Learn to read Russian signs

[mendeleyev]

It's time for a quiz.  Can you guess these common words:

Телефон  (often abreviated in signs as: Тел.)

банк

гостиница

ресторан

метро

автобус

хлеб

большой

еще

почта

And finally here is a bonus question for you!

люблю


(Most of the answers have been provided in previous posts)

[mendeleyev]

Here is a sign where you can understand without reading Russian!   

[Markje]

It's time for a quiz.  Can you guess these common words:

Телефон  (often abreviated in signs as: Тел.)
банк
гостиница
ресторан
метро
автобус
хлеб
большой
еще
почта

And finally here is a bonus question for you!
люблю

(Most of the answers have been provided in previous posts)

Telefon --> Telephone,
Bank,
Hostinitsa --> Hotel ?
Restoran --> Restaurant,
Metro,
avtabis --> bus, --> Used in example
klebh --> Bread, (Thank you olga!, nother example)
boltszoy --> Word Big/large ====> Bolshoi Theather
еще, --> Could be "ещё/else/more" , but I am missing the dots on the second e.
posta --> Mail
bonus:
Lublu --> Love

[vox11]

links for advanced learners of sounds -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonants
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_phonology
regarding ш and щ - ( especially about if they are really retroflex or what )
http://community.livejournal.com/learn_russian/356875.html

Х х = kh     To say this correctly without accent will take some practice.  It is not like any English sound.  Practice using the links with sound.  As Olga has already pointed out this is the letter which begins the word for BREAD, хлеб.  "Khl-leb"

It is pronounced in the same place as 'k', but relates to 'k' like 'th' relates to 't'.

[mendeleyev]

молодец!  Марк, Вы хороший студент!

Mark, good job!  Just make sure the  г in гостиница sounds more like a "geh" than an English h.

I'll translate the sentence to Mark.  молодец (ma-la-d-etz), you're a good student. 

молодец literally means good boy-fine fellow, etc.  However it has taken on the generic quality of a compliment of encouragment to anyone of any gender or age.  School teachers use it generically to both genders and when done with a smile and respect, it can be praise offered to an adult as well.  When your RW smiles and tells you молодец....it's a good thing!

Марк--just like the alphabet indicates, M-A-R-K is Марк.

I chose the Вы for you/you're because it is polite and respectful of another adult.  Using Tы would denote a close friendship and is properly used between family members and the closest of dear friends.

хороший--a form of "good," in fact it forms the basis of that common expression for good/fine/excellent/okay which you've probably heard already:  хорошо.

студент is "STU-dent."  Mark is a guy, and a very good one at that, but for a girl we'd adjust it to студентка or "STU-dent-ka." 

[mendeleyev]

Thanks also to Vox for his continued guidance and the additional resources!  It is the input from our native Russian speakers that will help us understand a new alphabet and sounds much quicker.  


Review:
To help everyone with the word for hotel, гостиница is stressed as such:  ga-STI-nitsa.  Again, the rule of pronouncing the O is that when unstressed it becomes an "ah" (A) and is spoken as an O only when the O is part of the word receiving the stress.


Review examples:  
English for "but"               Russian: но            Stressed?  Yes, its an O                          Sounds like "NO"

English for "bed"              Russian: кровать    Stressed?  No, convert to "ah"               Sounds like "kra-VAT"

English for "window"        Russian: окно         Stressed?  First O isn't, second O is       Sounds like "ak-NO"



A word about stress:
Most Russian words have one syllable which is stressed more than others.  You can count on Russian to be consistent that only one syllable per word will be stressed, however there is no clear pattern on which syllable to stress.  It seems that the rule of which syllable is stressed is set by Russian tradition over the centuries and not by any clearly designed pattern.  So, we'll depend heavily on our Russian friends to help us know when and where a word should be stressed.

Some languages

[mendeleyev]

Quiz time:

1)  Can you spell Aeroflot in Russian?
(Practice writing it on paper using your alphabet and this plane as your guide.)



(photo: Dmitry Zherdin)

2)  Can you name 3 well-known cities from this sign?
(Practice writing them on paper using your alphabet and this sign as your guide. Use the top word of each city for the Russian Cyrillic spelling.)





3)  This is a little harder, but still simple.  This car was parked outside a казино.  What might you win from a Casino?  The answer is on the license plate.  Translate the specific word on the license.

[mendeleyev]

Time to make sure we can wish our loved one's to have a happy new year.

In Russian it looks like this:  С Новым Новым!

What we're really saying is this:  "Now (is the) new year!"

It might sound like:  "ceh-novym-gord-om" or "SNO-vim GO-dom."

The C sound is run together into the rest.  Unlike English which relies on good diction and enunciation of words, Russian is best when things are run together. 


Here are some signs wishing you a happy new year.  You will see some of them are formed with block print letters, others are formed with cursive letters, and some are formed with a blend/mix of both.

Now you can see how different Cyrillic is from print to cursive and why you need to learn the alphabet in both print and cursive in order to read and understand signs.

[mendeleyev]

Using your alphabet skills, practice writing С Новым Новым! in both printed and cursive letters.

[vox11]

It might sound like:  "ceh-novym-gord-om" or "SNO-vim GO-dom."

Or ( let me try  IPA here ) /'snovɨm'godəm/

[mendeleyev]

Vox, yes that is much better.  Hope you have a happy new year and thanks for your continued vital input on this thread!  We're glad you are here to help us.

[mendeleyev]

Review:  
Did you understand how to recognize Aeroflot? 

Were you able to see how the 3 cities were translated from Russian Cyrillic into English?

Now, how about the license plate on the car?  If you understood the word приз equals:  p-r-i-z, then you knew that it was a "prize" being awarded from the Казино (Casino). 

Good job.  молодец!


Next quiz:

1)  We've had this word before, but here is a sign advertising a food.  What is it?

2)  Sign two is a bit more difficult so I'll offer some hints in the notes below.  This is a fast food sign and what is the little restaurant serving?

3)  The top word is Chechnaya and this republic has been at war with Moscow for several years.  Even so, the republic has a game it's citizens can play for money and the winning numbers are announced on television each evening.  What is the second word, лото?


Notes/hints:
I'll tell you what the word on the left is.  You must figure out the sign on the right.  Okay, we have these two words and the sign on the left is Цыплята which is the word for chickens (in the plural).  So we know that this little restaurant serves chickens. 

Did you also notice that this sign is done in a combination of block printed and also cursive lettering?  This is very common of advertising signs in Russia/Ukraine and that is why you must learn all 4 forms of the alphabet, both upper and lower case printed letters to upper and lower case cursive letters, in order to read and understand even simple signs and printed materials.

What kind of chickens?  That is revealed in the sign to the right.  Your job is to figure that out.  It's an easy one because we use the same word in both Russian and English.  Take your alphabet and work it out.  You only need to figure out the first 4 letters because number 5 is a "soft sign" and has no sound--it softens the letter to it's immediate left.

[Markje]

Review:  
Did you understand how to recognize Aeroflot? 

Were you able to see how the 3 cities were translated from Russian Cyrillic into English?

Now, how about the license plate on the car?  If you understood the word приз equals:  p-r-i-z, then you knew that it was a "prize" being awarded from the Казино (Casino). 

Good job.  молодец!


Next quiz:

1)  We've had this word before, but here is a sign advertising a food.  What is it?

2)  Sign two is a bit more difficult so I'll offer some hints in the notes below.  This is a fast food sign and what is the little restaurant serving?

3)  The top word is Chechnaya and this republic has been at war with Moscow for several years.  Even so, the republic has a game it's citizens can play for money and the winning numbers are announced on television each evening.  What is the second word, лото?


Notes/hints:
I'll tell you what the word on the left is.  You must figure out the sign on the right.  Okay, we have these two words and the sign on the left is Цыплята which is the word for chickens (in the plural).  So we know that this little restaurant serves chickens. 

Did you also notice that this sign is done in a combination of block printed and also cursive lettering?  This is very common of advertising signs in Russia/Ukraine and that is why you must learn all 4 forms of the alphabet, both upper and lower case printed letters to upper and lower case cursive letters, in order to read and understand even simple signs and printed materials.

What kind of chickens?  That is revealed in the sign to the right.  Your job is to figure that out.  It's an easy one because we use the same word in both Russian and English.  Take your alphabet and work it out.  You only need to figure out the first 4 letters because number 5 is a "soft sign" and has no sound--it softens the letter to it's immediate left.

Klebh (Bread).

Grilled Chickens! (yummm) This the only one I took the hints for.

The Lotto! Very popular indeed

[mendeleyev]

Good job Mark!  молодец!

And now we're going to throw all of our students into the water.  Head first, so to speak.  Cold turkey.  With no further preparation we're throwing you to the wolves. 

Yes, it's test time--to see if you've made progress or if you're still struggling.

Not too long ago Mark was in St Petersburg.  While we weren't able to follow Mark, we do have the ability to follow the funny Brit Uncle Davey in his travels as "Viktor Dmitryvich Huliganov the Russian professor" to Russia.  Here in video #6 of his trip, Huliganov takes us down into the deepest Metro in Russia.  We'll see the signs of St Petersburg, try to quickly decipher directions, and then take a long walk down along the canal to view the famous Cathedral of the Resurrection (sometimes called Church of the Saviour on the spilled blood).

I'm interested to get your reactions.  Do you find it new and exciting.  Is the alphabet still confusing?  As you followed this short course have you benefited so far?  Do you need to go back and really learn the alphabet? 

Imagine you are Professor Huliganov and see all the signs thru his eyes. 

After watching the video maybe you'll feel more confident in what you've learned...or you'll realize that you need to continue with more intensity.

Here we go! 

[mendeleyev]

Alphabet Review:
I hope you don't mind having the Cyrillic alphabet pounded into your mind.  Since Russian is naturally phonetic, if you can master the alphabet, then you will learn to read Russian.  Remember don't try to give the letters a name and a sound.  The sound is the name.  It's not like English where letters have a name and also a sound.

А а [ аh ]

Б б [ beh ]

В в [ veh ]

Г г [ geh ]

Д д [ deh ]

Е е [ yeh ]

Ё ё [ yoh ]

Ж ж [ zheh ]

З з [ zeh ]

И и [ e ]

Й й [ eee ] (This one does have a name.  You may call it a long eeeee, or use the name "EE-krat-kah")

К к [ ka ]

Л л [ ehl ]

М м [ ehm ]

Н н [ ehn ]

О о [ o ]

П п [ peh ]

Р р [ rrr ]  (Be sure to "Trill" the rrr sound!)

С с [ ceh or ehs ]  (Either is okay, "ceh" seems to fit more often.)

Т т [ teh ]

У у [ ou ]

Ф ф [ ehf ]

Х х [ khah ]

Ц ц [ ts]

Ч ч [ ch ]

Ш ш [ sh ]

Щ щ [ shach]

     ъ  (This is called the "hard sign" and has no sound.  Rarely used, never in caps.)

     ы [ il ]  (A member of the Russian "e" family, often goes on end of words.  No caps)

     ь  (This is called the "soft sign" and is used to soften the consonant letter preceding it.)

Э э [ eh ]

Ю ю [ U ]

Я я [ yah ]


Why is the hard sign rarely used?  In the 1960s the Russian goverment tried to institute further reforms to the Russian cyrillic alphabet.  While never becoming official, two changes did become "defacto" and this is one of them.  Now, all consonants are automatically considered to be "hard" consonants unless modified by the "soft sign."  That is why the hard sign is rarely used in print today.

And why is the Ё ё [ yoh ] letter often spoken, but not often printed?  This is the other "defacto" change from the 1960s convention.  So today in most printed signs you will see only Е е [ yeh ] letter, no matter if the letter is pronounced as "yeh" or as "yoh."  How are you susposed to tell the difference between whether an E e or if an Ё ё is needed?  Russians will tell you that the difference is in the "context."  In other words, you should naturally be able to figure it out by understanding the meaning of the word.  Well, that's nice for those who grew up speaking it, but not so helpful to the rest of us.  Fortunately the Ё ё can still be found in books, magazines, newspapers, etc, but as for advertising signs....we are left to learn the "context" as we become familiar with the words themselves.

Review of our first grammar lesson:
How do we know if an O is an O or is it an "Ah" sound?  This one is easier.  First, no matter which sound it takes on, it is always written as an O.  Now, here is how to understand if it is sounded as an "O" or an "Ah:"  If the "O" is part of the syllable which is stressed, then it's spoken as an "O."

However if the stress is put on another syllable, then you should speak the O as an "ah."  Okay?

Here are some quick examples:

Полтавa банк is shown in the first photo below.  As you may have figured out from the alphabet, Полтавa is the name of a city in Ukraine, POL-tava.  And, банк spells b-a-n-k, bank.  Полтавa банк = Poltava Bank.  

The stress is on the first syllable (POL) and the O is part of that first syllable, therefore the O is pronounced as an "O."

(Quick note about the word Полтавa.  Some Ukainian friends insist that it be spoken as I've outlined with the emphasis on POL-ta-va.  However folks (like my wife for example) from some regions in Russia (Moscow is one example) would sound the word as "Pal-ta-va" converting all the O letters into the "ah" sounds.  Who is right?  I think they will argue about it for years to come so I'm certain my opinion doesn't matter.  If nothing else, learn the general rule about converting O to "ah" and go with the flow.)   


However as we will see in photo number two, the next word "Beer" will illustrate the opposite.  Beer is пиво and spoken as "PE-vah."  The word is stressed in the first syllable PE and the O is found in the unstressed syllable.  Therefore we speak the O as an "ah" instead and what looks like a "Vo"  becomes a "Vah." 


Photo number three illustrates what happens when a word has more than one O in it.  молоко means "milk."  As you can see, молоко has not just one, not just two, but three O's!  But only one is spoken as an O.  Remember the rule above.

So, молоко is spoken as "ma-la-KO."  The third syllable is stressed so the first two O's are converted to the "ah" sound and only stressed O is spoken as O.  молоко, "ma-la-KO" = milk.

Remember that only one syllable per word is stressed in Russian.  I hope this helps.

[mendeleyev]

As we continue to learn here are two more signs to keep us busy:

1)  What is the name of this restaurant, and what do they serve? 

1b)  Can you not only translate it, but can you re-write it in your own hand from the alphabet you've learned?

2)  From this sign, how do you spell "motors?"

2b)  How do you spell Chevrolet?

2c)  How do you spell Cadillac?

2d)  How do you spell Pontiac?

Practice using these signs and try to sound out the words, not from English, but use the Russian sounds from the Cyrillic alphabet.

[virgo1]

Right!! Heres one that will really test your Russian skills!!

[virgo1]

Another easy one!

[Rasputin]

Right!! Heres one that will really test your Russian skills!!

I do hope you were being tongue in cheek. The sign is in Ukrainian, though easy enough to read if you know Russian.

[Jared2151]

YOU GUYS ROCK !!!!   

In case somebody else hasn't already mentioned it, this needs to be a sticky.

Excellent, excellent, aid for us newbies.   

[vox11]

In the 1960s the Russian goverment tried to institute further reforms to the Russian cyrillic alphabet.  While never becoming official, two changes did become "defacto" and this is one of them.  Now, all consonants are automatically considered to be "hard" consonants unless modified by the "soft sign."  That is why the hard sign is rarely used in print today.

Can you please provide an example of  boldtyped statement?  I feel it's wrong - e.g.
"мясо" - 'м' is actually soft. What hard sign actually do is modifying next vowel pronunciation if it is written by one of ( еяюё ) letters, so that it is pronounced as  in the beginning of the word, while retaining previos consonant hard
e.g. (IPA)
подъём (rise)  /pɐdjom/   d is hard, ё is /jo/
подём  (no such word) /pɐdʲom/  d is soft, no /jo/ sound

[mendeleyev]

Vox, to at least partially answer your question, I was debating whether it was of practical use to introduce vowels and had almost come to the conclusion that throwing 10 vowels, 5 hard and 5 soft, might be confusing.  Please remember that I'm trying to keep these posts as SIMPLE as possible so that new readers won't be intimidated. 

However your example of Nyet and Meat "мясо" makes me re-think that premise and I thank you for calling this to our attention.  Vox, I value your thoughts and ask do you think we should introduce the vowels and do some illustrations?

Yes, you are correct that sometimes hard signs appear, albeit rarely, and they do separate certain consonants from vowels...again very rarely.  I can hardly remember the last time I ran across a hard sign.

Depending on when you went to school and your age, you should be familiar with the concept of hard signs being understood.  Yes, you are correct regarding Het (Nyet) and that is why this simple word is misspoken with an accent by many westerners because we don't understand that the N a consonant is being softened by the next letter, the soft vowel e (yeh).

"Consonants are hard unless they are followed by a soft vowel or the soft sign ь.  The hard sign (though used rarely in Russian) is used to keep a consonant hard when it is followed by a soft vowel." 
Source:  http://home.unilang.org/wiki3/index.php/Russian_alphabet


Another source:  http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-4194.html
"The hard sign--This is the letter tvyordiy znahk (the sixth from the bottom on this list). While the soft sign makes the preceding sound soft (see the next section), the hard sign makes it — yes, you guessed it — hard. The good news is that this letter (which transliterates to ") is rarely ever used in contemporary Russian. And even when it is, it doesn't change the pronunciation of the word. So, why does Russian have this sign? For two purposes:

1-To harden the previous consonant
2-To retain the hardness of the consonant before the vowels ye, yo, yu, and ya"


"After 1945, spelling reform was predictably again on the agenda of reconstruction of a war- ravaged society. By the 1960s doubled letters without functions had been dropped. It was claimed that 90 tons of paper were saved annually by now spelling Kommunist as Komunist. One could imagine. Even omitting the hard sign at the end of words saved around 5% of text, which Time Magazine 1964 estimated made a saving of seventy pages in a single copy of War and Peace." 
Source:  Writing reforms  http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/wrussref.htm



Debating sources and what is consistent in Russian typical practice would be useless to the newer guys most of who will never seek to become comfortably fluent in Russian.  So I'll gladly step aside from this topic because it contributes little to helping our beginners.  The principle we are speaking of here is far more advanced than many beginning students would tackle.  The purpose of the thread is to teach some simple concepts which will help our members navigate and understand more on their own, and even speak some phrases on their trips.  It may also help members who wish to continue pushing forward and perhaps that is another thread.

For example, ChrisMC is thinking of adding a companion thread for Ukrainian. 

[mendeleyev]

To each of us:

Russian is one language spoken in two forms.  There is a formal version and a more common or informal way of speaking.  Americans especially find this hard to understand. 

Language means a lot to Russians.  There is a formal way of speaking in certain situations and there is an "intimate" way of speaking to close family/friends with whom you are very familiar.  Use of the wrong form can be viewed as being disrespectful or at the least uneducated.

It might seem cute to learn Russian slang and swear words, but in most settings your use of them will have branded you as "low class" and "uneducated" and disrespectful. 

Here is just one quick example:

-Let's say you get to meet Mr Putin.  Never say hello with Привет "pre-vet" which is okay with a buddy, but could be considered very disrespectful to a public figure, an elderly person, or even in early meetings with your gal's parents or grandparents.  In meeting someone important you might be better off using Здравствуйте and if you can't wrap your tongue around it yet use a shortened version of "zdross-vee" instead of the "pre-vet" you may have learned somewhere.

For new learners, don't worry it's not that complicated and you'll catch on quickly.  Much of it has to do with which pronouns you use with which persons and the rest sort of falls into place quickly.

[mendeleyev]

Common phreases, part 1

Спасибо   ("spa-see-ba")   -   Thank-You

Пожалуйста   ("pa-zhal-sta")   -   Please (and You're Welcome)

Remember this phrase is used for both "please" and "you're welcome."

Да   ("da")   -   Yes

Нет   ("nyet")   -   No

Здравствуйте   ("zdra-stvooy-tye")   -   Hello (Formal)

Привет   ("pree-vyet")   -   Hi (Informal)


До свидания   ("da-svee-da-nee-ye")   -   Good-bye. (The до is pronounced as if it is part of the next word)

Пока   ("pa-ka")   -   Bye (Informal, slang)  Use this one in only the most familiar situations and never in a formal setting.

Как дела? -   How are things?  Use only in informal settings.

спасибо, Хорошо -   Thank-You, Good/Well

Плохо -   Bad


Listen to these phrases and learn how they should sound when spoken:  http://www.russianlessons.net/lessons/lesson3_main.php


Alphabet review:
Go to this site and listen to the alphabet.
http://listen2russian.com/lesson01/a/index.html

Now practice writing all 33 letters, in order, by yourself.

[vox11]

However your example of Nyet and Meat "мясо" makes me re-think that premise and I thank you for calling this to our attention.  Vox, I value your thoughts and ask do you think we should introduce the vowels and do some illustrations?

You have already introduced them all.  I think it's not hard to remember what vowel letters cause softening of preceding consonants ( all that are pronounced й* (еёяю) and и ).

"After 1945, spelling reform was predictably again on the agenda of reconstruction of a war- ravaged society. By the 1960s doubled letters without functions had been dropped. It was claimed that 90 tons of paper were saved annually by now spelling Kommunist as Komunist. One could imagine. Even omitting the hard sign at the end of words saved around 5% of text, which Time Magazine 1964 estimated made a saving of seventy pages in a single copy of War and Peace." 
Source:  Writing reforms  http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/wrussref.htm

They confused a reform project with an implemented reform. Hard sign at the end was eliminated in 1918.  Dropping double letters was in a project that was never realized.