Russian pronounciation

Despite the fact that Russian language is kind of 'phonetic' and each sound is generally written by using a single letter, there are some difficulties in reading and pronouncing words in Russian language as stressed and unstressed vowels are pronounced differently.

Stress does greatly affect the pronunciation of some vowels in Russian language. The stressed syllable in is usually marked with an accent in dictionaries. However, native Russian speakers would know where it falls so you will not find it marked anywhere else except of Russian textbooks or dictionaries.

Russian sounds

Vowels
There are ten vowels in the Russian language. Five of them are called 'hard vowels' and five are 'soft vowels'. When pronounced on their own, or at the beginning of the word, first four 'soft' vowels have a y- sound at the beginning like first sound [j] in English word 'young'.
'Hard' vowels: а э о у ы
'Soft' vowels: я е ё ю и

Signs:
ь (soft sign)
ъ (hard sign)

Consonants
The rest of the letters (besides vowels and signs listed above) are consonants. They include the following letters: б, в, г, д, ж, з, й, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ.

Most consonants in Russian language can be both 'soft' and 'hard'. The 'hard' consonant is when it's followed by a 'hard' vowel or is at the end of a word and does not have a soft sign 'ь' after it.

A consonant becomes soft when it is followed by a 'soft' vowel or has a soft sign 'ь' after it. To pronounce a soft consonant, the main part of the tongue is pushed up against the roof of the mouth, giving the sound to the last sound [i] in the word 'quality'.

Finally here are a few examples of 'soft' consonants when they are followed by a soft sign 'ь'. In case there were no soft sign 'ь' after consonants they would be pronounced as 'hard'.

Not all consonants have 'hard' and 'soft' variants. There are three inherently 'hard' consonants, which are 'hard' no matter which type of vowel would follow them, and two inherently 'soft' consonants.

Inherently hard consonants: ж ц ш
Inherently soft consonants: ч щ

Stress and vowels

In dictionaries the stressed syllable in words of more than one syllable is marked with an acute accent. In books for Russian native speakers stress is not marked as native speaker know where it falls.

Stress has an important effect on the pronunciation of some vowels. The following points are vital to your understanding and speaking of Russian:

• an unstressed о sounds something like 'ah'
• an unstressed e sounds something like 'i' or 'yi'
• an unstressed я before the stressed syllable sounds like 'i' or 'yi'

Thus the word оно , will sound like 'ah-no', the word еда sounds like 'yi-da'.

How to read and pronounce Russian words

The first challenge in Russian pronunciation is to become familiar with Russian sounds and letters and start reading separate words. Although Russian alphabet and Russian phonetics may look daunting to begin with, you will be surprised soon that you can recognize the letters and can read the words easily. To improve your reading skills you will need to practise reading as much as possible. Reading exercises should be always incorporated into your Russian lessons.

Even if your Russian course is focused on listening and speaking, one of the best ways of learning new words is by writing them down, and then memorising them.