Russian for today! Part1: Alphabet

Well it certianly has been a while hasn’t it? i am increasingly bored this summer so i decided why not do a series on something i almost know something about, in this case The Russian Language.i like russian, it has many gramatical nuances that make it interesting and fun to speak, almost like a puzzle because you can put things however you want. it is pretty awesome. anyway the first step to knowing a language in my mind is to be able to read it. regardless of how many words you know if you can read than you can increase your passive knowledge of the language, which is very important.

the russian alphabet is a cyrillic alphabet. there are other languages that have cyrillic alphabet and for the most part they are pronounced the same (or similarly) across the board, this is partially due to the soviet union spreading russian everywhere it went, but that is another issue. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on greek, as was latin, so there are some similar symbols, but there are also some very different symbols, and in old slavic (where russian came from) there were LOTS of crazy funky symbols, but that isn’t russian so we won’t worry too much about that.
i like to divide the letters into 3 categories:
letters that sound and look the same as in english
letters that look like english letters but sound different
letters that look and sound different than english.
we shall start with the easiest category the ones that look and sound the same.
К к – sounds like k
О о – when it is stressed sounds like o but from further back in your mouth, but can also sound like ‘a’ as in ‘ah’
А а – yup a as in autumn
С с – i put this here because c can sound like s, as in centimeter
М м – normal ‘m’ (note it never looks like a lower case english m, always a small capital M… why?)
Т т – t (because when this char is in itallics it looks like ‘m’ (т see told ya), yup… fun!)

Кот – ‘cat’
Как – ‘how’
Так – ‘like that’, ‘in such manner’, ‘ok’, answer to ‘как’. it depends on context.
Тома’т – tomato. pronounce it tamat, the stress is on the a.

the next category is letters that look like english but sound different. there are arguably more that can fit in these 2 categories, but i am going to be completly strict as to what "looks the same" means.
У у – ‘Oo’ as in ‘oo that’s pretty’ not ‘book’ unless you’re british
Е е – ‘Yeh’ as in yeti. one note however is the ‘y’ part of the ye (and all other vowels that have a ‘y’ at the begining) becomes part of the consonant preceding it, most of the time…
Н н – ‘N’ normal boring n sound
Х х – it is typicly written ‘kh’ which is a close aprox. it is a really really hard ‘H’ from the back of the mouth.
В в – ‘V’, usually ‘f’ sometimes. when in doubt go for ‘v’
Р р – ‘R’, a trilled r actually, but if you can’t trill your r do an L sound instead, it isn’t a good habit, but it is more understandable than an english ‘r’

Нет – no, or none (ny-et, not n-yet)
В у’тром – in the morning (even though that В is all by itself, it is pronounced as part of the next word, voo’tram)
Страх – fear
Мне – to me
Текст – text, or lyrics

alright. this next group has the most letters and it is kinda annoying, so ill do it in 2 parts, first letters that have english sounds and letters that don’t sorta… it may seem like spliting hairs but whatever it is easier this way.
Ц ц – ‘Ts’ like the the zz in pizza
Г г – ‘G’, some will pronounce it very soft, almost like an ‘h’, others will pronounce it harder, but it should be on the soft side. also at the end of words you may have ‘его’ or ‘ого’ ONLY when it is at the end, it should be pronounced as a ‘V’ so ‘его’ is ‘yevo’
З з – ‘Z’
Э э – ‘Eh’ as in pen
Ё ё – ‘yo’ like yo-yo
Д д – ‘D’
Л л – ‘L’
П п – ‘P’
Я я – ‘Ya’ like the russian a, with a y at the begining
Ч ч – ‘Ch’ like cheese
И и – ‘I’ or ‘ee’ like cheese 😀
Б б – ‘B’ as in book
Ф ф – ‘F’, never ever ever EVER a ‘V’ sound.
Ю ю – ‘Yoo’ i like to think universe.

as for help remembering them… there isn’t much, i mean it is hard to tell a few apart л and п were really problematic for me when i started. it is clearer in written text, at least for those, but if you want to learn it you just gotta memorise it, that is it.

Би’блия – bible
Пое’зд – train
Любви’ – of love
цирк – circus
Чорт – an imp. collq: damn
Гуманита’рная рабо’та – humanitarian aid/work

and the last letters!

Ы ы – ‘ughi’ i can’t write it any better than that. it is like an ‘i’ only take where sound come from and move it into your throat. your tongue should be flat and down, not up and curved.
Ж ж – ‘zj’, like the sound in persuasion, and reduction.

Й й – this is lit. ‘short и’. it should be pronounced like the y in boy, mostly. it also combines with the letter before it.
Ш ш – ‘sh’ like say, Sean like you think Sean Connery would.
Щ щ – also ‘sh’, only like… like… softer… … .. .. .. the opposite of the way Sean Connery would, (not like normal it is just as far away from normal but in the other direction.)

Ъ ъ – this is the hard sign and it has no sound! remember how i said letters like е, ё, я, ю, и (with a small y (ee) sound at the begining), you take that y and smash it into the letter before it… well that is true if this letter isn’t there, think of it like a syllable break.
Ь ь – this is a soft sign… it is exactly the thing before each of е, ё, я, ю, и that seperates it from their comrades э, о, а, у, and ы. in reality it is very very similar to й, but it is nice to see that they are 2 different letters, why? because.

Жу’жовать – to buzz
Забы’ть – to forget
Женщи’на – woman
Шить – to sew
Щит – shield
(these 2 are EXCELLENT at showing the difference between what ш and щ sound like, as well as what ь does)

time for some practice! don’t worry if you don’t know what you are saing, like i mentioned earlier, that isn’t the point. just try to say the words. i will always mark the accent, so make sure you try to say it with that syllable with the stress. And remember if O is not stressed it sounds like an A, ok?

Бы’ло вре’мя когда’, на два го’да, я ни’кого не ви’дел одного’ челове’к. ужас, бы’ло.
но э’то вре’мя пошло’, и тепе’рь всё в поря’дке. я уставши’, но я переживу’. А ты, что ты де’лаешь? наде’юсь, что ты то’же мо’жешь сказа’ть, что всё хорошо’. Отли’чно, как обы’чно! но дава’й, тогда’. мне пора’ домо’й. До-свида’ние.

so that is every letter in the russian alphabet. there is much more to the letters than just that however. the next part is going to be talking more about the attributes and relationships between these letters and their sounds. it may not be that important in english that B and P are related but in russian it kindof does so, ya look forward to that. any questions? feel free to ask in the comments!

~ by Robopanda333 on July 7, 2011.