How to improve your pronunciation in Russian | Russian Pronunciation Hacks 

In all my Russian studies, no one or nothing has ever gone into this much depth about natural/native pronunciation. Thank you so much - it’s incredibly useful.

Let's admit, when you start learning Russian language, the first thing you do is you learn Russian Alphabet . So normally you should know how to pronounce every Russian letter correctly and properly. That is why you can use this transcription in “Cyrillic. “ You will be surprised, but Russian people also use transcription when they are at school. When I was at school -when I was a kid I had to use this phonetic transcription in Cyrillic in order to learn how to pronounce certain Russian words . Because as you understood some Russian words are not pronounced the same way as they are written ,depending on the patterns that we have in these words . So we need to learn not only Russian letters but also Russian sounds. And believe me it's actually even fun to do when you try to decipher your Russian word. Even before hearing how to pronounce it you can understand how to pronounce it correctly just by having the stress. When you know the stress in the Russian word you can learn ,you can decipher; you can understand how to pronounce it even before hearing it. And here comes one of the main reasons why latin transcriptions for Russian words sucks. There are some tricky Russian Vowels that make foreigners who learn Russian language sound funny. I have already seen some advanced Russian language learners who still make this mistake, and it's actually quite easy to explain. These Russian vowels : E= Й+ Э [yé= yi+ è] Ё = Й+O [yo= yi+o] Ю= Й+ У[yu= yi+u] Я= Й+A[Ya= yi+a] are very tricky because they are letters and not sounds which is really important to understand. So when they pronounce separately we should make two sounds. So actually they represent two sounds- when they are pronounced separately. That is why, for example, when you learn Russian Alphabet you learn this way. And the problem arises from here from this point because many Russian language learners believe that these vowels : E= Й+ Э [yé= yi+ è] Ё = Й+O [yo= yi+o] Ю= Й+ У[yu= yi+u] Я= Й+A[Ya= yi+a] Should be pronounced this way so with a clear sound everywhere in every Russian Russian world where we have these bubbles which is a big mistake. And this is partially a fault of latin transcription. Just look at this table: Position in the word E Ё Ю Я After consonants ' э О́ У́ А́ After vowels Й' э Й О́ Й У́ Й А́ After Ь, ъ Й' э Й О́ Й У́ Й А́ Word beginning Й' э Й О́ Й У́ Й А́ As you can see the pronunciation of these vowels depends entirely on their position in a word. So after vowels; after a hard and a soft sign [Ъ, ь] as well as in the beginning of words, this vowel should be pronounced as a combination of two sounds. Where the key element is a sound [ye]. But after consonants these vowels should be pronounced without this sound [ye]. So you don't pronounce this sound [ye]. You just leave these sounds that you can see with a softened consonant. And it's a very common mistake of russian language learners when for example they will pronounce these words: Мeня [м'ин'A=menya] me they will pronounce as [ miyenya ] ø= which is wrong. Люблю[Л'убл'у=Lyublu] to love They will pronounce it as Lyubliyu. Because they think and actually they will see it in the Russian in the transcription of Russian words that is written in latin, that read this sound where it should and where it shouldn't be. Let's analyze this phrase: I wish you happiness. Желаю тебе счастья [жылaй'y т'иб'э щac'т'й'a] Zhelayu tebe schast'ya We will need to analyze every vowel and every sound that we see.

Hello it's Mila here from “Hack your Russian” and i'm here to help you learn Russian language easy fast and with lots of fun. In my previous videos I shared with you some great tips on how to pronounce Russian words with a Hard [ъ] and a soft signs.[ ь] So if you haven't watched them yet I really recommend you to watch them after watching this video. And in this lesson I will share with you some general tips on how to improve your pronunciation in Russian, and also show you the biggest mistake of russian language learners . Are you ready? Let’s go! Вы готовы? Поехали ! Vy gotovy? Poyekhali ! By the way this video is a part of my new pronunciation course where I explain all possible and impossible patterns of Russian pronunciation : silent letters, difficult sounds, Russian consonants and vowels which are not pronounced the same way as they are written, Russian intonation, and the ways to predict stress in Russian words. So why is it actually important to speak with a good pronunciation in Russian ? And I 'm not speaking about an accent. Having an accent in Russian language is completely fine because people will be able to understand you. But if you pronounce russian words incorrectly it may cause some problems in understanding between you and Russian people. I know that many foreigners believe that pronunciation is not really that important when it comes to speaking in Russian and I partially agree, because Russian people will really try to understand you. They will be very patient and very welcoming because they themselves,Russian people ,believe that Russian language is really difficult. And that is why they are so happy when foreigners try to speak their language. Even if you speak very slowly it will be fine. They will try to understand you, but I believe that there are much more advantages of speaking with a proper pronunciation . And here they are: 1. First you will feel more confident speaking in Russian language because you will be so proud of your pronunciation and you will be sure that Russian people will understand you . 2. Secondly , you will not put yourself in some awkward situations. If , for example, you mispronounce a Russian word and it will mean a completely different thing to that you wanted to say and it will create some kind of misunderstanding between you and Russian people. 3. Third - Russian people will admire your pronunciation and will not secretly laugh at it. Because yes, even though Russian people are so happy when foreigners speak their language but it makes us smile when we hear some obvious mispronunciation . And when we hear that it's not really pronounced the way it should be pronounced, it makes us smile. 4. And finally, you will improve your overall comprehension of fast spoken speech because if you have some wrong fixed patterns in your head, you will find it more difficult to understand Russian words when they are pronounced with correct natural pronunciation in conversations. And if you think that it's impossible for a foreigner to learn proper Russian pronunciation, I will prove you that it's more than possible because Russian language has fixed pronunciation rules. Yes, it takes time to learn and practice these patterns but you will see that it's better than to constantly wonder why some Russian patterns are not pronounced the same way as they are written . Okay, enough talking . Let's get down to business. NAUGHTY RUSSIAN VOWELS If you want to speak with a proper russian pronunciation you need to know about naughty Russian vowels . If they are unstressed. That is why learning Russian words with a correct stress is also very important. So even stressed some Russian vowels will be pronounced less strong or completely differently. ★ If unstressed, some vowels are prounounced: 1. Less strong[A, Я, E ] 2. Comepletely different [E , O , Э , Я] ★ ★ Well, you probably already know about a vowel [O]. In all cases and I mean it in all cases, when a Russian vowel [O] is not stressed it should be pronounced as [A]. Let's look at these words: -Xoрoшo=good/well[xaрaшO] [kharasho] We have a stress on the last syllable . That is why “O” is pronounced as it should be [O] but the first two or are pronounced [A]. -Мoлoдéц= well done[мaлaд'Эц] [Maladyets]  Here we have a stress on the last syllable and the two [O] are not stressed . -Мoлoкo= milk [МaлaкO] [Malako]  We have a stress on the last syllable. That is why the first two syllables with the letter [O] should be pronounced with a sound [Ah ]. ★ And the last one is: Xoлoдно= it’s cold [xOлaднa][Holadna]  Xo+ лoд + но  Xo+ лaд + нa  In this case we have a stress on the first syllable -Ho. That is why [O] is pronounced as it should be [ho], but the second [O] in the second and in the third syllables, {we also have this letter [O] }but it's pronounced as a sound [Ah ]. We don't say [holod no]. It will sound really unnatural . ★ However you also need to know that there is a special dialect in the north of Russia where they speak and they pronounce this letter [O} everywhere where it's written. So no matter whether it's stressed or unstressed they will pronounce it as [O}. So, for example, they will say [Holodno ] but it's not a literary norm. You will not hear it in the central part of Russia, on the TV . And in many post-Soviet countries they will not be speaking with this letter [O]- they will not be pronouncing it very clearly.

Как это видео попало ко мне в рекомендации? Зачем я смотрю его, если русский - мой родной язык? Я не знаю, но очень понравился и материал, и подача. Коммент для алгоритма, успехов! :)

The R sound is a nightmare which doesn't seem ever to go away. One day, one day!

Thank God! Someone was at last able to explain how Russian is really pronounced. The textbook explanations simply do not work and is a source of enormous frustration to a learner

Большое спасибо за это видео, Мила🙏 Я улыбаюсь, когда думаю о том, что в первый раз говорят русские учителя: русский читается так, как написано… Если вы знаете алфавит, вы можете прочитать каждое слово… ложь во благо😊 Ты великий русский хакер😊 Желаю спокойной ночи😊

Please could someone tell me where I can find somewhere to transliterate the Russian words but in Cyrillic? Like at 20:16 the words in the brackets? Спасиба!

Wow! This blew me away with the меня part. I always hear Russians pronounce it meenYA, but not that strong. Is there any "ya" sound at the end or is it only pronounced with a strong "a"? Спасибо Мила!

Obligatory comment to help with the RU-vid algorithm.

I played one part about six times, I even turned up the volume, and the only difference I can hear you make between katya and katya is that you stressed the ya more when given as an example of how it's pronounced wrong. it's such a small small difference. does it really matter?

Transliteration sucks! Транслитерация - отстой! By Russifying your pronunciation, you will sound more natural and spend less effort on pronouncing words.After all, almost all the features of pronunciation came to the language for the sole purpose of saving energy on the work of the articulatory muscles during rapid colloquial speech.