Russian |
Sounds in English like: |
À à |
a – in father |
Á á |
b – in book, bag |
 â |
v – in vase, visitor |
à ã |
g – in get, good |
Ä ä |
d – in dot, duck |
Å å |
ye – in yes, yesterday |
¨
¸ |
yo – in York, yonder |
Æ æ |
zh – in pleasure |
Ç ç |
z – in zone, zoo |
È è |
i – in bit, street |
É é |
y – in boy, toy |
Ê ê |
k – in key, kiss |
Ë ë |
l – in hill, lane |
Ì ì |
m – in man, moon |
Í í |
n – in nose, note |
Î î |
o – in ball, born |
Ï ï |
p – in peace, pin |
Ð ð |
r – in rabbit |
Ñ ñ |
s – in small, sit |
Ò ò |
t – in table, tennis |
Ó ó |
u – in moon, boot |
Ô ô |
f – in fine, funny |
Õ õ |
h – in hook, loch |
Ö ö |
ts – in gets, cats |
× ÷ |
ch – chair, chicken |
Ø ø |
sh – in shop, ship |
Ù ù |
shch – fresh cheese, Spanish sherry |
Ú ú |
no sound (hard sign – tiny pause) |
Û
û |
y – in syllable, i – ill |
Ü
ü |
no sound (soft sign adds soft y to preceding
consonant) |
Ý ý |
a – in arrow, e – leg |
Þ þ |
u – in use, universe |
ß ÿ |
ya – in yard (but shorter) |
The appearance of letters change
significantly in cursive writing!
TRUE FRIENDS, FALSE FRIENDS & NEW FRIENDS
In comparison with English:
o there are some letters in Russian that look
and sound the same as in English, we call them “true friends”. They are: ê, ì, ò, à, å, î;
o
there
are the letters that look the same as in English but in Russian they sound
quite different, they are your “false friends”: â, í, ð, ñ, y, õ, ü. They correspond to English v, n, r, s, ch in loch, u and the soft sign looks
like the small b ;
o there are also your “new friends”: á, ï,
ô, ä, ç, ö, æ, ÷, ø, é, ã, ù, þ, û, ú, ÿ.
On the whole, the spelling of Russian words coincides with
their pronunciation. This makes reading and writing much easier than in
English. But you should keep in mind that:
There is a letter ü (soft sign) that doesn’t denote any sound, but indicates the softening of a
preceding consonant.
The hard sign ú (hard sign) occurs after the prefixes ending in any
consonant when the root of the word starts with the vowels å, Ħ, þ,
ÿ. In these cases
the consonant in the prefix is pronounced as a hard sound.
TONGUE
TWISTERS
Very often there is no sense in tongue twisters. It is a play of words that helps to practice pronunciation.
Îêîëî êîëà êîëîêîëà. There
are bells round the pole.
Íà äâîðå òðàâà, There
is grass in the yard,
Íà òðàâå äðîâà.
there is firewood on the grass.
Ëåíà åëà åëå-åëå, Lena
was eating slowly,
Ëåíà åëà òàê
îò ëåíè. Lena was eating so because of laziness.
Õîõîòàëè õîõîòóøêè Girls were giggling
Õè-õè-õè äà õà-õà-õà. he-he-he and
ha-ha-ha.
Ìàìà ìûëà Ìèëó ìûëîì, Mother
was washing Mila with soap,
Ìèëà ìûëî íå ëþáèëà. Mila didn’t like soap.
Ìûøêè ñóøåê íàñóøèëè, Mice
dried ring-shaped rolls.
Ìûøêè êîøåê ïðèãëàñèëè. Mice invited cats.