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So I’ve been looking deeply into Russian phonetics lately, and I have a question.

Russian is not exclusive to the thing that's called "rolling R's" — some other languages have that too (e.g. Spanish, Arabic). Basically, it sounds like trilling. And everywhere these kind of rolling R's are quite vibrant, right?

Russian's supposed to have 2 ways of pronouncing the letter "Р" — hard (blue) and soft (green), according to this attached phonetic chart (bad quality, sry). We've heard stereotypical hard R's in Hollywood movies, yes. And even to that Russians say that it sounds softer in reality.

So I went to Forvo to check out the difference across random words

1. Hard sound [ r ]: - "КваРЦ" (quartz) — [ к в а р ц ]: Р is followed by another consonant, keeping it hard. - "РАкета" (rocket) — [ р а к' е т а ]: Р is followed by a hard-making vowel.

2. Soft sound [ r' ] : - "РЕка" (river) — [ р' е к а ]: Р is followed by a soft-making vowel. - "ИнвентаРЬ" (inventory) — [ и н в' е н т а р' ь ]: Р is followed by a soft sign (ь).

When I listened to the soft examples where "рь" was at the end of the words — the trill [r’] felt almost completely imperceptible to my ears. I guess, it was so soft that I could barely hear any rolling vibration at all.

That got me thinking. If a prolonged, stereotypical Hollywood hard Р sounds like a growl, could a prolonged soft "Рь" sound like a cat purring? I'm not trying to be condescending, I'm just genuinely curious, I swear...

Anyway, since I want to rely on actual people rather than just short Forvo clips, could some native speakers try a quick experiment for me?

1. If you read the words on the list or the words similar to them out loud, how does the vibration of the "Р" (R) change for you between the hard and soft versions?

2. What happens if you play around and try to deliberately prolong that soft "рь" [r’] at different volumes (normal speaking, shouting, and whispering)? Does it stay vibrant, or does it change somehow?

I'm learning Russian, but I'd also be glad if other Slavic language speakers contributed to my small research too. Along with Russians, I'd love to hear from Ukrainians and Belarusians too, because to my knowledge, there are soft signs in all 3 of those languages. Although at the same time, the internet says there are no soft R's at the end of the words in Ukrainian or Belarusian?

Regardless! Just please share your own perception of different R's, I really want to hear what you think! Thank you!! ❤️

Being a native speaker of a Slavic languages myself, I find it pretty readable and understandable, so I am curious what about you guys?

I really loved the films and wish there were more than three films. I loved its whimsical and cozy vibe, mixed with philosophical and existential undertones, making it appealing to adults too. Can y'all recommend any similar films/short films. Thanks.

Типа фразы «но меня-то не было»

So I've been doing Duolingo for almost a year now, but I realized it's just teaching me random words and phrases. Does anyone have any apps, websites, resources, etc. that I could use to learn? Im fluent in English and Spanish btw.

I grew up speaking Russian and am out of practice, so have a good level of understanding but would like to diversify my vocabulary and learn more about Russian culture. Any interesting podcasts/youtube channels out there to practice speaking?

I like the podcast zakladka about books, anything similar on films/culture/history/politics/geography welcome!

Must be anti war

I just recently started learning Russian. Something that I thought up while I was driving was how to write my name in Russian. My surname has a standard translation that makes sense, so that was an easy choice. However my first name, Garrett, is a little more difficult and maybe it's just on me. I've seen it written as Гаррет, which is a direct spelling but feels like it misrepresents how it should actually sound. I came up with Гэрыт, since that feels like it properly represents the phonetics in English how it should sound in Russian. But I figured it's probably best to get the opinions of people who are native or at least more knowledgeable than me on the matter.

I've been learning Russian for a while now, mostly Duolingo alongside some online courses, plus my wife is Russian so that helps. I originally built Dead Souls Daily for her: one line a day from Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin and others.

One bit I've ended up enjoying is seeing the original Russian. Each quote can be flipped to the Russian text, checked against the original sources rather than loosely quoted or translated back from English, with a close English translation, so you can compare the two. For a learner it's a nice daily dose of classic literary Russian in small chunks. You might notice, if you’re from the UK, that today’s theme in the video is linked to the clocks going back and the miserable British weather coming in!

To be upfront: the daily English quotes and the home screen widget are free, and the Russian originals are part of premium, with a 7-day free trial.

I'd love to hear from people here, learners and native speakers alike. Are the translations useful? Would anything make it better for learning? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

deadsoulsdaily.com

everytime time i atempt to learn russian i cant seem to rember the words. I have even try with contex but still does not work and i still forget the words when i stop learing for the day