Russian Cyrillic Alphabet Chart

Old Jul 1st, 2007, 09:06 AM
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Russian Cyrillic Alphabet Chart

I've been searching for a chart that gives Russian Cyrillic alphabet letters and the equivalent abc's. I've googled, checked Wickipedia, etc. and while I've learned a lot about St. Cyril, the history of the alphabet and just about everything except what I want!

Hoping someone can direct me to a Cyrillic/abc's chart. We leave for Russia on 7/17 and I'm hoping to find something before we go. I understand signage in Russia is mostly in Cyrillic, unlike Greece where we found in Athens both Cyrillic/English street signs, etc. The chart I'm seeking would be very helpful in this regard.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 09:16 AM
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Try http://www.friends-partners.org/oldf...-alphabet.html
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 09:18 AM
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You want something better than this chart?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrilli...Common_letters

Seems to convey all the info that an English speaker might need to know to "sound things out".

Maybe i don't understand what you are seeking...

Best wishes,

Rex
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 09:57 AM
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Thank you Garfield and Rex. I guess I didn't express myself well. What I need is a chart that gives the Cyrillic symbol and what that symbol is in English letters, so that we can translate signs, directions, subway stops, etc. from Cyrillic to English. I hope that explains what I'm looking for.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 09:59 AM
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One caveat: look for a chart that shows calligraphy as well as the printed cyrillic alphabet. You'll also find that there are letters in Russian that don't exist in English; some modify pronunciation. None of this will matter for street signs, I expect, but it might be useful information for you.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 10:54 AM
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You wouldn;t get a translation into English. You would get a version of the Russian word in the roman alphabet. Then you would still have to know what the russian word means in english.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 11:23 AM
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What you are doing is called transliteration rather than translation. You want to represent the sound of original Cyrillic words using a western alphabet, presumably to help people pronounce the words.
Also, echo the previous caveat to be aware that some Cyrillic letters are written differently in block and cursive, just as in English.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 11:45 AM
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I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but at the back of the Lonely Planet Russia guide, there is an extensive language section.

Hope that helps!
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 11:53 AM
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For the most part, if you know the Greek alphabet you can do the cyrillic alphabet.
But you are correct--if you can sound out the letters, they are often adapted from English or Romance language words.
For example, where you see this
PECTOPAH

you will find food.
R-e-s-t-oh-r-a-nh

I would suggest your library or a beginning Russian book.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 11:54 AM
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You will want to have a Russian-English dictionary anyway.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 03:56 PM
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I would have thought that the chart in the Wikipedia reference I cited would meet your needs. But you want it even more simplified?

I added to it and posted it here:

http://www.geocities.com/rexbickers/Cyrillic.bmp

I have the feeling that you think
Cyrillic is somehow "the same" as the Latin alphabet, just with some "funny symbols"... and you just need the "decoder ring". It's not that simple.

Russian has nine vowels (not counting _soft "i"_) - - five of them can be roughly equated to Latin letters: A, E, I, O and U - - though you need to understand that those vowel sounds are ah, eh, ee, oh and oo (basically the same as Italian, for example). I am quite shocked that the Wikipedia chart omitted "E" (eh). I have no explanation, and I stuck it back in, at the bottom (I forget where it goes, correctly).

Then there are four vowels that have a "y" sound in front of them, so they have no direct equivalent in the Latin alphabet: yeh, yoh, yoo and yah (the "backwards R"). As with "eh", the Wikipedia chart seems to have omitted "yoh". I don't know why. It includes both under the footnotes about Belarusian alphabet.

M and T are the only consonants that look and sound the same (though in cursive, T looks more like an M in the handwriting of many people).

These sounds, which fall... in some cases... in different order than they occur in the Latin alphabet - - B, V, G, D, Z, L, P, R, S and F (the Latin letters) generally sound the same in Russian, as they do in English, but they look different in Cyrillic (three that are easily confused... "V" looks like English "B", "R" looks like English "P", and "S" looks like English "C" - - thus "CCCP", in Cyrillic... is pronounced essentially like "SSSR").

Which leaves six consonants which have no equivalents in the Latin alphabet, though you can easily learn the sounds:

ZH - - as in Zhorzhii (think of Giorgio, in Italian... but remove any hint of a "d" sound, like English "George" seems to have). Or identical to French "g" as in "Georges" or "jour". Also described as the "j" or "zh" sound in English "treasure". Perhaps you could think of this letter as the same as "J". As an aside... "G" (looks the same as Greek gamma) is always hard in Russian, as in English "game" - - with the rare exception when a word ends in "ogo" - - which sounds more like "uh-voh".

KH - - like Khomeini, or Khadafi or Khrushchev (which Americans simply pronounced like Kroosh-Chef, rather incorrectly). It's that harsh "H" sound, as in Greek _chi_ in Scottish _loch_ or German "ich".

TS - - like "tsetse" or the TS sound in English "pizza" (peatsah).

CH - - the first letter in Chernobyl. Essentially the same as English "cheese".

SH - - the first consonant in Shevernadze, and the easier of two sounds that English speakers seem to stumble over (perhaps because they look quite a lot alike). More or less just like "shoe".

as opposed to...

SHCH - - not so difficult in the middle of a word, as in Khrushchev. Usually taught as the sound in the middle of the words DanishCheese (run together). Just doesn't seem to come easily at the beginning of a word.

Now... does that help you?

Basically I agree with the posting by Gretchen about "R-E-S-T-O-R-A-N"... this chart should help you with words that you _can_ sound out.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 04:07 PM
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What REx says is absolutely right. There are 'extra' letters and they have specific and sometimes difficult sounds. I am sure there must be a website for the sounds--or invest in a cheap Russian language tape.
But knowing the alphabet and the sounds will allow you to sound out some things--but you have to sound them out. Otherwise it is pectopah!!
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 04:51 PM
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http://speakrussian.blogspot.com/

I have a website, too- if you are interested! (I am a Russian teacher).

This "Spoonful of Russian" is available as a free podcast on iTunes, as well.

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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 04:52 PM
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http://community.middlebury.edu/~bey...ex/frame.shtml

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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 05:18 PM
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Please note that some signs are written in Russian script (like our handwriting). You need to learn to read that as well as the capital and small printed letters to be able to read the signs.

I do agree about PECTOPAH.

The most important piece of advice is to get a map with Cyrillic letters if you go off by yourself. There are almost no signs in the conventional alphabet except right around the Kremlin. A map with everything transliterated into English will enable you to pronounce some names of streets, but it will not help you know where you are.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 05:22 PM
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I hope you understand what everyone is saying - that what you seem to want would NOT translate anything. It would merely let you read/say words phonetically. You'd still have no idea what they meant w/o a russian/english dictionary.
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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 05:36 PM
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<< what you seem to want would NOT translate anything. It would merely let you read/say words phonetically. >>

I really disagree, janis...

There are always more words in any foreign language that are related to something you know - - whether English words... words with Greek origins, Latin/Romance language origins, place names, and the like.

I still remember when I was sixteen getting all excited that at the "drive-in" movie across the street from my hotel in Athens, they were playing...

mu-pi-alpha-rho-mu-pi-alpha-rho-eta-lambda-lambda-alpha

Once you know that mu-pi is pronounced like an English "B" sound (in Modern Greek), then it's pretty easy...

B-A-R-B-A-R-E-L-L-A


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Old Jul 1st, 2007, 06:23 PM
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I should mention that PECTOPAH is one of my students' favorite jokes (ie "pec-toh-pah! Res-ton-ran"). Russian students always have a good sense of humor (makes my job that much better and more enjoyable).

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Old Jul 2nd, 2007, 12:26 AM
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"unlike Greece where we found in Athens both Cyrillic/English street signs"
I'm surprised to learn that street signs in Athens are in both Cyrillic and English.

Greek and Russian might share some common letters (e.g. a,e,f,z,k,l,m,o,p,r,t,x) but they are not similar languages at all.
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Old Jul 2nd, 2007, 03:14 AM
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Languages don't have to be similar... and yet there can be very ancient roots that show up as similar words. I guess commonality is in the eye of the beholder... the only Russian I learned was over 35 years ago, so I cannot rattle off abundant examples, but there is a pattern that can serve as a memory aid if you choose to see it...

3 - tri - - tri... TRI
4 - chetyre - - tetra... _ETR_
5 - pyaht - - penta... P_ _T
8 - vosyem - - octo... O(S)K_
10 - dyesyat - - deka... DE(S)K_


Am I the only one who uses similarities like this to remember vocabulary?
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