Learn things to remember about Russian pronunciation
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| Eddie: RussianPOD101.com, Pronunciation, Lesson 5 - Pronunciation Quiz. Hello, and welcome to RussianPOD101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Russian! |
| Oksana: Hi! Oksana here, and thanks again for being here with us for this Pronunciation lesson. Today we have a quiz that covers everything we have completed in this Pronunciation Series. |
| Eddie: I love quizzes! |
| Oksana: They are such wonderful tools as they bring everything together and jog your memory. |
| Eddie: I totally agree. |
| Oksana: Let’s get started right away. Number one. Word stress in Russian is- |
| a) always on the last syllable |
| b) always on the syllable before the last |
| or |
| c) changes depending on the word. |
| Eddie: This is important so I know this! |
| Oksana: That suggests you only know the important things. |
| Eddie: Is that so bad? |
| Oksana: I suppose not! |
| Eddie: The answer is c. |
| Oksana: Yes. Unfortunately, there are no rules in Russian to help you stress a word correctly. |
| Eddie: It's just something you have to learn for each word, but it’s something you pick up along the way. |
| Oksana: Sometimes, the word stress can totally change the meaning of the word so it’s imperative to get it right. |
| Eddie: Okay, so number two. How many vowels are there in Russian? |
| a) 6 |
| b) 10 |
| or |
| c) 12 |
| Oksana: The answer is b. There are ten vowels in Russian - 6 "ordinary" vowels and four "diphthongs". |
| Eddie: The ordinary vowels are -a, -o, -у, -и, -ы, and -э. |
| Oksana: And the diphthongs are -е, -ё, -ю, and -я. |
| Eddie: Number three. The letter that looks like English "P" is pronounced - |
| a) like English "-p", but softer |
| b) like English "-r", but you roll it |
| or |
| c) like English "-l", but harder |
| Oksana: The answer is b. Russians roll their "-r"s the way Spanish and Italians do. Let`s have another question. |
| Eddie: Ok, here is another question. The letter that looks like a mirror reflection of "-r" is pronounced… |
| a) [ r ] |
| b) [ p ] |
| or |
| c) [ ya ] |
| It must be a trick question because you are really tempted to say "-R"! |
| Oksana: No, it’s actually the answer c. "-Я" at the beginning of the word is like [ ya ] in "yak". Like the first letter in the Russian word “яблоко” ("an apple"). |
| Eddie: Wow, an example too! |
| Oksana: I’m full of them! Now number five. The letter that looks like English "-c" is pronounced - |
| a) [ s ] |
| b) [ k ] |
| or |
| c) sometimes [ s ] and sometimes [ k ] |
| Eddie: I know this one but it used to catch me out every time. |
| Oksana: Yes, at first, it often confuses people but that doesn’t last. |
| Eddie: The answer is, a. The letter that looks like English “-c” is pronounced like "-s" as in "son". It is never pronounced "-k"! |
| Oksana: Yes, remember that. |
| Eddie: Now onto number six. The vowel "-o" is always pronounced the same in Russian. |
| True |
| or |
| False |
| Oksana: This one is false. |
| Eddie: It is indeed. "-О" is special! |
| Oksana: It is because it is pronounced differently depending whether it’s stressed or not. When stressed, the -О is pronounced like the vowel sound in "bought". For example, “ноль”, which means "zero", and “пол”, which means "floor". |
| Eddie: And when not stressed, the -o is pronounced almost like "-a", and in Moscow region it actually becomes "-a". Are you going to tell us about the Russian word for milk again Oksana? |
| Oksana: No, I’ll try to be more imaginative. So, what about the word "ворона", which means a "crow?" |
| Eddie: What, the big noisy bird? |
| Oksana: That’s the one. |
| Eddie: What about it? |
| Oksana: Well, in the word "ворона", the stress in on the second syllable, so the second "-o" is pronounced "-o", while the first "o" is pronounced almost like "-a" as in “Ворона”. |
| Eddie: Do you have another unusual example? |
| Oksana: Why not? While we are on the subject of animals, why not take "лосось" as an example. |
| Eddie: What does "лосось" mean? |
| Oksana: It means "salmon". |
| Eddie: This one can be useful. Is it true that Russians eat a lot of salmon? |
| Oksana: Not at all lot, as it’s quite expensive, but they often eat it for festivities, yes. However, the word "лосось" just interests me at the moment because there are two "-o"s in it. As the stress is on the last "-o"… |
| Eddie: The first "-o" sounds almost like "-a", and it’s pronounced "лосось". |
| Oksana: It is! It may sound mind-boggling but actually you get used to it very quickly. |
| Eddie: Yes, it almost becomes second nature. |
| Oksana: Number seven. In printed texts in Russian, vowels "-ё" and "-e" look exactly the same. |
| True |
| or |
| False |
| Eddie: Hmm…I’m not sure about this. |
| Oksana:Well, you’ve got a fifty, fifty chance! |
| Eddie: False? |
| Oksana:False. |
| Eddie: Does that mean I’m right? |
| Oksana: Nope! |
| Eddie: True? |
| Oksana: Well, you didn’t have much choice. In Russian printed text, you will hardly ever see the two points above "-е". It’s common to use the "-e" sign for both "-e" and "-ё,"…which can be quite a challenge. |
| Eddie: But why do they do this? Is it that difficult to add two dots? |
| Oksana: I have no idea Eddie, lets just get to number eight. |
| Eddie: Ok, number eight. At the end of the word, Russian consonant "-б" - |
| a) is pronounced [ б ] |
| b) is pronounced [ п ] |
| or |
| c) is not pronounced |
| Oksana: It's pronounced like [ п ]. The voiced consonants from the list (-б, -в, -г, -д, -ж, -з) are pronounced differently at the end of a word and before unvoiced consonants. |
| Eddie: Differently, how exactly? |
| Oksana:Actually, they become their unvoiced pairs! The unvoiced pair of Russian "-б" is "-п". For example, “зуб”, which ends in "-б", is pronounced "zup". |
| Eddie: What is "зуб"? |
| Oksana: It’s actually a "tooth". |
| Eddie: Ok, thank you for that Oksana, now onto something that has no sound. Question number nine. The soft sign - |
| a) modifies the consonant before it |
| b) modifies the consonant after it |
| or |
| c) doesn’t make any difference to pronunciation |
| Oksana:This one is a. The soft sign shows that the consonant that precedes it must be softened. |
| Eddie: Yes. Again, this is something that you quickly become accustomed to. |
| Oksana: Okay, now lastly, number ten. The letter "-г" that looks like an English small "-r" - |
| a) is always pronounced [ г ] |
| b) is sometimes pronounced [ в ] |
| or |
| c) is sometimes pronounced [ ж ] |
| Eddie: The answer here is b. In words that contain "его" or "ого," "-г" is often pronounced [ в ]. |
| Oksana: Correct! Some examples are "его", which means "his", or "сегодня", which means "today". |
| Eddie: These quizzes are very valuable and are worth coming back to again and again. |
| Oksana: It’s even worth creating your own quizzes too! |
| Eddie: Yes, the more the better. Ok. Thats`s it for today. But testing yourself is one of the most effective ways to learn. |
| Oksana:That's why we have three types of quizzes... |
| Eddie: ...vocabulary, grammar, and content specific. |
| Oksana: Each quiz targets a specific skill... |
| Eddie: ...and together these quizzes will help you master several fundamental skills. : |
| Oksana: You can find them in the learning center at |
| Eddie: RussianPod101.com Take care! |
| Oksana: Пока! |
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