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Many younger
Ukrainians have taken several years of English but
very few can speak it. Many older Ukrainians have
taken German in school.
The national
language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, but the large majority
of Odessites speak Russian.
In the
Ukrainian language, Odessa is spelled with one s,
while in the Russian Language it is spelled with two.
But unlike the nationalistic city to the west, Lviv
(or Lvov in Russian) Odessites are not very concerned
how it is spelled, the languages comfortable co-exist
in this cosmopolitan city.
All official
documents are in Ukrainian, but the population reads,
writes and speaks in Russian, with a unique Odessite
dialect. Russian is very similar to Ukrainian (Similar
to how Portuguese is too Spanish), but most Odessites
do not know the language.
Russian
Alphabet and pronunciation
Unlike
English, Ninety percent of Russian words are phonetic,
what you see is how it sounds, with none of the confusing
spelling of English. (The big excption to this is
the Russian "O" which has two different
sounds)
| Russian Letter |
Written in text as |
Equivalent Sound in English |
| À à |
A or ah |
A in father |
| Á á |
b |
B as in boy |
| Â â |
V |
V as in Very |
| Ã ã |
g |
G as in get |
| Ä ä |
d |
D as in Dot |
| Å å |
Ye or e |
Ye in yes |
| ¨ ¸ |
yo |
Yaw in yonder |
| Æ æ |
zj |
S in measure |
| Ç ç |
z |
Z in zero |
| È è |
hard E |
I in machine hard E |
| É é |
y or i |
Ee in see |
| Ê ê |
k |
C in cat |
| Ë ë |
l |
L in light |
| Ì ì |
m |
M in match |
| Í í |
n |
N in night |
| Î î |
o |
Two sounds: O in nor Also A as in spa |
| Ï ï |
p |
P in please |
| Ð ð |
r |
R in rich Often rolled like Spanish "R" |
| Ñ ñ |
s |
S in say |
| Ò ò |
t |
T in Tell |
| Ó ó |
u |
OO in boot |
| Ô ô |
f |
F in Food |
| Õ õ |
h |
Scottish 'loch' Guttural sound deep in throat |
| × ÷ |
ts |
Ts in cats |
| Ø ø |
sh |
Sh in shoe |
| Ù ù |
shch |
Shch in fresh cheese, posh china |
| Ú ú |
-- |
No sound |
| Ü ü |
-- |
No sound Softens the preceding consonant. |
| Û û |
eigh |
Eigh in weigh No real English equivalent. |
| Ý ý |
eh |
E in men |
| Þ þ |
U or u |
You |
| ß ÿ |
ya |
Ya in yard |
Survival
Russian
The official way to write several letters in Russian
is often different from how the letters actually sound.
This guide has tried to write these letters in English
more as these letters really sound:
| Russian letter |
Official English equivalent |
English equivalent in this guide |
|
Æ
|
zh
|
zj
|
|
Õ
|
kh
|
h
|
|
Û
|
e
|
eigh
|
In this
guide to Survival Russian, we have also tried to make
the English transcript of Russian words easier to
pronounce at a quick glance.
| English transcript |
Pronounced |
English equivalent |
|
A
|
hard A |
A in Ate |
|
ah
|
ah |
Ought or Not |
|
E
|
Hard E |
E in Eat |
|
i
|
Hard I |
I as is China |
|
oo
|
|
oo as is boo |
|
U
|
hard U |
U as in you |
The "ah"
and "oo" are used only with word groups
that may be recognized as English words and out of
habit pronounced incorrectly. For example, the last
syllable "at" in the Russian word for 11
is pronounced "aht" not like the English
word "at".
Many buildings,
menus, and signs use cursive Russian, of particular
note:
The cursive T looks like a small "m"
The cursive Ï looks like a small "n"
The cursive Ä looks like a small "g"
Russian Alphabet
and pronunciation, Introduction
The essential
basics
"I
don't understand"
Where is…?
How Much?
Numbers
Money
/ Banks When / Time
Why
/ where / what // General Ukrainian Service
Hotel / Hotel needs
and problems
Getting
to know the locals / Da and Net
Transport
Eating
Words
for an emergency / Pronouns / All in the family /
A few verbs
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