Russia 44

Listen to Russia 44, a 37-year-old man from Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 37

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 16/12/1987

PLACE OF BIRTH: Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Russian/White

OCCUPATION: advertising officer

EDUCATION: higher

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject had been living in Moscow for about 15 years when this recording was made.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: 

Though the subject grew up in an isolated, northern region of the Asian part of Russia, he says people there don’t sound very different from those in Moscow, at least when speaking English. See the scholarly commentary on this sample for more perspective.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Ivan Masterov

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/05/2025

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Hi. I was born in Norilsk, one of the northmost cities in Russia. I have a good job. Two years ago we introduced a platform for placements media advertising. Our formats are online video with timing 15 and 30 seconds. Clips cannot be skipped and blocked, 100% view-through rate. Banner for one-third screen livestream. Interactive banner for half-screen livestream.

[Subject speaks in Russian]: Я родился на крайнем севере, в городе Норильске. Город уникален тем, что в нем 9 месяцев зимы и всего лишь 1 месяц лета, который включает всего лишь 1 неделю теплых солнечных дней.

[Transliteration: Ya rodilsya nah krainem severe, v gorode Noril’ske. Gorod unikalen tem, chto v nyom devyat’ mesyatsev zimy ih vsego lish odin mesyats leta, kotoriy vklyuchaet vsego lish odnu nedelyu tyoplykh solnechnykh dney.

English translation: I was born in the North, the city of Norilsk. The city is unique because it has nine months of winter and only one month of summer that has but one week of warm, sunny days.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Ivan Masterov

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/05/2025

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: 

Moscow and nearby regions tend to move unstressed “o” to an unstressed “a.” Regions farther to the east do the opposite.

However, there is a universality to the sounds of Russian literature that students learn in school. Nevertheless, if you don’t turn an “o” into an “a,” you’re bound to sound like a robot of sorts. For example, that’s why “pochemu” in Russian sounds like “pachemu.”

Also, there are differences in intonation patterns and regional words across Russia, allowing one to identify people’s regions by the words they use and/or their intonations.

COMMENTARY BY: Ivan Masterov

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/05/2025

The archive provides:

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.

• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.

• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.

• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.