(in Russian alphabetical order)
Copyright © 2001 by Hugo S. Cunningham
This Latin-alphabet transcription may be slightly different from the ones you are most accustomed to. It is intended to keep each Cyrillic character as distinctive as possible, while consistent with the most common on-line Cyrillic alphabet converters, eg at URL
Alternative Latin-alphabet transcriptions are shown in parentheses. Alternatives commonly given by on-line Cyrillic-Latin converters are marked with an asterisk *.
The same table, but also showing the Cyrillic characters
The same table, but in English alphabetical order
| transcription | pronunciation | note |
|---|---|---|
| a | stressed: "a" in English "father unstressed: "a" in "Lima" |
hard |
| b | as in English | |
| v | as in English | |
| g | English g in "go". Never English g in "gin." | |
| d | similar to English | dt |
| e (sometimes "ye" at beginning of word) |
stressed: "ye" in English "yet" (but see also entry for ë) unstressed: same as Russian "i" (see) Note: When this letter appears at the beginning of a Russian word, it is often transcribed "ye" to distinguish it from the letter I transcribe as "e^" (see below). This does not cause confusion with the separate vowel "y" (see below), because the sequence "y-e" never appears at the beginning of a Russian word. Example: The surname «Ezhov» is often written "Yezhov." |
soft |
| ë | (always stressed) "yaw" in English "yawl" The dots are shown in dictionaries and primers; otherwise this is usually written "e." |
soft |
| zh | voiced "sh" sound: the "s" in "measure" (always hard) | |
| z | as in English "zoo" | |
| i | as in Spanish, or the English "i" in "machine" Keep in mind, however, that the preceding consonant is "soft" (palatalized). When unstressed, Russian "i" often sounds more like a quickly and softly pronounced English "yi" in "yip." |
soft |
| j (y, i) | English "y" in "toy" or "yet" | |
| k | as in English "bucket" | kpt |
| l | soft: like English "ll" in "million" hard: somewhat like English "l" in "yolk" | |
| m | as in English | |
| n | as in English | |
| o | stressed: as in Spanish, or like English "au" in "auto" unstressed: like Russian "a" (see) |
hard |
| p | as in English "reaper" | kpt |
| r | is trilled (rolled) | |
| s | always unvoiced, as in English "set" | |
| t | similar to "t" in English "butter" | dt, kpt |
| u | as in Spanish, or like English "oo" in "boot" | hard |
| f | as in English | |
| x (h *, kh) | Spanish "j", Polish or Greek "ch", German "hard ch"; distantly related to English "h" | |
| c (ts *) |
English "ts" in "cats" (always hard) | |
| ch | as in English (always soft) | |
| sh | as in English (always hard) | |
| shch (sch *) |
like English "shch" in "fresh cheese" (always soft) | |
| " or '' (hard sign) |
(makes previous consonant "hard". Puts English "y" sound [as in "yet"] in front of following "soft" vowel.) Since Russian uses «brackets» for quotes, the hard sign " and the soft sign ' need not be confused with quotes. | |
| y | related to Russian "i" (see), but follows "hard" consonant. The most difficult Russian sound to explain to English-speakers. Sounds a bit like "ui" sound in English "quick," or sometimes more like "uoy" in "buoy" (pronounced softly and quickly). Sounds "shorter" than Russian "i" to English ears, more like English "i" in "pit." |
hard |
| ' (soft sign) |
makes previous consonant "soft" Also, if followed by "soft" vowel, puts English "y" sound (as in "yet") in front of vowel | |
| e^ (e *, eh) | English "e" in "bet" Note: Except in a handful of compound words, or foreign borrowings (eg "poe^t," "poe^ziya,"), this letter is only found at the beginning of words. For that reason, most transcription systems do not bother to distinguish it from the common "soft" letter "e," except at the beginning of words. (See "note" to "e" above.) |
hard |
| yu | English "yu" in "Yule" | soft |
| ya | stressed: English "ya" as in "yacht" unstressed: like Russian "i" (see). |
soft |
kpt-- In English, when "k," "p," or "t" stand alone at the beginning of a word, eg "pan," they are "aspirated" (followed by an "h" sound). Aspiration is not heard in the middle of an English word, eg "t" in "butter."
In Russian, these consonants are never aspirated.
| hard vowel | soft vowel | |
|---|---|---|
| a | ya | |
| e^ | e | |
| y | i | |
| o | ë | |
| u | yu | |
If the last consonant in a cluster is "soft" (palatalized), then the one(s) before it are soft as well, eg in the word «otomsti» ("avenge"), the «m» and the «s» are soft just like the «t».
Incidentally, Polish, a related language written with a Latin script, solves the same problem by using "i" to indicate palatalization ("softness"). "I" also can be a stand-alone "soft" vowel:
| hard vowel | soft vowel | |
|---|---|---|
| a | ia | |
| e | ie | |
| y | i | |
| o | io | |
| u | iu | |
(1) Showing vowels with such stress marks on a web-page can be problematic, if the user's text display isn't set to West European ISO Latin-1 script. Alternative methods would be to show a stress mark after the vowel, eg. «Sove'tskij Soyu'z"» (which might look like a "soft sign"), or to highlight the stressed vowel, eg. «Sovetskij Soyuz».
(2) Belarussian, a closely related language, replaces unstressed «o» with «a», eg «Savetskij Sayuz». It looks strange at first glance, but is phonetically accurate.
Voiced vs. unvoiced consonants: changes
For clusters of consonants, the last one determines whether the ones before are voiced or voiceless. For example, in the word «e^kzamen» ("exam"), the «z» makes the «k» voiced, like a «g».