The Russian Alphabet

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters, including 20 consonants, 10 vowels, two modifier letters, and one semivowel. Learners of the language often believe that the single most difficult thing to master in Russian is the alphabet itself. This could not be further from the truth! If you are just starting out to learn this language, you will soon find out that the alphabet, however strange it might seem at first sight, can actually be learned in less than an hour. However, if you want to be able to read out Russian words correctly, you will need to get familiar with a couple of pronunciation rules as well.

Now it is time to look at the letters one by one. For beginners, it is advisable to start by learning the capital letters, and then the lower-case ones. Be aware that the type of font being used affects the way how the letters appear, as is the case with any other language. As far as pronunciation is concerned, the approximate English equivalents of the Russian sounds will be given below.

* Audio sample provided by Skvorets.

CLASSIFICATION OF LETTERS

For someone who is familiar with English, or any other language using the latin script, it can be useful to divide the letters into three categories. Firstly, there are those which are both written and pronounced more or less the same way as in English, such as Т, М, К. The second group of letters look the same way as in English (Spanish, Turkish, etc.), but they are pronounced differently, for example В, Р, Н. The third group contains letters that are unlike anything that exists in latin alphabets: Б, Г, Ж, Ш, Ю and so on.

It is worth pointing out that the letters Ь (soft sign) and Ъ (hard sign) are different from all the other symbols present in the alphabet: they are called modifiers. These two letters may only be placed after consonants, and they indicate that those consonants must be pronounced in a soft or in a hard way, respectively.

Note that the letter Й is considered a semivowel by some lingusts, while some others call it a consonant. The Russian name of this letter (и краткое) indicates that it is actually the short version of И.

THE RUSSIAN ORTHOGRAPHIC REFORM OF 1917-1918

Russian was not always written the way it is today. Languages change over time, and the need for changing their spelling system arises. This was the case for Russian as well, which underwent a major ortographic reform just after the Bolshevik Revolution. If one takes a look at the famous 19th century novels by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, it becomes clear that those works were originally written using a different alphabet. After the orthographic reform of 1917-1918, those books had to be reprinted according to the new spelling rules. As part of the reform, the letter ѣ was replaced by E, the letter I was replaced by И, and Ъ disappeared almost completely. Hence, it became easier to write, read, and most importantly, to print Russian texts.

EXAMPLE WORDS I.

You can start practicing the alphabet by taking a look at the words below. If you click on the speaker icons, you will hear hear how they are pronounced by native speakers. As you listen, you may notice that some letters are pronounced differently from what you would expect, for example the letter O in the word ВОДА sounds like a Russian A. This has to do with word stress, a phenomenon that we will be covering in subsequent chapters.

Listen to the words carefully and read them out loud:

* Audio samples are provided by The Shtooka Project.

EXAMPLE WORDS II.

Listen to the following words carefully and read them out loud. Next, take a pen and a piece of paper and write them down. Use capital letters.

* Audio samples are provided by The Shtooka Project.

A NOTE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PRONUNCIATION

Pronunciation is an essential part of learning a foreign language, however, its role should neither be overestimated nor ignored. Some learners wish to achieve an accent which is indistinguishable from that of a native speaker. In most cases though, this is unreachable. Today, most researchers and many teachers agree that the primary goal for spoken language development is intelligibility. In other words, while speaking in a foreign language, our aim should be to make ourselves understood by an audience. Having an accent is acceptable as long as our message is understood. Therefore, learners are encouraged to focus on those features of pronunciation that impact understanding.

To put it simply, there is no need to worry if your pronunciation is not 100% correct. As long as people understand you, you should be fine.

The book entitled Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation by John M. Levis is a must read for anyone wishing to explore the topic further.

⭢ Countries, Capitals & Word Stress