Урок 49. Разговорный стиль. Произношение. Lesson 49. The colloquial register. Pronunciation.

The principal function of this register is social intercourse. Its medium is dialogue or conversation and its field is one’s personal relationships and practical everyday dealings with others. It is therefore distinguished by relative spontaneity, simplicity and the absence of forethought or technical or official tone. Non-lexical features, such as intonation, pauses, stress, rhythm and tempo, play an important part in it. Meaning is reinforced by non-linguistic resources such as facial expression and gesture. The function, medium and field of the register account for many of the factors which it tends to exhibit in the areas of pronunciation, vocabulary and phraseology, word-formation,
morphology and syntax.

Урок 20. 20 труднопроизносимых русских слов. Lesson 20. 20 Difficult Russian Words to Pronounce.

Almost all consonants in Russian appear in two forms: palatalized (soft) and non-palatalized (hard) ones. The term palatalized means that while pronouncing the sound the middle part of your tongue is lifted toward the hard palate and makes what is being uttered sound in a higher pitch what is perceived by us as softness. You can determine where your hard palate is by pronouncing the sound [j] like in "yes": it is where your tongue touches the upper jaw. Try to compare sounds [n] and [n'] (' denotes palatalization) in words "not" and "new": in the first one you pronounce [n] because the next [o] vowel is on open vowel and does not require your tongue to lift while pronouncing [n]; on the contrary, in the second word you pronounce [n'] because your tongue automatically adjusts to the pronunciation of the next [j] consonant and lifts toward the hard palate.

1. артикуляция	[uhr-tee-koo-l’ah-tsih-yuh]	articulation
2. благотворительность	[bluh-guh-tvuh-ree-teel’-nuhs’t’]	charity
3. воодушевление	[vuh-uh-doo-sheev-l’eh-nee-yeh]	enthusiasm
4. глубокомысленный	[gloo-buh-kuh-mihs-leen-nihy]	thoughtful
5. доказательство	[duh-kuh-zah-teel’-stvuh]	proof

Грамматика русского языка. Часть 5. Особенности произношения. Правила. Russian Grammar. Part 5. Special Pronunciation Rules.

Even people who have studied Russian for many years frequently don't pay enough attention to some of the finer points of Russian pronunciation. Therefore, even it you're a more advanced student, study the following rules carefully.

The First Rule

After the letters ж, ш, and ц, the letters и, е, and ё will sound like ы [ih], э [eh] and о [aw].

жить [zhiht'] to live
жест [zhest] gesture
жёлтый [zhawl-tihy] yellow (m.)

шить [shiht'] to sew
шесть [shehst'] six
шёлк [shawlk] silk

цент [tsehnt] cent
цирк [tsihrk] circus
цифра [tsihf-ruh] number