Thread: Distinguishing Between Letters

Originally Posted by Missionary

the main difference between И and Й is that Й is held shorter than И, right?

[й] is a consonant. It doesn’t form a syllable. [и] is a vowel, and it forms a syllable.
[й] creates more noise than [и] does when being pronounced.

Originally Posted by Missionary

Can you please help me distinguish between И and Й, and Ш and Щ?

Have you already get accustomed with palatalization (so called ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ consonants) and with the letter ‘ь’ (‘soft sign’)? Can you hear the difference in the pairs ‘п’—‘пь’, ‘м’—‘мь’, ‘с’—‘сь’ etc.?
If so, you can assume that ‘щ’ is ‘шь’.