Difficulties in Developing Russian Phonetic Skills among the Students from Myanmar when Learning the Russian Language and the Ways of Overcoming Them

Abstract

In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, much attention is paid to the study of the Russian language within the framework of higher education programs, interest in which among the Myanmar youth is steadily growing with the expanding opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. The presented study is devoted to the problem of teaching phonetics in the absence of a Russian-speaking environment and identifying the causes of difficulties in its acquisition. This issue seems relevant, since the formation of phonetic skills can have a significant impact on the process of learning the Russian language, and phonetic errors can naturally complicate the acquisition of vocabulary and lead to a violation of understanding. The purpose of the study is to analyze and describe the most common errors that native speakers of the Burmese (Myanmar) language make when mastering the phonetics of the Russian language, as well as the causes of these errors. Based on the work of methodologists and researchers, a brief comparative description of the Russian and Burmese (Myanmar) languages in terms of phonetics is provided; an analysis of the difficulties in forming phonetic skills in students from Myanmar when learning Russian outside the natural Russianspeaking environment is given. In connection with the need to improve the effectiveness of teaching Russian phonetics, the issue of developing digital educational resources is addressed that are maximally focused on the specifics of the Burmese language and the needs of the target audience — students of Myanmar — and at the same time consider the peculiarities of teaching Russian outside the Russian-speaking environment and the established educational traditions of Myanmar.

Keywords:

Russian as a foreign language, Burmese (Myanmar) language, pronunciation of Russian sounds, phonetics, sounds, accent