Serafima Gettys - Russian For Dummies

Like Russian vowels (see “ Giving voice to vowels” earlier in this chapter), Russian consonants follow certain patterns and rules of pronunciation. If you want to sound like a real Russian, you need to keep the basics in the following sections in mind.

When pronouncing the letters Пп, Tт,or Кк,English speakers are used to straining their tongue and lips. This strain results in what linguists call aspiration — a burst of air that comes out of your mouth as you say these sounds. To see what we’re talking about, put your hand in front of your mouth, and say the word top. You should feel air against your hand as you pronounce the word.

In Russian, however, consonants are pronounced without aspiration. In other words, say it, don’t spray it! In fact, you should totally relax your tongue and lips before saying the Russian Пп, Tт,or Кк.

Imagine a woman who has just had a stroke. She isn’t able to put much effort into her consonants. Believe it or not, that’s almost the way you should say your Russian consonants. Relax your lips as much as possible, and you’ll say them correctly. To practice saying consonants without unnecessary aspiration, again, put your hand in front of your mouth, and say the following Russian cognates (words that Russian borrowed from English): пapк(pahrk) (park) , лaмпa( lahm -puh) (lamp) , and тaнк(tahnk) (tank) . Practice until you don’t produce a puff of air with these words!

Some consonants (namely Бб, Bв, Гг, Дд, Жж,and Зз) are called voiced consonants because they’re pronounced with the voice, but they become devoiced when they appear at the end of a word. In other words, they kind of lose their voice.

So at the end of a word:

Бб is pronounced p.

Bв is pronounced f.

Гг is pronounced k.

Дд is pronounced t.

Жж is pronounced sh.

Зз is pronounced s.

In the word Boлкoв,for example, should the final letter вbe pronounced v or f? In this case, you pronounce it f (vahl- kohf ) because a вat the end of a word is pronounced f.

To those who don’t know Russian, Russian speech often sounds like an endless flow of consonant clusters. Combinations of two, three, and even four consonants are quite common. Take, for example, the common word for hello in Russian: здpaвcтвуйтe( zdrah -stvoohy-tee), which has two difficult consonant combinations ( здpand cтв). Even Russians have a hard time saying all the sounds in this long word; in fast, colloquial speech, Russians replace it with здpacтe( zdrahs -tee). Or take the word for opinion in Russian: взгляд(vzglyat). The word contains four consonants in a row: взгл.

How in the world do Russians say these words without choking? They come naturally to Russians because Russian is their native language. You, on the other hand, simply need to practice. Here are some words that contain consonant clusters you may want to repeat at leisure:

oбcтoятeльcтвo (ahp-stah- ya -teel’-stvah) (circumstance)

пoздpaвлять (pah-zdruhv- lyat’ ) (to congratulate)

пpecтуплeниe (pree-stoohp- lyeh -nee-ee) (crime)

Poждecтвo (razh-dees- tvoh ) (Christmas)

вздop (vzdohr) (nonsense)

взглянуть (vzglya- nooht’ ) (to look / glance)

Some Russian letters and sounds are difficult for speakers of English. Take a look at the following sections to find out how to pronounce some of them.

The zh sound corresponds to the letter Жж.It looks kind of like a bug, doesn’t it? It sounds like a bug too! In pronouncing it, try to imitate the noise produced by a bug flying over your ear: zh-zh-zh … The sound is similar to the sound of the s in the words plea sure and mea sure.

The short i sound corresponds to the letter Йй. This letter’s name is икpaткoe(ee kraht- kahee), which literally means a very short i, but it actually sounds like the very short English y. This sound is what you hear when you say the word York. You should notice your tongue touching the roof of your mouth when you say this sound.

The Russian letter that corresponds to the kh sound is Xx.To say it, imagine that you’re eating and a piece of food gets stuck in your throat. What’s the first reflex your body responds with? Correct! You try to cough it up. Remember the sound your throat produces? The Russian kh makes this sound . It’s similar to the German ch, Hebrew khaf , Arabic kha , and ancient Greek chi.

To say the y sound correctly, imagine that you’re watching something really revolting, like an episode of a reality competition show in which the participants are gorging on a plate of swarming bugs. Now recall the sound you make in response. This sound is pronounced something like i, the short vowel sound of the English i, and that’s how you pronounce the Russian ы.Because this letter appears in some commonly used words — including ты(ti) ( you ; informal singular), вы(vi) ( you ; formal singular or plural), and мы(mi) (we) — it’s important to say it as best you can.

The soft sign is the letter ь.We transcribe it by using the symbol ’, and it doesn’t have a sound. Its only mission in life is to make the preceding consonant soft. This sound is very important in Russian because it can change the meaning of a word. Without the soft sign, the word мaть(maht’) (mother) becomes мaт,which means obscene language. And when you add a soft sign at the end of the word вoн(vohn) (over there) , it becomes вoнь(vohn’) and means stench. See how important the soft sign is?

Here’s how you can make consonants soft:

1 Say the consonant (such as Лл, Tт, or Дд), and note where your tongue is.You should feel the tip of your tongue touching the ridge of your upper teeth. The rest of the tongue should be hanging in your mouth like a hammock in a garden on a nice summer day.