Ruff Guide to Russian Language

Lesson 1: Cyrillic Script/Basic Reading

Firstly, we will cover the Cyrillic script.

Actually created in Greece, the Cyrillic script is named after the saint who brought it to the gigantic nation centuries ago, but like your opinion: this doesn't matter; I will now give a more detailed breakdown of the alphabet because (despite what many people will try to tell you) there's no point studying Russian if you don't know this alphabet. This took me about a week to memorize, and a month to be able to confidently recall and read with.

А-а: Pronounced as a drawn out 'A' (Think: the 'a' in 'Father'.)

Б-б: This letter is pronounced just like our letter 'B' but try not to let out that slight puff of air (Think: the 'B' in 'But'.)

B-в: This letter is pronounced as a 'V' no tricks here! (Think: the 'V' in 'Very'.)

Г-г: This letter is pronounced as a 'G' but a little... sloppy? (Think: the first 'G' in 'Gurgle'.)

Д-д: Even more frustrating to write than a Shakespeare analysis, this letter is pronounced as a good solid 'D'. (Think: the 'D' in 'Dagger'.)

E-e: By FAR one of the most common letters, this fellow is pronounced as a 'Ye' (Think: the 'Ye' in 'Yesterday'.)

Ё-ё: This one is odd, born from Russian colloquial speak, this letter is pronounced as a 'Yo' be careful however, this is also correct if written as a standard 'E' so ALWAYS be sure to find pronunciations to words with the 'E' in (Think: the 'Yo' in 'Yolk'.)

Ж-ж: This is one of my favourites! Pronounced as a 'Zh' this is one of the few distinctly Russian characters not borrowed from the Latin/Greek alphabet. (Think: the 'S' in 'Pleasure'.)

3-з: Oddly written as a number 3, this letter makes a 'Z' sound. (Think: the 'Z' in 'Zebra'.)

И-и: A 'dyslexic 'N' as I once called it, this letter is a hard 'E' sound. (Think: the first 'E' in 'Ethernet'.)

Й-й: Looking to me like a Japanese archway, this letter is pronounced as a 'Y'. (Think: the 'Y' in 'Yelp'.)

К-к: This letter is pronounced a little more sharply than our own 'K'. (Think: 'K' in 'Kill'.)

Л-л: A borrowed Greek letter, and a 'П' with leg trauma, this letter is pronounced as an 'L'. But be warned, it is also acceptable (and common in more formal presentation) to write this letter as a capital Greek Lambda (if you don't know what it looks like, then google it you illiterate dog.) (Think: the 'L' in 'Lemon'.)

М-м: Very much like 'К' this is the same as English if a little less 'breathy'. (Think: the 'M' in 'Map'.)

H-н: A slight mind bender, this letter is pronounced as an 'N'. (Think: the 'N' in 'Never'.)

O-o: This is often considered the same as English, however, that is incorrect! This letter makes an 'Au' sound. (Think: the 'Au' in 'Author'.)

П-п: This is an 'Л' after surgery, and is pronounced as a less breathy 'P'. (Think: the 'P' in 'Peel'.)

P-р: If you're a lesser being like me, you're going to have trouble with this, it is pronounced as a rolled 'R'. (Search: the Spanish way of saying 'R'.)

C-c: This letter is just a simple short 'S' plain and clear. (Think: the the 'S' in 'Several'.)

T-т: Yet another strangled letter, it's a 'T' with no breath. (Think: the second 'T' in 'Twenty'.)

У-у: By far the jolliest letter of any language, this is pronounced as an 'ooh'. (Think: the 'oo' in 'Oops'.)

Ф-ф: A shining example of Greek borrowed letters, this letter is spoken as a plain 'F'. (Think: the 'F' in 'Farm'.)

X-x: This may be difficult to some of you, and the most commonly mispronounced letter I hear, this is pronounced as a 'Kh' hybrid. (Think: the thick Scottish accent saying the 'Ch' in 'Loch'.)

Ц-ц: This letter is a little odd to say on its own, but this is a 'Ts' sound. (Think: the 'ts' in 'Pets'.)

Ч-ч: One of the many reasons Cyrillic is (in my opinion) a superior alphabet, this letter makes the English 'Ch' sound with just one character! (Think: the 'Ch' in 'Cheese'.)

Ш-ш: Like the last letter, this is a combination, making this time the 'Sh' noise we all like to make whilst watching Breaking Bad with friends. (Think: the 'Sh' in 'Shiver'.)

Щ-щ: This is easily the hardest letter of the 33 you will learn today, known across Russian as something English speakers can't say properly: a sharp 'Sh'. (Try: listening to natives say it on Youtube, it's the only way to be honest.)

Ь-ь and Ъ-ъ: Neither of these letters are spoken, yet in our language they would be the most useful thing in the world: these differentiate hard sounds from soft sounds, the one on the left turning things soft, and the one on the right turning the sounds hard. (Think: 'A' in 'Angel' and 'A' in 'Apple'.)

Ы-ы: This is another notoriously difficult letter, but a very common one so pay attention! This is pronounced as a soft 'I'. However, it can sound a little harder in casual Russian speech. (Think: the 'I' in 'Pink'.)

Э-э: As well as looking like a Euro. This letter is very uncommon, but very easy too, it is pronounced as an 'eh'. (Think: the first 'E' in 'Enter'.)

Ю-ю: Let's face it: this looks like some sort of alien symbol, but (to my knowledge) it is another Greek character, it is pronounced as a 'Yu'. (Think: the 'U' in 'Universe.')

Я-я: Lastly, we have the iconic backwards 'R', chances are you have already seen this letter, however, it is in fact pronounced as a 'Ya'. (Think: German word 'Ja', or the 'Ya' in 'Yahoo'.)

Okay! So we finally got the alphabet out of the way! I can't really do much else unless you have this all figured out, so instead I will leave you with some words that are the same as English, but in the Cyrillic alphabet! PRACTICE!

Банк.

Радио.

Фильм.

Суши.