They could have gone better. Despite taking exams for many years, I still managed to get irritated with myself. I forgot a word that I had learnt only a week or so before. I had let the stress of doing my Russian language exam get to me.
I should have known better. Just before my exam, the BBC (and other British media) reported on research that suggested worried students didn’t perform as well as those who stayed calm. But it’s easy to say “keep calm and carry on” – more difficult to follow the advice when time is limited, as in an exam.
I know that most stress is self-imposed. And that, like me, some people need a bit of stress to perform. And as someone who’s not particularly patient, even with myself, I know that I need to keep my feelings in check when working through hours of language exams.
But there is a peculiar stress in doing an exam in Russian. I mean, of course, the stress in the pronunciation of Russian words. I’ve written about this before, and in the intervening months, I have made some progress (but if I were more patient, I would probably have made more).
I tend to be a visual, rather than auditory, learner – I prefer to see a word to remember it. That’s not always the case, as my musical ear sometimes comes alive, and I “hear” a word very clearly. But if I don’t immediately recognise the sound, I tend to replay the word in my head, and try to picture the letters. That’s fine when there’s no time limit. The technique doesn’t work as well in an exam.
The problem with Russian is that the pronunciation of vowels is slightly different when they aren’t stressed. This is an especial problem with the letter “o”, which – to my English ears – sounds more like a short “a” when unstressed.
In this respect, Belarusian is more straightforward than Russian. The pronunciation is clearer thanks to the more sparing use of the letter “o”. I know that when you see it, you stress it. But that doesn’t help if there is no “o”, for example as in транспарт (transport).
Thankfully, in real life, I can use visual aids to improve my pronunciation of the Russian texts of speeches and talks that I give, including the Belarusian phrases. Soon after my exam, I was delighted to read out a Russian translation of some Shakespeare that was well received by the audience.
It’s not right to complain of the difficulties of speaking Russian, when my own language isn’t phonetic. Stress in English is very much secondary to basic pronunciation. And with spelling so varied, pronunciation of English words is, as linguists delight in saying, idiosyncratic.
While the stress in pronouncing English is less important than in Russian (or Belarusian), it can be important for a few words with the same spelling. So here are a few rules that may help:
- where there are two syllables, the vowel in the first is stressed for nouns and adjectives (PRESent) whereas, the vowel in the second is stressed for verbs (to presENT);
- similarly in compound nouns, the stress is in the first syllable (GREENhouse), but in compound verbs, in the second (to photoGRAPH);
- as in Russian, the vowels in the last syllables are stressed before common endings eg deleGATion, deMOcracy, phoTOgraphy.
But there are some words with no agreed pronunciation. The best example is CONtroversy and contROVersy (and to add to the misery: the adjective is controVERsial). I think people in the north of England would tend to stress the first syllable, whereas southerners would stress the second.
Foreign languages are a particular interest to the Foreign Secretary. He has made language learning a priority for British diplomats, and re-established a language centre in the main Foreign Office in London. Russian speakers will be pleased to know that the library of the language centre has been named after Tony Bishop, a Russian language interpreter and expert at the Foreign Office.
I’m not sure what Mr Bishop would have made of my butchering of Russian. I can only say that despite my stammering and stuttering, most listeners are remarkably tolerant of my attempts to speak the language of Pushkin, Tolstoy and Chekhov.
So when I next take the exams – as I know I will – I shall try to remember to:
Keep calm and carry on
Сохранять спокойствие и продолжать в том же духе.
Захоўваць спакой і працягваць так надалей.