When a speaker uses two languages in everyday communication, it is almost inevitable for either or both of them to undergo some changes. In this respect prosodic features are the weakest — they are the first to get changed. This is particularly what we hear when we listen to an immigrant speaking his native language. The prosodic changes may affect stress patterns, location of nuclear accents and intonation patterns themselves. This paper presents data on changes within the intonation system for Russian native speakers residing in São Paulo (Brazil). The material consists of a list of 17 Russian «situations» (sentences or short dialogues) intended to elicit all the frequent Russian intonation patterns: intonation constructions 1 to 6 in terms of E. A. Bryzgunova. All the situations were recorded from 19 Russian speakers that had moved to Brazil 1–17 years ago (with the mean time spent in Brazil 6.9 years, median 6.0, SD 4.0). Additionally, the speakers recorded the same sentences translated into Brazilian Portuguese. The recorded material was analysed by Russian expert phoneticians. For each speaker, the aim was to determine the non-standard realizations in terms of intonation, including cases of misplaced nucleus, and then describe the changes the native intonation system has undergone. As a result, we managed to trace which intonation patterns are lost or replaced first, and how this correlates with the time spent in Brazil. The subsequent expert analysis of similar phrases in Brazilian Portuguese revealed that some speakers, despite having spent much time in Brazil, still pronounce Portuguese sentences using their native, Russian, intonation patterns. On the other hand, some Russian Brazilians replace native intonation patterns by those used in Brazilian Portuguese.