(no subject)

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

2 Questions:

1) Are there any sounds in Russian that, when combined together, make the same sound in English? My best two examples would be p+h=f, and if that means П+Х=Ф. Another would be K+N=N (like in "know") so К+Н=Н?


2) I keep having problems with -ь words, and how I am supposed to pronounce them. I know that to a Russian, т and ть are two totally different sounds. Same with л and ль I believe. Can anyone help me with what difference I am supposed to pronounce when I try to say one and not the other? I recall something about pronouncing "y" and the same time as the consenant, but I just can't!

Thanks if you can help me!

Comments

[cema.livejournal.com]

Russian spelling is very close to Russian pronunciation. It does differ slightly, but if you pronounce everything exactly the way it is written, people will understand you without any problems. So, there are no digraphs.

Soft and hard pronunciation of the same sound are not "totally" different, of course, they are closely related. I do not know how to pronounce "y" at the same time as the consonant, but pretend you are about to pronounce "y" after the consonant and stop right before actually pronouncing it and see if it works. :-) The problem with this approach is that, in English, the consonant is not changed much at all; play with it. Listen to... I don't know, to some spoken Russian. It's easy to get as soon as you hear it once.