology and still the way she spoke to me sounded as if she is a foreigner who speaks Russian as a second language, whereas she said she didn't hear my accent (normally, Russians from Russia immediately ask me am i from Baltic states, i was told my pronunciation is like theirs, which is presumably quite distinct too.)

I was looking for recipes for quark cheese and i got to this tutorial, this would be Ukrainian Russian (albeit not as distinct as some speeches i heard, still ...)

[aloyshak]

AFAIK, there is a bit of a difference in the Russian used by Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians. I am not sure about intra-Russian differences. My girlfriend can tell when a Ukrainian is speaking.
Relatives of my GF often use a mix of Russian and Belarusian words in their speech. I get the Russian ones (thank you Rosetta Stone) but not the Belarusian ones.

[Gitana]

First of all, let’s don’t forget that Russian is an official language of Russia and Belarus. Moreover Ukraine and Belarus have their own languages: Ukrainian and Belarusian correspondingly. New generation of Ukrainians cannot speak Russian properly.
Secondly, concerning accents, as mentioned above even inside the Russian Federation people speak differently and use a lot of slang words.
So, of course, most of the Russian-speaking people can hear the difference but even they may be wrong.
Hope this helped