Andrei Zodian‎ > ‎Biography‎ > ‎Languages‎ > ‎

Russkiy (Russian)

I was very fortunate to have my grandma teach me the Russian alphabet mostly by providing me with some old manuals, and though I did not learn much in terms of vocabulary, I learned enough to find it a rather simple language - which, nonetheless, needs its share of practice and memorization.

You might be surprised to learn that the Russian alphabet ..
Russian alphabet from UkrainianLessons.com
..is slightly different from the Ukrainian one ..
Ukrainian alphabet from UkranianLessons.com
..although both languages have evolved from Proto-Slavic.

There are quite a few differences between the two languages, but in memory of my grandma, I thought I should list the alphabet differences:

1. Ґ in Ukrainian 

The Ukrainian alphabet has Ґ ґ, but Russian doesn’t (in Russian, г represents the sound /g/).

2. І in Ukrainian 

The Ukrainian alphabet has І і, but the Russian one doesn’t (in Russian, it’s и to represent /i/).

3. Ы in Russian

The Russian alphabet has ы, but the Ukrainian one doesn’t (in Ukrainian, it’s и to represent /y/).

4. Є in Ukrainian

The Ukrainian alphabet has Є є, but the Russian one doesn’t (in Russian, е represents /je/).

5. Ї in Ukrainian

The Ukrainian alphabet has Ї ї, but Russian doesn’t (in Russian, it’s a combination йи to represent /ji/).

6. Ё in Russian

The Russian alphabet has Ё ё, but Ukrainian doesn’t (in Ukrainian, it’s a combination йо to represent /jo/)

7. ъ in Russian

The Russian alphabet has the hard sign (ъ), but Ukrainian doesn’t (in Ukrainian, the apostrophe is used instead (’).

Here's the Russian alphabet in non-image version.
А
/a/		Б
/b/		В
/v/		Г
/ɡ/		Д
/d/		Е
/je/		Ё
/jo/		Ж
/ʐ/		З
/z/		И
/i/		Й
/j/
К
/k/		Л
/l/		М
/m/		Н
/n/		О
/o/		П
/p/		Р
/r/		С
/s/		Т
/t/		У
/u/		Ф
/f/
X
/x/		Ц
/ts/		Ч
/tɕ/		Ш
/ʂ/		Щ 
/ɕː/		Ъ
/-/		Ы
/ɨ/		Ь
/ʲ/		Э
/e/		Ю
/ju/		Я
/ja/

Besides the alphabet, the Russian language is quite simple: unlike English, you read exactly as you write (a written word can only be read/pronounced in one way) and the verbs and nouns don't change much, making grammar very simple. Verbs are even often omitted!

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