The Russian Alphabet

 Article by : www.linguacosmos.com/

The Russian Alphabet :

Hello Dear Friends

since we have got a lot of messages asking us the best way to learn Russian, we have decided to start an online course from the very beginning completely free of charge, everyday we will post articles, by the next month we will start videos.

We are glad to announce that during this course we will have so many giveaways (for examples: free assistance, free online individual classes with a native speaker… ) so stay tuned..

Our today’s lesson is about the Russian Alphabet.

The Russian Alphabet:

The first thing you learn when it comes to languages is Alphabet, it is very important to learn the Cyrillic or the Russian alphabet because it is not as English or French alphabet since the are similar. In this class we are going to learn Russian Alphabet and the way they are pronounced. Try to learn the Alphabet by heart before you mover forward to other classes.

Interesting facts about the Russian Alphabet:

1 – The Russian Alphabet was once invented by Cyril and Methodius (9th century AD)

2 – 1918 is considered to be the birth year of the Cyrillic.

3 – It was altered so many times between its inception to 1918, so many letters and signs were incorporated and eliminated.

4 – The Russian Alphabet consists of 10 vowels + 21 consonants + 2 soundless signs.

• 10 vowels: а, о, у, ы, э, я, е, ё, ю, и
• 21 consonants: б, в, г, д, й, ж, з, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ;
• 2 soundless signs: ь, ъ.

Now let’s jump right to our today’s class and learn the Alphabet.

Before we start, check the Alphabet list bellow and try to find the “look like” English letters, write them down, then guess how they are pronounced.

Russian Alphabet:

Listen to the pronunciation HERE

You may have noticed that so many letters in the Russian alphabet look like English letters, but some of them are pronounced differently:

Letters pronounced like in English:

1. Pronounced like in English

А. К. М. O. Т

1. Look like in English but pronounced differently:

В Н Р С У Ч Х

1. New letters

Ы – Listen

:

Ь (soft sign)

Ъ (hard sign)

The soft sign “Ь” purpose is to soften the preceding letter, whereas the hard sign “Ъ” separates the first part of the word from the second and it always comes before the following letters:

E – Ё- Ю – Я

Reading Practice:

Listen how the words are pronounced HERE

Suggestions to learn Russian Alphabet:

According to the science of memory, there are two types of memory: passive and active; the passive one is spontaneous and the active one is permanent.

Before you move forward in your learning journey, be sure to remember very well the alphabet, in other words, keep this class in your active memory, to do so you will have to:

1. Repeat every now and then the alphabet (listen and repeat)
2. Exercise yourself by writing the Letters
3. Try to write English words using Russian letters.
4. Write down each letter in your copybook and the way it is pronounced.
5. Google Russian texts and try to read them.