Russian consists of both soft and hard vowels and consonants which are used in different instances and when combined in different ways (as in, with different surrounding sounds in Russian). Many of these phonetic sounds have an English equivalent. However, sounds such as Ы, Щ (soft) and P (hard and soft), do not.
The Ы sound is used in the following Russian words:
- мы [m-uh-ee]; English translation: my
- Cыр [syr]; English translation: cheese
It sounds like a mixture between the ‘oo’ in book and the ‘ee’ in meet. Sometimes the letter y is cited as the closest English sound equivalent. It is also described as a guttural sound, made by pulling one’s tongue from the front to the back of the mouth during the sound production.
The Щ (soft) sound is used in the following Russian words:
- Щека [sheh-KA]; English translation: cheek
- Ещё [yeh-SHCHO] or [yeh-SHOH]; English translation: still or more
This sound is often described as the English combination of “shch.” The tongue is placed in the middle of the hard palate to create the softer version of the Russian sound Ш.
The P sound is used in the following Russian words:
- ры́ба [RIH-buh]; English translation: fish
- Привет [pree-VYEHT]; English translation: hello or hi
This sound is like the ‘r’ in rock but trilled (but not really an aggressive trill).
Someone learning Russian needs to know how to distinguish between when to use hard sounds versus soft sounds (both when speaking and when reading and writing). First, it would be helpful to listen to the difference between them and practice pronouncing that difference. Then lots of practice will certainly help!
I plan to focus my learning of distinct sounds first by listening to bedtime stories for children on Youtube. These videos often show subtitles in Russian and speak slowly and clearly. This will allow me to see and hear the phonetic differences and practice along with the videos.
Replies