Languages and Culture Learn Russian

anyone to speak russian?

 

Да, я говарю по-Русский.

I'd be glad to help. (for the third time, this is.)

 

russkiy

ti s rossii?

 

Нет, я с США.

If it's alright, I supose I could start with the alphabet. Not right now, but perhaps later today.

EDIT: It's later today.

The Cyrillic alphabet, which is what the Russian language uses, consists of thirty-three symbols. Following are the symbols, followed by the sound they represent.

Аа....................................."ah" as in car

Бб....................................."b" as in boy

Вв....................................."v" as in vase

Гг......................................"g" as in egg

Дд....................................."d" as in dog

Ее....................................."ye" as in yes

Ёё....................................."yo" as in yogurt

Жж..................................."zh" sounds like a soft j

Зз....................................."z" as in zipper

Ии...................................."ee" as in ear

Йй...................................."ee" (see notes at bottom)

Кк...................................."k" as in carrot

Лл...................................."l" as in Lucy

Мм...................................."m" as in make

Нн...................................."n" as in no

Оо...................................."o" as in orange

Пп...................................."p" as in peach

Рр...................................."r" as in ranch

Сс...................................."s" as in set

Тт...................................."t" as in toilet

Уу...................................."oo" as in shoe

Фф..................................."f" as in fast

Хх...................................."ch" as in Cairo (see notes at bottom)

Цц..................................."ts" as in pits

Чч..................................."ch" as in church

Шш.................................."sh" as in shirt

Щщ................................."shch" as in fresh cheese

ъ.....................................Hard vowel symbol. When this symbol shows up, the vowel preceeding it is to make a harder sound.

Ыы.................................."yee" as in yeesh

ь.....................................Soft vowel symbol. When this symbol shows up, the vowel preceeding it is to make a softer sound.

Ээ..................................."e" as in effort

Юю................................."yoo" as in you

Яя.................................."ya" as in yacht

Notes:
The letter Й (called "И Краткое") is a vowel sound modifier. The only way to really understand what sound this letter makes is to hear it in speech.

The letter Х is based off the Greek letter "chi" and should be pronounced similarly.

Vowels:
There are ten vowels and one "iffy." The ten vowels are grouped into two distinct sets: those with a y sound at the beginning and those without. They are:
Аа Яя
Ии Ыы
Уу Юю
Ээ Ее
Оо Ёё

The "iffy" is Й. It is considered a vowel, but it does not belong in either group.

 

Baphijmm, how did u manage to learn Russian? My friend tried to study Russian and she said that its too hard, even harder than chinese. I cannot judge how hard it is as im a native speaker. So, is Russian really that hard to learn?
By the way, u should say "Нет, я из США".

 

russian is easier than chinese

 

I was taught the way I said it, which is why I said it that way.

Anyway, I had the option of learning Russian in high school my senior year. Honestly, it wasn't all that hard to learn, except for the alphabet, but even that was fairly easy. The only problem is, I've forgotten good chunks of the language, so I know I'm bound to be wrong from time to time (case in point, see above). Then again, I had taken German for the three years before, which has a ton of grammar-related difficulties, whereas Russian didn't have nearly as many, so it probably just seemed easy. I don't know.

 

i think chinese is easier than russian. not that i can speak it.