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help with Russian letter O please Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Practise Your Russian

Author	Message
nigelinleeds Lounge Lizard Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 108	Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:16 pm    Post subject: help with Russian letter O please Hi all I am trying to learn Russian, I dumped the phrase book (the pronunciation guide was poor) I can just about read from a dictionary (after about 5 weeks) and be understood most of the time. My biggest problem is the Russian letter O which can be pronounced Oh as in sht(o )or Ah as in spasib(a) is there a simple rule that would help me to use the correct pronunciation. Even if it enables me to get it right the majority of the time it would help. spasiba Nigel
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Lord-Adrian Frequent Guest Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 55 Location: Russia, Orel	Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:49 am    Post subject: Kakie Wy imeete problemy?
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larochka Just Starting Joined: 01 Nov 2005 Posts: 2	Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:16 am    Post subject: Letter o The letter o can be pronounced three ways: o as in "oh my!" uh as in "ugly" ah as in "ah-hah!" The rule has to do with the emphasis. If the syllable with the o in it is emphasized, it sounds like "o" If the syllable after the o is emphasized, it sounds like "ah" If any other syllable is emphasized, it sounds like "uh" The word "moloko" is helpful to remember this rule - because the last syllable is emphasized, the word is really pronounced "muh-lah-ko" Hope that helps! Larochka
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Rick Moderator Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 854 Location: Касабланка	Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:37 am    Post subject: This is a pest for all beginners in Russian, as we have no intuition yet on where the emphasis will be in the words. You will encounter some other examples of reduction of vowels..
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Heller Just Starting Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 8 Location: Moscow, Russia	Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:15 am    Post subject: You can read "O" as "cht(o)" everytime - it isn't mistake.
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Mei-Nu Frequent Guest Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 42	Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:14 pm    Post subject: Heller wrote: You can read "O" as "cht(o)" everytime - it isn't mistake. yeah, maybe it`s not a mistake, but nobody will understand you
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Evgenia Frequent Guest Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 12 Location: Moscow	Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:49 pm    Post subject: Everything is simple! If accent is on 'O' , we pronounce it as 'O' . If 'O' is not accent-letter, we pronounce it as 'A'
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atreides Just Starting Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 4	Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:30 am    Post subject: For most words you just need to learn where the accent is. If you can't hear the words spoken, try to find a learning site where the stress is marked. This site http://www.russianlessons.net/, where I have been learning some things, marks the stress on most of the words it teaches so you should know weather to pronounce it as a 'o' or an 'a' sound.
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AntoMax Frequent Guest Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Matrix	Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:29 am    Post subject: Code: Everything is simple! Laughing If accent is on 'O' , we pronounce it as 'O' . If 'O' is not accent-letter, we pronounce it as 'A' Also like to mention that Southern accent doesnt pronounce the O that much and Northern does, and Moscow is in the middle so yeah ^-^
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Oleg Frequent Guest Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 50 Location: St-Petersburg, Russia	Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:09 pm    Post subject: There are more than 3 variants of pronunciation "O". It depends on words that contain this letter. There was a post above about "moloko". The first O is read as A, the second - as vowel SCHWA, and the last O - as O. But if you pronounce all O in "moloko" as O it won't be wrong and everybody will understand you. In some rusian region (Vologda, Arkhangels, ...) people pronounce O as O in a majority cases.
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nerpa Just Starting Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 2	Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:49 pm    Post subject: I would be grateful for some advice on how to pronounce Domodedovo! The same problem applies for most place names until you hear them spoken by a native Russian speaker. Unfortunately, proper nouns are not always in dictionaries, so you can't look them up. I had always assumed, for example, that Khabarovsk was "Khabarovsk", until I heard it pronounced on Russian TV as "Khabarsk" (o and v virtually inaudiable). Are there any good sources on the correct pronounciation of Russian place names?
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Oleg Frequent Guest Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 50 Location: St-Petersburg, Russia	Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:07 am    Post subject: Quote: I had always assumed, for example, that Khabarovsk was "Khabarovsk", until I heard it pronounced on Russian TV as "Khabarsk" (o and v virtually inaudiable). "Khabarsk" isn't correct, you should say "Khabarovsk" ('o' should be pronounced as shwa). Domodedovo is pronounced as "Damadedavo' (last 'o' - shwa). I think it sounds like I've just written, but it is hard to describe it. You should better listen to any russian native speaker. TV is also appropriate, but some our presenters don't have clear pronunciation.
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vitalsigns Lounge Wizard Joined: 25 Dec 2004 Posts: 2784	Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:59 pm    Post subject: nerpa wrote: I had always assumed, for example, that Khabarovsk was "Khabarovsk", until I heard it pronounced on Russian TV as "Khabarsk" (o and v virtually inaudiable). Are there any good sources on the correct pronounciation of Russian place names? Both ways are right. "Khabarsk" is a lazy man's way of saying it.
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nerpa Just Starting Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 2	Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:26 am    Post subject: Thanks for those replies. A couple more names that have been bothering me are: Novosibirsk and Vladivostok. English speakers usually stress the first o of Vladivostok, but I am wondering if it shouldn't really be "Vladivastok" (as in vostok).
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Oleg Frequent Guest Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 50 Location: St-Petersburg, Russia	Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:18 am    Post subject: The last vowels in these words have to be stressed: Novosibirsk and Vladivostok
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