Привет! :)

[rimokon.livejournal.com]

Yo, I'm a new member. Let me share a little about myself; my name is Yoshi, I'm 13, female, I *LOVE* Clay Aiken, mwaha, and I've been trying to learn Russian for...around a year now. I became interested in it when I downloaded тату's Russian Album, and I loved it, lol. Anyway, I can know the Cyrrilic alphabet, and I know a few words, but I need some help. Here's what I still have some problems w/:

1.) Um, I heard somewhere that letter 'Д' is supposed to sound like Spanish 'D'. I speak Spanish, so I have no problem making the soft 'D' sound like in Spanish (sounds kind of like 'Th' in 'The'), but I'd like to know if that's true. I've heard it pronounced as both English 'D' and Spanish 'D'. Which one is correct?

2.) P A L A T A L I Z A T I O N ! Lol, it's kind of hard O_O. Can anyone please direct me to a place w/ audio files w/ palatalized and un-palatalized consonants? I'm having trouble w/ the difference between 'Ч' and 'Ть'. And 'Ль' <--I think I've got it, but I'm not certain. Is it the same/similar to the 'gl' in Italian 'figlia'?

Thanks! :)

Comments

[robotlyublyu.livejournal.com]

HI! i started getting into russian because of tatu, too!! i love those girls...i havent really started learning yet but really want to. good luck and welcome!

[noser.livejournal.com]

Don't overcomplicate things.

1.) looks wrong. Put your tongue just behind your upper teeth when saying Д, so that there is no hissing sound of breath when you do it, that's it. Easier to say something like ДО or ДА than just Д.

2.) when pronouncing palatalized consonants, just raise the front-middle part of your tongue a little bit. Ть, unlike Ч, has no hissing sound in it, and is a short one (like Т and Д, this sound is made when you briefly hit your teethridge with your tongue, you can't make it last).

If you got broadband, check out this radio where they talk a lot:
http://www.echo.msk.ru/efir

Have fun!

[simonff.livejournal.com]

Gotta love Russian culture. Dostoevskiy, Tolstoy, Tatu... :)

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

A tip on palatilazation: The difference between Л and Ль is mostly a matter of tongue placement. It's called "palatilazation" because your tongue should be on your palate - the roof of your mouth. Note your tongue placement when you make just a normal Л sound - like English L, your tongue is touching the bottom of your teeth. With Ль, your tongue should be touching the roof of your mouth instead. Just pretend you're saying L, but put your tongue in this weird position, and it'll come out at least close to right.

It can be somewhat hard to get the hang of, because English doesn't contain many of these sounds. I've found Ль the easiest to reproduce, but, for instance, I can't even hear a difference between С and Сь.

Сь

[noser.livejournal.com]

Quite a different sound if there's a vowel following. Try "Сёма" and "Сом".

Л

[alektoeumenides.livejournal.com]

Although as a native English speaker I still find that sound hard to re-produce, my mother (who learnt Russian in Communist Poland) gave me a very good tip to try and get the difference between the two.

Л is like the "l" in English "help"
Ль is more like the normal English "l"

If you try and say both, I notice, anyway, that the whole palatalization thing happens...with "help" my tongue is in a completely different place...now just to incorportate it into my speech!

D

[yers.livejournal.com]

the Russian Д is like a strong Spanish "D", not like its th-like intervocalic version,
i.e. D as in dejar, not as in llamado

[rimokon.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks a lot for the help. :D But, alas, I forgot to ask two more things. ^_^;;

1.) What is the most effective way of pronouncing 'ы'?

2.) What's the difference between 'р' and 'рь'?

BTW: That Russian radio station rocks, lol. So far I recognize...3 words. o_O lol XD

Re:

[constpd.livejournal.com]

1) First try to put your teeth together and make your tongue touch nothing inside your mouth. Then, in this position, try to create an abstract “moan”. This will be close to Ы. Now try to smile a bit and make some space between your teeth trying to keep the sound close to the one you already made.
2) The normal Р is made by touching the alveols with the end of the tongue. Now move you tongue a little forward and try to produce the same vibrant sound on the same place of the alveols but already with the front part of the tongue surface.

I hope, I helped a bit.