The Russian or Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century and is based on the Greek alphabet. A few letters look and sound the same as in English whereas others look the same as English letters but pronounced differently or look unfamiliar, but indeed represent the same sounds which are used in English.

A great advantage of Russian spelling is that it is kind of 'phonetic', so each sound in Russian language is generally written by using a single letter. As a result Russian is much easier and straightforward than English, and you will be able to read Russian words correctly even when if you see them for the first time. However, there are some difficulties in reading and pronouncing Russian words caused by the difference in pronunciation between stressed and unstressed vowels.

Stress does greatly affect the pronunciation of some vowels. The stressed syllable in words of more than one syllable sometimes is marked with an acute accent in dictionary or textbooks. However, in real life stress is not marked in written Russian due to the fact that native Russian speakers would intuitively know where it falls.

Along with learning how to read Russian printed alphabet, we would recommend you to learn how to write in Russian. Russian handwritten letters are slightly different from printed letters. Although learning handwritten letter in addition to printed version might seem as a little extra work at the beginning, you will find it extremely useful once you start writing down new Russian words in order to help you to memorize them.

Vowels
There are ten vowels in the Russian language. Five of them are called 'hard vowels' and five are 'soft vowels'. When pronounced on their own, or at the beginning of the word, first four 'soft' vowels have a y- sound at the beginning like first sound [j] in English word 'young'.
'Hard' vowels: а э о у ы
'Soft' vowels: я е ё ю и

Signs:
ь (soft sign)
ъ (hard sign)

Consonants
The rest of the letters (besides vowels and signs listed above) are consonants. They include the following letters: б, в, г, д, ж, з, й, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ.

Most consonants in Russian language can be both 'soft' and 'hard'. The 'hard' consonant is when it's followed by a 'hard' vowel or is at the end of a word and does not have a soft sign 'ь' after it.

A consonant becomes soft when it is followed by a 'soft' vowel or has a soft sign 'ь' after it. To pronounce a soft consonant, the main part of the tongue is pushed up against the roof of the mouth, giving the sound to the last sound [i] in the word 'quality'.

Finally here are a few examples of 'soft' consonants when they are followed by a soft sign 'ь'. In case there were no soft sign 'ь' after consonants they would be pronounced as 'hard'.

Please note that not all consonants have 'hard' and 'soft' variants. There are three inherently 'hard' consonants, which remain 'hard' no matter which type of vowel would follow them, and two inherently 'soft' consonants.

Inherently hard consonants: ж ц ш
Inherently soft consonants: ч щ

The Russian Alphabet

Letter/ Russian Sound/ Similar English Sound

А а [a] like a in "art"
Б б [б] like b in "bag"
В в [в] like v in "van"
Г г [г] like g in "go"
Д д [д] like d in "doctor"
E e [йэ] like ye in "yes"
Ё ё [йо] like yo in "yogurt"
Ж ж [ж] like s in "measure"
3 з [з] like z in "zip"
И и [и] like ее in "seeds"
И й [й] like у in "boy"
К к [к] like k in "kettle"
Л л [л] like l in "lorry"
М м [м] like m in "make"
H н [н] like n in "now"
О о [о] like or in "fork"
П п [п] like p in "park"
Р р [р] like r in "radio"
С с [с] like s in "small"
Т т [т] like t in "tiger"
У у [у] like oo in "soon"
Ф ф [ф] like f in "floor"
Х х [х] like ch in Scottish "loch"
Ц ц [ц] like ts in "cats"
Ч ч [ч] like ch in "cherry"
Шш [ш] like sh in "shark"
Щщ [щ] like sh ch in "Spanishcharm"
ъ hard sign
ы [ы] like i in "kitchen"
ь soft sign
Э э [э] like e in "bad"
Ю ю [йу] like you in "you"
Я я [йа] like ya in "yacht"

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To learn more please contact Natalia at nataly_roberts@yahoo.co.uk or call 07895487517 (daily from 9:00am till 9:00pm).