Здравствуйте, дорогие друзья! Hello, dear friends! Welcome to Spoonfed Russian and the Episode N1!

Before we start:

• please download Russian alphabet.pdf;
• and just follow the text of this topic.

 

 Episode 1 - Alphabet: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The first step to Russian is the Russian alphabet. It’s not that hard as it seems at first sight and the reasons are:

• almost all words can be pronounced as they are written;
• one letter is one sound.

In Russian some syllables are emphasized more than others. And in some words it’s important to know which syllable is stressed. For example, pronunciation of the letter “o” (number 16) depends on whether the syllable is stressed or not. If it’s stressed then “o” gives “o” (like in “spot”), if not stressed then it sounds like “a” (like in car). Have a look at word Ок-но (which means “window”). The 1st syllable is not stressed that’s why “o” sounds like “a“, while the “o” in 2nd stressed syllable sounds like “o”: [ak-no]

Usually letter “ё” (number 7) now almost everywhere is not used, instead you can see letter “е” (number 6), but it’s pronounced like “yo”. The letter “ё” is always stressed. After some practice you will feel where “ё” is hiding under the “е”.

Твердый знак (’Hard Sign’, number 28) indicates that the consonant before should be hard, you just have to make a slight pause between syllables like in word “объ-ект” (object).

Мягкий знак (’Soft Sign’, number 30) indicates that the consonant before should be soft, like in word “соль“, not “сол” but “соль” (which means “salt”).

Now let’s try to read short words in Russian. At first it’s better to divide a word into syllables and read them one by one.

• Ма-ма (Mom)
• Па-па (Dad)
• Сест-ра (sister)
• Брат (brother)

Congratulations! Now you can read Russian words! До скорой встречи! See you soon. Пока-пока. Bye-bye.

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Useful links:

Learn Russian Alphabet - flash application with notes for every letter.