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Yara Zaya defends her Ukrainian accent: ‘I love the way I talk’

Yara Zaya 90 Day Fiance screenshot
Yara isn’t concerned with how she sounds when she speaks English. Pic credit: TLC

90 Day Fiance star Yara Zara may have a thick Ukrainian accent, but it doesn’t bother her; she loves it.

As a native of Ukraine, Yara’s first language is Russian.

And although Yara may have only learned to speak English several years ago, most of her fans would agree that she speaks the language well.

During a recent Instagram Story Q&A, Yara tackled a comment from a follower who asked her if she has ever considered taking English lessons to improve how she speaks the language.

Yara recorded a video to answer, explaining, “Here’s the thing, my dear. I really love the way I talk in English. I know it is not perfect and not grammatically correct, sometimes, most of the time maybe, but I love that’s me. I want to have this accent.”

The blonde beauty added that it doesn’t bother her if she says something incorrectly and actually welcomes others correcting her English.

90 Day Fiance star Yara Zaya ‘absolutely loves her Ukrainian accent

She shared that she plans to attend university and might consider taking English courses before then, mainly to improve her English writing.

“But I absolutely love it,” Yara added. “I love the way I talk, and how, for example, right now, I can talk to you in your language, which is absolutely amazing, I think. So, yes.”

In an Instagram post dated May 2021, Yara explained how she learned to speak English to her followers.

Yara explains how she learned to speak English

In her post, penned initially in Russian, Yara described how she decided to learn English a few years prior. At the time, she said the only thing she could say in English was, “London is the capital of Great Britain.”

Yara detailed when she visited Sri Lanka with her mom and couldn’t order from a menu because it was written in English. At that moment, she decided to learn English.

Yara took courses in Kyiv, but she didn’t retain much after spending hundreds of dollars and investing hours of her time. She tried again, this time online, but again without much success.

Instead, Yara taught herself by watching movies in English with Russian subtitles turned on and watching the TV show Friends on full volume in the background throughout the day.

“A month later, I learned more words from this series than I did in the courses,” Yara admitted.

Although Yara learned the language, she still needed to practice speaking it. Eventually, after three months of watching American TV and practicing speaking, Yara could explain herself in English and order food in a restaurant.

Then, when Yara met her husband, Jovi Dufren, a year later, her English improved even more, thanks to him constantly correcting her mistakes.

Yara’s accent certainly hasn’t hindered her. Since moving to the U.S., she’s launched her own online business and has become a successful social media influencer on Instagram, where she has amassed 681,000 followers.

90 Day Fiance: The Other Way airs on Sundays at 8/7c on TLC and Discovery+.

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