RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
| Russian for English speakers ABC 01 |
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The Russian alphabet Русский алфавит |
|
Letter Буква |
Sound Звук/Звучание |
| Аа | ah |
| Бб | b |
| Вв | v |
| Гг | gh |
| Дд | d |
| Ее | ai |
| Ёё | yo |
| Жж | (d)j |
| Зз | z |
| Ии | ee |
| Йй | ee (short or assimilated) |
| Кк | k |
| Лл | l |
| Мм | m |
| Нн | n |
| Оо | o |
| Пп | p |
| Рр | r |
| Сс | s |
| Тт | t |
| Уу | oo |
| Фф | f |
| Хх | kh |
| Цц | ts |
| Чч | tch |
| Шш | sh |
| Щщ | shtch |
| Ъъ | hard sign |
| Ыы | hard y (hard ee) |
| Ьь | soft sign |
| Ээ | ay |
| Юю | yoo |
| Яя | ya |
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THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET You are not supposed to learn these words by heart, but simply to become able to read them fluently. |
|
Russian Русский |
Pronunciation Произношение |
English Английский |
AK-NOTE |
| ПАПА, папа | papa | papa, dad | |
| ДАМА, дама | damma | (dame), lady | This transcribes as "dàma", no doubling of "m" required. |
| ДРАМА, драма (1) | dramma | drama | This transcribes as "dràma". Someone may say he hears "dràmma", but this is just a personal preference. |
| ДОКТОР, доктор | doctör (2) | doctor | Letter "ö" itself is a German one, sounds like "u" in the English word "fur". Do not confuse it with Russian "murky a/o" sound. |
| АЗОТ, азот | azot | azote, nitrogen | |
| АДРЕС, адрес (3) | address | address | Transcription with tones is "àdres" |
| АКРОБАТ, акробат | acròbat (4) | acrobat | |
| АНАНАС, ананас (5) | ananas | ananas, pine-apple | |
| АНОНИМ, аноним | anoneem (6) | anonym, anonymous |
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(1) English P is Russian R. In Russian, the letter a is
never sounded as in fate. (2) We represent by ö a rather obscure o, sounded like -er. (3) In Russian, the letter c (which is, by the way, called s) has always the sound of hard s. (4) By ò, we represent an open o, nearly ah. (5) H (English capital h) is always an n in Russian. (6) Notice the И (inverted N), the Russian i, but sounded as in "machine" (= -ee-). As a general rule the letter o has its normal sound (= -aw-) only in the stressed syllable of the word, e.g. : доктор, like our doctor. When preceding the stress, it tends towards ah. (Самовар is sounded almost "samavar") ; after the stress, it becomes obscure and is sounded almost like -er- (паспорт is nearly "passpert"). |