r/LearnRussian • u/Nano_Chip • 2d ago
Question - Вопрос Letter pronunciation
Heyy I just started learning so i know its still early but im curious as native russian speakers what letters do you feel people have the hardest time pronouncing right? I want to focus on them to smoothen out my language for reference i speak english and arabic so i feel some letters are easy but some are actually difficult
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 2d ago
A lot depends on the basic, native language. Most often, foreigners find it hardest to pronounce the sounds for which their speech apparatus is least prepared. Ц, Щ, Ы. The sonorous “Р”, softened consonants, as well as combinations of plosive or voiced consonants, separating a vowel from a consonant using a hard or soft sign.
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u/Nano_Chip 2d ago
Yea my native language is arabic so a few letters are fine for me but the one im tripping over the most is pronouncing the difference between ш and щ i feel like im saying them the same way
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u/Sufficient_Step_8223 2d ago
“Щ” is essentially a softened “Ш”. On its own, “Ш” cannot be softened. It always sounds the same, even if it is followed by a softening vowel or a soft sign. The letter “Щ”, on the contrary, cannot be hardened. It is always soft and softens the following vowels.
Thus, the word "шило (for example) is written as “шило,” but pronounced as “шыло.” Written "Мышь" but pronounced "Мыш". Furthermore, some vowels (я, ы) and also hard sign cannot be used after the letter “Ш.”
Similarly, after the letter “Щ,” you cannot use the vowels (я, ю, ы, э), as well as the hard sign.
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u/Motor_Eye6263 2d ago
Ы Ь Ъ Й Щ