Lesson 24 - Russian Sound System. Introduction

Ученье свет, а неученье тьма


(Knowledge is light, ignorance is darkness)





Век живи - век учись


(Live and learn)





And the last one is quoted around our house quite
often:)





Повторенье - мать ученья


(Repetition is the Mother of learning)


I thought I would start talking about the Russian sound system.
Since I want to be true to the podcast's format and keep it
short'n'sweet and to the point ... It will take us several
lessons. 





Some of the items used for pronunciation practice will be
isolated syllables or words whose meaning is of no immediate
relevance, while others will be complete sentences that you will
be able to add to your Russian phrase book and practice it as
often as you'd like. You should not concern yourself with the
grammatical forms of the sentences used at this point. You should
simply learn them in the form given to you, striving to imitate
your teacher as closely as possible. You must always keep in mind
the importance of the spoken models presented.  While
descriptions, transcriptions, and diagrams maybe of some help,
you should rely mainly on the spoken model in your attempts to
approximate the sound patterns in Russian. Remember always that
at the early stage of instruction it is the sounds of the
language that are our primary concern, not the written forms,
which are a secondary and imperfect system of representing
speech. While Russian spelling is more regular than that of
English, there are places where it does not represent the sound
system accurately. Strive always for good pronunciation, and
don't let the written forms mislead you!





Next time we are going to talk about the Russian Accented
Vowels, but for now I will leave you with a few phrases you
should just listen to without trying to repeat. Listen to them as
many times as you'd  like to. 





(YouTube link to this list)





Это дом. 


Это он. 


Он там. 


Это мама. 


Это она. 


Это папа. 


Это он. 


Это Анна. 


Она тут. 


Это Антон. 


Он там. 


Мама дома. 


Она дома. 


А папа там. 


Анна тут. 


А Антон там. 











Song in Russian - (Дорогой Длинною, performed by Nani
Bregvadze).





Ехали на тройке с бубенцами, 


А вдали мелькали огоньки... 


Эх, когда бы мне теперь за вами, 


Душу бы развеять от тоски! 





Дорогой длинною, погодой лунною, 


Да с песней той, что в даль летит звеня, 


Да со старинною, да с семиструнною, 


Что по ночам так мучила меня. 





Да, выходит, пели мы задаром, 


Понапрасну ночь за ночью жгли. 


если мы покончили со старым, 


Так и ночи эти отошли! 





В даль родную новыми путями 


Нам отныне ехать суждено! 


...ехали на тройке с бубенцами, 


Да теперь проехали давно!


---------------------------------


You rode on a troika with sleigh bells, 


And in the distance lights flickered.. 


If only I could follow you now 


I would dispel the grief in my soul! 





By the long road, in the moon light, 


And with this song that flies off, ringing, 


And with this ancient, this ancient
seven-string, 


That has so tormented me by night. 





But it turns out our song was futile, 


In vain we burned night in and night out. 


If we have finished with the old, 


Then those nights have also left us! 





Out into our native land, and by new paths, 


We have been fated to go now! 


...You rode on a troika with sleigh bells, 


[But] you've long since passed by!


-----------------------------------


ekhali na troyke s bubentsami, 


A vdali mel'kali ogon'ki... 


Ekh, kogda by mne teper' za vami, 


Dushu by razveyat' ot toski! 





Dorogoy dlinnoyu, pogodoy lunnoyu, 


Da s pesney toy, chto v dal' letit zvenya, 


Da so starinnoyu, da s semistrunnoyu, 


Chto po nocham tak muchila menya. 





Da, vykhodit, peli my zadarom, 


Ponaprasnu noch' za noch'yu zhgli. 


esli my pokonchili so starym, 


Tak i nochi eti otoshli! 





V dal' rodnuyu novymi putyami 


Nam otnyne ekhat' suzhdeno! 


...ekhali na troyke s bubentsami, 


Da teper' proekhali davno!





Closing word, reminders, etc.





I love hearing my subscribers speak Russian. I encourage all who
are listening right now to record yourself saying Привет,
Наталия or Здравствуйте, Наталия. I would
love to open up my next podcast with your greeting! 





Twitter @russianspoonful


Email:  spoonfulofrussian@gmail.com


Website: speakrussian.blogspot.com





You can also leave a voicemail by dialing 209-980-RUSS
(209-980-7877) and I will play your recording on the air and will
try my best to answer.








#1 Fan, here is the answer to your question: 








"I love my wife" in Russian is "Я люблю свою жену"