Her Accent

[thelastimpofrussia]

@ AP, please note that this was in Communist times, and the government felt more comfortable with Communist Cuba than other languages. Also, this was over thirty years ago,  so the quality of education in Russia was a lot worse then it is now. he never made any mention of German; he said that he had to take Spanish as a requirement, not because he wanted to. Please, stop your snide comments. What is "Sergei" and "school" supposed to mean? He is a real man, who recently got his citizenship in the USA because he wanted a better life for his family than he had in Russia, and he is doing a damn good job of it too!

@ Sunny:
I found this to be true too! It's amazing how many things that seem so different and yet be related!

Pronunciation always seems to be difficult for some, but others don't even know it, and breeze right through it! How I envy those people. Could it be because of the Russian you learned? Sadly, I have no degree, and can't hear phonetics very well, but that's just my hunch.

it seems crazy that it is so requested in the EU, but almost non existant outside of it. Besides Pennsylvania Dutch, I don't think it's widely spoken in the States. Could this be because while England and France were colonizing places Germany was doing something else? Maybe... Ah well, it's still a pretty cool language all the same!

[aleksandr pavlovich]

  The use of quote marks with the words "Sergei" and "school" (as you should well know, as an aspiring writer) are meant to show quoted items taken directly from your previous text.  It does not question his existence!  He obviously took his grade school level education, without any freedom of choice at languages, as you describe it.  
  Semantically (from your second preceeding post) , even if "he made no mention of German ever being offered anywhere," doesn't mean that it WASN'T,  "ANYWHERE"........... , it was just not available to him, thus he "made no mention," if indeed the German language was ever SPECIFICALLY a point of inquiry for/to him. I am delighted to hear that he and his family are now here and doing well.  I wish them all the best and a welcome to them all.
   Obviously, we have concluded this topic and I will have no more to say, as IMO, it serves no purpose for you to become so utterly defensive in your responses.                                                          Regards,  AP.

[thelastimpofrussia]

Yes, but quotation marks can also be used in a sarcastic voice.  He and his family are doing great; his children were actually born in the US, but nevertheless, they are all very glad to be here. Also, I'm being defensive, because these are the people that I think of as family; I get defensive because no one likes slandered family. And because my stupid English teacher was always making snide comments so I have to get defensive, like a reflex.

Okay back to topic;
Who said she had an English accent and who said she didn't?

[carkuczyn]

A. P------------I am very interested in learning the Russian language and my next trip abroad I hope will be Russia.  I have been trying to teach myself Russian for about 5 years now but still cannot understand it well when being spoken.  The grammar and word order are a good bit different from English.  I get frustrated.  I need to take a formal course in it.  I became interested in all things Russian after reading "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert Massie.  A very interesting period of history and a very interesting family.                                                                           

[aleksandr pavlovich]

A. P------------I am very interested in learning the Russian language and my next trip abroad I hope will be Russia.  I have been trying to teach myself Russian for about 5 years now but still cannot understand it well when being spoken.  The grammar and word order are a good bit different from English.  I get frustrated.  I need to take a formal course in it.  I became interested in all things Russian after reading "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert Massie.  A very interesting period of history and a very interesting family.                                                                           

  I can appreciate your interest.  I certainly DO hope that you get an opportunity to visit, and not just a border region---go deeper into Russia (Humorously, I don't mean Siberia!), stay with a Russian family, watch the tourist-trap places, etc. Take money! There are definitely such things as "tourist prices"!
  Yes, you need a formal program of study/practice in the language, IMO, NOT a "Teach Yourself Russian" stint. 
  I wish you the achievement of your fondest hopes!                      Regards,  AP.

[Naslednik]

What about Alexandra's writing (sorry if slightly off topic)?  Has anyone else noticed that her English writing is, well, disappointing? I find that Nicholas' English writing is far more sophisticated, with balanced sentences (mixture of long and short ones), and sometimes expressive or poetic descriptions of nature. Perhaps this is simply evidence of the extra effort put into a boy's education? 

[Robert_Hall]

I agree, their styles are quite different. IMO, it  is  because of the tutors they had. Considering Nicholas' position, more effort was  most likely spent on his education than Alexandra's  which was fairly basic in those days for females.

[Naslednik]

Yes, and perhaps shows their personality differences, too.  He had such a strong pull to Nature, perhaps writing about it was pleasurable to him.  I remember his commentary in (1915? letter to AF) about the behavior of 2 dogs out his window, one courting the other in a display of Springtime friskiness.

[Teddy]

I know Alexandra had a heavy accent when speaking Russian, but what was it? Lili Dehn states (in massie's N&A) "... I noticed that she spoke Russian with a strong English accent." (on meeting the empress in 1907 @ tsarskoe selo) where other accounts say she had a thick German accent. (I can't remember the name of the book, but I know it was reputable)

GD Maria G. said in he autobiography, that she spoke it fluently.

[thelastimpofrussia]

With or without an accent. I know people who can speak English like a fluently, but still have a pretty noticeable accent.

[Silja]

it seems crazy that it is so requested in the EU, but almost non existant outside of it. Besides Pennsylvania Dutch, I don't think it's widely spoken in the States. Could this be because while England and France were colonizing places Germany was doing something else?

The Germans were late to colonize, and after WW I lost most of the few colonies they had.
In Namibia, a former German colony in Africa, you can find traces of German, mainly in street names.

[RealAnastasia]

it seems crazy that it is so requested in the EU, but almost non existant outside of it. Besides Pennsylvania Dutch, I don't think it's widely spoken in the States. Could this be because while England and France were colonizing places Germany was doing something else?

The Germans were late to colonize, and after WW I lost most of the few colonies they had.
In Namibia, a former German colony in Africa, you can find traces of German, mainly in street names.

Yes. In fact, I'm a fan of folk cuisine of different parts of the world and Naimibia's cuisine had a lot of "German" characteristics. Namibians likes bread in german-style they elaborates different kind of German sausages and have an excellent beer. Whindoek, Namibia's capital, shows a lot of German architecture.

RealAnastasia.

[nena]

"Alexandra Fyodorovna pronounced Russian words with a strong accent, and it was noticeable that she had a hard time with the spoken Russian language. But all her children spoke excellent Russian". - Commissar Vasily Semyonovich Pankratov, 2nd September 1917, Tobolsk.  (From 'The Fall of the Romanovs', by M.D.Steinberg and V.M.Khrustalëv, pg.261).

[bestfriendsgirl]

They probably got that from Nicholas - he had an ear for languages. They also learned it from birth, which helps.

[carkuczyn]

I am wondering what language they spoke when they were all together at home.  For instance, when they sat around in the evening playing bezique, pasting pictures in their albums, reading, and writing letters, what language did they chit chat in?  In consideration of the Empress's difficulty with spoken Russian, I am thinking maybe it was mostly English.  Does anyone know?