About Greetings

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

I remember being told that Russians only say Здравствуй(те) or Привет to each other once in a day, otherwise it sounds strange. I assume that's true, but correct me if it's just a regional thing or I'm just wrong. So, say that you see someone a lot in passing, like when going to different classes at a university, how would you greet them again?

Also, what are some conversation starting alternatives to Как дела? (Do Russians use that phrase as often as Americans say "How are you?") How do Russians normally start casual conversations?

re: a delicate subject

[red-kitti.livejournal.com]

How might I ask in Russian the following:

When you have sex, do you use protection?

If so, what kind?

If no, why not?

(Please - I am interested in only the most polite ways to ask this...)

Фонологические вопросы / Phonological questions

[kasak.livejournal.com]

I have a question to everyone here about the letter /ч/. If we're talking IPA, it is represented as [tʃ^j]. But where my question comes in is what is the difference in pronunciation between [tʃ^j] and [tɕ]? To me, the Russian /ч/ sounds just like the Polish /ć/ or the Belorusian /ць/. Are these actually different sounds entirely? The [tʃ] is palatalized, and since it's a postalveolar fricative, adding palatalization to it makes it alveo-palatal, or so it seems to me. If anyone can tell me whether or not the Russian /ч/ is actually the same sound as these other langauges, I'd appreciate it.

Another question I have is regarding the /й/. In some texts, I've seen it listed as the fricative [ʝ] and in others, it's simply the approximant [j]. If someone could inform me whether or not the /й/ is a consonant or a semi-vowel, I'd appreciate that, too.

Большое спасибо!

(no subject)

[adelaide129.livejournal.com]

i'm trying to find a program that will allow me to type in cyrillic on the internet and in other windows XP programs. any suggestions for software that will do this? preferably free, if it's possible; or super cheap but still good quality. any commentary is much appreciated!