Русский Алфавит

Today's Russian language lesson will be the basics - the Russian alphabet.  A few teams from the last season of The Amazing Race would certainly have benefited from this lesson.

Russian   English

Аа           A - Pronounced "Ah" and makes the A sound in ball (Russian doesn't have a short a or long a)
Бб           B - Pronounced "Beh" and sounds like a B, but you have to relax your lips a bit so it bubbles...
Вб           V - Pronounced "Veh" and sounds like a V
Гг           G - Pronounced "Geh" and sounds like a G
Дд           D - Pronounced "Deh" and sounds like a D
Ее           E - Pronounced "Yeh" and makes the sound "yeh", but no other sounds associated with English E
Ёё           Yo - Pronounced "Yo" and makes the sound "yo"
Жж         Zh - Pronounced "Zhe"
Зз            Z - Pronounced "Zeh" and sounds like a Z
Ии          E - Pronounced "Ee" and makes only the sound of a long Eeeee
Йй           Y - Pronounced "E Kratkoye" (И Краткое) and softens the preceding vowel (Ой = oy; Ей = ey)
Кк           K - Pronounced "Ka" and sounds like a K
Лл           L - Pronounced and sounds like L
Мм          M - Pronounced and sounds like M
Нн          N - Pronounced and sounds like N
Оо           O - Pronounced and sounds like a long O (the short O is made by a)
Пп           P - Pronounced "Peh" and sounds like a P, but with the same relaxed lips like the Б
Рр            R - Pronounced "Err" and functions like an R, but Russians roll their Rs like Spanish
Сс           S - Pronounced and sounds like S
Тт            T - Pronounced "Teh" and sounds like T
Уу           U - Pronounced "ooh" and only makes the Ooh sound
Фф          F - Pronounced and sounds like F
Хх           kH - Pronounced "Ha", but the H has a hard almost K sound, like kh
Цц           Ts - Pronounced "Tse" and sounds like Ts (like a top hat cymbal)
Чч           Ch - Pronounced "Che" and makes the Ch sound
Шш         Sh - Pronounced "Sha" and makes the soft Sh sound, as if you were saying "shhhhh"
Щщ         Sch - Pronounced "Scha" and makes the middle sound if you say "fresh cheese" quickly.
Ъъ            '      Pronounced "Tverdiy Znak" (Твёрдий знак) or hard sign.  This makes the preceding letter hardened and definitive
Ыы          Y - Pronounced "Yeri" (Еры) and makes a sort of "uy" sound.
Ьь             '      Pronounced "Myagkiy Znak" (Мягкий знак) or soft sign.  This makes the preceding letter softened and smooth
Ээ            Eh - Pronounced "Eh" and makes the sound Eh like in Echo.
Юю         Yu - Pronounced "You" and makes only the sound "you"
Яя            Ya - Pronounced "Ya" and makes only the sound "Ya" - also is the Russian word for I or me.

So, try making your names in the comments and we'll see how close you get!

Как вас зовут? (Kak vas zovoot) - What's your name?

Меня зовут (Menya zovoot) Мэтт Элэт - My name is Matt Ellett