Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 - Here all aspects of Russian pronunciation will be considered. Right on this page you will findonly basic pronunciation rules which might be enough for you to pronounce Russian wordsmore or less correct. But if you want do dig deeper into Russian phonetics follow the link at thebottom of the page which will bring you to the comprehensive guide of Russian phonetics. Nowlet's discuss each letter of the Russian alphabet in their alphabetic order and see in what ways itcan be pronounced. As already mentioned in Basic facts about Russian language Russianlanguage is almost phonetic that is there is one-to-one correspondence between the letters ofthe alphabet and the sounds. But this almost means that there are some exceptions. The mostimportant of them are discussed here, for others go to the comprehensive guide of Russianphonetics. In this lesson, you will learn how to pronounce the letters of the Russian alphabet. This pagecontains several basic pronunciation rules which might be enough for you to pronounce Russianwords more or less correctly. We will discuss each letter of the Russian alphabet (as theyappear in the alphabetical order) and see all possible ways how they can be pronounced. Russian alphabet Here's the whole alphabet from A to : - letters in black areconsonants - letters in blue color are vowels - letters in green color aresigns Now let's take a look at each of the letters. As you go through each of the letters below, you willnotice that some vowels have different pronunciation depending on whether they are stressedor not. You will also find that two letters (called "signs" do not make any sounds). You canalways listen to proper Russian pronunciation by clicking on the words given as examples. pronounced like "a" in "part" but shorter (winter), (to give), (yes) pronounced like "b" in "bone" (banana) (hard), (birch) (soft)

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Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 - pronounced like "v" in "vast" (gate) (hard), (carpet) (soft) pronounced like "g" in "get" (town), (cucumber) (both hard), (genius) (soft) pronounced like "d" in "day" (water) (hard), (to do) (soft) at the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [je] in "yes" (fir), (diet) in other positions it marks the softness of the preceding consonant (except "",""and "") (woman), (six), (prices), and other consonants in some foreignwords, e.g. (phonetics)) and is pronounced almost like Russian "", i.e. like "e" in"let", e.g. (to sing), (newspaper) at the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [jo] in "yawn" butshorter (hedgehog), ((he) gives), ((he) beats) in other positions it marks thesoftness of the preceding consonant (except "" and "", e.g. (silk), (yellow))and is pronounced like stressed Russian "", i.e. like English "o" in "corn" but shorter (honey), (carpet). Note that "" is always stressed in Russian. like "g" in "rouge" (yellow), (to live) (both hard); "" is very seldom pronouncedin soft form so in the previous examples letters "" and "" did not soften it.

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Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 - like "z" in "zest" (to call) (hard), (green) (soft) like "ee" in "teen" but shorter (winter), (to drink). Note that the consonant preceding"" is always soft except for letters "", "" and "" which are always hard in Russian (in thesecases letter "" is pronounced identical to ""), e.g. (life), (wide, masculine), (circus). 1. when beginning a syllable (very seldom) like "y" in "yes" or like "j" in German "ja" (iodine), (coyote) 2. when terminating a syllable - like "y" in "may" ("" is pronounced likea semivowel in this case so it is called " " ( short)) (my), (T-shirt). Notethat "" can have only soft form since it is a palatal sound, i.e. it is pronounced with the tonguetouching the hard palate, so it is already palatalized and can't be pronounced withoutpalatalization. like "k" in "kick" but not aspirated (cow), (juice) (both hard), (paintbrush)(soft) like "l" in "look" (pigeon) (hard), (forest) (soft) like "m" in "moon" (to wash) (hard), (place) (soft) like "n" in "not" (she) (hard), (they) (soft)

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Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 - like "o" in "port" but shorter (milk), (house) like "p" in "pay" but not aspirated (dad) (hard), (beer) (soft) no exact counterpart in English but it is like rolled "r" in "rock" in Scottish pronunciation (to work) (hard), (river) (soft) like "s" in "say" (advice) (hard), (family) (soft) like "t" in "time" (that, masculine) (hard), (shadow) (soft) like "oo" in "moon" but shorter (chair), (moon) like "f" in "fast" (torch) (hard), (coffee) (soft) no exact counterpart in English since English "h" is pronounced as a pharyngeal sound andRussian "" is articulated by the back part of the tongue touching the soft palate, it is rather likeGerman "ch" in "Buch" (bad) (hard), (cunning, crafty) (soft)

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Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 - like "ts" in "cats" (but pronounced as one sound) or like "Z" in German "Zeit" (father), (Gipsy) (both hard). Note that this consonant never appears in soft form in Russianunlike Ukrainian and Belorussian. like "ch" in "check" (tea), (black) (both soft). Note that this consonant neverappears in hard form unlike Belorussian like "sh" in "shock" but not so soft (soul), (noise) (both hard). Note letter "" neverdenotes soft consonant since there is another letter "" for this purpose this letter denotes long and soft "" like "sh" in "she" but a bit softer and longer (pike), (raincoat). Of course this letter can't appear in hard form like "" can't appear in soft form This letter is not pronounced in Russian and it never starts a word. It is usually a partitive signbetween the prefix and the root, it can only appear between a consonant and letters "", "","", "" which are then pronounced as at the beginning of the word or after a vowel, i.e. withconsonant [j] preceding a vowel: [je], [jo], [ju], [ja] (in stressed position). Example: (to drive up), (advertisement) no exact and even similar counterpart in English, this sound is very hard to describe, you shouldpronounce [i:] as in "mean" then lower the middle part of your tongue a bit and bring your lips toneutral position, then you will hear somewhat similar to Russian sound. But it's better to listen tothe examples. (soap), (to breathe), (forget), (rat)

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Russian PronunciationWritten by AdministratorTuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 -

This letter like is not pronounced in Russian, like "" it is a partitive sign between the parts ofthe word, also like "" it can appear between a consonant and letters "", "", "", "" which arethen pronounced with a consonant [j] preceding them, e.g. (drunken), ((he)beats). But "" can also appear at the end of the word, e.g. (moth), (horse). In bothcases the consonant preceding "" is pronounced soft (except for "", "" which never appearsoft). There are no words starting with this letter. like "e" in "set" (this, masculine), (mayor) (quite rare in Russian) 1. In the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [ju] in "mute" butshorter (south), ((they) sing), ((they) sew) 2. In other positions it marks thesoftness of the preceding consonant and is pronounced like Russian "" (beak), (to smell) 1. In the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [ja] in "yard" butshorter (box), (beacon), (drunken) 2. In other positions it marks thesoftness of the preceding consonant and is pronounced like Russian "" (tounderstand), (five).

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