(no subject)

[u-n-t.livejournal.com]

How do you say in Russian (preferably in Cyrillic):

"Are you a student?"

"Where do you live?"

Also, does anyone have any tips for understanding miyaki znak? I missed the lesson on devoicing the letters and would love to find an online resource.

Spaseeba!

Comments

[therox.livejournal.com]

"Вы студент?"
"Где вы живете?"

[u-n-t.livejournal.com]

great, this is the polite version, da?

[therox.livejournal.com]

Absolutly da. :)

[oryx_and_crake]

You have to keep in mind that in English student is also someone who attends primary or secondary school (рус. школьник) and someone who studies something (e.g. a student of Russian). You cannot say студент unless you know for sure that the person in question attends a university or a college.

[icamel.livejournal.com]

So, it could be

вы учитесь?/ты учишься?

[oryx_and_crake]

Agree. We cannot make it more definite until we know the context.

[tlkh.livejournal.com]

Much better, because this is a gender-neutral version.

[therox.livejournal.com]

Yes, thanks. I almost forget about that. Then "учащийся" may come, but it is not quite correct. So, as written above, "вы учитесь" most suitable construction.

[kehrmann.livejournal.com]

Ты студент?
Где ты живешь?

Sad to say, but my English doesn`t affort me to tell you about мягкий знак :) I think, someone else explain it. :)

Soft sign - мягкий знак

[domestic-dragon.livejournal.com]

http://www.orfo.ru/Tutorial/Html/Spel_ERs.htm - по-русски
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_sign - wiki article (english)
http://teachrussian.org/Files/soft_hard_sign.pdf
http://www.rlcentre.com/materials/impsoft.shtml
And may the google be with you)

[antonandreev.livejournal.com]

miagkyi znak (soft sign)- The soft sign is used mainly to soften the preceding consonant.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

O rly? :)

Could you explain, then, how exactly hard is the consonant in the following pairs:
Пять - Пьяный (п in the 1st syllable);
Семя - Семья (м in the 2nd syllable).
Ever heard about divider - soft sign (разделительный мягкий знак)?

[moola.livejournal.com]

yrly

Soft sign is not the only way to soften the preceding consonant.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

So? :)

[moola.livejournal.com]

So, the consonant in your examples are not hard.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Bingo! They aren't hard not because they are followed by a soft sign, but because they are followed by specific vowels that require palatalization of preceding consonant (и, е, ё, ю, я). That's what I was asking about: was the commenter aware of the разделительный мягкий знак (soft divider)? Because this is the 2nd grade program in Russian junior high schools.

[moola.livejournal.com]

Well you were asking for an explanation how exactly hard were the consonants in your examples.

They aren't hard not because they are followed by a soft sign, but because they are followed by specific vowels that require palatalization of preceding consonant (и, е, ё, ю, я).

Cannot argue with that. I just don't see how this contradicts the thread starting comment. There is another usage for the soft sign. And there are other ways to soften preceding consonant. But still the soft sign is used mainly to soften the preceding consonant.

That's what I was asking about: was the commenter aware of the разделительный мягкий знак (soft divider)?

Yep. That was your second question. I was answering the first one.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Alright. Impenetrable. I give up. Obviously somebody never heard that strange word, 'ironic'. You're right. Keep up the good job.

"ORLY" summons trolls.

[moola.livejournal.com]

Obviously someone need smileys to notice an irony.

Re: "ORLY" summons trolls.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Smileys are for weaklings. I'm old-school.

[max-first.livejournal.com]

Мягкий знак - literally 'soft sign'
Used only after a consonant and makes it palatized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatization

Also, when followed by a vowel, makes it prononsed separately from that consonant (as anoter syllable). Example

Вьюга - pronouced like [V'u:gah] (OMG what a transcription :) )
But withot Ь it would be [Voogah] with V palatized.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but it's "palatalization" and "palatalized", not "palatized" :)

[max-first.livejournal.com]

Ooooops.
There are too many syllables in this word. Btw, there is redirect in Wikipedia, so I'm not the only one with this mistake :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>Spaseeba!

While this may look as a fitting transcription for an English speaker, note that the normal way to write this word with Latin letters is simply "spasibo". The original Russian sounds cannot be rendered through English "ee" and final "a" anyway.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_christine/]

Unless you're talking to second generation Russian immigrants who never went to elementary school in Russia therefore don't how to write ;)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Well.. maybe it's time to learn how to? ;-)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Thing is, it's such a beautiful feature of our language -- that we say "may God save you" instead of simple "thank you" (which, in turn, exists in Russian but is not that simply) -- so if you distort it, it just loses its beauty :-)

I like this site

[scifigal.livejournal.com]

http://listen2russian.com/lesson08/

It shows all the letters that it follows, and pronounces the words with and without the soft sound. I found it really useful and could play them over and over and over until I could really hear the difference.