Sorry to be posting again so soon...

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Is it okay to pronounce "x" as English "h"? I've been pronouncing it as a much, much harder sound, but the audio CD I have seems to use it very close to an h. Is it a regional accent of anywhere to just pronounce it as the English h?

[EDIT] Oh... and another question: When writing the letter Я, do you start from the left or the right? I've always started with the right, but I think that's just me trying to familiarize Я with R. Also... in cursive, how do you write the letters? I've noticed that in italics, т looks like a Roman m, but how do you make ю more fluid?

Comments

[karashi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's fine. In fact, I'd even say that it's the norm. :)

[vyacheslav.livejournal.com]

Я is started from the left. For the T, some people put a bar over it in cursive.

Maybe someone can do a ms paint of the ю. I can't because I am horrible trying to write with the mouse.

Here's something that may help you with other letters. All of them aren't given though.

[gvadelupa.livejournal.com]

My english teacher says me that English 'h' is softer than Russian 'х'. So, if we extrapolate this advice vice versa we will get that Russian 'х' is harder than English 'h' :)

About writing technics...
Both English and Russian we write from left to right. So, the most rapid way to write a letter is also to write it from left to right.

[karashi.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, maybe it's a little harder, but not anything to extreme. :)

[gvadelupa.livejournal.com]

I think, if english-speaking man will speak on Russian pronouncing 'х' like 'h' -- it will be normal for Russian ear. But if Russian will speak on English with 'h' that sounds like 'х' then such speech will grate upon English ears.

Definitely I haven't English ears so I can be mistaken, of course.

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I've noticed that, with some people speaking English as a second language with a Russian accent, the h's tend to be harder.

[karashi.livejournal.com]

I even managed to spell "too" wrong. XP

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

The sound that the Russian x represents is /x/, which is a velar fricative; it's articulated in the same part of the mouth as the English "k", but instead of stopping the airflow, you create friction with it, creating a sound like the "ch" in the Scottish "Loch" or "ch" in the German "Bach".

The English "h" sound is pronounced in a different part of the mouth - it's a glottal fricative. The glottis is farther back in the mouth.

I don't know why you're hearing x as "h". Usually, if someone is speaking too quickly for me to follow, I hear it as closer to "k".

[oscar-6.livejournal.com]

Look, here is your my average "ю" and "я":

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Wow... that's much different than what I'd've thought. So a cursive я is almost close to a backwards cursive ю...

[oscar-6.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose you could say so.