Introduction:

Russian is an East Slavic language native to the Russians in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of four living East Slavic languages, and also part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Russian is an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely throughout the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. Russian is used widely in Ukraine. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution and is used in an official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet states. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide and is the most-spoken Slavic language, the most spoken native language in Europe, as well as the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia.  Large numbers of Russian speakers are residents of other countries, such as Israel and Mongolia. Russian is also the second-most widespread language on the Internet, after English

Compared to English, Russian pronunciation is very easy because it follows simple rules. Most of the time, Russian words are pronounced the way they are spelled. Any exceptions are easy to memorize, as they are governed by strict but straightforward rules.

I know that many foreigners believe that pronunciation is not really that important. And I partially agree, because Russian people will try to understand you and will be very patient if you speak slowly or with some mistakes in pronunciation.

But I believe that there are more advantages to speaking with proper Russian pronunciation. And here they are:

• You will feel more confident speaking the Russian language because you will be proud of your pronunciation;
• You will not put yourself in some awkward situations if for example, you mispronounce a word and it will mean a completely different thing that you wanted to say;
• Russian people will admire your pronunciation (and will not secretly laugh at it), because yes Russian people are very happy when foreigners speak their language but it makes us smile anyway to hear some really obvious mispronunciation.
• You will improve your comprehension of fast-spoken speech because if you have some wrong fixed patterns of pronunciation in your head, you will find it more difficult to understand words with correct natural pronunciation.

• 1) Naughty Russian vowels

If you want to speak with proper Russian pronunciation, you need to know about naughty Russian vowels: these are the vowels that are not pronounced the same way as they are written IF they are unstressed. That is why learning Russian words with correct stress is also very important. So, if unstressed some Russian vowels will be pronounced less strongly or completely differently. The ones that can be pronounced completely different are the vowels: Е, О, Э, Я.

It’s also very important to note that if you have a word with a preposition that contains the letter О, you will pronounce it as А because prepositions are not stressed but we read them together with a word that comes after. For example in a word ‘до свидания’. It will not sound natural.

You have also probably noticed that a vowel Е when unstressed is pronounced as И. There are also some situations when unstressed Е is pronounced as ЙИ. But in some cases an unstressed Е is better to pronounce as Е or Э with a softened consonant. Don’t worry, it is easy!

• 2) Transcription in Latin

The next important thing that you need to know if you want to sound more natural in Russian is that you have to stop relying on the transcription of words in Latin. First of all, it’s not a transcription, it’s a transliteration – which is a way to represent how each letter sounds separately, but not in a word. Latin letters cannot show you how to pronounce Russian letters. Period! It only makes it worth it. Yes, there is an International phonetic alphabet that I don’t really like and I never use it simply because I don’t trust anything International. Russian sounds are completely different from English sounds and therefore you need to use transcription in Cyrillic, not in Latin. 

You learn how to pronounce each letter so you can perfectly use transcription in Cyrillic. So, when you learn a new word but it’s not pronounced the same as it’s written – you can write its transcription yourself in Cyrillic. This is the way Russian people do as well when we are at school. We learn letters and sounds. And believe me, it’s not only easy, it also can be fun to analyze how to pronounce each word even before hearing how to pronounce it correctly. Easy!

• 3) Tricky vowels

There are some tricky vowels in the Russian language that make foreigners who learn the Russian language sound…funny. Really, I have already seen even some advanced learners who made this mistake. So, these tricky vowels are Е, Ё, Ю, Я.  

So, these 4 letters are very tricky. They are letters and not sounds, which is very important. Separately, each of them makes up two sounds.

• 4) Most Difficult Russian Sounds

There are some sounds in Russian that do not exist in English. Learning to pronounce them correctly will significantly improve your general pronunciation and ensure that you don’t say something you don’t mean. Many Russian words differ from each other by just one letter. Saying a word incorrectly may render the whole sentence difficult to understand, for example:

• быть (to be) becomes бить (to beat) when the speaker doesn’t say Ы correctly.

Let’s look at the most difficult Russian sounds and learn how to pronounce them.

• Ы – try to say oooooh and smile at the same time. This sound does not exist in English but is close to the i in linen
• Ж – like sure in pleasure
• Ш – like the first sh in Shropshire
• Щ – like the second, softer sh in Shropshire – this sound is palatized by placing the middle of the tongue to the roof of the mouth
• Ц – like ts in tsetse
• Р – like r in Ratatata – this sound is rolled
• Й – like y in May

Simple Exercises to Practice Russian Pronunciation

• Watch and repeat Russian TV shows, films, and cartoons.
• Listen to Russian songs and try singing along—this is particularly good for understanding the way that the Russian spoken language differs from written Russian.
• Watch YouTube channels dedicated to Russian pronunciation.
• Imitate the way Russian native speakers move their lips and position their tongues. You will notice that it is very different from the habits of English speakers. Learning the correct mouth position is the biggest factor in improving your pronunciation.
• Press the middle and the tip of your tongue into the roof of your mouth when pronouncing palatalized consonants.
• Press the middle of your tongue into the roof of your mouth (creating the sound y) when pronouncing soft vowels.
• Press the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth when pronouncing the vibrating Russian “Р.” You can begin by saying D-d-d-d-d-d, eventually using the tip of your finger to vibrate the tongue side to side, creating the sound “Р.” 
• Remember that syllables that consist of a consonant and a soft indicating vowel, such as “ня” or “лю,” are pronounced as one syllable by placing the middle and tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Avoid making these into two syllables by incorrectly pronouncing them as, for example, “ny-ya.” This is one of the most common mistakes when speaking Russian. You will see a great improvement in your Russian pronunciation once you learn to pronounce these difficult sounds.

Practice, practice, practice

This is one of the best ways anyone can do it. You only have dedication towards learning. You can practice in such a way that you can repeat everything you hear, paying special attention to all the ups and downs of the music of language and also the tricky sound.

There is no better tip than doing regular practice. One who really wants to learn Russian and become professional in Russian pronunciation will do practice on a regular basis.

• Conclusion

Above are some of the tips that you can use to improve your Russian pronunciation. You can follow them on a regular basis to get your result. You can also join Multibhashi, an online language learning platform, for learning Russian.