The Russian alphabet is certainly not Arabic script or Chinese characters. But it also has its peculiarities.
Half of the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet are similar to the Latin alphabet, but the difficulty lies in the sound designation of each letter. This is the main difference.
If you are teaching your child the Russian alphabet from scratch and he has already mastered the Latin alphabet, try showing him in Latin how each letter sounds.
To make learning the Cyrillic alphabet easier, we have compiled an easy-to-understand table. The rightmost column contains examples of how a Russian letter can sound in English words familiar to your child.
Russian alphabet - matching letters and sounds
| Cyrillic letter | What sound/sounds correspond to | How the letter is pronounced in Latin | Example of a word in English |
| Aah | [а] | 'ah' | cut |
| Bb | [б] | 'beh' | best |
| Vv | [в] | 'veh' | vehicle |
| Gg | [г] | 'geh' | glass |
| Dd | [д] | 'deh' | day |
| Her | [y'eh] | 'yeh' | yellow |
| Yeyo | [y'oh] | 'yoh' | yawn |
| Zhzh | [ж] | 'zheh' | casual |
| Zz | [з] | 'zeh' | zebra |
| Ii | [и] | 'ee' | see |
| Yi | [й'] | 'short ee' | toy |
| Kk | [к] | 'kah' | cat |
| Ll | [л] | 'el' | left |
| Mm. | [м] | 'em' | mum |
| Nn | [н] | 'en' | nose |
| Ooh. | [о] | 'oh' | a lot |
| Pp | [п] | 'peh' | pen |
| Rr | [р] | 'ehr' | rose |
| Ss | [с] | 'ehs' | sun |
| Tt | [т] | 'teh' | type |
| Ooh. | [у] | 'oo' | moon |
| Ff | [ф] | 'ehf' | five |
| xx | [х] | 'hah' | hard |
| Tz | [ц] | 'tseh' | visits |
| Chh | [ч'] | 'chah' | chair |
| Shh | [ш] | 'shah' | shake |
| Szcz | [щ'] | 'schyah' | sheep |
| ъ | — | 'hard sign' | — |
| ы | [ы] | 'i' | eagle |
| ь | — | 'soft sign' | — |
| Eh. | [э] | 'eh' | let |
| Yu | [y'u]. | 'yoo' | view |
| Yaya | [y'ah] | 'ya' | yummy |
What's next?
Once the child has familiarized himself with the letters of the Russian alphabet, you can move on to familiarizing him with the matrix - how many vowels and consonants there are in the alphabet. Then you can go into the softness and hardness of consonants, a concept that is absent in English.
If you don't want to handle your child's education yourself, contact Palme School. In Russian language classes children learn to read in 2-3 weeks from scratch. If your goal is to teach your child to speak and read Russian, leave a request below.
