This volume is the joint work of Russian and Finnish phoneticians. The articles describe the Russian and Finnish phonetic systems both at the segmental and at prosodic levels, and present new data concerning spontaneous and read-aloud speech. The results are based on empirical phonetic research carried out in the 21st century using the latest equipment. This volume will help the reader to get acquainted with the Russian and Finnish phonetic systems, and if desired, to gain more in-depth information about the latest research into these two languages.