Russian For Dummies. Serafima Gettys

Vowel Бб b as in book; p at the end of a word Consonant Bв v as in valve; f at the end of a word Consonant Гг g as in grotto; k at the end of a word Consonant Дд d as in dad; t at the end of a word Consonant Ee yeh in a stressed syllable, as the ye in yes or yesterday; ee in an unstressed syllable, as in beet or birdseed Vowel Ёё yoh as the yo in yoke Vowel Жж zh as the s in pleasure; sh at the end of a word Consonant Зз z as in zoo; s at the end of a word Consonant Ии ee as in beet Vowel Йй very short y as in York Vowel and consonant Кк k as in key Consonant Лл l as in lamp Consonant Mм m as in mom Consonant Hн n as in no Consonant Oo oh in a stressed syllable, as the o in opus; ah in an unstressed syllable, as the a in father Vowel Пп p as in parrot Consonant Pp r as in red Consonant Cc s as in so Consonant Tт t as in tea Consonant Уу ooh as the oo in shoot Vowel Фф f as in flag Consonant Xx kh like you’re clearing your throat or like the ch in Scottish loch Consonant Цц ts as in tsetse fly Consonant Чч ch as in chair Consonant Шш sh as in whoosh Consonant Щщ soft sh as in sheep or sherbet Consonant ъ A “hard sign,” transcribed as ” but not pronounced, so for the purposes of this book, we just ignore it! Neither Ы i as in bit Vowel ь A “soft sign” that makes the preceding consonant soft; we show it as ’. Neither Ээ eh as the e in end Vowel Юю yooh as the Yu in Yukon Vowel Яя ya as in yahoo if stressed; ee if unstressed and not in the final syllable of a word; yeh if unstressed and in the final syllable of a word Vowel

       WHO WAS THIS CYRIL GUY, ANYWAY?

      Picture this: The year is sometime around AD 863. Two Byzantine monks and brothers, Cyril and Methodius, were commissioned by their emperor to Christianize the East European pagan tribes. To carry out the emperor’s order, the two brothers had to transcribe the Bible into Slavic. This task was very daunting because the Slavs didn’t have any written language at the time, and the Slavic dialect they were working with contained a lot of bizarre sounds not found in any other language.