The student that aspires to learn Russian is confronted by a different character set (Cyrillic), and this can be daunting. This is also why some of us (myself included) have trouble with math. This is particularly true for those who primarily learn by visual means. Technology has advanced sufficiently in my lifetime that it appears that most of us learn this way. Language is more of a whole brain process than most want to tackle. That's a shame! The benefits of exercising your entire brain are well worth the initial effort.
The brave student will persevere, and the dedicated student shall prevail. Here is a page for those brave souls:
Русский алфавит (The Russian Alphabet)
Russian is much kinder than English when it comes to pronunciation. Once you know the letters, their sounds, and a few rules on their use, the task becomes easier. (This will amortize the cost of learning the newer character set somewhat.)
| Pronunciation of Russian Vowels | |||
| Hard Vowels | Soft Vowels | ||
| A (stressed) | ah | Я (stressed) | ya |
| A (unstressed) | a | Я (unstressed) | ee (shortened a little) |
| O (stressed) | aw as law | Е (stressed) | ye as yes |
| O (unstressed) | u as but | Е (unstressed) | ee (shortened a little) |
| Ы | i | Ё (always stressed) | yo as in yonder |
| У | oo | Ю | yoo |
| Э | e | И (stressed) | ee as in pet |
As one might expect, there are some rules which provide exceptions to this table. These rules are called ikanie, and akanie. The main thing to remember about ikanie is that in unstressed positions, Russian letters Я, Е, Э are pronounced like an abbreviated Russian И. Akanie controls the pronunciation of the letter O, which when unstressed is pronounced 'a' in the syllable immediately preceding the accent and 'uh' as in 'but' elsewhere.
| внучка | vnush-ka | granddaughter |
| внук | vnook | grandson |
| сын | sin | son |
| банк | bank | bank |
| Самюл | sam-yu-el? | Samuel |