Russia Two - Text
This is a recording of an interview Paul Meier conducted with the celebrated Russian director and actor, Veniamin Smekhov on 12/02/99 and edited on 12/03/99. Smekhov's English was still very halting, though his recitation of a poem by Pushkin that concludes the interview is superb. He speaks of his life in Moscow and how he became an actor. He talks of his travels in America. Being an actor, one suspects that his pronunciation skills are ahead of his command of vocabulary and grammar, which may explain his ability to overcome many of the classic mispronunciations one associates with a "Russian accent". However, this would be a superb model for an actor portraying a Russian character whose English is still very poor. Running time: 00:04:15.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
19 FEBRUARY 2008