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Welcome to episode 20 – the final exam. You should feel proud for having made it this far. It’s a small course, but still…you put in the time and effort. After this exam you should treat yourself to something..I recommend Russian blini. Ever try them? Блины are basically crepes—very thin pancakes, usually filled with some jelly or sweet cheese inside. They’re a Russian delicacy. In fact, try to say…

I want to cook (or, more literally, ‘prepare’) blini.

Я хочу приготовить блины.

Speaking of popular Russian foods, have you ever tried пельмени? They’re basically dumplings filled with meat…usually pork. Here’s the word again. пельмени

So try to say: I want to cook dumplings.

Я хочу приготовить пельмени.

With two words, ask your roommate: Want shishkabob?

Хочешь шашлык?

Want dumplings?

Хочешь пельмени?

He shrugs and says the Russian word for, Okay.

Хорошо.

Moving on: Try to say: My mother lives in Odessa.

Моя мама живёт в Одессе.

My dad lives in Kharkov.

Мой папа живёт в Харькове.

Anastasia is traveling to Dubai.

Анастасия едет в Дубай.

I’m traveling to Munich.

Я еду в Мюнхен.

Speaking of traveling, say: In New York I want to see Times Square.

В Нью Йорке я хочу увидеть Таймс Сквер.

Quick quiz on voicing and devoicing. Imagine these three Russian letters: В-С-Е

How will that word be pronounced? Will the ‘В’ be voiced?

все

It was devoiced because, if you remember that pattern, the last letter in a cluster determines whether your vocal cords are involved. Right? So, since the ‘S’ sound (С) is naturally devoiced, it affects the “v” sound that comes before it. So not “V-syeh” but an “F” sound: Fsyeh

And we’re going to need that word, which means “all”, in this next sentence.

I want to see all the main tourist sites in Paris.

Я хочу увидеть все достопримечательности в Париже

Try that again. I want to see all the main tourist sites in Amsterdam.

Я хочу увидеть все достопримечательности в Амстердаме.

I think that was the longest sentence in the whole course.

In your studies, you’ve probably encountered the word кафе, which is how Russians pronounce cafe. So try to say: I’m going to the cafe. (implying, on foot)

Я иду в кафе.

Now that word we use for “to” the cafe…it’s the letter В. But was it voiced or no? Say the phrase again: I’m going to the cafe.

Я иду в кафе.

So it was devoiced. But why? Because the letter that follows, the ‘k’ of cafe is naturally devoiced. And even though it’s a separate word, in Russian, prepositions like “to, from, for” and so on, are treated as if they are part of the word that follows. We do that in English too, right? We say:

I’m going t’McDonalds. We don’t say: I’m going **to** McDonalds. The word “to” basically gets absorbed into the beginning of McDonalds.

Say: I’m going to the park.

Я иду в парк.

Again, ‘В’ is devoiced because of the ‘П’ in парк. Now say…

I’m going to Burger King.

Я иду в Бургер Кинг.

There, the ‘В’ is voiced…В Бургер Кинг…because the ‘Б’ in Бургер is naturally voiced.

How will your friend ask: Where is Burger King located?

Где находится Бургер Кинг?

Tell her: Burger King is located downtown.

Бургер Кинг находится в центре.

Let’s try this. Two phrases: I’m going to the cafe. I want dumplings.

Я иду в кафе. Я хочу пельмени.

The word for a mini-market in Russian is an easy cognate. Listen…

мини-маркет

So try this: I want yogurt. I’m going to the mini-market.

Я хочу йогурт. Я иду в мини-маркет.

Before the word мини-маркет…was that В voiced?

I want a magazine. I’m going to the mini-market.

Я хочу журнал. Я иду в мини-маркет.

Next…Try to say: Taras was in St. Petersburg.

Тарас был в Санкт-петербурге.

Imagine that your friend is a violinist and she, somehow, misplaced her instrument. It’s not in the car, not in the hotel…and then she finds it. How will she say:

The violin was in the theater.

Скрипка была в театре.

Of course, because Скрипка ends with an “ah” sound, making it feminine, she used the feminine past tense—была—to match. (Or to rhyme, really.)

Let’s try that phrase again, but add an expression of relief.

Thank God. The violin was in the theater.

Слава Богу! Скрипка была в театре.

Next: How do we convey the idea that: I like rock…as in, rock music.

To me….is pleasing….rock.

Мне нравится рок.

Say: I like jazz.

Мне нравится джаз.

The final letter was a Z (З), which is normally voiced. But, being at the end of the word, Russians devoice it.

Say: I really like jazz. To me…very pleasing…jazz.

Мне очень нравится джаз.

One last example of devoicing the final consonant…What’s the Russian version of Oh, my God?

О, мой Бог.

That final letter is a G (Г)…normally voiced as.’guh’… but that’s the pattern in Russian. They get devoiced at the end of a word.

Speaking of endings…We’re at the end, not only of this exam, but of the whole course.

Hopefully, though, this isn’t goodbye. I have two other podcasts that you can get.

Russian Made Easy

…and my newest one…

Understanding Spoken Russian.

Or, if you want to really speed things up, then I hope you’ll join my Russian Accelerator course. We’ll get you conversational in Russian in just a few months. See you soon!

До встречи

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Welcome to episode 19 – our last new material before the final. Hopefully you’ve noticed that, as this course progressed, I tried to get you working on things that you’re likely to say. Again, this is why I veered away from mindless pronunciation drills and tongue twisters. With that goal of practicality firmly in mind, today we’ll be learning two new verbs.

Like in English, Russian verbs have an infinitive form, and then something called conjugations. Take the English verb “to be”—that’s the infinitive. The conjugations are: I am, You are, He is, and so on. So, talking only about the infinitive forms here, in Russian, almost all verbs end with a T and a soft-sign. Listen and repeat…

дать

играть

сказать

покупать

For comparison, let’s listen to those without the soft sign:

дат — играт — сказат – покупат

..and with the soft sign again…

Those all had an ‘a’ vowel before that T. Let’s hear some with an И as the final vowel.

говорить

купить

ездить

приготовить

All of those are useful, but today, let’s work with that last one. Here it is in context:

Even though the kids had cereal for breakfast, they still seemed to be hungry so I decided to приготвить some scrambled eggs.

…or this…

I’m a big fan of Italian food, so for my birthday, my wife got me a book called How to Приготовить the Perfect Lasagna.

Imagine you’re in your friend’s kitchen just before supper time. She straps on an apron and says:

Я хочу приготовить борщ.

How would you translate that?

I want to cook, or to prepare, borscht.

You try it. Say: I want to cook cabbage soup.

Я хочу приготовить щи.

I want to cook shishkabob.

Я хочу приготовить шашлык.

Getting back to the infinitive form of Russian verbs, let’s listen to some more.

смотреть

гулять

заснуть

видеть

Again, those are all very useful verbs, but it’s that last one I want to focus on: видеть

Can you get the meaning from context?

The other day I was reading a book to my little girl which explained our sense organs. We use our nose to smell, it explained. Our ears to hear, and our eyes to …видеть.

Fill in the blank: Someone who is deaf is unable to hear. Someone who’s blind is unable to…

Now here’s the thing about Russian verbs—and again, it’s something I cover in great detail in all my other courses—Russian verbs come in pairs. One version is used when talking about the action in general, or when emphasizing the process of it. Whereas the other version is used when you want to emphasize the result. That you finished doing whatever it was.

For ex: We use our eyes to see. That’s talking in general, about the process of seeing. So the verb видеть is the general version—what’s known as the “imperfective.” But take a phrase like this: We went to New York to see the Statue of Liberty. Here, all the focus is on the result. They saw it, and that’s that. And that version in Russian is увидеть. Almost the same as видеть but with the letter ‘у’ at the front. увидеть

So, with that in mind, can you translate the following sentence?

В Лондоне, я хочу увидеть Биг-Бен.

In London I want to see Big Ben.

You try it. Say: In London I want to see Westminster. (Wild guess on how Russians will pronounce that ‘W’)

В Лондоне, я хочу увидеть Вестминстер.

In New York I want to see Broadway.

В Нью Йорке, я хочу увидеть Бродвей.

In St. Petersburg, I want to see the Hermitage. (pronounced: Эрмитаж)

В Санкт-Петербурге, я хочу увидеть Эрмитаж.

Let’s try one more round of infinitives. In these, the final vowel will be an Ы. Listen and repeat…

быть

мыть

открыть

закрыть

Again, compare the difference…without the soft sign at the end: закрыт

…and with it: закрыть

Let’s do some review. Try to say: I want to prepare, or cook, soup.

Я хочу приготовить суп.

In Los Angeles I want to see Disneyland.

В Лос Анджелесе я хочу увидеть Дисенейленд.

And from the previous lesson:

Igor lives in Odessa.

Игорь живёт в Одессе.

Anastasia is traveling to Rome.

Анастасия едет в Рим.

One more round…

I want to cook ravioli.

Я хочу приготовить равиоли.

In Los Angeles I want to see Beverly Hills.

В Лос Анджелесе я хочу увидеть Беверли-Хиллз.

Veronika lives in Munich.

Вероника живёт в Мюнхене.

Robert is traveling to Stuttgart.

Роберт едет в Штутгарт.

I’m traveling to Liverpool.

Я еду в Ливерпуль.

Did you catch the soft-sign at the end? If you did you have a great ear. Alright, be sure to visit the site for the transcripts and exercises, and I’ll see you in the next episode… the final exam!

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Alright, this is episode 18 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today we’re going to expand on what we did in the last episode by including people’s names into the mix. Let’s start with the name Igor. Listen to it in Russian:

Игорь

There’s a soft-sign at the end. For comparison, here’s how it would sound without that.

Игор

But again, properly, it’s: Игорь. Try to say: Igor was in the theater.

Игорь был в театре.

Now listen as the speaker says: Igor lives in Brooklyn.

Игорь живёт в Бруклине.

That’s our official phrase for today, and we’ll be using it a lot, as we practice new names and places.

So, the speaker will same a name and a city. Repeat each one, and then say that that person lives in that city. For ex:

Тарас / Мельбурн

Тарас живёт в Мельбурне.

Careful with the soft-sign in there, after the letter Л. And did you add the ‘yeh’ sound at the end? Listen again…

Тарас живёт в Мельбурне.

Again, the reasoning for why we have to add the ‘yeh’ sound…that is beyond the scope of these lessons. But I cover it in great detail in all my other courses. I hope you advance to one of them after this pronunciation course. Anyway, next…

Анастасия / Дубай

Анастасия живёт в Дубае.

Next: Борис / Иерусалим

Борис живёт в Иерусалиме.

Out of curiosity, can you guess which place this is?

Квебек

In English, we call it: Quebec. Anyway…

Татьяна / Квебек

Татьяна живёт в Квебеке.

Next:

Олег / Амстердам

Олег живёт в Амстердаме.

Doing a little review: How would you say: I’m going to the park.

Я иду в парк.

That was from episode #16. иду is the ‘on foot’ version of “going”. Now try to say:

I’m traveling to Quebec.

Я еду в Квебек.

еду is the “by vehicle” form of going. Listen as the speaker says: Igor is traveling to Minsk.

Игорь едет в Минск.

Say: I’m traveling. Taras is traveling.

Я еду. Тарас едет.

New name, new city. Listen?

Сергей / Мюнхен

So try to say: Sergei is traveling to Munich.

Сергей едет в Мюнхен.

Now say: Sergei lives in Munich.

Сергей живёт в Мюнхене.

Next: Екатерина / Сидней

Try to say: Ekaterina is traveling to Sydney.

Екатерина едет в Сидней.

Next…

Вероника / Севастополь

So try to say: Veronika lives in Sevastopol.

Вероника живёт в Севастополе.

What country do you think this is?

Китай

China. And here’s a new name for you: Артём

So try to say: Artyom is traveling to China.

Артём едет в Китай.

Next: Дарья / Цюрих

Daria lives in Zurich.

Дарья живёт в Цюрихе.

Say: I’m traveling to Zurich.

Я еду в Цюрих.

Mixing in some locations from the previous lesson, try to say:

Sasha lives in Paris.

Саша живёт в Париже.

Roger is traveling to Madrid.

Роджер едет в Мадрид.

My wife was in St. Petersburg.

Моя жена была в Санкт-Петербурге.

Vova is traveling to Kiev.

Вова едет в Киев.

I really like Chicago. What’s the super literal translation for that?

To me very pleasing Chicago.

Мне очень нравится Чикаго.

Try that again. I really like Amsterdam.

Мне очень нравится Амстердам.

That’s a lot to absorb, so be sure to head over to the site, russianpronunciation.com to read the transcript and practice with all these names. And in the meantime, I’ll see you in Ep 19.

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Welcome to episode 17. Today we’ll deal with a very common pronunciation problem: The names of places. Like I mentioned back in Episode 2, the first time I heard someone say ‘Рим’ I had no idea what they were talking about. I figured out it was a city, but the vowel was so different I didn’t get it until she added, Колизей, Ватикан…Понимаешь?

“Oh! She’s talking about Rome.”

Place names are always tough to pronounce because we so much want to say them the way we do in English. So let’s start with some places in the U.S. Listen carefully, and repeat:

Вашингтон

That was the Russian version of Washington. Notice the ‘V’ sound up front. The letter W always poses a problem for Russians. They say ‘Vash’ instead of ‘Wash’. And do you hear the consonant cluster in there? An ‘N-G-and-T’? Listen again and tell me if the G (Г) is voiced or not.

Вашингтон

The G is devoiced, becoming what sound? A ‘k’…vash-ink-tone

You might think, Why do I have to work on this? Surely they’ll understand me if I call the city ‘Washington’. That’s its name, after all. That’s true. I’m sure they would…but it would be pretty jarring. I mean, when you’re speaking English, you wouldn’t tell your friends, “Yeah, so me and my buddies we’re gonna take a trip to Москва this summer. Then we might head over to Paris, and then to København.” In English, we say Moscow and Paris and Copenhagen. Those are the correct pronunciations and it’s odd to hear them any other way…even if those are correct in their origin languages.

Next: Which U.S. state is this?

Делавэр

Again, the English W is problematic for Russians…even though they have the fundamental sounds. They could say…Дэл-у-эр…But they prefer to make it a V sound. Listen again.

Делавэр

So, Russian prefers a ‘V” sound for our ‘W’ except…inexplicably…for the city of Wichita. Listen..

Уичито

See? They can do it if they apply themselves. Here, Russian makes an effort to approximate the sound. They use ‘У-И’ to make our ‘W’.

Another letter that Russian can never decide on is the English letter ‘H’. Sometimes they make it a G sound. Can you guess these locations?

Гавайи

Огайо

Бирмингем

The first one was Hawaii. Listen again…Then Ohio…very odd, to my ear, having that G (Г) in there. But what can you do? And then Birmingham. It ends with a ‘gehm’ sound. And yet, these next ones, which also feature an English ‘H’…Russian went with a ‘X’ sound.

Хьюстон

Оклахома

Айдахо

Go figure. And speaking of odd choices, check this one out. The great state of…

Мичиган

Oddly, Russian changed the “sh” sound – MISHagan…to a “ч”. It’s as if they based it purely on the spelling and not how it actually sounds. Right? Someone saw the “ch” there, and said: Ok, here’s the official spelling. We’ll just use out letter Ч for that.

Same with the city of…

Чикаго

Russian has a “Ш” sound…but someone saw that ‘ch’ and went with Ч.

Sticking with North America, which city is this?

Торонто

So, Toronto – Торонто – is a great example of how, in Russian, all unstressed O’s sound like ‘uh’.

And still in Canada, Russian went with the French version of Montreal. Listen..

Монреаль

No ‘T’ sound in there. And careful with that soft-sign at the end. Listen again…

Before moving on to cities and countries on the other side of the Atlantic, let’s review that phrase we learned in the last episode. Try to say…I’m going to McDonalds.

Я иду в Макдоналдс.

Was our ‘В’ voiced or devoiced? It was a full ‘В’ because of the M in Макдоналдс. Now say you’re going to Starbucks.

Я иду в Старбакс.

Because of the voiceless ‘Ст’ combination, our ‘В’ is reduced to an F sound.

Now, the verb иду translates as going…but only by foot, going to places about town. Places you could conceivably get to by foot. So let’s learn the vehicle version of that. It’s very similar.

еду

For ex: I’m traveling to Toronto. (obviously by vehicle)

Я еду в Торонто.

Our ‘В’ is devoiced, because of the voiceless T in Торонто.

Your turn. Try to say: I’m traveling to Chicago.

Я еду в Чикаго.

I’m traveling to Washington.

Я еду в Вашингтон.

I’m traveling to Montreal.

Я еду в Монреаль.

Excellent. Ok, now let’s move across the pond, as they say. Which European capital is this?

Париж

Paris. And this city?

Осло

Oslo.

Again, a reminder that all unstressed O’s sound like ‘uh’. And that, really, is what I’m using all these names for in this episode…as a reminder of the various pronunciation patterns we’ve learned.

Next: Listen to how Russians pronounce their city of St. Petersburg…

Санкт-Петербург

What happens to the G (Г) at the end? Devoiced, which turns the Г into a K sound. “boork”

Or in Spain, the city of….Мадрид

Again, there’s our pattern of devoicing the final consonant. A devoiced Д sounding like T.

But remember, if we add a vowel after the Д, it becomes voiced again. So try to say:

Papa was in Madrid.

Папа был в Мадриде.

Same with the devoiced ‘Г’ at the end of St. Petersburg. If we add a vowel, the voicing returns.

Mama was in St. Petersburg.

Мама была в Санкт-Петербурге.

The capital of Ukraine is Киев. A devoiced ‘В’ because it’s the final consonant. But if we’re in Kiev, we add that ‘yeh’ sound, which brings the voicing back.

My husband was in Kiev. (And let’s include the word ‘my’ this time.)

Мой муж был в Киеве.

Hear the voiced ‘В’ now? But if we’re traveling to Kiev, we don’t add that sound.

Try to say: I’m traveling to Kiev.

Я еду в Киев.

Let’s do a few more. I’m traveling to Oslo.

Я еду…в Осло.

…to Paris.

Я еду в Париж.

…to Madrid.

Я еду в Мадрид.

…to St. Petersburg.

Я еду в Санкт-Петербург.

Speaking of cities and pronunciation…What I find interesting is that the Ukrainian city – currently called Днепр after the river – used to be called Днепропетровск. They only changed the name just a few years ago, I’m sure to make it more visitor friendly. Which figures. I finally get the name down, and they go and change it.

Anyway, practice with these new place names we learned, and I’ll see you in Episode 18.

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Today I’d like to return to the topic of voiced and devoiced consonants, looking at other letters this time, and more importantly, examining how it works within consonant pairs and clusters. We recall that in an unfamiliar word, it’s often very hard to guess the last letter. Take the Russian word: дуб

Is that word spelled Д-У-П ? – which is how it sounds – or Д-У-and a devoiced ‘Б’? Hearing the word in isolation like that, there’s no way to know.

The issue here isn’t so much of developing our pronunciation. I mean, it’s no challenge to say the word дуб. The issue is realizing that what sounds like, for ex, a Z might simply be a voiced S. Or what sounds like a T might be a devoiced D, and so on. This not only helps with reading, of course, but with comprehending the things we hear.

So let’s get to work. What I want to uncover is the pattern behind voicing and devoicing when consonants are grouped together. Tell me: The Russian letter ‘В’…is it voiced or devoiced? Put a hand to your vocal cords…Right. So spoken in isolation, ‘B’ is voiced. But listen to it here:

Я иду в Старбакс.

That was four words: Я…иду…в…Старбакс. That ‘F’ sound right before Starbucks was actually our Russian ‘В’. It was devoiced. But why?

Let’s look at the phrase again but instead of saying Starbucks, let’s say: I’m going to McDonalds.

Я иду в Макдоналдс.

Again, it was four words: Я…иду…в…Макдоналдс. Suddenly our Russian ‘В’ is now voiced? What’s going on? Let’s look at some more examples. All of the following words will start with the Russian ‘В’. Tell me if it’s voiced or devoiced. Ready?

волк…VOICED

вообще…VOICED

все…VOICELESS

вторник…VOICELESS

вполне…VOICELESS

взаимно…VOICED

вдали…VOICED

вместе…VOICED

What’s going on with those three words where the В was devoiced?

все – вторник — вполне

Hmm…I think I see a pattern: In Russian, voicing is determined by the last letter in a cluster.

Take that first one: все

Do you hear that ‘S’ sound? That letter—which looks like the English letter ‘C’—is naturally voiceless. That causes the В to devoice, making it an F sound.

And the next word: вторник Again, the В becomes a voiceless F sound because the T that follows it is naturally voiceless.

And the next word: вполне The П which follows is naturally voiceless, and that devoices the В into an F.

Similarly, if the last consonant in a pair or cluster is voiced, then so are the ones preceding it….if possible. So we heard: взаимно. That 2nd letter is a Z (З) …naturally voiced, which voices our В as well.

Then we heard: вдали. That 2nd letter Д is naturally voiced, which voices our В as well.

And we heard: вместе The M is voiced, and therefore so is our В.

For our official phrases, let’s use those that we heard at the start. I’m going to Starbucks.

Я иду в Старбакс.

The ‘В’ is devoiced here—it’s an ‘F sound. Why? Because the consonants that follow—the ‘ST’ (Ст )of Старбакс, are voiceless. But if we’ going to McDonalds…

Я иду в Макдоналдс.

It’s a voiced ‘В’ sound. Why? Because the M of Макдоналдс is voiced. So basically, voicing shoots backwards from the end of the group.

How about the phrase: I’m going to the theater. Will the ‘В’ be voiced or devoiced? Hit pause and think about it. Listen…

Я иду в театр. Devoiced into an ‘F’ sound, because the ‘T’ of театр is voiceless.

How about: I’m going to the park.

Я иду в парк. Again, ‘F’ park…an F sound because the П in парк is voiceless.

What if you’re going to the bank?

Я иду в банк.

Now it’s V bank…voiced, because the ‘Б’ in банк is voiced.

Let’s work with a new letter. The Russian Д. On its own, it’s voiced. Like in these words…

долго

дар

Дима

But if it’s followed by a voiceless consonant? What sound will it become? Hit pause and think about that. Answer: The letter Д devoiced will sound like a T. Take the word ‘vodka’ which, in Russian, is: водка…(sounds like “вот-ка”). Because that ‘k’ is voiceless, it forces the Д to sound like a T.

In Episode 13, if you recall, we worked with the letter Ж. On its own, it’s voiced. Like in these words…

жар

жить

But if it’s followed by a voiceless consonant, how will it sound? Hit pause and think about that. Devoiced, the letter Ж sounds like “sh” (Ш). Listen to the following word, spelled L-O-ZH-K-A

ложка

Again, the ‘k’ is naturally voiceless, which turns the Ж into a Ш.

All of this works in reverse. If the last letter is voiced, then voiceless consonants change into their voiced counterpart…if there is one. Take the Russian letter ‘C’. On its own it’s voiceless. Like in these words…

сад

сорт

сила

But if it’s followed by a voiced consonant, how will it sound? Like in English, a voiced S (C) sounds like a Z. Think of the word dogs (sounds like dogz). The following word starts with the letters С then Д. Listen: сделать

Since ‘Д’ is naturally voiced, the С sounded like a Z (З)…Z-dyelat. If I asked my little boy to write out that word (сделать) I’m sure he’d use a Z (Зделать) because that’s how it sounds.

These are not hard and fast rules. Some voiced consonants never change, no matter what. But I’m not going to list a bunch of rules for you to memorize, because that’s not how language is learned. We’re just pointing out the patterns, and trying to apply them to new situations.

Before we go, how would you say: I’m going to the center.

What sound will the letter ‘В’ have?

Я иду в центр.

Great job. See you in the next episode!

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Welcome to episode 15. Today we’ll be learning the chorus of a song called Май. The chorus is only three lines long, so let’s start with the first half of the first line.

А за окном май

That’s four words: A…за…окном…май

…which translates literally as: Beyond the window, it’s May. In simpler language: It’s May outside.

Say the line again: А за окном май

In Episode 13 we briefly learned the word for “life”…Do you recall it? It starts with a “zh” sound.

жизнь And although it doesn’t end with an ‘ah’ sound, it’s nevertheless secretly a feminine noun.

Which is why, to say “my life” we need the feminine version of “my.” Do you recall that word from the last lesson? моя

So say: My life…Моя жизнь

And what were the first four words of the chorus? А за окном май

Say it one more time? And now say: My life…. Excellent.

With that out of the way, now let’s listen to a minute or so of the song, and we’ll stop after the chorus. See if you can catch the word that comes after “моя жизнь”

( song clip )

What did you hear after “моя жизнь”? The word was рай which translates as paradise.

So she’s saying: Beyond the window it’s May, my life is paradise. Listen to her sing just that part.

Now you say it…or sing it…: А за окном май, моя жизнь – рай.

I found the lyrics for this song on like ten different sites, and the words were always identical, which tells me they’re all copying from whatever site posted them first. And though I’m not a native speaker, I think they’re missing one word. The online lyrics give four words for the next line:

Шепчет на ухо – обнимай.

…but I hear the word ‘Он’ before that. Он шепчет на ухо – обнимай.

Their version translates obscurely. Literally it would be: Whispers in the ear – hug.

Who whispers in the ear, you know? But if you add ‘он’ it makes more sense: He whispers in my ear…hug (me). But it’s not just that it makes more sense. I hear it. So, the heck with online lyrics, let’s try it my way: Он шепчет на ухо – обнимай.

That 2nd word is шеп — чет….(shep…chet)…whispers

That last word обнимай is a command ending with our Short E from the last lesson.

Let’s review what we have. Can you say the first line? It starts with А за…

And the second line? It starts with Он шепчет

Let’s listen to that part again, then try to echo it… (clip)

I have to do a real quick, random review because this is how memory works. So…What’s the Russian word for husband?

муж

And for wife?

жена

Meat cooked on a skewer is called…?

шашлык

And a hot herbal drink is called…

чай

In Russian, the fifth month of the year is called Май

Let’s get back to the song. This time I’ll give the English translation as a prompt.

Beyond the window it’s May

My life is paradise

He whispers in the ear (meaning my ear)

hug (me)

Let me play the song from a few lines prior to the chorus, and see if you can recite it or sing it along with her… (clip)

Alright, and now the last line of the chorus.

А я с ума….That’s four words: А я с ума

The next word, схожу is a hard one to crank out. You have an “s” sound, and then X.

That phrase “я с ума схожу” translates as “I’m going crazy.” Literally: I’m going out of my mind.

Because he’s whispering in her ear, asking for a hug. And so she says…А я с ума схожу ай-я-яй.

Let’s try that third line again: А я с ума схожу, ай-я-яй.

The whole chorus and I’ll prompt you with the first two words of each line. Ready?

А за…

Он шепчет….

А я…

Again, for memory’s sake, I need to test you on older material. How would you say:

I like tea.

Мне нравится чай.

I like yogurt.

Мне нравится йогурт.

Where is Starbucks located?

Где находится Старбакс?

Where is the cashier located?

Где находится касса?

My husband.

Мой муж.

My wife.

Моя жена.

Last one: Main tourist sites.

достопримечательности

Ok, back to the song. Again, let me give you the English translation as a prompt.

Beyond the window it’s May

My life is paradise

He whispers in the ear (meaning my ear)

hug (me)

I’m going out of my mind…ai-ya-yai

Here’s the song. Try the chorus with her…

If you join my Russian Accelerator course, this would be a great first recording to send in to your Success Coach. When you join the course, we assign you one of our coaches who reaches out via email within the first few days. And when she does, send her this, Just record yourself reciting the chorus—you don’t have to sing it—and then send her the file. Our coaches are used to working with total beginners, so if you send them this, I’m sure she’ll be blown away.

Anyway, keep working on it, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

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Welcome to episode 14. Today we’ll be covering our last ‘tricky letter’. The short E. Й

This one isn’t so hard to pronounce as it is to read. For the most part, the best way to think of it is like the ‘y’ in boy…but very short and sharp. Listen and repeat as our speakers say yogurt, yoga, and York…as in New York.

йогурт, йога, Йорк, Нью-Йорк

And now some words where the ‘й’ it the final letter. Listen? Май…чай

Let’s make those our official words of this lesson, so let’s try to get the meaning from context.

In Russian, the fifth month of the year is called май

Try this. Say: January, February, March, April, май

Next: When you pour boiling water over herbal leaves, the resulting drink is called…чай

Earl Gray is famous for what drink? Чай

In both of those, the vowel was an ‘a’. Now let’s try our И-краткий after an accented or stressed O. Listen and repeat…мой…твой…герой…домой

And now we’ll hear it following an unstressed O. This is an odd sound, and definitely a stumbling block for students. Listen…

шляпой

Again, those last two letters are an O that’s unstressed—making it an ‘uh’ sound, as we remember—and then the short E at the end. Here are some more:

девушкой

тряпкой

с Мамой

с Папой

с Яной

Moving on, let’s hear our short E after the vowel…Е

ей

дней

детей

чьей

Quick review: Fill in the blank. Jan, Feb, March, April… май

The two most popular caffeinated drinks are кофе and….чай

Let’s extend our review back to the previous lesson.

I like to read Popular Mechanics and G.Q., but Newsweek is my favorite…журнал

The tallest animal on Earth is the … жираф.

After a hard workout I like to get a full-body….массаж

I always park my car in the …. гараж

Did you remember to devoice those last two? Not “massaZH? but “massash”? Excellent.

We’ll do more review in a minute. But first, how would you pronounce the following Russian word, spelled: М-О-and Й (our Short E)? We heard it earlier in the lesson… Мой…and we learned it, actually, back in Episode 9. Remember the phrase: Oh my God.

О, мой Бог.

So мой is one way to say “my”, in Russian.

For ex: Say: My husband

Мой муж

My shishkabob

Мой шашлык

My flower

Мой цветок

My beet and potato soup

Мой борщ

My boy

Мой мальчик

My soup

Мой суп

My tea

Мой чай

For feminine nouns—ones that end with an “ah” sound in their basic form—we need a different form of “my”. Listen?

моя

So try to say: My wife.

моя жена

My toy.

моя игрушка

My pizza.

моя пицца

My porridge.

моя каша

Let’s work some more with our Short E (Й). Listen and repeat…

ай-я-яй

Russians use that exclamation the same way we do in English. Like: “Ай-я-яй…look at this traffic!” And do you hear two ‘short E’s’? – ай-я-яй

Next: In Russian, whenever we tell a friend or family member to do something—to Look! or Listen! or Go! and so on—the command will end with some kind of ‘ee’ sound. Not always, but almost always. It might be a long И like…Смотри! Look! or Скажи! Tell me!

Or, just as commonly, the command will end with our Short E sound. Like the following…

давай

кушай

обнимай

слушай

Again, each of those are commands…You’re telling someone. Do it! (давай) or Eat! (кушай) Hug me. (обнимай) Listen! (слушай) And those all ended with ‘a’ and the Short E.

Some commands end with O and the Short E. Like these…

построй

открой

закрой

стой

And a few command forms end with an “u” plus the Short E. Like these..

целуй

попробуй

рисуй

Let’s take a moment and review the letters we’ve worked with these past four lessons. Can you think of a word that starts with a “sh” sound? Hit pause if you need to.

шашлык

How about with that “sh-ch” sound? I’ll give you a hint: Cabbage soup…

щи

And a word that starts with a “ts” sound…like “its”…

цветок

How about a word that starts with “zh” (Ж)?

жена

And today’s “short E”…We really only looked at two words which start with that sound. We heard them at the start of the lesson. Do you recall?

йогурт

йога

And what were our official words for today? The 5th month of the year is called…?

And a hot drink that rivals coffee in popularity?

And finally, today, we learned two forms of the word “my.” Try to say…

My husband

мой муж

My wife.

моя жена

My boy.

мой мальчик

My toy.

моя игрушка

My soup.

мой суп

My porridge.

моя каша

My tea.

мой чай

My pizza.

моя пицца

Alright. Great job. Next lesson we’re going to learn the chorus of a really nice song, so get those vocal cords ready and I’ll see you there.

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Welcome to episode 13. Today we’ll be working with the letter Ж. In English I’d sound it out with the letters ‘ZH’. Let’s start by learning some common Russian words that have that sound, putting them—as always—in context. Ready?

Imagine you’re in a doctor’s office and on the coffee table you see: VOGUE, Popular Mechanics, Cosmopolitan…Each of those is a журнал.

Next word: With its seven foot neck, the tallest animal on Earth is the жираф.

In these next ones, listen to how Ж becomes devoiced when it’s the final letter. We know that pattern, right? So: Once a week I treat myself to a Swedish…массаж.

Hear that? Devoiced, it sounds like the letter “Ш”. Here’s another example…

The standard American home has three bedrooms and a two-car гараж.

Let’s try those again:

Newsweek is my favorite … журнал

The tallest animal on Earth is the … жираф.

After a hard workout I like to get a full-body….массаж

I park my car in a …. гараж

Being cognates, those four words are all pretty easy to absorb. But now let’s try two purely Russian words. Can you figure them out?

Kevin and Sara are married. When Kevin introduces Sara to new acquaintances, he says, “This is Sara, my жена. And when Sara is the one making introductions, she says, “This is Kevin, my муж.”

What were those two words again?

муж

жена

Do you recall, back in Episode 6, we learned how to say: I was in the bank.

Я был в банке.

And a woman would phrase that…

Я была в банке.

So try to say: My husband was in Boston. Sidenote: Russians will leave off the word “my” because it’s understood. So for now let’s just say: Husband was in Boston.

Муж был в Бостоне.

How about: My husband was in the bank.

Муж был в банке.

My wife was in London.

Жена была в Лондоне.

Or try: My wife was in the theater.

Жена была в театре.

You might be wondering why we say ‘в банке’. Why is there that ‘yeh’ sound at the end? That’s a great question, but it’s beyond the scope of a pronunciation course. But I will tell you, it’s the very first topic we cover in my Understanding Spoken Russian podcast. By the end of Episode #1 you’ll be a master of what’s known as the prepositional case in Russian.

Meanwhile…Let’s review some of our recent vocabulary using the ‘I want’ construction. Try to say…

I want a flower.

Я хочу цветок.

I want eggs.

Я хочу яйца.

I want beet and potato soup.

Я хочу борщ.

I want cabbage soup.

Я хочу щи.

I want shishkabob.

Я хочу шашлык.

Now ask your friend: Want a magazine?

Хочешь журнал?

Want a massage?

Хочешь массаж?

Again, it’s not “massaZH” in Russian, but “massash”. Devoiced.

When we hear an unfamiliar word for the first time, it can be hard to guess what that last letter is. Tell me, what’s the final letter in the following words…

род

It wasn’t a ‘T’, but actually a Д that was devoiced. Next…

жив

Not an ‘F’ at the end but a ‘V’ devoiced

круиз

Not an ‘S’ at the end but a devoiced Z.

грабёж

Not a Ш but today’s letter Ж devoiced.

But do you know what I do? I just ask. Like, with that last one, грабёж…I’d ask Это грабёш, или грабёЖ?

Speaking of voiced and devoiced variants, let’s look again at our new words from this lesson. Fill in the blanks.

During the marriage ceremony, the minister asks: “Kevin, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded…жена?”

“And Sara, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded…муж?”

So жена is our example for the voiced version of Ж…and муж has our devoiced version because it comes at the end of the word.

Let’s try two more words that contain ж.

жизнь

What does it mean? My grandfather died at the age of 97. He lived a long and happy жизнь.

And this word: хожу

My son Andrei loves to tell people, “I хожу to pre-school every day.”

Use those two words to fill in the blanks here…

Imagine an angry teenager: It’s my ____, let me live it the way I want.

It’s my…life. (жизнь)

Every day after work, I ____ to the gym.

I go…Я хожу…

You don’t really need to remember those, but I wanted to share them with you because we’ll soon be learning the chorus to a Russian song, and these words are in it. So I wanted you to have some experience with them before we got there. Let’s end with some review:

Newsweek is my favorite…журнал

The tallest animal on Earth is the жираф.

After a hard workout I like to get a Swedish….массаж

I always park my car in the …. гараж

What’s the Russian word for husband? And for wife? How do you say ‘life’ in Russian? And ‘go’, as in, I go to school.

Alright. Great job. Check out my Understanding Spoken Russian podcast, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

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Welcome to episode 12. Today we’ll be working with the letter Ц. That’s a “ts” sound…As in that’s …and Let’s…So, we’ll start by learning some common Russian words that have that sound. Let’s hear them in context:

The Russian equivalent of a king or supreme monarch is called a….царь

The downtown area of a city is called the….центр

In Papa John’s I got a slice of pepperoni….: пицца

Try those again:

The Russian equivalent of a king is a…..

The downtown area is called the…

Papa John’s sells….

Those were pretty easy, so let’s try a purely Russian word. Again, here it is in context:

A rose, a carnation, a tulip….Each of those is a kind of…цветок

Now hold that thought as I sidetrack for a moment. Say the word ‘fruit.’ The Russian version is a cognate, except that they add a ‘k’ sound before the final T. Listen…

фрукт

Again, we say ‘fruit’ and they say…фрукт

So now…I’m going to say some English words, and you say in Russian whether the thing is a фрукт or цветок. Ready?

Apple…rose…orchid…banana….kiwi…lilly…

And while we’re reviewing: What’s the name of that porridge which Russians love for breakfast?

каша

And for lunch….Meat cooked on a skewer is called…

шашлык

And we also learned two Russian soups. The one based on cabbage is called…

щи

And the red one, with beets?

борщ

Getting back to the letter of the day, let’s learn another very Russian word. You ready?

The fundamental ingredient in any omelet is, of course,….яйца

For breakfast today, I had some toast and two scrambled…яйца

The start of that word almost sounds like “yikes”, doesn’t it? But it ends with the letters “ts”, and then an A. яйца (yah-ee-tsa)

In Episode #8 we learned how to say, “I want…” Do you remember that phrase?

Я хочу

So try to say: I want eggs.

Я хочу яйца.

And in Ep #4 we learned how to say good morning. Do recall it?

Доброе утро.

So, greet your roommate: Good morning. Want eggs?

Доброе утро. Хочешь яйца?

Say: No, I want fruit.

Нет, я хочу фрукт.

Anyway….The other day, I was walking with my daughter Sophia past and we passed the local florist shop. She tugged my coat: Papa, I want a flower. Can you say that in Russian?

Папа, я хочу цветок.

For more practice with this letter, I wrote a poem. It’s only eight words long, and each one has our letter Ц in it. We won’t bother translating it because, like all modern poetry, it makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, repeat each word after the native speaker…

цифра

тунец

церковь

капец

цикл

Кузнец

целый

конец

The letter that it’s most often confused with is the Russian Z sound. (З)

So let’s do side-by-side comparisons.

зум…ЦУМ

зап…цап

зол…цол

зон…цон

It’s a lot easier to distinguish those letters when they come at the end of the word. Like these…

руз…руц

баз…бац

доз…доц

But probably the toughest two words to distinguish—probably in the whole language—are these:

свет….цвет

The first starts with an ‘S-V’ combination. свет

The other starts with our letter of the day: Ц… цвет

Especially problematic because the meanings are also related. The first means light, as in, the light was in my eyes: свет

The other means color: цвет

…although that brings us back to our word for ‘flower’…Do you remember it?

цветок

So the word for flower has grown, if you will, from the word color. So that’s the connection you want to make.

And what was the word for eggs?

яйца

To remember that word, you could use this phrase: I dropped the eggs. Yikes, what a mess.

Yikes leads us to….яйца

And that leads us to…the end of today’s lesson. See you in Episode #13.

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Welcome to episode 11. Today I’ll be answering three of the most common questions I get about Russian pronunciation. The first question is about the Russian letter O. Here’s a typical email…

Hi Mark, I’m confused about the letter O. Sometimes it sounds like ‘oh’ and sometimes it’s like an ‘ah’ sound. How can I know which it’ll be?

Good question. You’ve probably noticed that—no matter how long a Russian word is—it only has one stressed syllable. Even the longest one of all—достопримечательности—only one vowel gets stressed. Just like English words.

Now in Russian, when an O gets the stress, it is indeed pronounced like an Oh. But if it doesn’t get the stress, it sounds like ‘uh.’ Take the Russian word for milk. It has the letters ‘M-L-K’ just like English, but there’s three O’s in there: М-О-Л-О-К-О

If you’ve never heard it pronounced by a native speaker, then there’s no telling where the stress will be. It could be MO-loko…mo-LO-ko…or moloKO. There’s no rule. No way to know. Listen to the native speaker: молоко

Ok. Now I know. The stress is on the end.

Do you remember the word we learned that translates as “okay,” or “sure”. Like, someone tells you to call back in five minutes. You agree by saying….

“Хорошо.”

Now that word, if you’ve never seen it written, has three O’s in it, just like молоко. And since the final O is the one that get the stress, the other two are reduced to “uh” sounds. huh-ruh-SHOW.

So, again, there’s no way to guess which vowel gets the emphasis in Russian. You have to hear it, first. That’s one of the reasons why, as a beginner, you want to put all your emphasis on learning to speak Russian. Because once you know the words, reading them is a breeze. You’ll already know where the stress goes. That’s the same way you learned to speak English. You had been speaking it for years, first.

The second question I get a lot is about the Russian letter G (Г). The emails always come just after the student encounters the word ничего. Tell me: Do you hear a ‘G’ sound in there? ни…че…го

Me neither. And yet the final consonant—that “vo” sound—is spelled with the letter G.

What cracks me up is how frustrated the person always is. “Argh! I thought the letter Г was pronounced as a ‘guh.’ So why is nichivo spelled ike that? Shouldn’t it be with a V?”

People…English is a million times worse. Just take our letter O. In the word ‘women’ it’s an “ih” sound, but in ‘woman’ it’s an unwriteable ‘uh’ sound. In the word ‘bother’ it’s an ‘ah’ but in “mother” it’s an “uh” sound. Even the simplest words…I mean, why doesn’t “so” (s-o) rhyme with “do” (d-o)? The letters N-O-W spell “now” but you put an S in front and you get SNOW? Even double OO’s don’t make any sense. Why doesn’t good rhyme with food? And that’s just the letter O. Heck, Russians have a joke about English: If it’s spelled Manchester, it’s pronounced Liverpool.

So…Yes, the Russian Г is sometimes pronounced as a “v” sound. Big deal. Here, repeat the following words, and listen for a “vuh” sound in each one.

сегодня….его….хорошего….плохого….ничего

All those “vuh” sounds…they’re spelled with the letter Г. And finally, I can’t help but point out:

How about the English G? Tell me how it’s pronounced in the word cough. Or garage. Compared to English, Russian is a nearly perfect spelling system, with words sounding out exactly as they’re spelled. So please, no complaining.

Moving on… Most of the of emails I get are from people wanting to know if they’re pronouncing some word correctly. And that’s such an important point. You’re studying Russian on your own, learning words and phrases, but you have no one to practice with and so you’re understandably worried that you’re not saying things right. That’s what everyone worries about, I think: Will they understand me?

If for no other reason, that is why I encourage you to join my Russian Accelerator course. Because along with lifetime access to the course, you get a full year of our Success Coaching. There you can send in recordings of yourself speaking Russian, and our native speaking coaches will listen and let you know that they understood you, and give helpful feedback so you can get even better. It’s one of the reasons Russian Accelerator is so popular, because it’s highly interactive. You study one of the lessons, send in your recording…then you can move on with confidence. You’ll know that Yes, people understand me. I’m saying this right.

Moving on: The last category of questions I get deal with the really tricky Russian consonants. Like Ш versus Щ , or З versus Ц and so on. The good news is, that’s exactly what we’ll be covering in the upcoming episodes of this course. For today, let’s choose the really troublesome pair of consonants: Ш vs Щ

On paper, they both look like an English W, except with flat bottoms. Here’s the first one which is pronounced like “sh” in English. Listen to the following syllables, each of which start with Ш , and repeat after the native speaker…

шу

ша

ши

ше

And now the 2nd one. Like I said, on paper it resembles an English W, but this one has a little tail on the right. So, using English letters I’d sound it out with “sh-ch”. Say the words “fish chips”…from the end of fiSH and the start of Chips…fiSHCHips. So again, repeat these two letter combinations after the native speaker.

щу

ща

щи

ще

Let’s do those side by side.

шу – щу

ша – ща

ши – щи

ше – ще

To really get these down, we’ll learn four new words today. All of them foods. These first two are popular Russian soups. Do you hear a “sh” or “sh-ch”? Listen and repeat:

щи

борщ

Those both had the tricky one…the “sh-ch” consonant. Try them again..

щи ….is a soup made from cabbage, while…

борщ…is a red soup made from beets and potatoes.

Next word: шашлык

When you put raw meat on a skewer and put it over hot coals for a while, you end up with шашлык (shashlik). What we’d call in English shishkakbob. And do you hear how it has that simpler sound? The plain “sh” sound? Twice…шашлык

And finally, we have the word…каша….which is porridge, usually made from buckwheat. Pretty much every Russian and Ukrainian child is raised on kasha for breakfast.

Let’s try all four again. Cabbage soup is…?

Beet and potato soup is….?

Meat cooked on a skewer is…

And the breakfast staple throughout the former Soviet Union is….

Alright. Great job. If you have a moment, please check out my Russian Accelerator course, and in the meantime, I’ll see you in Episode 12.

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Alright, this is episode 10 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today is the midterm, where I’ll test you on pretty much everything we’ve learned so far. So let’s do it…

How are the letters M-A-L pronounced in Russian? мал

Now add a soft-sign at the end. маль

Say those side-by-side. Without the soft-sign: мал

…and with it: маль

Next: How do Russians pronounce Italy’s capital?

Рим

What is the main food item sold at places like Burger King and McDonalds?

гамбургер

Speaking of rolled R’s, what’s the Russian name of this instrument? (violin) Remember that mnemonic device we came up with—what I calla PowerPhrase? I gave up the violin because all I did was make scraping sounds. That word scrape leads us to…

скрипка

скрипка starts with a consonant cluster. The topic of Ep #3. So let’s try another one from that lesson. Try to pronounce a Russian V-D-and R…(Вдр)…Now add an “u” sound at the end.

вдру…вдру…

Finally, if we put a Russian G (Г) at the very end, how will it sound? Do you think it’ll be voiced or unvoiced?

вдруг

G was the final letter, so—following the pattern—we donэt voice it, and so it sounds just like a K. вдруг (like “вдрук”)

Next, let’s try some listening practice with that pair of vowels: Ы and И

In each of the following words, say “the first one” if you hear that troublesome Ы vowel…and say “the second one” if you hear the И vowel. Ready?

был….1st one

бил….2nd one

мыть….1st one

Вы….1st one

Тим….2nd one

дым….1st one

You’re doing great, let’s keep going. In Episode #8 we worked with that Russian letter X. So tell me, what are we listening to here? (Bach choir)

Хор

We say ‘choir’, but Russians replace that “ch” with their X sound.

And the composer, by the way…His name is Johann Sebastian…what? Бах

When an artist like Taylor Swift releases a new album, she probably hopes that every song will become a….what’s the word in Russian?

Хит

To sweeten my coffee, I added a tablespoon of…what’s the word?

сахар

Great job. And then, in Episode 9 we looked at the phenomenon of voiced and devoiced consonants.

Let’s take the Russian letter B…It looks like a capital English ‘B’. When it stands alone, it’s voiced. V. So, how will this word be pronounced? (ВАС) V-A-S? Will it be voiced or unvoiced?

Вас

Very much voiced. But let’s put it at the end of a word. П-Л-О-В…How will that sound?

плов

Unvoiced. Like an “F” Плов (like ПЛОФ) by the way is how Russians say pilaf…that rice kind of dish. Now let’s put that letter in the middle of a word. (ЛАВА) L-A-V-A…How will it sound?

лава

Voiced again. Got it? You’re doing great.

…but we’re not done. Let’s run through the words and phrase we officially learned in each lesson.

Ask your friend: Pavel was in the park?

Павел был в парке?

Change Pavel to Maria.

Мария была в парке?

Did you add that ‘a’ to the end of the verb—была–because Maria is a woman?

Next: I’m gonna butcher some French words here, but…The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, and the Arc D’ Triumph are just a few of the _____ in Paris. What’s the word?

достопримечательности

Next: How do we convey the idea that: I like soccer. How do Russians literally phrase that?

To me….is pleasing….soccer.

Мне нравится футбол.

Say: I really like basketball. Literally….what? To me…very pleasing…basketball.

Мне очень нравится баскетбол.

Ask someone: Where is Starbucks located?

Где находится Старбакс?

Imagine you’re staying in a Moscow hotel. It’s morning time, so greet the concierge, and then ask him where GOOM is. ГУМ is a famous shopping mall.

Доброе утро. Где находится ГУМ?

So, you walk to Red Square, which is where GOOM is located, and on the way you decide instead to see Lenin’s tomb. But when you get there, the line stretches all the way along the Kremlin wall. What’s the Russian version of, Oh, my God…

О, мой Бог.

Imagine you’re waiting for you bags in the airport. Finally, your Samsonite comes chugging along the conveyor. How do you express your relief in Russian?

Слава Богу…Literally? Glory to God.

Next: My wife and I have twins. Sophia is our little girl. And William is our….мальчик

Did you nail that soft-sign after the L? That’s why we learned that word. Say it again..

It helps to almost say the English word “mile”…mile-cheek…but bring your tongue up to the roof of your mouth. МАЛЬ-чик

Next…Fill in the blank. When I was a boy, my favorite ____ was my G.I. Joe doll.

Игрушка

So, your hotel bar is offering free soft drinks. Without trying to sound too rude, tell the bartender: I want a Sprite.

Я хочу Спрайт.

In your apartment, you offer to make dinner for your roommate. Pull out a can of Campbell’s chicken broth and ask him, with two words: Want soup?

Хочешь суп?

You could also phrase it the other way:

Суп хочешь?

He shrugs and says the Russian word for, Okay.

Хорошо.

We’re just about done here, guys. And since I’ll be seeing you in the next episode, how should we part ways? Literally…Until the meeting.

До встречи