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Archive for May, 2009

What the easiest way to remember the Russian alphabet?

What the funniest way to remember the Russian words?

Right, Singing!

Music plays an important role in language.

There is the strong connection between language and music. Language and music are both associated with emotions.  Similar areas of the brain are activated when listening to or playing music and speaking language.

Each language and each culture or part of the world where that language is spoken has its own rhythm. You can improve understanding and perhaps an appreciation of the culture behind the language which comes through very richly through music. So the association between language and music has continued to be an important element in children and even in adults.

Even in our native language, music is a great help in learning the words. It’s the principle behind the Children songs, for instance - some small children in Russia remembered the Russian alphabet or the Russian words without some effort.

Many people find that their singing diction is better than their spoken diction. I can sing things in a foreign language even if I have difficulty with pronunciation in spoken language. :) I have no idea why?

I’ve found that singing has improved my spoken English diction as well. I can tell you that my listening comprehension in English took a major jump upwards as soon as I started listening to some music, trying to pick out words, and using a dictionary to translate the song.

While learning a new language, I found a very helpful study technique that works very simply - listening to the songs written in that language. Music helps learn the language, but only listening is not enough. You should use the lyrics together with song.

So if you want to improve your Russian language skills - pronunciation and understanding, then listening to the Russian songs.
It’s much easier way for learning Russian to listen to your favorite Russian songs, sing and improve your Russian day by day.

It’s free so you can just go here and begin improve your Russian right now :)

 

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The Russian alphabet consist of 33 letters:
10 vowels (а, е, ё, и, о, у, ы, э, ю, я) and 21 consonants and 2 unpronounced signs (ь, ъ).

The good news is that:

  • Russian letters look the same in Capital and lower case letters
  • Russian words sound the same way they are written most of the time, so you will not make a lot of mistakes spelling or pronouncing Russian words or phrase.

Russian alphabet

Russian Letter

Russian
name

Pronunciation (with English examples)

Transcribed

Russian examples

A a

a

a- as in ‘fathe’, but shorter;

a

Мама

Б б

be

b - hard as in boss‘ or ‘boy’ ; soft as in ‘albiorn’

b

hard: брат
soft:
белка

В в

ve

v - hard as in vase’ or ‘very’ ; soft as in view’

v

hard: новый soft: новейший

Г г

ge

g - hard as in God’go’ or soft as in ‘argue’

g

hard: много
soft: многие

Д д

de

d - hard as in day’ or ‘dog’ ; soft as in dew’

d

hard: награда
soft: наградить

Е е

ye

Softens preceding consonants. 

ye - as in yet’ or yell’ - in the initial position, before hard consonants, after vowels and after ь and ъ.
e‘- as in ‘set’

ye, e

with y: ехать
without y:
побег

Ё ё

yo

Softens preceding consonants.       

Always stressed!

yo - as in your’ or ‘beyond’
Also ‘o‘.

yo, o

with y: ёж
without y:
жёлтый

Ж ж

zhe

zh’ or as ‘sh’ in ‘pleasure’,  ‘measure’

ʒ

Жить

Желание

З з

ze

z - hard as in ‘zebra’, zero’ or soft as in ‘resume’, ‘desire’

z

завтра

И и

i

Softens preceding consonants.

i: - stressed as in ‘Easter’, ‘seen’, street’;

i - unstressed as in ‘pip’;
after ‘
ж’, ‘ш’, ‘ц’ - like ‘ы’ (see below).

i:, i, ɨ

один
like ‘ы’:  машина

Й й

i
krátkoye
(short)

y - sound as inyoga’ oryellow’ - in the initial position after vowels

i, y, j

мой

К к

ka

k - hard as in can’ orcome’ ; soft as in key’ or kiss’

k

hard: кот
soft: кит

Л л

el

l - hard as in look’ or ‘call; soft as in ‘million’

l

hard: белый
soft: белить

М м

em

m - hard as in man’ or monkey’ ; soft as in Muse’ or mutual

m

hard: масло
soft: мясо

Н н

en

n - hard as in null’ or ‘nose’ ; soft as in new’ or nice’  

n

hard: ныть
soft: нить

О о

o

o - if stressed long as in obey’ or oil’;
a‘- if unstressed as in ‘father’, but shorter

o, a, ə or ɔ

long: нóвый
short: новéйший

П п

pe

p - hard as in play’, ‘pet’ or soft as in peer’

p

hard: пат
soft: пять

Р р

er

r - hard trilled with the tip of the tongue Russia’ or soft ‘Orient’

r

hard: рукá
soft: рюмка

С с

es

s - hard as in some’, ‘see’ , ‘small’ or soft as in ‘assume’, ‘sue’

s

hard: суд
soft: сюда

Т т

te

t - hard, as in time’,  tent’ (unaspirated!) or soft as in tulip’, tune’

t

hard: тонуть
soft:
тянуть

У у

u

ou – sound as in ‘you’ Also like ‘oo‘ but shorter in ‘goose’ ‘boom’

u

думать

Ф ф

ef

f - hard as in ‘food’ ,far’ or soft as in few’

f

hard: кафé
soft: кóфe

Х х

kha

No English equivalent. 

ch - hard similar to Scottish ‘Loch or soft like in German ‘Bach’, ‘ich

ch

hard: хохотать
soft:
хихикать

Ц ц

tse

Always hard.               

ts - sound as in tsar’, ’sits’

ts

цвет

Ч ч

tche

Always soft. 

ch - sound as in cheers’, ‘change’, ‘child’

ʧ

учить

Ш ш

sha

Always hard.

sh - sound as in ‘show’, shy’, ‘sure’

ʃ

школа

Щ щ

tsha

Always soft.

sh+ch as in ‘fresh cheeks’                    sh+sh as in ‘rush show’

ʃtʃ or ʃʃ

ещё

Ъ ъ

tvyordyi znak (hard sign)

The hard sign is not pronounced. Rarely used and indicates a slight pause between syllables.
It is placed between a hard consonant and the vowel.

sometimes ‘j’

подъезд

Ы ы

ɨ

No English equivalent. 

A retracted variety of ‘i’ pronounced with the tongue blocking the throat.                        

i -as in ‘sir’ or ‘hill’      

Also like ‘ea’ sound in ‘seal’

y

ты

Ь ь

myachkiy znak (soft sign)

The soft sign is not pronounced. Makes the previous letter soft, or as if there is a after the consonant.

sometimes ‘j’

дверь

Э э

ε

ε‘ or ‘e‘ similar to ’set’ Sound like ‘a’ in ‘make’

ε, e

это

Ю ю

yu

Softens preceding consonant.                   

yu - as in yule’ , you’ 

u - sound in ‘use’ or university’ not as in ‘up’

ju, u

юмор

Я я

ya

Softens preceding consonant.

ja - sound as in ‘yard’ or yahoo’

ja

Яблоко

 

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Russian_alphabet

The modern Russian alphabet (русский алфавит, transliteration: russkiy alfavit) is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. It was introduced into Kievan Rus’ at the time of Vladimir the Great’s conversion to Christianity. [Source]

The Cyrillic alphabet also called azbuka, from the old names of the first two letters of almost all its variants) is a writing system, shared by six Slavic national languages (Bulgarian, Russian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian, and Ukrainian) as well as non-Slavic (Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Tuvan of the former Soviet Union and Mongolian).

It is also used by many other languages of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia and other languages in the past. Not all letters in the Cyrillic alphabet are used in every language that is written with it.

The Cyrillic alphabet was invented by brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The Cyrillic alphabet achieved its current form in 1708 during the reign of Peter the Great. Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, mandated the use of westernized letter forms in the early eighteenth century. Over time, these were largely adopted in the other languages that use the alphabet. Thus, unlike Modern Greek fonts that retained their own set of design principles, modern Cyrillic fonts are much the same as modern Latin fonts of the same font family.

Four letters were eliminated from the Russian alphabet in a reform (1917-1918).

The Cyrillic alphabet has been adapted to write over 50 different languages written using the Cyrillic alphabet, mainly in Russia, across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In many cases additional letters are used, some of which are adaptations of standard Cyrillic letters, while others are taken from the Greek or Latin alphabets. Wikipedia has more on that here.


Svetlana Astanaeva,

Russian Lessons Online


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